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437 Posts
Hi All,
As promised, I wanted to give a report of how well HDAPs (Carlisle All Trail's) without chains handled snow removal duty on my GX345 (without diff-lock). We have 4 suitcase weights on the back, no wheel weights, and the tires aren't loaded.
I got the 23x10.50-12 All-Trails from http://www.tiresunlimited.com for $133.66 (free shipping even), and got them mounted just in time -- they were only put on Friday afternoon. The roads were already really rough by then, and the wife would have preferred that I come straight home instead of stopping at the service station to pick them up, but I'm glad I did.
Friday night we got about 8" or so of snow, and no problems getting though it at all pushing the blade.
Saturday, I opened the garage door to about 30" of snow, so I swapped over to the blower. I had just picked up a 3252X, 42" model, off of craigslist for $200. Coolest thing was, it had never been used. When I first hit the PTO, I thought something may have been wrong, as it ran dead silent -- but it worked fine, and again, no slipping from the HDAPs. I had the driveway cleared in about 10 minutes.
I noticed my neighbor hadn't done his driveway either day, so I called him (hoping and hoping and hoping for some more seat time!) to ask if he was having any issues with his Cub Cadet and front blade. The blade is only maybe 12" tall on that machine, so I knew it would be pretty rough going for him anyway. As luck would have it (bad luck for Team Cub, good luck for Team Green!) he hadn't had much luck plowing, and had gotten a flat tire to boot. I told him I'd give him a hand clearing his 1,200' driveway.
:bannana: :bananapow :bannana:
I didn't want to attempt to try cutting in from the main road (we're on a main state road, on a blind curve no less) so I carved a path out across our lawn and started from there.
I'm still new to this tractor, and new to snowblowing on any tractor, but I quickly picked up on a method -- push-a-few-feet-forward, reverse, and go forward again in a 'W' pattern, to open up a path over to his drive. Within an hour, I had gotten his drive cleared wide enough for a vehicle, up to about 30' from the area he had shovelled near his home. Impatiently (and stupidly), I tried to 'charge' through the remaining stretch.
I don't have drift cutters (but I bought some flat stock this morning and soon will have some temporary ones!) so one of my big problems was when I undercut the snow with the blower (in some places higher than the chute), the rest fell behind the blower and got trampled by the tractor, creating slippery spots.
In my last mad charge, I undercut so much snow, I did get stuck for a couple of minutes until my neighbor could get through the snow to help push me back some until I had grip again. I took the rest patiently, and was done in a few minutes. I then did some high-speed runs up and down the drive shearing a nice smooth 'snowblower wall' on either side, and making sure it was passable for his car and van.
Sooooo... all in all, the HDAPs performed BETTER than I possibly could have imagined. I only needed assistance because of my own impatience, and if I had a diff-lock transaxle, I may not have even needed it then. (BTW - I did pick up a 2005 GX diff-lock trans which will be going in sometime soon)
I highly recommend the HDAPs, and give a big thanks to slkpk for talking me into getting them!
I may still pick up chains though, as my shed is about 500' from our driveway, and I have to go across the yard and up a slope to get to it. With the chains, I imagine it may be nearly unstoppable. I also want to get a pair of the drift cutters that Stladrill found, as I like how they can be retracted when not in use.
Now I'm actually looking forward to the additional 8-12" they've forecasted for tomorrow night. Gotta go rescue that Cub Cadet again hehehehehe!!!!
I'll try to snap a shot of the neighbor's drive, too, tonight and add it to the thread. Also threw in a grille emblem shot for KATT. =)
PS - When I stopped at Home Depot this morning to get the flat stock, I picked up a JD deluxe tractor cover for $25 on clearance. Can't hurt to check your local store to see if they have any if you need one.
As promised, I wanted to give a report of how well HDAPs (Carlisle All Trail's) without chains handled snow removal duty on my GX345 (without diff-lock). We have 4 suitcase weights on the back, no wheel weights, and the tires aren't loaded.
I got the 23x10.50-12 All-Trails from http://www.tiresunlimited.com for $133.66 (free shipping even), and got them mounted just in time -- they were only put on Friday afternoon. The roads were already really rough by then, and the wife would have preferred that I come straight home instead of stopping at the service station to pick them up, but I'm glad I did.
Friday night we got about 8" or so of snow, and no problems getting though it at all pushing the blade.
Saturday, I opened the garage door to about 30" of snow, so I swapped over to the blower. I had just picked up a 3252X, 42" model, off of craigslist for $200. Coolest thing was, it had never been used. When I first hit the PTO, I thought something may have been wrong, as it ran dead silent -- but it worked fine, and again, no slipping from the HDAPs. I had the driveway cleared in about 10 minutes.
I noticed my neighbor hadn't done his driveway either day, so I called him (hoping and hoping and hoping for some more seat time!) to ask if he was having any issues with his Cub Cadet and front blade. The blade is only maybe 12" tall on that machine, so I knew it would be pretty rough going for him anyway. As luck would have it (bad luck for Team Cub, good luck for Team Green!) he hadn't had much luck plowing, and had gotten a flat tire to boot. I told him I'd give him a hand clearing his 1,200' driveway.
:bannana: :bananapow :bannana:
I didn't want to attempt to try cutting in from the main road (we're on a main state road, on a blind curve no less) so I carved a path out across our lawn and started from there.
I'm still new to this tractor, and new to snowblowing on any tractor, but I quickly picked up on a method -- push-a-few-feet-forward, reverse, and go forward again in a 'W' pattern, to open up a path over to his drive. Within an hour, I had gotten his drive cleared wide enough for a vehicle, up to about 30' from the area he had shovelled near his home. Impatiently (and stupidly), I tried to 'charge' through the remaining stretch.
I don't have drift cutters (but I bought some flat stock this morning and soon will have some temporary ones!) so one of my big problems was when I undercut the snow with the blower (in some places higher than the chute), the rest fell behind the blower and got trampled by the tractor, creating slippery spots.
In my last mad charge, I undercut so much snow, I did get stuck for a couple of minutes until my neighbor could get through the snow to help push me back some until I had grip again. I took the rest patiently, and was done in a few minutes. I then did some high-speed runs up and down the drive shearing a nice smooth 'snowblower wall' on either side, and making sure it was passable for his car and van.
Sooooo... all in all, the HDAPs performed BETTER than I possibly could have imagined. I only needed assistance because of my own impatience, and if I had a diff-lock transaxle, I may not have even needed it then. (BTW - I did pick up a 2005 GX diff-lock trans which will be going in sometime soon)
I highly recommend the HDAPs, and give a big thanks to slkpk for talking me into getting them!
I may still pick up chains though, as my shed is about 500' from our driveway, and I have to go across the yard and up a slope to get to it. With the chains, I imagine it may be nearly unstoppable. I also want to get a pair of the drift cutters that Stladrill found, as I like how they can be retracted when not in use.
Now I'm actually looking forward to the additional 8-12" they've forecasted for tomorrow night. Gotta go rescue that Cub Cadet again hehehehehe!!!!
I'll try to snap a shot of the neighbor's drive, too, tonight and add it to the thread. Also threw in a grille emblem shot for KATT. =)
PS - When I stopped at Home Depot this morning to get the flat stock, I picked up a JD deluxe tractor cover for $25 on clearance. Can't hurt to check your local store to see if they have any if you need one.
