RE: (ET) First snow report from the blower

["Markus Lorch" <mlorch vt edu>]

> Speaking of snow in Maryland, I finally got to try out my 
> dozer blade at the new house.  I have a corner lot, and thus 
> double the sidewalks as the others.  My town *requires* 
> sidewalks be cleared within 24 hours.  This makes using the 
> ET all the more appealing to me, because in addition to 
> keeping the front walk and driveway clear, I have to clear 
> about 500 linear feet of sidwalk.

I can't wait until we get snow in SW Virginia. My blade's
been hooked up and the tractor ready for months now!!
I was in Germany for christmas at my dad's place and we 
had several inches of snow every day... my dad's driveway
takes over half an hour for two mento shovel by hand, quite 
a bit more if you are alone. I wished so hard I had my 
ET around but it was a bit unpractial to pack it in the 
suitcase :)


> Also, I had the crossbar on the back of the dozer off (the 
> one that locks the blade in place vertically).  It's a good 
> thing too, especially for snow plowing.  I hit a few 
> highpoints on the sidewalk, and the blade just cantilevered 
> with the obstruction and sprung back into place after passing 
> it by.  If I had the crossbar in place, I'm sure I'd've bent 
> or broken something (maybe the sidewalk).  The last time I 
> used the crossbar (for plowing out a garden), the crossbar 
> ended up 2 inches bent out of shape, and it's half-inch 
> diameter solid steel.

I've used my blade for grading before and always had it
locked in the center position. If you hit something close
to the ground the blade will tilt forward (its being vertical
by the two spings). I thought that was enough of protection.
Of course if you end up driving against a power pole or
something like it then this feature won't help - something will
give :)

> One last note, I hadn't attended to my tractor in well over 4 
> months (dormant since end of summer), and the batteries were 
> still fully charged a-la the Landis Controller.

I can't leave my tractors alone for more than a few days :) ... have
to check on them and "fix" or "try" something. When I get home to
Virginia this weekend (am on travel in Chicago) I hope to find some
snow .... lets see

Markus
E20 BA and CC

>