# A few pics from a busy Fall season.



## DellDoug (Aug 18, 2009)

Been crazy busy around the shop this fall. New projects and ideas are taking up allot of time. Just thought I would throw up a few pics of some of our new toys. I hope they work as good as they look!! LOL!! Goodluck to everyone this upcoming season. Thumbs Up

The first few pics are of some new sidewalk machines called Ventrac. We have brooms and blades and salters for them. We have a pic of one of our new F750 Salt trucks getting the salter installed and we have one pic of a new drive in pile salter (hyd drive) for a skid steer.


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## Jelinek61 (Mar 16, 2009)

Very nice. I've always thought one of those Ventracs would be sweet to have. How many did you buy...just the two?


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## CGM Inc. (Dec 15, 2008)

Friend of mine is using Steiners and Ventrac's on his own property for the last 10 years with front mount blowers. He loves them! I have a Steiner as well which is more or less the same machine.

They are great and reliable!


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## adamhumberview (Dec 27, 2009)

top notch stuff as usual doug.. cummins ford


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## DellDoug (Aug 18, 2009)

Jelinek61;1344178 said:


> Very nice. I've always thought one of those Ventracs would be sweet to have. How many did you buy...just the two?


We purchased a total of four units to try out. We hope they are as good as everyone says. We are going to run them next to our fleet of kubota products and give them a thourgh testing. I will report a little later what we discover.


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## DellDoug (Aug 18, 2009)

adamhumberview;1344203 said:


> top notch stuff as usual doug.. cummins ford


Thanks Adam. Look forward to buying some salt off you this season.  Cummins is hard to beat!! IMHO.


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## justinizzi (Sep 12, 2009)

very nice good luck this season


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## THEGOLDPRO (Jun 18, 2006)

I have always liked those ventracs, Real nice equipment man.


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## SNOWLORD (Aug 10, 2007)

Everything looks great! I have never owned a ventrac but I have always heard good things about them. I am to cheap to get something like that for my sidewalk guys they are stuck on 4wheelers when it gets really cold or windy I hand them my snowmobile helmet. Good Luck this season.


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## adamhumberview (Dec 27, 2009)

DellDoug;1344208 said:


> We purchased a total of four units to try out. We hope they are as good as everyone says. We are going to run them next to our fleet of kubota products and give them a thourgh testing. I will report a little later what we discover.


My fear more often than not is these smaller pieces of equipment are P.I.T.A to start at nights. Aside from that I think they will be a great sidewalk machine and will virtually be IMPOSSIBLE not to clear any pathway with that thing.

The pivot will prove to be easier to get tighter to the building and less clumsier than a kubota mini tractor.


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## Triple L (Nov 1, 2005)

Any reason why you went with a ford instead of a internatioal or freightliner or kenworth or anything else... You have quite a few Internationals dont you?


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## flatlander42 (Oct 22, 2008)

Subscribed to see the updates about the Ventracs!!!


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## JD Dave (Mar 20, 2007)

Those machines look so nimble. Keep the pics coming.


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## AndersonCS (Jul 7, 2011)

Looking forward to pictures. Someday I would like to get one.


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## GLSS22 (Dec 31, 2007)

Great looking equipment! Let us know how the skid steer salter works out! I've always wanted to fab one up. Are you putting a cutting edge on it?


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## vegaman04 (Dec 12, 2007)

Ditto on the updates about the Ventracs


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## Dlongerman (Nov 6, 2008)

what all they said! lol


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## Dan85 (Oct 14, 2008)

As someone who has logged many hours in a Ventrac I can tell you this:

- They start fairly well, even in the cold.

- Those brushes are worth their weight in gold. However, check it out - something was wrong with a new brush we purchased - it would stall out every time you applied pressure to it and wound up being a factory defect.

- When they run, they're a great machine to have.

- Make sure to have an electrical guru/problem finder on your staff! We had tons of electrical problems with ours. One big thing was corrosion in/on the alternator which led to charging issues.

- Those glass doors are *very* expensive to replace if you bust one.

- Our machines required radiator fans for summer and winter - the blades are reversed for each season.

- If you're running belt driven attachments make sure to find plenty of spares!

Here is one of ours:










- Dan


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## RLS (Jul 13, 2010)

Very nice looking F750! I have an older F650. What type/model is the sander mounted on it? Capacity?

Thanks!


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## ford6.9 (Aug 17, 2006)

Is that skid steer sander set up so you can scoop it with the machine? or do you need someone to load you?


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## DellDoug (Aug 18, 2009)

Triple L;1344461 said:


> Any reason why you went with a ford instead of a internatioal or freightliner or kenworth or anything else... You have quite a few Internationals dont you?


Well to be honest we feel the Ford Trucks have always been comparable to international. The KW seems like a step above ( just a little). When we looked at pricing the KW and international were very close but Ford wanted the business and was 15% cheaper. The choice was simple. we ordered 2.


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## DellDoug (Aug 18, 2009)

Knockah22;1344576 said:


> Great looking equipment! Let us know how the skid steer salter works out! I've always wanted to fab one up. Are you putting a cutting edge on it?


The front side of the salter has a built in edge on it. We are doing a little more welding so it fit a little nicer. I will try to take a pic of the modified brackets and cutting edge section tomorrow. Although it will be a busy day. If it doesn't happen it will have to be a spring time update.


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## DellDoug (Aug 18, 2009)

Dan85;1344671 said:


> As someone who has logged many hours in a Ventrac I can tell you this:
> 
> - They start fairly well, even in the cold.
> 
> ...


Thanks for the tips. As usual maintence is the key to success so hopefully we can avoid a few of the peoblems you outlined here. Our are for winter use only so I guess we have to be extra careful with the wiring. :salute:


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## DellDoug (Aug 18, 2009)

RLS;1344680 said:


> Very nice looking F750! I have an older F650. What type/model is the sander mounted on it? Capacity?
> 
> Thanks!


That is an Airflow unit. Not sure on the size but it holds 7 metric tonnes ( About 8 imp tons) We have had it awhile and rebuilt it to put it on the new truck. Legal load here in ont is about 5.5 tonnes.


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## Triple L (Nov 1, 2005)

DellDoug;1345503 said:


> Well to be honest we feel the Ford Trucks have always been comparable to international. The KW seems like a step above ( just a little). When we looked at pricing the KW and international were very close but Ford wanted the business and was 15% cheaper. The choice was simple. we ordered 2.


15% I'd agree on the choice being simple!

Great looking equipment... Hope you can post alot more pics and videos as the winter goes on...


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## DellDoug (Aug 18, 2009)

ford6.9;1344844 said:


> Is that skid steer sander set up so you can scoop it with the machine? or do you need someone to load you?


Nope just open the bucket and drive into the pile. loaded!! Thumbs Up


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## JohnnyRoyale (Jun 18, 2006)

As usual....good stuff!


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## cda817 (Nov 20, 2009)

Doug, 

Just wondering if your guys have put any hours on those ventracs yet. We are looking to trade out our walkers for a more powerful platform and I am very interested in what ventrac has to offer.


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## ultimate plow (Jul 2, 2002)

Nice equipment. The skid steer self scooper spreader is the best idea ever. I saw one in a parking lot in my area.


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## AndersonCS (Jul 7, 2011)

ultimate plow;1377601 said:


> Nice equipment. The skid steer self scooper spreader is the best idea ever. I saw one in a parking lot in my area.


Hey ultimate, I see you put '08 mirrors on your '05. What sort of a job was it to wire up?


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## Brant'sLawnCare (Jun 29, 2007)

Those Ventracs look sweet. I was checking them out at GIE this year.


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## mikegooseman (Dec 28, 2009)

*...*

Hey boys I guess while I was deer hunting you posted some pics of these bad boys !! lol As you are well aware I think between the articulation and oscillation that little weapon will solve sidewalks and make them a problem of the past, and simply put just kick some as$ ! Thumbs Up


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## DellDoug (Aug 18, 2009)

cda817;1377555 said:


> Doug,
> 
> Just wondering if your guys have put any hours on those ventracs yet. We are looking to trade out our walkers for a more powerful platform and I am very interested in what ventrac has to offer.


 So far we have only been salting with them. Under 10 hours of work time. Great for the bottom line but a little bit dull ( I am more interested in bottom line). When we get them battle tested I will post my thoughts. I do feel they are going to do a great job but until then.....


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## DellDoug (Aug 18, 2009)

ultimate plow;1377601 said:


> Nice equipment. The skid steer self scooper spreader is the best idea ever. I saw one in a parking lot in my area.


So far so good. We are building a larger prototype for a loader right now. Timeline for completion is summer of 2012. We like the little one allot!!


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## H&HPropertyMait (Oct 17, 2011)

This is me being nozy... how much did one ventrac cost ya. if you're comfortable sharing. i'd love to get one. great looking stuff. subscribed.


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## DellDoug (Aug 18, 2009)

H&HPropertyMait;1378260 said:


> This is me being nozy... how much did one ventrac cost ya. if you're comfortable sharing. i'd love to get one. great looking stuff. subscribed.


No probs...with cab, broom, V-blade, Salter,etc.... about $30G's Canadian


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## H&HPropertyMait (Oct 17, 2011)

DellDoug;1378282 said:


> No probs...with cab, broom, V-blade, Salter,etc.... about $30G's Canadian


That's not too bad. I'm guessing you got diesel too? Should be great for you. The brooms seem awesome from all the stuff I've watched. And the v blade seems weird with the piece sticking out in the middle. Keep us posted! Nice looking stuff


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## cubanb343 (Dec 13, 2007)

The bucket salter is a great idea! Wish i would've thought of that...


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## Jelinek61 (Mar 16, 2009)

The only thing with the bucket salter is you need to have a salt stockpile on your plowing site for it to be effective.

The rib coming out of the middle of the v-blade is so it rides up on cracks in the pavement/cement joints.


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## cda817 (Nov 20, 2009)

Just wondering if you had put many more hours on those Ventracs? We ended up sitting on our walkers for the "Winter" with the lack of snow it wasn't worth trading them out. I am leaning towards a compact Kubota tractor with a blade/blower because we have a good dealer and the Ventrac dealer is a haul and I don't know much about them. However the Ventrac's productivity may sway me with a good review. Thanks for your help!


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## DellDoug (Aug 18, 2009)

*Report*

We put about 100 hours each on the ventracs they did a great job for us. On one site we had scheduled five shovelers and the ventrac did the whole job one hour by itself. We found that the broom attachment worked very well as a matter of fact we used the broom 90% of the time we had no mechanical issues with the machines and I plan to buy more brooms for both the ventrac and the kubotas. The kubotas also did a good job with brooms on them the difference between the machines is the articulation that helps certain situations however either machine is an excellent choice I would recommend either and I really recommend using the brooms as well as the six way blades


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