My son and I left here around 2:30 this afternoon to start plowing customers. One in particular is a hotel and he can't simply wait til the storm is done; he MUST keep the hotel open and active. He called.
So Michael and I went out to start doing that and . . . . WOW . . . . there was a LOT of snow. Bear in mind that we here in the NYC/NJ are not accustomed to this amount of snow, this fast.
So I started the plowing of the parking lot and my snow used the self-propelled Troy-Bilt snow blower to do the sidewalk.
Everything was fine, until . . . . the snow plow blade stopped operating properly. The hydraulic pump made it's usual noise, but the plow blade barely moved. Slightly up. Barely any movement left-right. The pitch of the motor was higher than usual. Water got in the hydraulic reservoir and once it made its way into the hydraulic fluid and thinned it, that was all she wrote.
So we had two spare quarts in the truck (for just this kind of situation) and we also have a fluid extractor; like a giant syringe with a tube at the end to suck out fluid. We opened the hydraulic reservoir and sucked out the existing fluid. Milky-greenish.
We added the new fluid and tried the plow. No good. Blade was only moving a tiny but. It dawned on me , the watery oil got into the hydraulic lines and into the pistons that raise-lower/left-right the blade. So we had to "help" the blade move left-right until the existing watery fluid was replaced by the good new fluid, and everything worked fine.
Finished up with the hotel then ran up to Advance Auto Parts on Kennedy Blvd in North Bergen. Note on the door said they closed at noon today because of the storm. Oh great. So we head over to AutoZone on Paterson Plank Road about a half mile from my house. While they didn't have "snow plow" fluid, they DID have hydraulic fluid. Bought two gallons.
Then we figured we should head out to other customers in New York City. Oh my God, the roads were absolutely treacherous. First stop: Staten Island. We drive down my street to get on the New Jersey Turnpike southbound because we have to over the Goethals Bridge (Exit 12). Much to my absolute shock, the Turnpike was a really bad mess.
Intermittent lane plowing. We're driving along, max speed 20, maybe 30, and we come upon about Half a dozen Cement Mixer Snow Plows. They are Contractors that the New Jersey Turnpike Authority calls-in when their (very large) fleet of Maintenance Trucks simply can't handle it.
The Cement mixers stagger themselves from the left shoulder, a second cement mixer behind that one but in the left lane, a third cement mixer behind that one, but in the center lane, a fourth cement mixer behind that one, but in the Right lane, and finally, a fifth cement mixer behind that one, handling the Right Shoulder.
These are really large, really heavy trucks and these beasts move about 20 MPH because they have ten foot wide massive snow plow blades that are moving a shit-ton of snow.
So, we had a nice, S L O W ride until Newark where the Turnpike widens into three lanes on an "inner" roadway (cars Only) and four or five lanes on an "outer" Roadway (cars, trucks, buses) But the cement mixers all headed to the truck lanes on the right and as we all approached what would become the car lanes . . . . . they weren't plowed! Everybody had to veer to the right to stay behind the plows.
After we pass the car/truck lanes split, all the cement mixer plows exit at Newark Airport so they can do the Turnpike "Bay Extension" which is Exits 14 "A" "B" and "C" which goes to the Holland Tunnel and NYC.
With the cement mixer plows gone, we were now on . . . . not freshly plowed . . . . road. Let me tell you: My Dodge Ram 1500 with its 5.9 Liter gasoline engine, custom, continuous, Posi-rear, real, Four Wheel Drive, and OFF-ROAD Tires, with about 950 Pounds of Ice-Melt in the truck bed, is a formidable truck in the snow.
Not THIS snow.
Holy shit the truck did not handle the mounds of unplowed snow that were left over from whatever plows previously went-by. Hit one of those little mounds, and the truck yanked to the right. I compensated, then the rear of my truck starts to fishtail. Recovered nicely from that, but white-knuckles for me at that point.
Then, I notice the smell of something electrical burning. Similar to the smell in my own house a few days ago when a wire cap melted in the Heat air handler. I mentioned it to my son. He DID NOT smell it. All the gauges were ok, so we kept going.
We cross the Goethals Bridge, which was in really GOOD condition, and onto the Staten Island Expressway, which was not.
It was about 4:30 when we got to the Goethals Bridge so it was getting dark. I turn on my headlights.
Thankfully, we came upon a group of NYC Sanitation (Garbage) trucks that were plowing, so we just stayed behind them until we got to our exit.
The side roads were not too good. Plowed, but not too well.
We get to the customer and whoa. Pristine, untouched snow. A LOT of it, maybe ten, twelve inches. we go up the hill which is the entry, and I start plowing. As I'm coming back toward where we came in, I see it is very dim in front of the truck. I asked my son, why are the headlights so dim. We pull over. He looks. The plow lights are OFF. Just the truck regular headlights are on.
One of the two wiring harnesses that comes out from under the hood to the snow plow assembly DISCONNECTED; taking-out the plow lights. He cleans the connector of snow and connects them. Nothing. No headlights.
He opens the fuse box that powers the plow system bus-bar and the main lighting fuse is melted and blown. Well, that accounts for me smelling something burning ! ! !
We head up to a nearby BP Gas station and bought fuses. Put in the needed 30 amp, and all is well. Everything works.
I think what happened is I hit a mound of plowed snow on the turnpike and I think it pulled the wiring harness connectors apart, allowed snow to get in, maybe shorted out the head light system.
As we're dropping ice-melt, the snow changes to SLEET.
We head back to NJ in what is now a SLEET STORM. More White knuckles for me.
Thankfully, the Turnpike . . . . . was almost completely empty. We even took a picture (above) showing the New Jersey Turnpike, northbound, at 8:00 PM on a Sunday night - EMPTY approaching exit 15X in Secaucus, NJ. Look for yourself in the photo above; the road is literally EMPTY.
We get home and have to do the Hotel again. Put 200 pounds of salt down for them as well.
So now we're home. Safely.
But this storm is one I most definitely will remember. First time I felt unsafe because of the weather conditions while driving.
