What a day... (Long Rant)

[thill]

As an update, my buddy has started using the boat and he is loving it. Easy to launch and use, and runs like a top.

 

[GTS225]

WARNING!! Risque photo!










Now to get him a fishing partner. According to the caption on this photo, Sam might be looking for a partner.


Roger

 

[airshot]

I do my best these days to not know anything about outboards, bikes, and trucks around here, it lets me get more of my own stuff done. I can count on one hand how many I'd volunteer to help for free these days.

I learned the hard way at work a few years ago when I felt sorry for a younger guy who had 5 kids, a mortgage, and a wife that ran up bills like money grew on trees. His truck failed inspection for ball joints and he was broke.
Some dealer or shop quoted him $1,500. The parts were maybe $150. I told him to buy the parts, I ave him the part numbers and told him if he showed up at my house on Sat. morning with the parts and a cold cooler full of beer I'd help him replace the ball joints. He showed up at 7pm with two tie rod ends and no beer. The tie rod ends were used too.

I told him they're not the parts you need but he said they were cheaper so he bought them off CL instead. The guy told him its what his truck needed. I told him they didn't even fit his truck, and that two tie rod ends off a GM won't fit a Toyota Tacoma. I had given him the part number s and told him where to buy them.
Four weeks later after having hitched ride to work for a month, he says he got the parts and can we do it that weekend. i said okay but he needs to be there bright an early before it got too hot to work on it. He shows up at 3pm, again, no beer, and he left the parts at home an hour away.

Keep in mind this is a guy in his mid 30's with a family and 5 kids, a house, and a job driving making deliveries all day. but he couldn't seem to grasp the get here bright an early part for some reason.
I tried again the following week but he again didn't show up till dark and with only half the parts on a day it was pouring rain. He showed up completely unannounced and expected me to work on his truck in the dark, in the rain.

I did my best to be polite but when he started with something about me promising to help him and now backing out, I made it real clear he must be an absolute idiot to think anyone who offered to fix your truck for free is going to do it in the dark in the middle of a thunderstorm when for the third time you failed to show up with any cold beer, and 12 hours late for the third time in a row.

He then started about how its not his fault, he had to do something for his wife. I gave up at that point and told him to grow a pair and tell his wife she has to wait. He never did show up with the parts nor any beer. He's still hitching a ride to work because on ball joint broke and the truck is stuck at some some shop with a tow bill on it he can't afford to pay.

I thought about telling him I'd pick it up and bring it to his house so he don't get charged storage but thought better of it.
I since retired and from what I heard he's still without wheels to get to work with.

One reason I tend to mind my own business !! However I do help folks often, when it is at their place after they confirm they have the right parts...stopped working on cars and trucks now just boats and older motors.

 

[thill]

When they don't have the right parts, you are chasing your tail. Been there, done that many times...

 

[thill]

Does anyone here know much about ATV's?

 

[Ray Clark]

Does anyone here know much about ATV's?

I know that I had a Honda for 8 years with a snow blade on the front. It ran well, and the only thing I ever had to fix on it was a broken spark plug. I also know that I sold it as soon as I got a better snow handling machine.

 

[thill]

Nice machine. Do you know the trick to moving snow with an ATV? The trick is to go as fast as you can safely. Instead of using torque to push snow, going fast makes it fly off to the sides, and is MUCH easier on the machine. It's almost like having a snow blower.

Another trick is to only push a max of 6" at a time. If the snow is deep, put the blade to where it's only taking off the top 6" and go fast. Then come back with it further down until you get it all.

If you know this, sorry for boring you, but maybe it will help others. If not, give it a try. You won't go back!

 

[Keith Kirchoff01]

Think I’d sit down and have a Bourbon after that day.

 

[Keith Kirchoff01]

Good read

 

[airshot]

Does anyone here know much about ATV's?

Had a Kawasaki Praire for 15 years, great machine. It was heavy so great for plowing snow. Added some extra weight and added some ice screws to the tires, pushed like a bulldozer ! Also trail rode with it, kinda like driving a caddy thru the trails.

 

[Ray Clark]

Nice machine. Do you know the trick to moving snow with an ATV? The trick is to go as fast as you can safely. Instead of using torque to push snow, going fast makes it fly off to the sides, and is MUCH easier on the machine. It's almost like having a snow blower.

Another trick is to only push a max of 6" at a time. If the snow is deep, put the blade to where it's only taking off the top 6" and go fast. Then come back with it further down until you get it all.

If you know this, sorry for boring you, but maybe it will help others. If not, give it a try. You won't go back!

All well and good if I was only dealing with an easy snow. But that hardly ever happens here. What we typically get is a lot of drifting; we live on top of a hill and the snow swirls around the buildings.



Once the drifting starts, it's game over for the ATV/blade. And in this part of the country, the drifting ALWAYS happens.

The only way to bust the drifts was to use the two stage blower and a shovel to knock down the drifts. Depending on temperatures and the storm, these drifts can be like concrete.



These two pictures were of different storms, a couple of years apart. And the storms that left these drifts only dropped 6-8 inches of snow. The drifts are up to 36" deep. And then, depending on the storm, the drifts may reoccur with the blowing snow and wind, even though snow stopped falling up to 24 hours prior.

Don't forget the end of the 500' driveway, where our private drive connects to a numbered US highway. Iowa DOT pushes snow from the highway and that berm can close us off altogether.

I had great hopes for the ATV and blade when I got that setup. Just not the right tool for us and our property.

 

[lckstckn2smknbrls]

Can you mount a gas-powered snow blower on the ATV?

 

[Ray Clark]

Can you mount a gas-powered snow blower on the ATV?

I suppose you could; it would require a fair amount of fabrication and you'd have to solve the issue of nearly all snowblowers being narrower than the wheel track of the ATV.

My snowblower weighs nearly 300 pounds. Weight and balance on the ATV would be an issue as well.

I kept my snowblower; it's good for working close to walls and such. There will always be a place for it around here. My heavy snow mover now is a 22HP subcompact utility tractor with front end loader and rear scraper blade. At some point in the future I might choose to add a large blower to that setup, but I need to get some snow removal experience with it first before I contemplate spending $5-6K on a blower.

 

[thill]

Had a Kawasaki Praire for 15 years, great machine. It was heavy so great for plowing snow. Added some extra weight and added some ice screws to the tires, pushed like a bulldozer ! Also trail rode with it, kinda like driving a caddy thru the trails.

They really are good-riding machines. I've had (2) 360's and they run trails like a billy-goat! Very capable, just not much top speed. All you need back in the woods, though.

I just picked up a 2003 Prairie 650 as a semi-project. It starts and runs, but needs a lot of maintenance. Carb and fuel system cleaning, fluid changes, etc. Not pretty, but it might be a good ride. Only has 200-something hours on it, so not used hard at all. Just went hunting on the PO's personal property. The original brakes have almost no wear after 21 years!

 

[thill]

All well and good if I was only dealing with an easy snow. But that hardly ever happens here. What we typically get is a lot of drifting; we live on top of a hill and the snow swirls around the buildings.

View attachment 123342

Once the drifting starts, it's game over for the ATV/blade. And in this part of the country, the drifting ALWAYS happens.

The only way to bust the drifts was to use the two stage blower and a shovel to knock down the drifts. Depending on temperatures and the storm, these drifts can be like concrete.

View attachment 123343

These two pictures were of different storms, a couple of years apart. And the storms that left these drifts only dropped 6-8 inches of snow. The drifts are up to 36" deep. And then, depending on the storm, the drifts may reoccur with the blowing snow and wind, even though snow stopped falling up to 24 hours prior.

Don't forget the end of the 500' driveway, where our private drive connects to a numbered US highway. Iowa DOT pushes snow from the highway and that berm can close us off altogether.

I had great hopes for the ATV and blade when I got that setup. Just not the right tool for us and our property.

I see what you mean. Snow that turns to concrete is tough!!! I also have a tractor for that.

A friend told me before I bought a tractor, that I wouldn't realize how much I needed a tractor until I got one, and then I would probably never get rid of it unless I upgrade to a better one. He was 100% correct!

 

[Lost But Happy]

@Ray Clark

Get yerself one of these bad boys. Problem solved

 

[airshot]

Years back when we used to get snow, our drive often drifted over two feet or more. That is when I bought my big two stage blower. Just busted threw a couple long trenches so I could use the ATV blade to finnish pushing the rest. Then, I got smart and moved up to a side x side, being much heavier it pushes deep snow much better! Even added an enclosure and a heater! Pushing snow was fun again...after getting things all setup.....no more snow! No snow the last two winters and not enough snow for a shovel the two years prior to those....all kinds of toys and no snow to play in....

 

[Ray Clark]

@Ray Clark

Get yerself one of these bad boys. Problem solved

View attachment 123344

Sometimes Iowa DOT runs a similar machine along the highway to bust drifts. The snow we got the first week of January 2024 closed U.S. 6 in front of our house for more than a day. DOT had to send out those beasts to clear the highway. I"m like a little kid when these things come a workin'...I just have to stand by and watch. I'm sure glad that I don't have a day job I have to get to when it snows.

As also mentioned, love my new-to-me tractor with FEL. I use it all the time for all sorts of stuff. And yeah, that little kid feeling happens when I get to dig int he dirt and play with that FEL.

 

[thill]

Do you have teeth for your bucket? If you like to dig, you will REALLY like how much better it digs with teeth. I got a removeable set for mine, and I don't use it when grooming our gravel, but it's AWESOME when moving mulch, dirt, or actually digging.

I got one similar to this one:

https://www.amazon.com/TROPOW-Bucket-Tractor-Protection-Excavation/dp/B0D6BKM2SD

 

[Ray Clark]

Do you have teeth for your bucket? If you like to dig, you will REALLY like how much better it digs with teeth. I got a removeable set for mine, and I don't use it when grooming our gravel, but it's AWESOME when moving mulch, dirt, or actually digging.

I got one similar to this one:

https://www.amazon.com/TROPOW-Bucket-Tractor-Protection-Excavation/dp/B0D6BKM2SD

I don't have a toothed bar, but want to get one. My buddy has one on his small JD and swears by it. A friend of his fab'd it up; I'm sure the guy will do one for me as well...for a price, of course.