This is a somewhat pricy item, but my wife and I have decided that the struggle of walking behind a snowthrower at 20 degrees Fahrenheit, in the dark, while snow or sleet are blowing in our faces, for 60-90 minutes to clear the driveway is just a bit much. I guess we're wimps. A real Idahoan wouldn't consider this a problem until the temperature was -20, and the Minnesotan would consider +20 to be shirtsleeve weather.
Of course, if I order it, we won't have snows for weeks...and if I don't order it, UPS won't be able to deliver it because of the size of the snowdrifts blocking the roads.
UPDATE: I found what seemed like better prices from other vendors...but it turned out that the prices others were showing were for the blade alone, not for the frame that the blade mounts on. By the time shipping was included, it was the same price as Amazon had.
No snow for weeks? Ordering it sounds like a pretty good investment to me!
ReplyDeleteWe bought our first snow-blower just about this time last year.
ReplyDeleteUpstate NY had the mildest winter on record, breaking the record for LEAST snowfall.
Maybe we'll actually get to use it this year?
Just helped a friend put one together.
ReplyDeleteNice plows, nice construction.
Have a soft faced hammer handy
You'll need a friend and a drill.
And get something to cart it around. You'll need a furniture cart or a wheel kit (if they make one).
How do you decide when to swap to winter tyres? Just do it November the first, or something subtler?
ReplyDeleteDearieme: we have never put on winter tyres (but then again, we aren't in Britain). More seriously, the all season tires and the full-time AWD on my Jaguar X-type are sufficient. I confess, there have been times that a little more snow and ice traction would have been nice. I have considered ordering up a separate set of wheels and snow tires for the Jag.
ReplyDeleteMy wife's TrailBlazer pretty much never needs any help. In 4WD mode, it is pretty darn capable.
I am told that if you call up TireRack.com and attempt to discuss Corvette snow tires, they refuse to talk. Probably terrified of liability.
Which gets me to wondering...
ReplyDelete1) How does the SnowSport 180 handle deep snow? (Which is another way of asking "at what snow depth does it begin failing?")
2) Speaking of deep snow, several companies manufacture self-powered mower decks designed to be towed behind ATVs or some such for grass cutting. I wonder if a similar arrangement exists or could be made for a two-stage snow thrower. Looking at random prices on the net, a 42 inch PTO-driven Husqvarna is about $1300 from Amazon, so a 60-72 inch unit is probably about 2.5-3X that (more if it has a second, or third, auger, plus another grand for something to power it. Say $5K+ for a basic deep-snow unit, which is a lot unless you get a lot of snow.
I do not think it would be the right choice if you lived at Donner Summit, and had reason to expect many feet of snow. But we seldom get more than a foot of snow at a time, and usually, it is much less.
ReplyDeleteAh, it's just that in Britain we are preached at about the wisdom of the Germans and others at routinely using winter tyres. But if you live anywhere near sea level in Britain then you'd hardly ever need them. Until the next Little Ice Age, anyway.
ReplyDeleteOn a sunny day with no wind, 0 is shirtsleeve weather in Minnesota. Until the University built a new law school, I used to walk across campus in -20 degree weather in the same wool sport coat that I taught class in.
ReplyDeleteWhen I saw the picture I thought, "how much does that weigh, and how does one manhandle the thing on and off the truck hitch? Mr. B is right, some sort of dolly is needed to move it around to mount and dismount.
ReplyDeleteBy contrast, in your hometown I can only recall two occasions where I saw so much as hail, plus one instance that my mom remembered. But then this is the land of socialism and droughts, where at the state level they just doubled down on the current trip to fiscal armageddon, where any business that hasn't already left is crunching the numbers.
Windy, are you saying that this painting http://www.findamuralist.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Venice_in_snow_web.jpg does not reflect reality?
ReplyDeletemr. cramer,
ReplyDeleteAFter viewing the plow video, and with past experience plowing, may i suggest you do not let the snowblower go?
One feature this plow does not have is a lift, so you will lose the ability to pile snow - this is done by lifting the plow at the end of a run, and has the effect of pushing a new lift atop a previous one.
therefore, once you've done your plowing with the car, you then use your snowblower laterally against your outrun piles to toss it much further back, thus freeing the close-in space for future falls. plus you have it available for heavy falls.
I will be interested to hear or read about your experiences with this equipment; i may be in the market for one in a couple of years.
thanks,
-TJ
I'll have the plow pointing to the side, so it should move the snow off the driveway. Fortunately, this isn't Buffalo. We get a foot or two of snow, but if I can get even part of the asphalt exposed to sunlight for a few hours, it clears the rest.
ReplyDeleteHaving been IN Buffalo during one of their hard winters (1978), I wouldn't wish that on anybody.
ReplyDeleteA ski resort west of buffalo that I recall used twin D7's to plow their road to their summit. First pass, the snow was so solidly packed by the wind that they went OVER the drifts.
There was LOTS of uptake of the really big truck-mounted snowblowers that year.
-TJ