Living off grid often correlates with poorly accessible locations - because that’s where the infrastructure is not.
On certain latitudes, especially near bodies of water, especially in remote locations - do not ask who the snow comes for - it always comes for you (and with a grudge). So, what ya gonna do?
Over here, a tractor being incomplete (it is great folly to go into winter with an incomplete tractor), snow is handled by an electric microcar. Since the microcar is made of thin sheet metal and plastic, it cannot carry a plow… but the rear axle being solid steel, it can pull one.
The plow is one year old, and was previously pulled by a gasoline car. It is made of construction steel: 8 mm L-profiles shaped like a letter A with double horizontal bars. The point of connection on top ensures it doesn’t lift too much while plowing. It’s currently fixed with an unprofessional and temporary C-clamp (there will be an U-bolt soon). It is pulled with a chain.
If snow is heavy, the L-profiles lift the plow on top of snow, and you have to plow the same road many times. Sometimes it veers off sideways. Generally, you have to catch the snow early with this system - if you’re late, you’re stuck. :)
Not many advantages, but dirt cheap. Don’t go plowing public roads with such devices - it is nearly invisible to fellow drivers, and cops would get a seizure.
how do you post to Lemmy if you’re off the grid
Off electrical grid probably.
Yep. The three networks I don’t have here are:
- public roads (I’m plowing a no mans land which belongs to some folks, but nobody uses their land)
- electrical and fuel networks
- water and wastewater grid
Starlink?
Ordinary mobile phone network. Also I would be uneasy about giving my money to Elon Musk’s companies without a dire need to do so. :)
(Having communications also helps see weather reports, which kind of matter in such conditions. I especially love meteorological radar.)
This is really interesting! I’ve never heard of pulling a snowplow before. Or using anything besides a truck. I’d love to see more pictures of your setup but if that was blurred for identity protection then no worries!
It’s cool to see out-of-the-box solutions for stuff I’ve seen my whole life.
It’s a poor solution, but better than nothing. The plowing profiles are welded with the L pointing forward and down (to ensure rising on top of snow), the holding profiles can be welded any way. They are at 1/3 of length and 2/3 of length respectively.
P.S.
A note: if one has automatic transmission, or continuously variable transmission, one should not pull things.
With manual gearboxes, fixed reductors and direct drive, it’s OK. The car is indeed blurred for privacy. :)
I love it - do what you have to do!
I wonder if it would help to drag a mattress. In an area with gravel roads, over time the strips of the road where the tires roll gets pressed down and the gravel builds up in the middle and sides. So someone periodically pulls an old mattress with the fabric removed and springs exposed along the road to even out the surface… effectively raking the road. I wonder if that same thing might help loosen and make the snow easier to plow.
Interesting idea. :) What kind of a mattress do they use for leveling roads?
The current plow has many problems:
- it is imprecise, unless the pulling chain is short
- regardless of the chain length, it “wags its tail” when encountering resistance (this can be a plus if the car isn’t powereful, though)
- it is shallow and weighs less than conventional road plows (can be a plus because I need to carry it without pulling muscles or joints)
- it has the simplest geometry, a triangle
Generally, a snow plow does level the road also - but only a little because the ground is frozen and everything is slippery, and the mechanism (with a spring if fancy) is holding it just above ground. When I look at my plow after working, the steel of the downward edge shines - it has worked hard against the ground.
What kind of a mattress do they use for leveling roads?
I should have said box springs since some mattresses don’t have springs. I’ve not seen it myself just heard about it.
I wonder if using 2 chains instead of one would help restrict the movement. You could perhaps also put the chains through a pipe to prevent slack, but then I guess it’d be tricky because you would need a plate on the axle so it doesn’t batter the axle.
Thanks, I’ll try to find a description of it. :)
About using 2 chains: yep, I’ve thought about it. Attachment points would be at the outer ends of the first (smalller) bar of the A-shaped plow. Haven’t tried it yet, but will.
