I bought my house when i was 24, 10 years ago now. It's an aging neighborhood, by far the youngest guy on the block. Lots are a healthy 2 acres, so it's not to crowded. Neighbors have always been pretty friendly, though. We see each other and wave as we drive by.
Anyway, neighbor directly across the street from me was roughly 70 at the time. It was my first winter in the house, and first snow storm, overnight from saturday until sunday. Sunday there was a solid foot of snow on the ground. My driveway is about 80', his driveway is about 300'.
Sunday morning fresh snow, worked all week, it's my day off, i was sleeping in without a care in the world. I was woken up at 7:30am by the 70 year old man dressed in his coveralls, hood, and ski goggles pushing his snowblower clearing my driveway. His was already done. Talk about humiliating, a young in good shape guy laying in bed having his driveway cleared by an elderly man.
I only had the walk behind snowblower at that point, my tractor was a cub lowboy 154. So each snow I'd race out to clear the driveway. I bought a little MTD with plow, had chains, manual belt driven trans, and was pretty unstoppable. Looked like hell but it was quick and did hte job for anything under 6" in top gear. I'd start that thing up and would fly. Picked up another neighbor, little old lady and her adult daughter. They were greatful, offered to pay, but I'd always decline, that little tractor was fun.
The next fall I decided to pick up something different. Wanted a front mounted snowblower. Found a new holland s14 with front blower and plow. I picked that thing up and before it ever snowed I built a cab for it. People called me crazy. it was plywood and plexiglass, with shingles on the roof. Extremely heavy, but it kept me out of the wind. Had a radio and cup holder and flood lights. I was having a blast. Front mount blower was easy to swap in 10 minutes or less with the blade. It was a goofy looking machine but it worked. I had no idea what i was doing at the time. Looking back at pictures, it was hilarious.
When the first snow hit I was prepared! 44" single stage snowthrower made quick work of it, then on to the 70ish neighbor's driveway. Long strait shot, it ran flawless. Made quick work of his driveway, and on to the next. It was great, couldn't be happier. Just a little top heavy, only mounted to the fiberglass frame.
Fast forward 8 years later, never a problem, just greatful neighbors who would bring me coffee or danishes, little things to show their appreciation. Tractor kept on running, and every winter we got dumped on repeatively. Sometimes 3+ feet, and that machine would handle it. The only time it would struggle is deep snow where it didn't already clear, it would run it over and didn't weigh enough to mash it down. Solid ice though it didn't care.
Went through a few summer mowers though. Lowboy was a bit high for some low tree's and I kept wacking my head. Sold it and bought a used craftman. it died and a friend gave me his old white if i could fix it. Fixed it, then a year later the block cracked. Brother in law didn't add oil to his new craftsman mower and threw a rod, so i took it and tossed a craigslist engine in, and it was great, for 2 years until the bearings on the deck went. Fixed, then the hydro trans went. Got an old simplicity, mowed a year, then the block cracked and dumped oil.
Then I bought my kubota b8200, and a 60" rear finishing deck. Such excitement. Then my father, who has a b7200, says see if I can get his snowblower on my tractor, since he has a loader and will never use the blower. I managed to make it work. If I was going to have a blower, I was going to have a cab.
Started in the fall working on a cab for it. This one went much slower, though. Someone saw that I wasn't ready for snow that winter, and coincidentally we didn't get any. I mean less than an inch cumulative for the year. I worked through the winter on the cab, and spring, took a break for summer, picked it up again in the fall, and now I'm ready.
We've had a 4" snowfall, which is nothing to the kubota. But it was good to test everything out on. Got my neighbors as well, they were impressed with the new tractor, or at least said so to make me feel better.
It's a shame some have bad luck with neighbors, but they aren't all bad.
