I've been having a bit of fun in the little snow we have had:
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That bit in the last three pics got me about 4hrs latter. There had been quite a lot of drifting and a good few inches of fresh snow sticky snow had been deposited in the hump. All was going well then it stopped and dug down lowering the underside onto the fresh snow. Wasn't going anywhere forward or backward, had to dig the stuff from around the axles and from underneath.
Of course an hour or so latter along comes the snow blower and removes most of that deep soft and rutted play snow. B-( Mind you the way it's drifting tonight it'll be filled back in by the morning. B-)
Got some more this morning but nothing like that, thank goodness.
Trouble is round here the Councils don't have such things as Snow Blowers or even Snow Ploughs so it's left to the motorist to clear it with use and they seem careful with the grit too
Lots of accidents causing problems and road closures and everywhere else heavy traffic at walking pace, thawing now so slush and it's over ice in places. Hope it doesn't freeze tonight.
That's seriously impressive. Both the snow and what the Disco achieved IMHO. Unfortunately, I'll now have to stop telling everyone that the Disco is unstoppable :) Please reply to group - email address is not monitored Ian
They must have a blade they can fit on the front of the gritters surely? Might not be a big 4' high curled over thing or the point that our ploughs have but anything is better than nothing.
Can't really use snow blowers in built up areas, you'd run the risk of smashing 1st floor windows and people would complain about the snow landing in their back garden. They are the best way to deal with deep snow in the sticks as you spread the cleared snow over a large area rather than just shoving it into an ever growing heap at the side of the road.
Mandated from on high 25% reduction is rocksalt use, read something about a 50% reduction required as well but I might have misread that report. They are only gritting the essential links regulary around here but the ploughs are going through every few hours to keep the other roads passable by 4WD no problem but "fun" in a car... There is lots of drifting going on hence the ploughs every few hours.
Same car wouldn't have done it last year. The difference, the tyres, last year it had some "go faster" Kuhmo things with basically no sipes. This year it has has brand new Vredstein Wintrac 4 xtreme tyres. They have amazing grip, the chances are you'll stall before the wheels spin if only doing a few MPH. Use of lo box to avoid burning the clutch at low speeds...
Well >12" of firm snow is likely to stop anything with only 8" ground clearance. Football sized lump of snow with angular corners fell out from underneath this morning...
Bum! Just remembered the thing has air suspension I should have jacked the back end up by 2"... bother, bother, bother. Mind you the front end was embeded in snow and the front axle so it might not have worked but might have saved all the underneath digging. Bet I remember next time, oooo, makes me want to go out and try it. B-)
Snow's quite easy to push aside, so the clearance issue shouldn't have been that much of an issue. When I got my Pinzgauer stuck in snow (hard snow, about 1.5 feet or so, ground clearance is about 1.3 feet) it wasn't the snow underneath that was the problem, I dug the snow out from in front of the wheels and off I went again. It was enough to stop the wheels turning and make the clutch slip in 1st gear low range. It just seemed to close in on the wheels and prevent them turning but still only took a few scoops of the shovel to move it, much easier than mud! I've never had that happen in mud, the wheels have always been able to turn.
The Consett area was a nightmare with black ice this morning - cars in ditches all over the place. No fun turning the steering wheel and feeling no resistance at all!
Considering the amount they usually use round here with that reduction they would be down to one shovel full. :-)
Locally I saw one gritter last week, days after the snow, and it wasn't gritting! They even left Chertsey Bridge ungritted and it was so bad a friend who drives early each morning drove miles round to avoid it.
The problem now is this freeze has had a bad effect on the road surface, I've noticed even more deep potholes and it's totally breaking up in some places, bits of tarmac mixed with the slush. Going to cost millions after the thaw either in maintenance or compensation or both.
Aye, there ares some places around here they don't need to grit, there is enough loose road surface. Pot holes are appearing all over the place and bits that were bad before are getting really bad now. I'd not want to be driving an ordinary car at the bottom of Front Street.
Hum, good point... It had sat down quite heavyly onto the snow though. Lifting it off might have reduced the drag enough to enable the axles to be pushed through. Grasp, straw...
Not when the level is sufficient that the bit you are pushing out of the way doesn't have enough space to move into or behind the thing you are pushing with... The underside was solid with snow from the front lower rad grill right back to the rear axle pretty much full width. Almost as if someone had picked the car up and pushed it down into something soft to take a moulding of the underside...
Yes it does that. Couple of times in the past few days the inside of the wheels have picked up lumps of snow and unbalanced them. It gets trapped between the brake back plate and the face of the wheel.
Snow grip of the wheel wasn't a problem, as clearing the sides and in front/behind of the wheels was the first thing I did. It would not go forwards or backwards more than inch if that. Seems that DII traction control can't cope with diagonal wheels spining but then neither would a center diff lock.
I drove past 2 gritters this morning, neither gritting, but then again they do have to get from A to B themselves from time to time.
Some of the pot holes that have appeared on one local road are so bad that when I hit them in the Landrover the truck goes off-line, I hit one in the Lotus a week ago and there was such a massive bang I was surprised the wheels were still on it.
That's odd, I thought that it was supposed to cope with such stuff!
Mind you with the Pinzgauer, all 6 wheels were rotating and going nowhere, then none of them would rotate, once the snow gets you, it can really get you! Strange how it can do that despite being dead easy to shovel.
I had some Vredestein Wintracs on an old Merc Estate a few years back and they made that into a bit of a snowplough. I vividly remember having to use that one morning to get to work (SWMBO needed the Disco) There were 20-24" drifts on the lane and I went for it expecting to have to reverse out and do repeated ramming to get through. Everything went very dark very suddenly. Thought I'd died! Realised I was still moving then thought 'Ah! the windscreen wiper might help!" Excellent things Wintracs, and I guess on a Disco they'd be even better. Do you keep them on all year? I'm currently on BFG AT's on Disco 2 and am pretty impressed with them.
Yes, soft snow's a different game. Again, I recall the first time I played with my first disco (a 200tdi) after someone relieved me of my Shogun. Our drive is about 75 yards long and about 1 in 6 (up to get out) with a nice 90 deg bend at the bottom. The Shogun - with no centre diff- although it was pretty good in the snow, started spinning wheels to relived the tension and , having once broken traction became a bit of a handful. The first time we had any serious snow after I'd got the Disco, I (obviously!) HAD to go out and play. On this occasion
24-30 inch drifts on the drive. Confidently expected to need the shovels and despached SWMBO to bring same form bike shed. By the time she'd got her boots/coat on I was at the top of the drive. Snow was actually being ploughed and coming over the top of the bonnet line and it never broke sweat. I have a piccy somewhere must dig it out (sorry, pun not intended)
I'm not sure that would help. 'tis quite useful to get the tow hitch a bit higher when coming through field gates but thats the only thing I've ever used it for - and then only the once. With the depth of snow you had it'd be the diffs ploughing the snow , I guess. Mind you I suppose one diff is going to offer less resitance than two!
How do you find the Hill Descent Control? I decided to check it was still working yesterday. Came down our drive in Lo 4 with it on. The system obviously worked form the clatter of the ABS but I'm sure I have more control to get round the bend at the bottom in Hi 1 with it turned off. The tracks in the previously uncompacted snow do confirm the strange line I was forced to take to avoid the trees!
Please reply to group - email address is not monitored Ian
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