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Getting over the PLOW WALL

andyv916

Member
Hi everyone , I use my Imp to get to my cabin towing it up the mountain for an hour I arrive to where Cal Trans stops plowing the road my cabin is off grid. So the plow does a turn around creating a vertical wall that ranges in height from a 1' to 7' . any good ideas for getting over the wall?
 

300 H and H

Bronze Member
GOLD Site Supporter
Easy..

Find the lowest spot to go over, and run your machine at the snow perpendicular to the face of the snow... no need to get any speed up, this will not help.

You will spin, but you will make a ramp with the ejected snow, for next time.

You will not get stuck, as you can always back out with the help of gravity.

I have done this many times with a Snow Trac. It may take a bit as the snow is being moved behind the machine by the tracks. You will eventually see the nose of your cat start to fall as you spin. In a few more moments your nose will fall right down as the machine pitches over on top of the pile...

My machine has 15" of ground clearance. Hopefully you Imp has enough. You can always back out of it..

Regards, Kirk
 

300 H and H

Bronze Member
GOLD Site Supporter
or buy a tucker.

Might be ok in this scenario. But when you get into the tree's your gonna wish you had an Imp or a Snow Trac. Tuckers are to tall, to top heavy for lots of running in the "wild". Groomed trails with trimmed up trees are more what they are good at. Or if you do not have any tree's. I have to wonder how many have been laid over on their sides due to the high center of gravity most have. Then add a roof rack, and several hundred pounds on top of that, 10 feet up..

Just saying... :bolt:

Regards, Kirk
 

300 H and H

Bronze Member
GOLD Site Supporter
Oh snap ! CAT FIGHT !!!!!!:boxing::yum:

Different strokes for different folks is all.

Every machine has it's strong and weak points. None, are perfect by themselves for all situations.

Snow Trac's are a favorite of mine because you can move them on a car trailer so easily. Down out of the wind somewhat while towing them. They do fairly well in the conditions I have here were I live. I am not in the Mountains by any means. I have had the pleasure of having a Tucker crew leave their machine and ride and drive mine whilst going through an area with low hanging tree branches at the Clowder in Michigan. So I do know about how tall a Tucker tends to be unless it is a Kitten or a Torpedo made by Tucker..

I am sure there are places were I would be climbing up and into a Tucker and parking my Snow Trac. Just not around here! :thumbup:

Regards, Kirk
 

Pontoon Princess

Cattitute
GOLD Site Supporter
snow trac is the best value for the money for the personal snow cat owner, easy to transport, fun to drive, great looking and they even made a toy of it !!!

for my money this is the snow cat to own
 

redsqwrl

Bronze Member
GOLD Site Supporter
The only thing I can offer is that Plow walls are fun, they also load the under sized frame heavily as you come over center. 100% of the entire imps weight is applied to the idlers or boggy wheels as you come over center. If you can ask you occupants to consider walking around the head wall.
I also head up straight then apply a bit of a twist as i approach the top to crush the crust and get the machine to courtse' (sp) a bit. I find that if the side hilling guides are on the cat is much happier.
kirks mention of ramping them by digging at them works.
If you have a blade go up and burrow the blade in 2/3 of the way up and knock it over the back and drive down it like a boss!

Just remember to not have any fun, that is not allowed. (sarcasm)
 

Blackfoot Tucker

Well-known member
GOLD Site Supporter
Might be ok in this scenario. But when you get into the tree's your gonna wish you had an Imp or a Snow Trac. Tuckers are to tall, to top heavy for lots of running in the "wild". Groomed trails with trimmed up trees are more what they are good at. Or if you do not have any tree's. I have to wonder how many have been laid over on their sides due to the high center of gravity most have. Then add a roof rack, and several hundred pounds on top of that, 10 feet up..

Just saying... :bolt:

Regards, Kirk


Puh-leez...

My bullshit overload light exploded after reading this.
 

Cidertom

Chionophile
GOLD Site Supporter
Related war story: I used to be in charge of a mountain fire station. Most of the grader/ plow operators were good about removing the berm they made. Not only did the berm hamper the volunteers getting into the station, there were times it hampered the engine getting out onto the road. So one particularly bad storm the grader op did not plow out the berm. But did use our parking lot for overnight parking of the grader. After having to get my tractor to open a hole (at 2AM) it seems I must have nicked a water hose on the fill station and it sprayed the grader cab in freezing weather... oops.
 

Blackfoot Tucker

Well-known member
GOLD Site Supporter
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJkZgjrzJ40

You guys are going about it all wrong. Have these guys clear it.

Interestingly, Utah doesn't use explosive charges dropped from helicopters for avalanche control. The roads in Big and Little Cottonwood Canyons access four ski areas: Brighton and Solitude in Big Cottonwood Canyon, and Alta and Snowbird in Little Cottonwood Canyon. These two roads are supposed to be the most avalanche prone roads in the entire country, and avalanche control following snowstorms is very common.

The avalanche control is performed by UDOT, Utah Department of Transportation, and they use...wait for it... Army surplus howitzer rounds. Here's a link to a story about it and note that a number of years ago a shell went awry and exploded several miles away, destroying a shed and sending shrapnel into the house.

https://www.ksl.com/article/12630354/udot-deploys-heavy-artillery-in-war-against-avalanches
 

JimVT

Bronze Member
GOLD Site Supporter
Easy..

Find the lowest spot to go over, and run your machine at the snow perpendicular to the face of the snow... no need to get any speed up, this will not help.

You will spin, but you will make a ramp with the ejected snow, for next time.

You will not get stuck, as you can always back out with the help of gravity.

I have done this many times with a Snow Trac. It may take a bit as the snow is being moved behind the machine by the tracks. You will eventually see the nose of your cat start to fall as you spin. In a few more moments your nose will fall right down as the machine pitches over on top of the pile...

My machine has 15" of ground clearance. Hopefully you Imp has enough. You can always back out of it..

Regards, Kirk

that is what I do on the extra high ones and I try not to twist the trach much.
sometimes that frozen curb of snow is like a rock.
 

300 H and H

Bronze Member
GOLD Site Supporter
Oh I forgot to add that in Michigan once in a situation with a road grader berm, falling several feet to the road bed, a certain Tucker orange machine had the misfortune of having the rear of the front pontoon try to take a bite out of the cab... and it fact it did so, along with quite a racket. One must be aware of this situation? Is there some sort of limiter that would limit pontoon travel from letting it hit the cab or frame in the case of the rear pontoon? :unsure:

Again not knocking Tuckers here, just pointing out real world situations I have seen first hand... :smile:

Regards, Kirk
 

NorCal

New member
First time i ever drove my Snowtrac over a berm I learned real quick that they "teeter" at the top and then drop real hard going down the backside, almost put myself and my dog thru the windshield, now I just grab my shovel and spend 10 minutes knocking of the top.
 

Red130

Member
First time i ever drove my Snowtrac over a berm I learned real quick that they "teeter" at the top and then drop real hard going down the backside, almost put myself and my dog thru the windshield, now I just grab my shovel and spend 10 minutes knocking of the top.

This is where a hydraulic machine shines. You can just creep over the top with a very gentle tip-over.
 

jo5

Member
I talk to them about respecting others and ask them not to block the road
Then I take my cat with blade or dozer and push it all in there driveway
 

nikos

Active member

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