The AM Forum

I love the abuse of our town snow plow driver. Over the last 4 years I can say this guy is batting at least 900.  It never fails. Within 30 minutes of me cleaning up the mess and getting the end of the driveway clear so I don't feel like I 'm driving over a curb he comes by and buries it back in. Even if I clean it back 30 or so feet along the roadway he finds a way to fill in the end.  I swear he waits for me to take off my boots, get indoors and relaxed.  I have to give the guy credit for consistency and doing a good job otherwise.  :)

For humor content only...

About 10ft or so 'upstream' of your driveway, plant something very solid like 3ft of 6-inch Ibeam, or rail-way rail, leaving only 4-6 inches exposed.  The corner of the plow will strike the obstacle, and this will cause the plow to drop off the release dumping it's load (it's a safety mechanism to keep the plow from comming to a very sudden stop). This will dump the snow before the plow and build the ridge infront of your yard.  Eventually the driver will learn to avoid said obstacle due to the shock effect...

Easier but no less illegal - leave a quantity of beer on your mailbox with a sign for the snow plow driver... you may eventually get your whole driveway plowed or atleast the ridge removed.  Of course after enough beer, there may be a rash of lost or destroyed mailboxes.

The $200 I paid plus some $100 in repair parts, for a 78 F-250 4x4 5 years ago has more than earned its keep. Naturally its long beyond inspectable but the heater works great and the 400M engine guzzles a prodigious amount of gas....maybe I should spend the bucks for a carb rebuild kit ::)

Carl

Just tore down my little Toro 1800 electric snow blower.  Has run well for about 6 years, but last week it suddenly quit after making a funny motor noise and some bad burning electric smell.

Motor crapped out - first saw that the phenolic brush mounting plate had broken, leaving a brush adrift.  Toro price of a new motor is $283 dollars for a $299 blower!!!! Thought about JSing a repair to the brush mounting, but then saw WHY the mounting plate broke - one of the commutator bars had popped out off the rotor just enough to catch a brush and break the plate.  Never saw a motor fail THAT way before. Well, off to the dump it goes.....

my 1975 Sears 7HP is really running well and the points have warn down almost enough so I can use the pull start. I set the new points .002 inches wider gap a few years ago but it advanced the spark a lot. Pull start would kick enough that thr rope wanted to rip my hand off my arm. Old snow blowers run much better on premium gas. Back then regular crap gas was the same as premium of today. KNOCK ON WOOD!

Just have to get yourself one of these Bob and throw it right back at him.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhL7GhHmADs&NR=1

I like this one better however.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iz-YKdvM9RE&feature=related

My 5HP Craftsman snowblower would not start for the first time in 16 years. My back constantly thanks me for purchasing the Bobcat 23HP diesel tractor with front-end loader.

THE BIG snow blower/thrower caught my eye!!!

Fred

If this is a repeat, my apologies

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-mQ5SHPXuLA&NR=1

I especially like the YL reporter getting  hit with a bunch snow from a snow plow. Then there are the folks who bail out of their  cars just before a collision

Your story brings back many a bad memory for me, Bob. The VT house is on a small hill near the center of town, the first place on the right as you head up the hill. Nothing below but a side street and one business. After the first storm or two the guardrail below my property overlooking a drop off would get plugged up tight with packed snow.

The next big storm, up the hill comes the town plow. The plugged guard rail, steep bank in front on my house, and lack of other openings meant the large plow would load up with snow, having no place for it to slide off, then dump it all in my driveway. It was typical to go outside after clearing the driveway only to find a 2-3 ft wall of heavy snow and slush packed across the entire 15 feet or so opening. Coming home from work after a day of snow was always an adventure, too.

Wasn't bad the first couple years I lived there as they did actual snow removal too, but they cut that from the budget early on, preferring the redistribution method. Shoveling by hand was annoying enough, but after a few storms there was no place to stack more.

I never could figure out why the plow driver would go out of his way to plow as much of the snow as he could uphill, only to take about 1/3rd as much coming back down the hill on the other side. It always resulted in a bunch of it rolling back out into the road behind him as the banks were too high, whereas the other side provided ample locations for the snow to roll downhill away from the road.

Take the W1TAV approach.. If you can't beat them, join them...  ;D