Graders with V-plows & wings.

[kshansen]

Here's what it looked like the first time I opened it. The previous picture was the third time it drifted shut that Winter.

Just out of curiosity I had to look up the average annual snow fall for Missouri. Seems the most snow is in the Rolla area.with 18.9 inches average per year.

As a comparison Lowville NY in the last 24-36 hours got 14 inches. The average for Syracuse not far from me averages 123.8 inches!

Had to check Old-Iron's area and according to the inernet Moose Lake Minn only gets 40 inches on average!

 

[colson04]

Just out of curiosity I had to look up the average annual snow fall for Missouri. Seems the most snow is in the Rolla area.with 18.9 inches average per year.

As a comparison Lowville NY in the last 24-36 hours got 14 inches. The average for Syracuse not far from me averages 123.8 inches!

Had to check Old-Iron's area and according to the inernet Moose Lake Minn only gets 40 inches on average!

It's not always volume of snow that matters though. The wind plays a critical role in road conditions.

I grew up in the Midwest snow belt, always saw lots of snow covered roads, but nothing too serious in terms of drifting. I started working in western North Dakota where it's flat, has marginal snow fall, but very consistent high winds during the winter. It's very common to have roads drifted shut on a daily basis without even getting new snow. It just keeps blowing the same snow around.

On one site south of New Town, we had a lease road that we had to bust open every 12 hours for about month to keep the truck traffic flowing to our rig. We were burning a tanker of diesel every 3-4 days and had to make sure we didn't miss a shipment, along with the other necessary supplies to keep operations going. That wind kept up a relentless battle for access that I had never seen.

 

[Shimmy1]

Here's what it looked like the first time I opened it. The previous picture was the third time it drifted shut that Winter.

Here, the few grader guys that are left that ran in the early '90s will not put the v-plow on until they cannot push their way through with the dozer blade. Reason being the v-plow throws snow both ways, creating ridges on both sides. Push through with the dozer, wing the snow to the south or east and then the snow has a chance to blow on through.

 

[ovrszd]

It's not always volume of snow that matters though. The wind plays a critical role in road conditions.

I grew up in the Midwest snow belt, always saw lots of snow covered roads, but nothing too serious in terms of drifting. I started working in western North Dakota where it's flat, has marginal snow fall, but very consistent high winds during the winter. It's very common to have roads drifted shut on a daily basis without even getting new snow. It just keeps blowing the same snow around.

On one site south of New Town, we had a lease road that we had to bust open every 12 hours for about month to keep the truck traffic flowing to our rig. We were burning a tanker of diesel every 3-4 days and had to make sure we didn't miss a shipment, along with the other necessary supplies to keep operations going. That wind kept up a relentless battle for access that I had never seen.

Yep. Our volume of snow isn't the problem. Problem comes when you get dry snow, followed by cold weather and high wind. The one picture above of me looking over the plow at a drifted road happened because of wind, not snowfall.

 

[ovrszd]

View attachment 175993

Here, the few grader guys that are left that ran in the early '90s will not put the v-plow on until they cannot push their way through with the dozer blade. Reason being the v-plow throws snow both ways, creating ridges on both sides. Push through with the dozer, wing the snow to the south or east and then the snow has a chance to blow on through.

Yep, I only carry the plow when I have to. I have used the plow to punch a hole thru toward the upwind side. Then keep rolling the downwind snow windrow toward the road bank until that half of the road is clear. In the end I have moved a considerable percentage of that snow toward the downwind side, reducing the chances of the road drifting back full.

In these discussions I think it's important to keep in mind there are several types of snowfall. Each requires a different approach at removing. It even affects the angle or rotation of the moldboard to get the best results. Heck, I've even changed that during the day as conditions evolve.

 

[ovrszd]

Just out of curiosity I had to look up the average annual snow fall for Missouri. Seems the most snow is in the Rolla area.with 18.9 inches average per year.

As a comparison Lowville NY in the last 24-36 hours got 14 inches. The average for Syracuse not far from me averages 123.8 inches!

Had to check Old-Iron's area and according to the inernet Moose Lake Minn only gets 40 inches on average!

Yep. But does the 123" lay all Winter or does it periodically melt off?? And if it lays all Winter I'd love to see some pics taken in late Winter!!!

 

[old-iron-habit]

And Heaven Forbid if they can't get to town for more than an hour or so!!!!! To be snowed in all day would be horrible!!!! Especially if they lost Internet/Phone service!!!!

I remember when I was living on a rented farm house 4 miles out of town at about 21 0r 22 years old. After being snowed in for 3 days and tired of me and the dog biting each other, I stuck my snowshoes on and headed cross country to town. Got to town and the town was closed up, nothing open but the laundromat and that was deserted. I warmed up a few minutes and walked back home. At least I was worn out and content to hang out for another day and 1/2 until the roads got plowed. That's the last big storm I remember. In about 1973 or 1974 or so.

 

[kshansen]

Yep. But does the 123" lay all Winter or does it periodically melt off?? And if it lays all Winter I'd love to see some pics taken in late Winter!!!

True, more so the last 10 to 15 years snow melts off quite a bit between snow falls around here but that can vary quite a bit just by traveling maybe 50 miles north. One guy I worked with who lives just over 40 miles north of me has at times been snowed in with 3 to 4 feet of snow in his driveway and on the roads while you couldn't find enough snow on my 5 acres to make a snow ball!

Then back in the mid `70's when I built our house for over a week I would come home from work and have to snow blow the drive at the house we were renting 1/4 mile up the road load snow blower on truck and drive down to new house spend a couple hooures clearing that out while wife work on the sheet rock finishing. Then load blower back up and go back to the rental and park in a snow drift till morning.

This is what some of those a bit north have to deal with once in a while during the average winter:


That might have been in just 24 hours!

 

[ovrszd]

Those city crews that have to clear those streets have my respect!!!!

In my 50 miles I rarely have 1 vehicle to deal with and if so the farmer is usually just stuck and sitting in his truck waiting for me to pull him out. I deal with 25 mailboxes and driveways. Otherwise it's just plowing country roads with an occasional crossroad.

 

[old-iron-habit]

Just out of curiosity I had to look up the average annual snow fall for Missouri. Seems the most snow is in the Rolla area.with 18.9 inches average per year.

As a comparison Lowville NY in the last 24-36 hours got 14 inches. The average for Syracuse not far from me averages 123.8 inches!

Had to check Old-Iron's area and according to the inernet Moose Lake Minn only gets 40 inches on average![/QUOTE


Don't snow when it gets cold! We measure different here. We measure how deep it is on the ground by spring, although the last few years we have had probably less than 40" total. Brown here today yet. We have only had 7" of wet stuff in early November and it quickly melted. Last year I never plowed my driveway at all.

 

[Graderfan1981]

Here a an older video from a grader which i find on youtube:

 

[Graderfan1981]

I find another video from grader with V plow:

 

[ovrszd]

It's been a few years since we've had that type of snow,,,, but,,,,, I can soooo relate to that!!!!! After 12-14 hours of that you are exhausted. I've stopped and slept in the grader for 15-30 minutes and then go again. You get so tired you can't control the grader.

 

[CAT140H]

This is still from 2012 when I ran a Cat 140H. Now the Capital I One way plow is on a Cat 140M grader.
Don't have a up to date picture

 

[kshansen]

Yep. But does the 123" lay all Winter or does it periodically melt off?? And if it lays all Winter I'd love to see some pics taken in late Winter!!!

ovrszd, I know you said "late winter" but how about just what a town about 75 miles north of me has to deal with from the last week?

 

[Twisted]

The majority of the roads in my rural part of MN are gravel and maintained by graders. I haven't seen any of the v-plows mounted on a grader for close to 30 years. The machines are getting larger and more productive is the biggest part. Now if the grader can't push through with a one-way, the call in some dozers. It seems like if the snow gets deep enough for a v-plow, the banks will be too high and drift in immediately again. We deal with more wind issues than snow depth.

 

[ovrszd]

ovrszd, I know you said "late winter" but how about just what a town about 75 miles north of me has to deal with from the last week?
View attachment 176431

That's awesome!!!! Unless you are living it,,,, then it sucks!!!!

 

[ovrszd]

The majority of the roads in my rural part of MN are gravel and maintained by graders. I haven't seen any of the v-plows mounted on a grader for close to 30 years. The machines are getting larger and more productive is the biggest part. Now if the grader can't push through with a one-way, the call in some dozers. It seems like if the snow gets deep enough for a v-plow, the banks will be too high and drift in immediately again. We deal with more wind issues than snow depth.

That's my issue here as well. As someone earlier quoted our average annual snowfall,,,,, which means nothing,,,,, the following wind is what kills us. Our roads are not elevated with snow issues in mind. So when we get wind, rather than sweep the road clean, it deposits snow into the roadway area. After a couple pushes it gets so packed you have no place to store it.......

We don't own a dozer so we rely on the V-plow. Luckily it hasn't gotten bad enough to recruit a dozer for several years. The township North of me has used a dozer several times in the past. Their roads and landscape are worse than mine.

 

[kshansen]

That's awesome!!!! Unless you are living it,,,, then it sucks!!!!

And that area is not expecting to see highs above the teens till the second week of January and this Sunday the high is predicted as a -2ºF and the low is -19ºF , those are "Real degrees and not wind chill", so I would not expect to see too much in the area of a thaw!

 

[hvy 1ton]

We don't own a dozer so we rely on the V-plow. Luckily it hasn't gotten bad enough to recruit a dozer for several years. The township North of me has used a dozer several times in the past. Their roads and landscape are worse than mine.

I can't help but think of the 345 hooked on to a loader bucket clearing snow. You don't wanna know how long i dug around before I remembered it was working an avalanche. https://www.heavyequipmentforums.com/threads/345-vs-avalanche.17681/