Just wondering if anyone here plows snow during the winter. I know Jerry does the 401 (I think?) but does anyone else? I have been doing it for 2 and a half years now. I enjoy it very much unless we get a foot or so. I liked 5-10 cm every 3 days or so.

We use a 79 Bronco and an 87 F250 that both have 8 foot Arctic blades on them.

Anyone else out there?

-Matt

 

No plow. Just an "armstrong" shovel.

 

HA! They are also known as "Stick Plows!"

-Matt

 

Beast12: I was on the 400 North last year . The new 4 lane north of Port Severn but my service allowed me to take 2 secondary highways into Killbear Park this year . Off the main line and away from all the accidents that TO ships north .

Almost looks like you guys are getting more of Ole' Man Winter this year than us guys up here in the snow belt .

I only plowed 2 years in the 80's with a 4X4 and did not make enough money to be bothered with the maintenance and repairs it encouraged .

The old brute I steer now is an International Paystar 5000 Plow Truck . Combination plow,wing,salt&sand spreader with tanks on the side for these new enviromentally friendly chemicals like Calcium Chloride we are using for certain conditions .

There is some satisfaction when getting out there before your customers are out and about to get them cleaned out before their work day begins just as there is for me to get those secondary highways stripped a bit before the school buses have to tackle them .

Keep on Keeping On chum , someone has to be out there doing it and if you can bear the hours and still like it more power to you and I hope you can make a buck or two this year .

 

My dad bought a plowing business from a guy with about 50 contracts. Now, we have around 65 and do it with 2 trucks. It works great. I don't think we have had any MAJOR repairs in the last 3 years.

Do you know if the Government is going to try to get away from salt and start using the Calcium Chloride? Is it way more expensive? (I assume so).

Sounds like a GREAT rig!

-Matt

 

Beast12: Sounds like you guys are lucking out on the maintenance or you all have a much lighter foot than I did . I wore out the whole front end both years for starters .

The C/C is more expensive than salt and seems to work fine for what they knew it would do but we have suspended its use 3 times this winter when problems were being discovered with some of the things it will do at certain temperatures that was not known untill field tested . For one after working with the salt to react faster and hold the salt on the road surface longer at a moderate temparture , say - 4 , if the temperatyre drops suddenly it will turn to black ice faster than water . ( This is a Gobberment secret at the moment I guess untill they decide a course of action ) . We have not ordered any new product at the moment here so I guess we are using up what is in stock and then the decission as to its practicallity will be re-assesed . It also makes sand at one specific application rate slippery like Gorilla snot and we stopped using it at that rate and application last year after having 7 accidents in 15 min. on a 5k stretch of highway where it had been applied and turned to black ice when the temp dropped 5 degrees during shift change at 7:00PM.

We will have to see where they go with these products at present as they are going to have to do some soul searching to decide if the enviromental gain is worth the added cost and risk that they so far seem to present with all seven of the products being tested .

One of our Patrol's is even testing an organic product that is made in Quebec from sugar beet molassas after the sugar is removed . Don't know what the results of this product are turning up like but I'm sure it should bring more whitetail etc. to the road allowance in spring than the salt now does .

 

Beast12 : I almost forgot to mention that the hoopla about salt usage on our roads is all very similar to the hype on second hand smoke here . All initiated by the tree huggers and based on little or no scientific fact . When any real data is produced it usually contradicts their position , this is whay they do not present any .

A study was forced upon the Gobberment by these squeaky wheels to do a study on the water in the Bay here where thousands upon thousands of tons of salt are imported to be shipped around the province . This salt washes into the Bay from the docks and yards every time it rains .

The study ultimately concluded that the spilling of this salt into the Bay improved the PH levels of the water and made it better for the fish habitat and moreso for the Salmonoid Family which includes Lake Trout which are a summer industry around here .

One must always take these noise makers with a "grain of salt" so to speak .
Salt works , period , and if the population of this province wants to be able to drive at 130k on bare pavement in winter I'm sure we will see it around for a long time to come yet . When all the noise dies and these detremental effects that are being tossed around have some scientific data and testing to establish just how detremental it may or may not be we may again see a push to appease the vocal minority that raise these questions in the first place .

 

Very interesting! I don't mind the use of salt except for the fact that it rusts out my truck! But, if most people drove properly in the bad weather in the first place we wouldn't have to use it as much I guess.

-Matt

 

To heck with salt. Lock the hubs and go.
ANyway I have a plow as well (8' western) but i do not do it comercially. I just take care of a few driveways around my place and when it snows bad i can make gas money by doing driveways in town for those poor guys stuck with (stick plows) shovels.
Later
Andy

 

i plow the 401 threw toronto ,based at Kennedey road and 401

 

Dave 74 : Which contractor do you work for if you don't mind my asking ? The company I work for based out of Oakville has several contracts in the TO area and wanted me to work down there as a supervisior this year ,(NOT) .

I did not move back to Ontario from Alberta to put up with the lifestyle or lack there of that this would offer .

 

Miller paving, no doubt you have to litteraly put your life on hold for 4 1/2 to 5 months to be on call 24-7

 

Which bay are you talking about? I thought all our road salt came out of the Goderich mines?

Yeah, that seems to be the thinking of most people in this part of the province. I hate to point fingers at "city dwellers" but it seems that they are the ones in a rush and end up off in the rhubarb when it gets slippery.

 

Yeah, that seems to be the thinking of most people in this part of the province. I hate to point fingers at "city dwellers" but it seems that they are the ones in a rush and end up off in the rhubarb when it gets slippery.[/QUOTE]


i see it every time it snows, 2 to 3 cm of snow seems to cripple this city and it's all because of every one in such a hurry to get nowhere. the only place they get is on the back of a wrecker

 

loudfords: I'm on The Georgain Bay and all the salt here that is distrubuted by
truck to the MTO storage domes comes in on ocean boats of Russian persuasion for the most part . Do they mine rock salt in Goderich or table salt like Windsor ?

dave74: I'm with LTJ Holdings or Bot or Segmeiller or whichever name of the conglomerate you choose but the cheques come from LTJ . Yes it's 6 months of the year here from Oct 15 to Apr. 15 but that suits me fine as I work for myself the rest of the year and my whole life has been 24/7 with the positions I held down . what's real nice is the guaranteed $2000 a month stand by whether it snows or not lots of time in spring and fall to take care of other projects or do a few service calls etc. while still collecting the stand by cash .

You hit it right on the nose with the city dwellers as well which is the reason I took secondary highways with all the obstacles and mail boxes etc. as they are less hassle than the accidents on the 4 lane with only local drivers on the secondary highways . There has been only 2 vehicles off the road all winter on my beats that I am aware of .

If we got a snow on the weekend on the 4 lane there will be at least 30 plus vehicles in the pickies from Mactier to Point au Baril . Snow during the week would see maybe 2 or 3 and even then they are not usually local vehicles . We purchase at least agressive all season tires up here for winter driving and try to keep the speed down under the speed of sound when the weather dictates it is required . If you have been running plow long you will already know that some will risk life at any cost to get by and in a lot of cases try to defy physics to make it happen . We've had three plows hit this year so far
and the OPP busted a rig on Mon. for trying to run a wing man into the rubrails . I'll stick to the back highways now myself as I have no patience for picking up body parts on the job any more . They can commit suicide out there if they wish but not on my watch any more .