cheapest way to deal with insane driveway in winter

robr

robr

Legendary Member
Joined
31 July 2001
Messages
5,194
Location
Boston, MA
Ok, so.... I'm moving and it's a case of great house, but I'm not sure how practical it's going to be in the winter. We have two vehicles, my NSX which is a daily driver (even in the winter as long as the roads are plowed and it's not actually snowing) and my wife's RAV4.

Now I'm just trying to figure out the cheapest way to keep this driveway safe in the winter for my wife who will always be carting around our two infants. Obviously snow tires on her RAV4 are a start. I figure I'll be parking the NSX at the foot of the driveway and doing a lot of walking up and down it. The driveway is (I'm guessing) about 700' and the first 600' are all uphill from the road. It's the triangle looking house in the upper right of this picture.

I don't think the RAV4 will deal well with a plow, I have a big ass snowblower but I think that would still take hours, and I'm told to plan on $150ish if I want someone to come plow it, and then they're not going to salt or sand it.

driveway.jpg
 
WAHHAHAHAHAHA LMFAO!!!! Well, it doesn't solve the winter problem but it sure would be a lot of fun!!! I like the optional chicane :).
 
do it, right...

No and's, if's, or but's about it, you're going to need an old light-truck/SUV (ie. S10, Ranger, Blazer, Cherokee) w/ a simple plow on the front & salt-granule spreader on the back, outfitted w/ search-lights. We're not just talking about length/coverage-area, but also gradient.

Spend $500-$1,500 for a high-mileage, mediocre condition light pick-up truck or SUV and another few hundred for the plow/spreader. From thereon, all you'll pay for is material (salt/sand/gas...). Don't register/inspect/insure it. Keep it as a grounds-service vehicle.

New England, countryside, sportscar/utility-errand_Wifehicle... no choice man, you gotta make the investment.

Alternate route... upgrade from RAV4 to a family/mid-sized 4x4 SUV based off a light-truck platform (ie. 4Runner, Pathfinder, Explorer, H3, etc'...)
 
That's why I suggested an old beater for 2 grand. I keep a 1990 in my driveway for hurricane season. Sure the electrics are going to do funny things but the drivetrains on these trucks are bulletproof. I owned 2 Classics when I lived in NYC and drove them regularly to Killington, Vermont in some of the worst snowstorms you've ever seen. Other SUVs were off the road but not the Rangies.
 
This will do...:biggrin:


green_bay_chicago_lines_int_snowplow.jpg
 
Robr, the one thing you didn't specify is the elevation change from the bottom to the top of the driveway. It's kind of hard to tell from the picture but it doesn't look too bad. Second question is: how much snow does the area typically get at a time? 4"? 5"? It looks like you've got lots of trees along the road so you shouldn't get too much drifting .. probably just accummulation. Third question is: do they get freezing rain just before a snowfall?

I have 5 years of winter driving experience with the NSX and I can tell you that snow tires make an unbelievable difference. I have driven mine up a highway overpass in ruts after 5" of snow over a small amount of freezing rain so I'm guessing I could do your driveway. Now that was driving in ruts that someone else had created but at one point was following a dumptruck that was pulling a trailer with a snow removal bobcat on it... and he couldn't make the grade. So, I changed lanes; made my own ruts; and drove around him. Now my car isn't lowered and was running on 60 series snow tires .. so YMMV.

Now if they regularly get 8-10" of snow at a time, you're not going to get through it with most vehicles .. including many SUVs .. but if that's the case, the road you're connected to is probably going to be impassible anyway. Maybe you should just buy one of those little tractors and leave the plow attached.
 
If your just trying to keep the road clear and maintained and with all amount of property you have I would recommend a used Bobcat or Cat Skidsteer Tractor. Will easily clear the road and can use it for many other tasks with the attachments available.
 
I'm just renting this place, so I don't want to spend a ton of dough. That's why I'm asking for cheapest, that puts things like a Bobcat right out. I'm not sure what %age the grade is, but it does seem pretty steep. I'll see if I can get more info.
 
here's a topo of the driveway. you can see the main road (amesbury line road - red and white dashed road) and then the red X is approx where the house is sitting. I think that's about 275' above road level over an approx 600' climb. Not sure what that works out to for pitch.

topo.jpg
 
robr said:
says angle bc is appox 27 degrees (but i know road grade is measured differently, it's some offset from some other base value as i recall)
Click to expand...
A quick google search finds a site that says that road grade, which is specified in percent, is

"Rise over Run times 100"

or

(rise/run)*100 = percent grade

where both the rise and the run must be in the same units - typically feet. So, for a rise of 275 ft over a distance traveled of 600 feet, it would be

(275/600)*100 = 45.8 %

That's incredibly steep...

P.S. The road grade is also the tangent of the angle of incline.
 
Normal max grade for most Fire Departments is 15%. That driveway must be very difficult to drive in foul weather :eek:
 
I dunno, I mean it's steep, but it doesn't seem THAT steep. Looking at the topo map, I know I have my altitude right (I overlaid the aerial map in photoshop to find the house location on the topo). I suppose the driveway might be slightly longer and it does twist a little bit, but looking at the scale on the maps, I think 600' is close. It's pretty level the last 100' or so.

In any event, it sounds like a beater truck with a plow is the way to go.
 
If it is only winter you are worried about, I think it would be fun to park at the beginning of the driveway and buy a used cheap snowmobile back and forth to the house. At least it would be fun and could be used for more than just that. :biggrin:
 
That might be fine if it were just me, but that's not going to work for the wife and our two infants. My goal is to make sure they can safely navigate up and down the driveway in the winter.
 
robr said:
In any event, it sounds like a beater truck with a plow is the way to go.
Click to expand...

You might also want to consider hiring this guy to come by once a week and do a weather dance to keep the snow clouds away. :)

tom1.jpg
 
We have a cabin up north and we have to plow over 5 miles each way to get back through the winter. We normally only have to do it 4-8 times per year and the cost is $150 per plow.

I would find some local guy that needs some money to give you a quote on plowing the driveway, I think you should be able to find someone to do it for about $75. I am not sure how much snow you get, but I think it might be the way to go for the first year you have the place.

Good Luck!
 

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