Ram stuck bad in snow tractor couldn't pull it out

The Dodge Ram was stuck solid in the snow.  The driver saw me clearing snow across the street and asked for help.  Gave a try with the Kubota BX25 and a tow rope but the truck didn't budge at all.  Had to go get the Toyota Tundra to "jerk" it out.  Took three tries before getting it done.

Plowing and blowing snow as viewed from above

Video made with the security camera and a live operator was moving the camera (not on Auto Tracking).  You can probably see it is a bit difficult steering the tractor with the plow down especially where the snow is deep.  Nice that I can quickly disconnect the plow and use the bucket to finish up a job.

The surveillance camera is getting lots of work this winter! BTW the camera is an Axis ptz type.

Testing the BXpanded snow plow

Gave the BXpanded quick-on snow plow a pretty good test yesterday. Overall I am pleased with results as the plow, although it shifted a bit on the bucket, did not loosen up too much. The video show how securing the binder can be made a little bit easier by drilling and tapping for a 1/2 inch bolt that can be adjusted to compensate for incorrect binding distances with the binder/chain assembly. The bolt also serves to secure the bucket hook to the binder. Update: Still need to do more work on this idea - perhaps this coming winter will be a good time. Stay tuned :)

City snow plow this evening

Decided to hold off clearing our driveways today and wait for more favourable wind direction tomorrow. Just finished a dish of bottled moose that was delicious!  Expect a few more centimeters of snow tomorrow but expect to get the clearing done anyway.  (Need to to do another check on the
Bxpanded quick-on snow plow).

City plow this morning in the snow storm

Nice little snow storm this morning...had about 15 cm so far and the wind is pretty strong (45 km/h as I type).  I will be trying out my BXpanded  quick-on snow plow again later today.  I've been experimenting with the attachment method (to the tractor bucket) to make it more secure.  A future video will show what I've been doing with the snow plow to try and improve it.

Cheapest tractor accessory yet(?)

This has to be one of the most practical and cheapest ideas yet for a tractor accessory.  All you need is a length of fairly heavy angle iron and couple of pieces of chain, and an inexpensive load binder (binders can be bought for under $20).  The video shows the first testing of the trencher but I have since used the trencher to dig a ditch to lay cables for my weather station.  Except for a bit of manual cleaning up of the ditch, the trencher worked great.  I did get some bending of the angle iron (it was working hard in rocky ground) so I will be looking for a new and heavier angle iron for the next time I need to dig a ditch.  Also, the notches in the angle iron may not be necessary if the chains are good and tight. Need to do more testing to confirm this.  Notches will, of course, weaken the trencher.

No serious damage done when plow separates

When the nut and bolt that  keeps the snow plow secured to the bucket separated there was a loud (worrisome) bang.  The the hex bolt, flat washer, and nut were factory installed.  Fortunately no damage done (other than the missing bolt).  When I get around to it I will be using at least a lock washer and/or a locking hex nut. Update: After seeing the video BXpanded announced they will fix this problem.

Blowing and scraping hard-packed snow

I made this video the day after the storm.  We had about 15 cm (6 inches) of snow and most of it was cleared up the day before this video was taken.  But overnight wind caused some drifting and the cold temps kept the snow pretty hard on the driveway.

Kubota tractor preparing hole for weather station tower

Digging a suitable hole to support a weather station tower is an ideal practical job for a small tractor backhoe/bucket.  Matter of fact it is the kind of job that probably wouldn't get done unless a tractor was available.  This video shows the essential steps that we used to get the tower installed and tested.

Spreading gravel using the Kubota BX25 tractor

I took these clips some time ago and just now got around to putting them together for this video. To reduce the boredom factor I sped the video up as you can see. The idea with this work was to take advantage of my tractor to prepare the driveway for the paving company to reduce overall costs. This video was placed on YouTube yesterday so you can view it directly from there as well.

Transplanting a tree using the tractor backhoe

This is kind of a lazy mans way of transplanting a tree or shrub! Not much manual labor involved at all as the video shows. The lilac tree was planted about 10 years ago but it didn't make much progress due to the exposure to wind and cold. In the new location the tree is much better protected from the elements by other trees and a fence. The move was made about three months ago and it has since been doing fine.  Will know more though in the months to come. Our acidic soil generally requires sweetening-up with lime and besides that I decided to add some general purpose fertilizer and lots of water.

Building a road with the Kubota BX25 compact tractor

Our property is underdeveloped so I am using my compact tractor to build a road around the most interesting parts.  The road (or trail) will be good enough for the tractor and for walking but not wide enough for a car or truck. Lots of challenges expected because of the boggy areas and some pretty steep slopes. Already spread a fair amount of gravel and have used the back hoe to dig out some of the peat. The peat moss area is perhaps 75 feet long and will take a lot of filling in later. I plan to use the peat to mix with top soil to make some more raised bed gardens.

Tractor bucket supports long workpiece for drilling

Here's a video showing how a tractor bucket supports a long workpiece when you need to drill holes accurately (90 degrees).  As long as you can get your tractor near the drill press this idea works great. The video also shows how to drill deep holes (longer than the drill press quill travel) through the workpiece.
I needed a number of holes drilled through 4x4 pressure treated posts that I used to make a tilting weather station/security camera tower. I will post more videos later on the tower installation.