Plowing Sidewalks With the Farmall H (long)

db4570

Member
Plowing Sidewalks With the Farmall H

I got the tractor bug a year ago and bought a nice old Ferguson to fool around with on our piece of land. It is my first tractor, but as a kid I did some farm labor and got to drive a few tractors, mostly a Farmall A and H. So I was always pretty nostalgic for the Farmall brand, and always thought I might get one.

But I switched my loyalty from Farmall to Ferguson after learning about the importance of the 3 point system. I really like my Ferguson, and bonded with it quickly, and I like most everything about it better than the Farmalls. It's small, is a lot lighter than an H with about the same horsepower, is a lot lower, and is cuter, IMO. Oh, and the 3 point hitch is really handy.

But back to Farmalls. I got to know a guy who has the contract for plowing the Rochester NY city sidewalks, and he does it with a fleet of Farmall H's. He offered me some part-time work plowing for some extra money, and I decided to give it a try.

I can tell you, these H's are battle wagons. I think they probably get worked a lot harder plowing snow than working a farm. They get driven up and off curbs, the giant plows bang into stuff, they are working the hydraulics constantly, and push through heavy snow, wide open, in 4th gear, in freezing and wet conditions. To think they have been doing this for decades, after probably having been retired as farm tractors, is a real endorsement of their ruggedness.

They carry a huge V plow on the front, and I can't imagine what it weighs. The Ferguson guys caution about carrying a front loader on their tractors, because the weight might break the axles. I've never hear of this happening on one of these H's.

Damn, 25 hp is a lot of power. It seems like this machine will chug through anything.

This is an interesting adventure, and a crash course in tractor handling. After horsing these monsters around the city streets, puttering around on my Ferguson in my field is child's play. I have become a lot more confident in the stability and solid handling of these old machines.

The work is a somewhat surreal experience for this rural/suburban boy. At 3 a.m. during a snowstorm, all alone on the deserted inner-city residential/industrial back streets, it often seems like the Farmall and I are the only living beings around. I am truly on my own out there all night in the wilderness, hurtling the terrible iron beast through a narrow tunnel of dim yellow headlight beam poking through the swirling snow.

Like the character "Chef", in "Apocalypse Now", I keep reminding myself: "Never get off the tractor."

My first night, after the first hour I had definitely had enough. The physical work was brutal, my face was crusted with ice, there was slush in my long johns, I hurt bad all over, I was drowning in monoxide from the shorty exhaust pipe blowing in my face, and I had no idea where I was, lost on the dark mean streets. I planned to finish out the shift so as to not leave the owner in the lurch, but would then inform him I was too friggin' old for this, and wouldn't be returning.

That first night, after having received about 30 seconds of training, during a tricky elaborate k-turn in the middle of an intersection bordered by a shuttered factory, abandoned houses, an empty lot, and unused train tracks, I accidentally hit the kill switch with my knee. Not having driven a Farmall since I was about 12, I wasn't that familiar with the switches. All of a sudden one feels pretty vulnerable in the dark, with the lights dimming, the reassuring roar of the mighty 4-cylinder replaced by deafening silence and falling snow. "Never get off the tractor". After randomly flipping some switches I got the mighty H rolling again.

After finally finishing my route several hours later, I lurched in my front door as my family was getting ready for work and school, and fell into bed.

When I woke up, I drank my coffee as I perused Google Earth, looking at my route. Ah! There's that rock wall I clipped because it was hidden under a drift. There's the tree branch that hung so low over the sidewalk it almost knocked me from my mount, like a funny scene in a western movie. There's the place I accidentally plowed where there wasn't a sidewalk. There's where the tricycle front gear decided not to grip during a turn and almost caused me to remodel a Prius with the plow's iron prow. There's the utility pole I took a big bite out of.

I started reviewing the route and trying to figure out how it could be plowed more efficiently than my seemingly random meanderings. Unbelievably, I gradually got to the point where I couldn't wait to do it again, and have been plowing all winter.

I can't help but think this is trickier tractor driving than farm work, but most of the farm work I did was pulling a hay wagon, picking up bales.

But this plow work, I don't have enough hands and feet. The steering is really unpredictable, with the narrow front tires sliding across the snow during a sharp turn. And it's a lot of sharp turns over the 15 miles of sidewalk I plow every snowy night. I hurl this thing around in a sharp u-turn to swing it over to the sidewalk on the opposite side of the street, usually standing on the left brake to give it a tighter pivot. This all takes place in about 10 seconds while I throttle down in 4th gear, lift the plow before I clutch, check for traffic, and swing around the intersection, line up where I hope the curb cut is on the end of the sidewalk, drop the plow, cheat some more speed off with the clutch, feel around a bit for the curb cut, or if I miss it, really slowly ease the plow over the curb, with the tractor following- watch out for that fire plug!- punch the throttle, glance ahead and DANG! Someone two driveways ahead has parked their car blocking the sidewalk! I won't go into the details about what I have to do in that situation.

I was worried I would get sleepy working in the wee hours of the morning, but it's the opposite. It can be so hairy, and requires such concentration and physical strain, that I am on an adrenaline rush all night.

Is winter over? I may be done plowing for this season. I'll miss it.

So I still love my little Ferguson, but I have a strong respect for these mighty Farmalls.

Sorry this is so long, but I figured some of you might get a kick out of it.

David
 
Hello David, and welcome to YT.com. I'm not much on tractor knowledge myself but have owned/used a few in my life. First was a little Italian job; Pasquali 986, full-time 4wd, 21hp 1-cyl. diesel. Awesome little machine, except for the electrical. ...Lost it a couple years back in an auto accident. Had a Ferguson TO-30 for a while but was a bit too awkward to maneuver on the property, plus no creeper gears like the Pasquali. More recently had a JD 4010 gas with FEL and 3-pt. snow thrower but had a horrible time getting it started. Now have a Farmall 460 gas that came with no 3-pt., but bought an aftermarket 3-pt. for it and anxious to get it installed. Still lots of snow, and now rising water from snowmelt.

There are a couple of recent threads that might interest you concerning adding a 3-pt. to an older tractor:
1) http://forums.yesterdaystractors.co...&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

2) http://forums.yesterdaystractors.co...&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

There are lots of other conversations in the archives as well. You can find them using the Search feature.

Thanks for the nice story!
 
I've been over by their shop near Chili. Many years ago I worked in Brighton and sold parts to those guys.
 
I got called to help with sidewalk plowing in Rochester that same evening. With about 2-1/2 feet of snow on the flat, and some banked snow 6 - 8 feet deep, it was a night indeed!

One of the larger plows - a 460 - struck a concrete planter hidden under the snow in the center of a sidewalk. The hit snapped the bolster/front wheels completely off, stranding the poor tractor and driver.

I shot a few photos over the course of the evening and posted them at the link below.

...Bob M
sidewalk snowplowing
 
A break down such as that has to be harder to overcome than it was 20 plus years ago. Back then you had the Central Tractor boneyard at Batavia, NY and "Uncle" Bill Knapp over in Livonia, NY. Could have had it fixed same day but maybe they keep some stuff on hand just in case. There are not guys parting stuff out here in NY like there use to be.
 
Yeah, that was some rough plowing last week. The second night was the worst. I had to stay in 3rd gear for most of it. The tractor handled it OK but got defeated by some of the taller banks.

David
 
Thanks for the story David, very interesting that they still do the sidewalks like that. I know what you mean about finding a good way to run the route. I run a county territory plowing the roads. 76 miles one way, so by the time you make a full round it's 152 miles in 8-10 hours. EVERYTHING must be fully plowed in that amount of time and you must be MOVING to get it done in that amount of time, 40-45 mph to get it all. A very specific route to follow, if you don't, or have to deadhead somewhere, you won't make it, especially with all the T's and dead ends I have to run. You're right about the adrenaline keeping you awake as well. After I work a regular shift and get called in that night to work the highways all night, which is really boring, I start getting tired by 6 AM or so after being up for 24 hours. But, I still have my territory to run for 8-10 more hours. Once the sun comes up, I'm wide awake. Trying to stay wheels down, out of the ditches with zero or near zero visibility at those speeds really gets you wound up.

Do they have to modify the internals of the rear end to get them that narrow, or just slide the wheels in and cut the axle shafts off?

Ross
 
The tread is narrowed by mounting the wheels dish in, sliding them in right to the axle housing then sawing off the excess axle length. Many times the right brake pedal is also modified (bent) to provide wheel clearance.
 
Whew! That's s lot of tire and chain real close to you spinning around, especially if you have to modify the brake pedal!
 
Speechless!!

Bob, awesome photos, but that video.....absolutely amazing!! Those were the perfect compliment to make the OP's story really come to life!
 
(reply to post at 21:17:38 03/21/17)

Yeah, that tire is pretty close. So much so that the first couple times I plowed I got a chain rash on my left knee. There is a layer of the vinyl material that is part of the tractor's foul-weather skirt between me and the tire, but I still got banged up pretty well on that knee. Now I clamp a piece of heavy foam over that spot, which helps a lot.

For some reason only my left knee got whacked. Maybe it's narrower on that side; maybe I just "man-spread" a bit more to the left.

David
 

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