New winter gravity weapon...

OK... one more vid of the same concept... except this guy is a bullseye on dealing with moving the machine (not good) while clearing the roof ... retractable telescopic boom... ooooooh boy... this whole idea just became a lot more interesting...

 

... scary ain't it...

 

Lessee... got the winch off the log crane, steel tubes, cables, etc... hmmm... will be a while... in the meantime, I'll flub with what I've whipped up. But, building a mini telescopic boom, like the cranes I used to use in the sign biz... would be a lot of fun. And this, guy in the vid's, approach is much better than mine.

 

The second avalanche style head. This will have a long, 4' wide tarp strip, that wraps around and attaches to the plywood... shove the head up under the snowpack and the snow slides down... now, I need snow...

 

Now it's got wheels
I saw video Can't remember exactly how and went, Guy threw a rope or something up there On the roof Then got a hold of both ends and pulled ,All the snow slid off As the rope went under the snow , Probably similar to what you're talking about , But I don't know what I'm talking about 'cuz CRS

 

Here's one of many vids showing a reg roof rake vs the avalanche type, HD. I made one a couple years ago and it worked nicely on our roofs here. Only issue was the "push" factor, shoving it into crusty edges of a snow pack (why I made 2 steel buster points beside each wheel), and under heavy wet snow. Once under the snow though, away it went. The tractor, with a telescopic arm, might just do the trick for me, and solve my single biggest "old man" problem with snow removal...

 

That's pretty slick

 

The only year I had to remove snow from the roof the stores were sold out of rakes so I made my own. Exactly like the first rake in that video. The snow was at least four times as deep as that though.

 

Got enough snow to test the new avalanche type head. Finished the cables this morning. Works fine sliding snow off. Can see changes need to happen with the arms though. Tractor bucket blocks my line of sight, because of the roof pitch... ... Also have a cross piece near the head that would block deeper snow from sliding down the tarp. I think I can solve both issues by angling the arms down 45 degrees, just before the head. Like a reg roof rake bends down. Have an additional 6' of arms I can add if needed later. Pics, or it didn't happen...







Pic shows the arms swinging up as the head rolls up the roof. Cables just go slack. So far, so good... plenty of chances still, to stick the whole thing thru a window...

 

Yup, stability is definately an issue, even though the entire arm rig probably doesn't weigh 50 lbs. A heavier tractor would be no sweat, but mine is like putting a bucket on a 3 wheeler... I keep the contraption low to the ground when I move around, and only put it up to the roof if I'm mostly level, side to side. I can see it will do a nice job of removing deep snow... just gotta work out most of the bugs before Murphy's Law kicks in...

 

Whipped up angles for the head section today. Should help with the roof pitch issue. Lifts the arms away from the roof about 14"... and... we may have a big nor'easter next Tues / Weds... ...



Next up... coming up with outriggers that are easy to install and automatically swing into position to prevent rolling over on uneven ground (with the bucket / arm raised) Well Seasoned noticed a real potential Murphy's Law home run, with the lack of stability. Looks like the JD designers gave me zactly what I need for attach points too. Might be a while... I usually like to wait until I wake up on the ground before I "fix" stuff...

 

Stinny, you would probably be well to have at least 500 lbs. of rear weight to counter things. Also a wider stance would help alot. Does your JD have a ROPS ?

On my Bota' I have 400 lbs. rear weight, plus loaded rear tires, plus my 300 lbs of BFA on the seat and I can lift the rear wheels off the ground with my 36" skid steer style forks lifting 450 lbs.

 

Yessiree... 300 lbs in the rear. But, this really is very unstable side to side. Very light duty machine... but a LOT better than a shovel... ... a ROPS, ummm, is that like, a warning sign on the back?... Really Oddguy Pushin Snow ... ... ...