[columbiaplower]

How did everyone do? How muc snow you get? Brake anything,problems? Here in maryland we got 2in of snow and 1/2in ice.it was a waste of a storm because it got warm and rain washed it all away. But i love my new fisher plow and spreader(spreader got alot of work because of the ice).I only plow for a few hours. Looking forward to more snow. Well tell me how u all did.
Nick

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[Lazer]

2 trips. 16 hours total w/ clean-up.
Blew trans on 1996 Dodge Diesel for 7th time. Thank goodness I decided not to sell either '88. Those back-ups are more relaible than the new ones.

 

[Eric ELM]

We got 11" of snow at home here, but I just heard where we plow they got 12" of fairly wet snow. We had 18 hours of straight hard plowing before we got caught up. Nothing broke again, (knock on wood) You need Fords Lazer.

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<a href="http://www.townserver.com/elm/">[email protected]</a>

 

[Lou]

Lazer...you are so right. check this for cost comparison: new rig 30 to 33k pre plow package vs. $900 gmc k2500. New motor, trans, low stall converter, trans kit, transfer kit, trans cooler, hvy duty shocks, on the front, load levelers on the back, tires, rims, 110amp alt,1000cca batt. and the all important coffee mug holder. Total cost:$6837 and change. Haven't had a problem since.I'm not even counting the insurance savings....a tidy sum saved. Let's see, 33k minus 7k leaves me a savings of 26k, more or less. As long as my rig is presentable, folks don't mind. Yes sir, I sure like looking poor. And no dealer appointments !

 

[paul]

11" of snow. weather man said it was going to start by midnight started about 4am. started plowing at 11 am got caught up by 3 pm with nice lull in storm, about 5pm came down about 1" an hour untill 9pm. clean up finished at 3am home by 4am

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paul

 

[John DiMartino]

Hey,Lazer,I have a 96 Dodge diesel with auto trans,and have never had a problem,but it only has 62K on it. That is a strong trans,but it has to be left in N if you are idling for a long time,or a shift kit put in that allows the trans to circulate fliud in Park.If you are plowing and the trans is hot putting it in park will fry it,because it cuts off fliud flow to cooler.I have simply done this since I had truck and my motor is turned up to 250HP/635Ft/lb at wheels and I work it hard when I plow,and no trans problems.Something else must be wrong for 7 trannys to go bad,E-mail me off list,maybe I could help. John D

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John D

 

[GeoffD]

Well we broke a blade guide on one of the trucks. The loader opperator with the pusher some how managed to plow a dumpster into a snowpile.

Geoff

 

[cutntrim]

We were out for less than 12 hours. Not bad considering our '89 GMC 2500hd blew a starter motor (i think) and left us with only two trucks instead of three. We're getting tired of repairing our trucks all the time...may be time to lease a couple new ones. We've always gone with a philosophy of buying NEW equipment and USED trucks, but we're rethinking that.

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Dave in S.Ontario

 

[plowking35]

Forcast was 3-6 and heavy ice. What we got 6" and 1/2" of ice. First time this year they were right for me.
We started at 2 pm fri with all 4 trucks. plowed till 12 midnight. Slept from 1-3 am.
Plowed from 3 am till 6 pn sat 4 trucks
Slept from 7:30 pm sat till 4:30 am sun
plowed from 5 am sun till 3 pm sun, 1 truck
caught last 30 laps of Daytons 500
What I learned this storm.
1- computer friend also plows very well
2- at 3 am I get very hungry
3- at 3 am I really hate plowing
4- after 8 hrs of sleep I really still enjoy plowing
5- I am an idiot(see#7)
6- make sure all tires on a 4x4 are the same size, all it will bind the transfere case
7- I am an idiot because I learned # 6 10 years ago and forgit ti last week. I installed new p-235/75R 16 on the front of my truck but still had -225/78r16 on the rear. when 4wd was engaged very bad sounds and vibrations ensued, plowed all night in 2wd, and spun tire all night even with 2 ton in the spreader, at 7 am sat i was at the tire store, needed new tires anyway, and it fixxed the 4wd problem, Did I mention I am an idiot
8- with new rear tires I dont need 4wd(lol)
9- tai spice capacino tastes like sh**
10- a can of deicer is a must when it is Freezing rain out, good thing I keep a can with me
11- when slushing off close drivers windows
12- salt flavored slush puppies will not catch on
13-honda 621 snow blowers still rock
14-diesel fuel is till wat to high
well I think thats it
Dino

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Professional Ice and Snow Management
Products:Services:Equipment www.sima.org

 

[John DiMartino]

Dave,I think you should keep yout old trucks until they become unreliable,a bad starter motor could've happened on a new truck.I've done it both ways and I am more comfortable when I'm not worried so much about scraping up the truck or the guy loading my spreader bumping the body with the loader.The money saved is a major plus,then the insurance etc..

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John D

 

[paul]

Geoff on another post you were the loader operator? You know hired help when they get tired you never know what they will do!

P.S. I did the same thing. lucky I had chains with me to pull out the dumpster push the snow back then replace the dumpster!!

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paul

 

[GeoffD]

During a storm that guy is the opperator. I am in a regular truck, most of the time. When it comes time to move snow after a storm, it's who ever wants to run the loader, that is good at it, or myself. Sometimes i will run it, other times i won't. I ran the loader all day today, because some of the guys needed the day off.

Geoff

 

[grasskutter]

10 inches in mass. plow driver quit after first round,never to be heard from again.Around three in the morning 3 more inches fell had to plow all 100 driveways by myself.sleep never felt so good when done- but luck prevailed nothing broke. next time I'll hire reliable people(I hope)

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Douglas Tucker

 

[DaveO]

We got 6" of wet/heavy with ice on top. Had all done by 2am Sat. Slept till 7am and went back and cleaned up the commercials(another 1"). New pump on my truck worked well(thanx Chuck), picked up couple more residentials.
Stuff was HEAVY, actually used creeper gear.

Talked to my friend who bought the SnoWay LOBO. Boy was he pissed....The rubber/plastic snofoil ripped off, broke a hydraulic piston mount on frame, sno/ice got packed in the V deflectors. He hit a storm grate to break the mount, said he hits it all the time with his Minute mounts. Plans on taking it off the truck and trade/sell it. He is tough on equipment. Lasted one real storm....

Dino how are the urethane edges holdin up?? Did they scrape this mess OK??

Geoff are ya gettin used to the pusher??

Dave

 

[GeoffD]

I have yet to use the pusher myself. Only the driver loved in this last storm.

Geoff

 

[thelawnguy]

5-6 inches central CT with 1/2 inch ice crust, spent 12 hours total sanding and plowing, I do 2 commercial lots and 30 drives/walks by myself, seems I make the same whether its 6 inches or an inch since the comm's are seasonal accounts. Got lucky saturday, hired a guy at the 7-11 to do the shoveling for me, wore out his back not mine, was worth the $60 for the six hours I had him with me, boy I hate wet snow.

Once again, knock on wood, nothing broke, four years now with no probs, and I have a 95 Dodge, John is right, when you are plowing dont ever put ypour dodge in park, leave it in N with the e-brake set I think thats why Ive been trouble-free Ive been doing the N-thing since 94 when I bought the truck.

Bill

 

[John DiMartino]

Bill,I just bought a trans go shift kit for my dodge,I will let you know how it works,I got it cheap with my shop discount,but it has instructions on how to modify the shift valve so that it will flow fliud in Park,but for now I've been setting E-brake and using neutral.With a few simple mods these trannys are tough,makes you wonder why Dodge didn't do it.Mine pushes 700+ftlbs at flywheel with no problems,ther aren't many light truck trannys that can take that,especially at 1600 rpm's.

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John D

 

[plowking35]

Urethane edges are fine. They did as well as any steel edge would have in the mess that we got. Exactly like what you had dave.
The 84 chevy is a champ, nothing has gone wrong with that truck yet, plows like a bear. The edge on that truck had 2" of material below the steel edge, I measured it today and it is now at 1.25+ . The v plow edge has worn a little quiker tho. It has 3 storm on it, and I will get another 2 no problem before having to redrill to lower it.
With the steel edges I would get about 5 storms from them, so it seems to be about =.
Dino

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Professional Ice and Snow Management
Products:Services:Equipment www.sima.org

 

[n y snow pros]

snow started friday at 830am and ended saturday at 10am.7inches of snow and 1.5 inches of ice.we salted on friday and did not plow until saturday morning at 1am leaving the snow to collect ice.we informed all customers of what we were doing so as not to have a liability nitemare by removing all the snow and leaving a skating rink.al our commercial customers understood the dilemma we were in do to the forecasted ice,but the condos went nuts and told us to plow and we refused.we stuck to our guns and the decision was the right one as towns in the area who plowed at the beginning of the storm soon regretted this move because they were left with heavy icing that they could not control.we plowed from 1am saturday until 11am saturday.we then removed snow from commercial lots at 11pm saturday until 5am sunday.we used an excavator for the 1st time to pile snow,we moved about 3000 yards of snow saturday nite.we sold 258 yards of magic salt and ran out of magic salt midnite friday nite. this was not the biggest storm for us this season but it was definitely the hardest,ice sucks but great for magic sales

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J PARKER
914-485-4200

 

[Bill c]

Hi john does that problem with the fluid not flowing in park include the 95's.We have a one ton turbo diesel that fried the transmission during the last storm.It is now at the transmission shop, is this a known problem that most rebuilders know about?