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Re: (ET) Dismal failure
After reading a few of these I guess everyone had problems, even bigger
more powerful machines so we can't blame the etracks
However, I had this stuff too here in the South of Boston area and had no
problem at all. Reason; found out long ago that the only way to handle
these 'rain then snow then freeze' or ' snow then rain than freeze'
problems' is to go out there right while it's happening and plow it then.
No matter how lousy the weather is you can't wait till it freezes. So
there I was in the pelting rain and cold, dressed for it, cleaning off
both driveways with the 145 plow. No ice underneath. Had to plan way
ahead where to put it cause it would be a big chunk of ice tomorrow and
the rest of the winter. So pushed it way back farther than normal. Even
did the sidewalk so the town machine would be able to do my part of it
during a later storm. That part went into the gutter which was flowing
real good and washing it down the storm drain.
Sure enough, bout 4 hrs later it all quickly froze and we had many
accidents (heard over the police radio) before the town could get out
there with enough salt sand in enough places. Today, the sun took what
little pieces was left on my driveways off except a couple ice blocks
that a sledgehammer will bust up tomorrow so I can plow the next one.
We have good weather reporting here - WBZ AM radio which is local and
much better than the TV and it was right on the button with that freeze.
This type of thing happens seldom but ya gotta watch for it. When it
felt like that kind of storm, turned on the radio to see if it was worth
goin out there in the rain to plow.
You shoul see all the driveways around here that belong to people new
to New England. These people are likely to be iced up til Spring. They
haven't learned the trick yet they should watch to see what us grey
haired Swamp Yankee native folk do.
Dave
Weymouth MA
On Thu, 15 Feb 2007 19:32:28 -0500 Steve & Carol Welch
<welches dejazzd com> writes:
> Jeremy,
>
> Don't feel bad about the plowing problem. I'm in the southern part
>
> of PA near Lancaster. We had snow on Tues, sleet all night Tues &
> Wed am. My E20 with blade, rubber chains & rear weight platform did
>
> fine on Tuesday with the day's snow. Wednesday late morning was an
>
> entirely different story - I couldn't even get out of my shop with
> the plow. Spent several hours with my 2-stage ICE blower (with
> driven wheels), and it was no picnic at all - lots of slippin' &
> wrestlin'.
>
> I think anyone with a blade would have had problems with this
> particular storm. Some of my neighbors have a neigboring Amish
> farmer use his skid steer to do their driveways and even he was
> having traction problems.
>
> I guess for me, the ET with blade is a fun snow toy, but if I could
>
> only have one mechanical snow device it would be my 2 stage ICE
> blower - versatile, guaranteed to (eventually) hammer through
> anything (light, dry or wet & heavy), and compact to store. Maybe I
>
> would have done better with the ET & ET blower, but I doubt it.
> Also, for the number of snows I need to clear (few), I can deal with
>
> a bit of 4-cycle air pollution. If I had lots to do, I might try
> the
> ET blower - it's just so big to store...
>
> Oh well...I really like using the ET when I can - quietly pushing
> snow around is fun!
>
> Steve
>
> Alltraxed E20
>
>
>
> On Feb 15, 2007, at 8:36 AM, Jeremy Gagliardi com wrote:
>
> > Well, I haven't posted in a while, but I feel like it after what I
>
> > experienced
> > yesterday. Call this an airing out, if you will. Caution, I'm
> not
> > on my usual
> > bandwagon.
> >
> > My tractor is currently only in service in the winter now (it
> isn't
> > able to
> > handle mowing anymore, since I moved to a hilly, landscaped lot in
>
> > suburbia).
> > So, here my tractor has been sitting in my garage for well over a
>
> > year without
> > use, but plugged in with Landis controller the entire time.
> >
> > First, the batteries were very discharged. I couldn't even get it
>
> > up to full
> > speed before the whole thing just quit. Me thinks the controller
>
> > didn't kick
> > in enough. I had to put it on a "quick" 20-minute manual charge
> > just to get
> > things going. After use, I put it on a full manual charge.
> >
> > But, now here's the really horrible part. I have the dozer blade
>
> > on for
> > plowing snow. The crossbar is off so the blade can spring up
> > whenever it
> > encounters an obstacle. Guess what happened? This snow wouldn't
>
> > budge one
> > bit. The blade just kept springing up. Plus, the rear tires
> (with
> > chains)
> > would just spin out of control.
> >
> > I got the dang thing stuck, in 2" deep snow no less, more than 3
> > times. I had
> > to get my wife to push while I drove in LL twice.
> >
> > My wife & I then spent the next hour chiseling a one-shovel width
>
> > path down
> > the sidewalks to comply with city ordinance. We didn't even feel
>
> > like getting
> > to the driveway. We weren't happy.
> >
> > To be fair, the snow was hard packed, but on the other hand only
> 2"
> > deep.
> > Meanwhile, the neighbors ICE snow throwers were handling things
> > just fine. I
> > felt particularly "behind the curve" after that. Kind of like
> when
> > I splurged
> > $500 for a brand new Newton electric walk behind mower, got
> > everything setup,
> > charged the battery, and...saw how utterly horrible it performed
> in
> > actual
> > use. It only took me 2 months to ditch the Newton and hire a lawn
>
> > service.
> >
> > --
> > Jeremy Gagliardi
> > E20
> > Potomac, Md
> >
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