Quick OCC Check In:
 

We got hammered here in Southern Il. I live about 25 miles south on I 70, and about 20 miles from Indiana. We don't normally get much snow. 12" at least last night with blowing and drifting. Drifts as deep as 5'. For you northern guys that may be no big deal, but the world here has come to a halt. Got the cab mounted and temporarily sealed up. Been out blowing snow all day. Haven't been able to get home, as we live out in the country. Friend just called me and said the road to my house hasn't been plowed. It's about 400' from the plowed blacktop to my house, so I'll be loading the cub up and seeing if I can open my road. Temp here is -10° and falling. Wind chill of -35°. Stay safe out there guys! I'll check in later and maybe post some pics! Hopefully, I'll get to sleep in my own bed tonight!

Here are a few pics from the build, and the snow just outside the shop door. Not too deep as this door faces east. I have several "action shots" from today, from my trusty helper who follows me around in a van so I have somewhere to go warm up! LOL.
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Hope no one else has to deal with this. I though I was looking forward to snow. I was wrong! IT'S STINKING COLD!! :angry:

Nice pics Jonathan! Stay safe and warm!

What mike said

Be careful JB and good luck.

Mac

Cab looks good. Take it easy and try to stay unfrostbit. Temp here is dropping like a gutshot duck, promises to be worse tomorrow. Global warming gets turned back on this weekend. LMAO

Just keep blowin Jonathan, lol. We have nothing on the ground here but little lakes, lol. I walked out to start my car to go to work and just about ended up on my rear, :bash2: lol.

Now that I would have liked to seen Eric!!:biggrin2:

Sorry Mike it was still dark and nobody saw me lol.

LOL:biggrin2:

Nice looking cab fit-up Jonathan, I like the rear mount idea as I was looking for a new place to tie mine in, I couldn't tell does that hinge there, mine does now and think that is important.
All that probably isn't as important as your weather situation, that's scary in those parts, heck that's not all that fun in these parts, it's not even that cold in northern mi and you mid states folks stole all the snow!
Stay safe and try to get warm, here's hoping you get home!
Vic

I pushed snowfall of 8" (that fell sunday) today with my 147 and 42" blade...blowing with temps of -4 and wind chill of -35. No cab, no problem. Enough layers and I was fine; I enjoy pushing snow. I was glad that she started and ran good considering how cold it is.

I remember those day growing up in Indiana. Looks like you have a nice shop. Wish I had that much room. Stay warm! Be safe! :beerchug:

I know what you mean Jonathan,we got almost 9" snow here Sunday. Pushed the driveway twice. Its a cold sob here too. had one of my homemade weights crush the top of the valve stem cap,thuse pushing in on the core and deflating my right rear tire. then I had to remove the weights air up the tire and reinstall the weights and then got push the drive for a second time. Windy cold and nasty! I don't know how the guys up north put up with it! Starting to think really hard about finding a blower. The 1211 did really good,love having hyd lift! Need to tweak the throttle adj some ,needs alittle more rpm. Cab lookd great,hope you get dug out!

Thanks guys.

Bad news. Just came in because the blower broke. Auger stopped turning. Think I may have shucked the gears in the auger gear box. Didn't hit anything this time. Just snow. Just what I needed, a repair. May have made enough today to cover the cost...... but doubt it.

Be careful Eric! Josh fell the other day and busted his noggin!

No, I didn't make any hinges on the cab. If I need it off, I just use the forklift. I need to make the windshield hinge though. I took the hood hinges off, and have to pull the plexiglass panel just above the hood to check oil. The plexi is just temporary, till I can make something better. :beerchug:

I like blowing/pushing snow too, but I do it for hire. Needed the cab to keep the snow off me. I spent all day out, and will probably again tomorrow..... if I can fix the blower. :bash2: Be careful Daniel!

Thanks! The pics I post of the shop are usually from the "original" part of the building. There is a whole other shop attached, but I don't work in it much in the winter. Not as much heat back there. I burn waste oil, but the building isn't insulated, neither are the doors. In below 0° temps, I can barely keep it warm. Sucks.



To Sam, Mike, Nick and all the others (sorry if I missed someone) thanks! We are going to try a run to the house. May not stay there, but want to check on it, make sure we have heat and electric and maybe get some clothes. :beerchug:

Keep warm and safe Jonathan and everyone else out in this cold weather.

Jonathan, sorry about the bad luck with the thrower:bash2:
Cab is looking good though, should make a big difference in keeping you dry, and some warmer.
You weren't one of those guys looking forward to snow earlier, were you:bigthink:
We haven't gotten any snow in the last week, but cold enough to freeze the nuts off a road grader, brrrrr! -11 for a high today with mega below wind chills.
-18.9 right now at 11:33pm. Colder tomorrow then 30* for the weekend:beer2:
Stay safe out there buddy:beerchug:

Nice job Jonathon on the Cab Fab. I like the plexiglass for extra visibility...:ThumbsUp:.

All this talk of snow and cold. Nary a lick of snow here, but it's cold here, too. Not record breaking cold, only down to +8*F at the house last night. It's usually not a record until it gets close to 0*. That will usually set a record for Richmond, Va. Believe it or not, they actually closed some schools because of the temps. I don't recall that ever happening before, and it's been this cold many times--almost every winter we will dip into the single digits at least once or twice. Supposed to stay below +20*F all day, that's unusual but not unheard-of.

Good luck and stay safe! My blower broke during this storm too, I was lucky though because it was just the spiral pin for the driveshaft chain sprocket. And it waited to break until I was nearly finished. Hope your repair isn't too bad!

You guys stay safe in the cold and snow!

Sorry to hear you guys got hit with snow and cold Jonathon. My parents live down near Peoria and only got 6-8 inches. I live north of the Quad Cities in Iowa and we only got a dusting of snow. Pretty sharp cutoff line. We did get down to an actual temp of -23* and wind chills of -50*. I heard at the same time the temp in Alaska was in the 20's. I bet having the cab on was sure nice. :biggrin2: Can't wait to see some pics!

Well, we made it home last night. For some reason we haven't figured out yet, out furnace had not ran. It was on when we got there, but it was 43° in the house. We put like 5 blankets on the bed, and woke up to a 68° house, so it's warming back up. Don't know if the t-stat stuck, or the regulator froze. It has a standing pilot that never went out. We discovered this am our laundry room water is froze off, and when I tried to take a shower found out the drain on the tub is frozen. My house is over 100yrs old, and can't get under it. Don't know how were going to fix that. Guess I'll call the landlord and see what he wants to do!

Yeah, the blower is down for the count. Wore the worm gear out in the auger drive. Parts still available, so guess I'll order a new one. Gotta fix the impeller while I have it apart. It's been bent for a while (last few seasons) don't know how it happened, but I use this thing pretty heavily. Clearing parking lots and driveways in town. It ran from about 10 yesterday morning till 8 last night when it broke.

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Here's some pics of the snow clearing work yesterday. Enjoy!

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Well, back to work. Just got a call, girl stuck in a driveway! :beerchug:

Sorry to hear about the house Jonathan.
Nice snow moving pics!

Sorry, your blower tore up. Enjoyed the snow removal pics!

Man you can't catch a break.

Got a call from my daughter in Columbus SC, pipes froze and blew out. Happy Happy Happy :bash2:

I would not likely be doing it without some sort of windscreen/windbreaker etc if it weren't just my own driveway. I did take a break and come in and warm up. My cub was sitting in my cold garage wishing to come in. :biggrin2:

OUCH!! That looks pretty shredded to me. However, before it went, it looked like it was kicking some major snow butt! :beerchug:

Edit: One thing I will say about these Cub blowers is they aren't afraid of a hard days work. My QA42A on a 682 with a siezed pulley (always running, can't shut off and don't have time to fix it) has routinely run 3-4 hours each day we've gotten snow clearing out work, my place, and a couple neighbors' driveways. However, seeing how well yours works, I want a 2 stage now :biggrin2:

Guys, I live about 25 miles north of Jonathan and work in the oilfields just north of his hometown. We had probably 3 to 4 inches more snow here with 20-30 MPH winds. Power was out Sunday afternoon until 3 PM yesterday. Gets pretty chilly in sub zero temperatures.
We've been out shutting down the oil leases every day since Sunday afternoon. They have been freezing up and causing problems. Finally decided just to shut things down until it warms up. Gonna be a real SOB thawing things out.
It was -14 yesterday morning when we left town. All roads were "closed" but we plowed through busting drifts and were able to make the 40+ mile round trip to the leases. We ran with two trucks in case we had a problem. The Chevy pickups did GOOD!
Through it all, it's been kinda fun. It's been an adventure for sure.
One thing I found out real quick......I need tire chains for the 2182.
Hope everyone is safe and warm.
Tim

:beerchug: Nice pics Jonathan, yeah sorry about the blower blues, good thing most of us can fix our own stuff. Don't worry I watch my steps as I can't have anymore problems than I already do,lol.

You certainly used up all the life in that gear, LOL.
Stay safe.

Sorry to hear about your blower and furnace! I have two friends near me whos furnace crapped out too. Hope you get it all up and running soon! Least here it has warmed up,was 30 today!

Another Update:
 

As the title says, another update. Been working here at the shop all day. Started getting calls to mechanic again. (Been slow over the holidays. Always is.) So gotta get this snow crap finished up. Lucky for me, my brother Phil (FlyingB) bought a QA42A a few weeks ago, so drug it out of the barn and brought it in. It was pretty rough, but he got a good deal on it. I've finally got it fixed and on the tractor.

Blower was rough. Had to straighten the auger, as it was mangled, as was the cutting edge. That alone took a few hours. The driveshaft had been running loose, so I took it apart and replaced the keystock. Had to straighten the lift rod, and the rod that turns the blower. Also, the pulley was not for a 5/8" belt like I need for the 1811...... so I robbed the one off my tiller gearbox. It's 5.25" so it's not going to throw too well but, should get me finished. I just got back from getting a belt at O'Reilly's before they closed. Because of the bigger pulley, I bought a few sizes..... hope one of them fits.

Here's the before:
NOTE: Do not try and adjust the picture, the blower is standing on it's end. :biggrin2:

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Here is the after:

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If I can get it going tonight, I'm going back out and blowing. One of my customers wants to reopen tomorrow IF I get the lot cleaned. :bigthink:


Update on the house:

Ran back home to check on things. Good news: Some of the water lines thawed out. Bad news: They thawed out inside the wall. HISSSSSSSSSSS :angry::angry::angry::bash2::bash2::bash2: SOOOO, I will be fixing that soon. Have to cut out the wall. Landlord is a buddy of mine. I actually helped him remodel this house 10yrs ago. He told me just to fix it. LOL. He said, "Your probably the one who ran the water line." LMFAO (It sucks so bad all you can do is laugh.) The tub drain thawed, and the house is warm again. Also, got some propane delivered. Now I just have to make some money. Been running out since I haven't had any work in almost 3 weeks!

Well, going back out to work! Catch you guys tomorrow! Stay warm and safe! :beerchug:

P.S. Sorry I've been so busy guys. Lots of you look like your busy too! Look forward to "catching up" when things here slow down!

Thanks for the update Jonathan! Glad things are getting better!:beer2:

Looking like things are getting better in Johnathon's camp! :beerchug:

Let us know how the 5.25" pulley works, I'm betting not to well. If all else fails, grab a steel 4.5 from Farm & Fleet and a center and weld it up; that's what I've been running all winter so far. I know people say go with Cast Iron, steel is bad, yada yada yada. Bottom line for me; I got what I could get my hands on locally and haven't looked back. Anywho, good luck and hope to see some pics of your setup in action! :beerchug:

Thanks for updating us, Jonathan! Good to hear things are looking up for you!

:beerchug:Yes good to hear it's getting better. I got a QA 36a this fall from a "friend" here and I need to do some of the same things you did also, thanks "FRIEND" lol.

Thanks guys!

Well guys, even with the bigger pulley, the blower did good. I did however, manage to hit a parking block and put a little bend in the newly straightened auger! :bash2::bash2: Oh well, straightened it once already, so I'm sure I can again. Definitely need the correct pulley. Not really so much it won't throw, but because the pulley can contact the lower cross bar for the lower arms. I'll post some pics later. Haven't uploaded them yet.

As far as the house, more busted water lines. Have the water shut off right now, and have to try and bust out some drywall to fix it. :angry: I feel like I'm complaining an awful lot, but yesterday was bad too. Had a flat tire on an icy road at 11:30 at night, went home to find a hot refrigerator.... AGAIN! (third time) Probably just gonna have to buy a new one. :angry: Just been rough. Don't want to complain, just sharing my crappy day.

Sorry to hear, Jonathan. It will get better! :ThumbsUp:

X2! :ThumbsUp: