On 02/17/2021 12:03 PM, wrote:
ISTR in 2013 we got 60 inches of snow over the course of the winter, with
precious little thawing until spring. Even the snowblower was having a
hard time throwing snow up over the piles next to the driveway.

The neighbors think I'm weird but I was raised in upstate NY. At the
start of the season I push the snow back much wider than the driveway.
The berm gets higher and the driveway narrower as the winter goes on.

One year a woman decided the nice, wide driveway was a great place to
turn around except where she puled in was actually the lawn. Her father
came by the next day with his truck to extract her.

Maybe it isn't just my style that amuses the neighbors. Most of them
consider snow is what 4 wheel drive is made for. I have an ulterior
motive. The clearer I keep it, the faster it melts off in the spring so
I can get one of the bikes on the road.

On 02/17/2021 01:55 PM, Dean Hoffman wrote:
Maybe Micky should look into getting some sort of floor scraper. I use an
old fashioned grain scoop shovel.
https://www.harborfreight.com/media/catalog/product/i/m/image_22419.jpg

I bought one of those one winter when there wasn't a snow shovel to be
found but didn't really like it. Now I have three snow shovels in
various states of repair. Those plastic D handles don't hold up but I
found replacements on Amazon. One is an old school steel blade that's
great for chopping hardpack but it noticeably heavier when throwing snow.

The neighbors think I'm weird but I was raised in upstate NY. At the
start of the season I push the snow back much wider than the driveway.
The berm gets higher and the driveway narrower as the winter goes on.


+ 1

Nothing worse than having 2 inches of snow fall from the sky -
and a bit of wind - making it 2 feet deep !
between the banks of the driveway !
.. keep it flat - the wind blows it on
to the neighbours .
John T.

On 2/17/2021 9:32 PM, rbowman wrote:
On 02/17/2021 12:03 PM, wrote:
ISTR in 2013 we got 60 inches of snow over the course of the winter, with
precious little thawing until spring.Â* Even the snowblower was having a
hard time throwing snow up over the piles next to the driveway.

The neighbors think I'm weird but I was raised in upstate NY. At the
start of the season I push the snow back much wider than the driveway.
The berm gets higher and the driveway narrower as the winter goes on.

One year a woman decided the nice, wide driveway was a great place to
turn around except where she puled in was actually the lawn. Her father
came by the next day with his truck to extract her.

Maybe it isn't just my style that amuses the neighbors. Most of them
consider snow is what 4 wheel drive is made for. I have an ulterior
motive. The clearer I keep it, the faster it melts off in the spring so
I can get one of the bikes on the road.

I like the way you think . If it wasn't so much work for so little
gain there would be a set of chains on the back and a ski on the front
of that Sportster trike . I can barely imagine the trouble I could get
into on a rig like that . Capable of speeds in excess of 100 miles per
hour , what could possibly go wrong ?
--
Snag
In 1775, the British demanded we give them our guns.
We shot them.

On Wed, 17 Feb 2021 18:35:02 -0500, wrote:



It would take all day to clear 180 deet of 4 foot wide sidewalk and a
4 car deiveway of 8 inches of snow with that thing!!!. The YT624 does
it in about half an hour.


Used ones sell for a pretty price - what's it cost new ! ?

https://www.kijiji.ca/v-snowblower/s...624/1549622228

Is the track-drive a good thing ? turn radius issues ?

I'm considering a blower for next year - I've always just used
a big walk-behind scoop to good effect.

John T.
I think they were about 2400 new - I paid $900 for mine 3 years old
with one or 2 seasons of use, The Hydro drive is it's strong point -
and the tracks have a LOT more traction than tires. Turning is an art
- you tip it up on the ends of the tracks and you can turn it on a
dime - or you can attempt to man-handle it flat. The 12 volt electric
start is nice too. The only thing I don't like is how complex it is to
change belts!!! Takes about 3 hours by the time you've done it 2 or 3
tomes compared to about 20 minutes on an old MTD or Canadiana.
Definitely the best blower I have owned or used and worth every penny
I paid for it. Would have likely been worth it at new price too, but
I'm CHEAP!!!! (My last blower was about 35 or 40 years old Noma
Canadiana 528 - I bought it used 15 years old for $300 and sold it for
$350 after a bad blizzard when I was finished with it.)

On Wed, 17 Feb 2021 19:08:24 -0500, Ed Pawlowski wrote:

On 2/17/2021 6:50 PM, wrote:
On Wed, 17 Feb 2021 18:35:02 -0500, wrote:



It would take all day to clear 180 deet of 4 foot wide sidewalk and a
4 car deiveway of 8 inches of snow with that thing!!!. The YT624 does
it in about half an hour.


Used ones sell for a pretty price - what's it cost new ! ?

https://www.kijiji.ca/v-snowblower/s...624/1549622228

Is the track-drive a good thing ? turn radius issues ?

I'm considering a blower for next year - I've always just used
a big walk-behind scoop to good effect.

John T.


Found it - it's the wee little of their line-up :-)

https://tinyurl.com/1mz23orq

John T.


Nice, but pricey. I had an $800 Arians that got the job done for my
needs. Sold it to my neighbor when I went south.

It was fun the day after a good snowfall, but the slush and slop and
sand after was always a mess. I don't miss that part of it.
The old Ariens were bulletproof - I maintain a 50 year old one and
it just keeps going and going and going. Had to replace the fuel tank
this year - it had cracked. The new ones - at least the consumer grafe
crap you buy at Home Despot etc are CRAP!!!!!
I liked the old Ariens Pro with the locking differential and the auger
lockout lever. The old Simplicitied and Hahn Eclipse units were good
too. That said you will have to pry the hydrostatic drive controls of
my Yammy out of my cold dead hands!!!!!

On Wed, 17 Feb 2021 22:55:27 -0500, wrote:



The neighbors think I'm weird but I was raised in upstate NY. At the
start of the season I push the snow back much wider than the driveway.
The berm gets higher and the driveway narrower as the winter goes on.


+ 1

Nothing worse than having 2 inches of snow fall from the sky -
and a bit of wind - making it 2 feet deep !
between the banks of the driveway !
.. keep it flat - the wind blows it on
to the neighbours .
John T.

An other nice thing about the Yammy - I can blow the snow from my
driveway across the neighbour's double driveway into the middle of his
front lawn - about 50 feet. There IS about 4 feet piled up between the
driveways right now from both of us shoveling the frequent light
snowfalls. (I've used the blower 3 times so far this year - shovelled
all the rest - gotta do something to keep from getting fat being
locked up at home for the last year - - -

On Wed, 17 Feb 2021 22:44:38 -0600, Snag wrote:

On 2/17/2021 9:32 PM, rbowman wrote:
On 02/17/2021 12:03 PM, wrote:
ISTR in 2013 we got 60 inches of snow over the course of the winter, with
precious little thawing until spring.* Even the snowblower was having a
hard time throwing snow up over the piles next to the driveway.

The neighbors think I'm weird but I was raised in upstate NY. At the
start of the season I push the snow back much wider than the driveway.
The berm gets higher and the driveway narrower as the winter goes on.

One year a woman decided the nice, wide driveway was a great place to
turn around except where she puled in was actually the lawn. Her father
came by the next day with his truck to extract her.

Maybe it isn't just my style that amuses the neighbors. Most of them
consider snow is what 4 wheel drive is made for. I have an ulterior
motive. The clearer I keep it, the faster it melts off in the spring so
I can get one of the bikes on the road.

I like the way you think . If it wasn't so much work for so little
gain there would be a set of chains on the back and a ski on the front
of that Sportster trike . I can barely imagine the trouble I could get
into on a rig like that . Capable of speeds in excess of 100 miles per
hour , what could possibly go wrong ?
That's snowmobile performance. Ask my kid brother what kind of
trouble that can get you into. Long ago we gave up comparing him to a
cat - he'd outlasted a whole litter of kittens at 9 lives each - - -

In alt.home.repair, on Wed, 17 Feb 2021 11:03:01 -0800 (PST),
" wrote:

On Wednesday, February 17, 2021 at 1:32:45 PM UTC-5, micky wrote:
BTW. after all these years, I have a new improved way of shoveling the
sidewalk, that's faster, better, and takes less effort.

The whole word "shoveling" seems like the wrong word now because surely
shovel ling meant putting the shovel under the snow and lifting it and
throwing it to the side.

The last two times, I used a spade, with a flat end. Just put it end
down on the sidewalk and slide it to the side. Lift it an inch or two
and do the next row of snow.

No lifting the shovel or the snow, no throwing it, and for a guy with
breathing problems some times (well, only when I'm working hard), I can
do four times as much without getting running out of breath. 60 feet
instead of 15.

I hate to break it to you, but that's how all of us old farts shovel snow.

Who knew?

Of course, after a few snowfalls without a thaw in between, one does have
to lift the snow up over the piles of snow at the edge of the sidewalk.

Even in INdiana, where it was colder than here, we didn't have that much
snow.

I had a 150 foot driveway to shovel but I only shoveled where the tires
were to go. It was up to my mother to back up within those two 1-foot
paths. She did pretty good.

ISTR in 2013 we got 60 inches of snow over the course of the winter, with
precious little thawing until spring. Even the snowblower was having a
hard time throwing snow up over the piles next to the driveway.

Cindy Hamilton

In alt.home.repair, on Wed, 17 Feb 2021 18:11:30 -0500, Clare Snyder
wrote:

On Wed, 17 Feb 2021 13:32:39 -0500, micky
wrote:

BTW. after all these years, I have a new improved way of shoveling the
sidewalk, that's faster, better, and takes less effort.

The whole word "shoveling" seems like the wrong word now because surely
shovel ling meant putting the shovel under the snow and lifting it and
throwing it to the side.

The last two times, I used a spade, with a flat end. Just put it end
down on the sidewalk and slide it to the side. Lift it an inch or two
and do the next row of snow.

No lifting the shovel or the snow, no throwing it, and for a guy with
breathing problems some times (well, only when I'm working hard), I can
do four times as much without getting running out of breath. 60 feet
instead of 15.


BTW, my father bought the spade around 1945 and except for some of the
blue paint on the side of the handle wearing off, it's still as good as
new.

Like this but the blade is not stainless and it's even flatter at the
end.
https://www.amazon.com/Bosmere-Jacks...D0/ref=sr_1_49

It would take all day to clear 180 deet of 4 foot wide sidewalk and a

I don't see any point to clearing a 4-foot wide path when I only need 8
inches.

4 car deiveway of 8 inches of snow with that thing!!!. The YT624 does

Or a 4-car driveway. When I had a driveway, I only cleared a path for
the tires.

it in about half an hour. If it snows less than 3 inches at a time I
clear it with the 22 inch Garrant Yukon Ergonomic snow pusher
(https://www.walmart.ca/en/ip/21-inch...r/4Y9TPF0SXRMR)
in about the same amount of time.