It's been a real winter here in eastern MT as well.
A little more snow than normal and chilly.
Average daily temp so far this year is -3F.
We lost power to part of the cow farm this past week and had to use a Honda generator to get waterers and a 40 year old IH tractor thawed out.
-22F and -18F on two different mornings and with less than a half dozen pulls it started right up.
Hydraulics are SLOW to get moving and I'm getting tired of chopping ice... Gonna have to sharpen the axe, 7-8" of ice made every night.
Dumb question I know... if it takes a bit of work with that much ice, wouldn't a small chain saw be easier? Until so cold that chains would shatter?
I will use a chain saw to occasionally make a new hole(+2 feet ice) but it's way easier for everyday use to pack an axe in the pickup(regular cab) compared to a stinky saw. Good exercise anyway, depending on the temp it takes about 100 good swings to reopen a 1x3 foot hole. And if it snows a little at night there is always way less ice in the morning. Snow is an uber good insulator.
Chains won't shatter but they will ice up quick when they get wet(do not stop until you're done..). And don't break through to water until you're just about done or it can be messy!
A buddy clears trail for the iditarod... says chains shatter awful easy at some certain temp so they just shut down the maintenance if it gets that cold.
Thanks for the info. Was just wondering. Can only imagine what happens with a saw when you finally get to the water.... I know what happens here when we cut stuff under water on rescue stuff in a hurry...
We can keep Larry Root and all his idiotic blabber and user names on here, but we can't get Ralph back..... Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, over....
