The concept behind the snow sweeps is to
pull snow from the edge of the trail into the middle for the teeth, comb,
and track setter to work with. Without snow sweeps, several things
happen.
On the outside edge of the trail:
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The Tidd Tech pushes snow off the trail,
creating a snow bank on the edge of the trail.
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This snow bank 'sets' and over the
course of the season, the trail gets narrower.
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The Tidd Tech under-cuts the snow bank on the
edge of the trail, the snow breaks off and falls on the trail creating a
mess, especially in the tracks.
In the middle of the trail:
-
The Tidd Tech pushes snow into the
middle of the trail,
creating a ridge down the middle of the trail.
-
If this ridge doesn't get packed tight
it creates a high / soft spot down the middle of the trail.
I've expanded on this idea a little bit.
Previously I've used just one snow sweep on the outside edge of the trail.
Now I use one on each side of the Tidd Tech, and one in the middle across
the front of the Tidd Tech.
The snow sweeps on the corners consist of
a steel mounting tube on each corner of the Tidd Tech frame, an adjustable
steel frame, and a UHMW plastic sweep:
-
They reach out slightly beyond the edge of the Tidd Tech
to pull snow into the middle of the Tidd Tech.
-
They're adjustable up/down and in/out, depending on the snow conditions.
-
The UHMW plastic is flexible enough to
bend if it strikes a tree, but tough enough to retain it's original
shape.
The middle snow sweep consist of a UHMW
plastic sweep attached to a steel bar, mounted on the
front mount on the Tidd
Tech:
-
It collects snow from the snow sweeps
on the corners and from the middle of the trail between the Grizzly's
tracks.
-
It "rolls" this snow along the trail,
taking the air out of the snow.
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It fills in low spots on the trail and
the track marks from the Grizzly.
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It creates a smoother trail and loose
snow for the teeth to work with.
-
It can be raised and lowered,
depending on snow conditions, using the
front mount on the
Tidd Tech.
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The "Inside Sweep" is a little longer to
collect more snow from the middle of the trail and pull the snow in for the
middle sweep to work with.
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The "Middle Sweep" collects the snow and
"rolls" it down the trail. It has larger openings cut in it to allow
the snow to flow thru.
-
The "Outside Sweep" reaches out slightly beyond the edge of the Tidd Tech
to cut down the edge of the trail and pull the snow in for the middle sweep
to work with.
-
The snow sweeps on the corners can be
switch from side to side, depending on which edge of the trail I'm grooming,
so the "Outside Sweep" is always on the edge of the trail and the
"Inside Sweep" is always in the middle of the trail.
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