Pellet heads!! What's up today?

Moved 1.2 ton (1 pallet laCrete) from garage to basement just before the sn*w began falling. Used the truck.

Would have like the ground a bit more frozen but time running out. Area just outside the basement door still soft and the Duratrack tires left some ruts but really dont care.

3 trips and done.

Leaves 1 ton of Matra in the garage. I may or may not need to get into those this year.

 

Sn*wing steady since about 1 this afternoon.

 

Sam, my 7 foot Lucknow in the barn is exactly like that with rubber extensions on the impeller paddles. They work peachy too. Made mine from old conveyor belting and bolted them on 5 years ago.

 

Yup.
Did that several years ago...
They are ton better than the steel ones..
Mine are little different.. but same material/concept..

Dan

 

You wish...

Dan

 

Looks like we got about 2 inches of white stuff. Was rain/freezing rain around 10 last night, still a bit falling now, everything kinda crusty.

Sam

 

About 5-7 inches to clean up but its Sunday and I can wait till its light out


Did you find that the composite/poly slide easier on older pavement? My only issue with the steel (dont care about rust on garage cement as I park the machine on a mat) is that it tends to pull or "steer" the machine in various directions at times. Being a track model, the weight of the machine is on the skids so sliding easily can help the machine move better.

Also been looking at these
Robalon - Salt, Age and Wear Resistant Skid Shoes and Scraper Bars - SEPW.com

The primary reason for trying the steel Armor Skids is the length where I am hoping it can help with my asphalt that has multiple uneven/heaves which have caused cracks and ruts that have emerged the last few seasons. I'm sure that water runoffs are under areas of the driveway and after 25ish years its taking its toll now.

The driveway needs to be redone, not ready for that sticker shock

 

The plastic shoes work great on asphalt/concrete, but I didn't have "old" surface. IMO, I think they're a big improvement over the steel skids that come on most 'blowers.

 

As it's supposed to be in the mid-teens tonight, guess I'll head out and get the driveway cleared before it freezes. And grab a couple bags of the douglas fir pellets out of the shed.

sam

 

I have the same kind of old crappy driveway as you. I lowered the front of the snowblower so it would clean better and the cutting edge catches on the heaves caused by roots under the pavement and some of the bigger cracks. I had to raise it up a little at a time until it ran true. I flipped my skids this year but I'm thinking I may go poly for next year. Stands to reason they would slide easier.

 

I have wheels on both my 10 foot plow and my blower and are adjustable too. You won't find skid shoes on any commercial plow or blower, they all run wheels. In my case, I use heavy duty casters with solid hard rubber tires, welded to the posts where the skid shoes used to be.

Far as skid shoes, if I had them (don't), I'd be hard rodding them on the bottom with Lincoln metal-ground high manganese hard rod. You can run that stuff with any welder ac or dc but DC is preferred. AC works but you need at least 180 amps. On DC you use reverse polarity, 150 amps is plenty.

No snow here, just cold. Got up this am to the central furnace cycling. I have the bio mass stove on 2 last night at bed time. Not quite enough oomph. Have it cranked up the HR 4 presently. Hate burning the uber expensive propane which is at $2.90 a gallon here presently.

Went to the in laws yesterday for family Christmas in south central Michigan and found the snow on the way out. Lansing got 3 inches. We got some freezing rain and that was it. Far as I'm concerned, if it don't snow at all this winter I'm good with it, sort of. We need the sub freezing temps to kill off the over wintering crop pests that require expensive pesticide spraying next spring - summer and I prefer not to spend a fortune on chemicals if I don't have to because I'm cheap. Wife drove both ways and I snoozed in the jump seat. Had to leave the pupper at home all day alone. He wasn't overjoyed about that as he loves road trips. Spends the entire time putting nose prints on the windows...

 

I set the new blower up with the scraper raised-used 2 paint stirrers as a depth gauge. This way protecting the serrated augers as well as the housing and will not catch the cracks so much. I always shovel after blowing to get down to pavement as much as possible as the hill gets icy if I dont so leaving a little sn*w isnt a big deal if it helps the machine.

All of us on this side of the street have hills for driveways. One neighbor has driveway similar to mine the opposite side is nice, even, newer and gest down to pavement with just his blower. Id love that but figure my driveway should really be dug up and properly prepared for paving instead of just going over existing. That would be

 

Window art !!

 

Looked into wheeled skids but most say that they are not great for uneven surfaces and my surfaces are very much not even.

Even if I dropped the auger housing to surface level, all the unevenness would make it so it could not get up all the sn*w. Its really gotten worse last few seasons. Happens in the spring, just like the roads do-it use to be minimal and settle back down to mostly even but now it really doesnt.

 

I had basically the same issue with bad cracks.. And uneven surfaces..
The machine or shovel, would hit those and just about stop short...
You know it is not good for the machine (or back)..
A new driveway this summer cured all of that...
What a joy having a nice smooth driveway..
Pricey, yes, but if it needs it, it needs it.
Putting it off just means one less year for you to enjoy it..
so the cost per year of you using it..., goes up..
8 grand... don't regret it one second..
Old one was 43 years old. Got my monies worth out of it.
800 bucks back then..


Dan

 

Yeah, I was thinking the exact same thing while cleaning today. Just do it.

23 years on this one, cost about 2600 back then. Probably closer to 10K now if its done right.

Nh is hard on asphalt to begin with, add in the underground drainage of fthe hill behind our houses.............................

 

Last night was really the first time since I bought a few tons of douglas fir pellets back in 2019 that we've had a really cold night (was 13 here at 5:30am). With the P43 in room temp/manual and the feed rate about 1.5 it was 73 downstairs/70 upstairs. When it's around 30 at night that's what the house is in the morning using the Vermont or Wood & Sons at the same settings but I don't think they'd be getting that at 13*.

Sam

 

As an aside, I considered building a hopper extension for my 6039, maybe building them and selling them but in as much as the wife fills the stove, I don't think I will. Little exercise don't hurt her waistline...