Tools Of The Trade: Better 175 Snow Tractor

The Town of Truckee ranks as the fifth-snowiest ‘city’ in the United States. Downtown Truckee sits at 5,980 ft. elevation, and Tahoe Donner’s lowest elevation homes start at 6,227 ft. and rise to 7,350 ft. Tahoe Donner regularly receives at least 25% more snow than most areas in Truckee, which technically makes Tahoe Donner one of the snowiest HOAs in the country.

Tahoe Donner’s snow removal needs are some of the most challenging in the continental United States. That’s why we never stop looking for the most appropriate equipment for our massive Atmospheric River snow events and notorious ‘Sierra Cement’ snow.

Our New Holland tractors were discontinued in 2014, which has diminished the supply of replacement parts and service for these tractors to extinction. Many of our Holder tractors in our fleet turn 23 this year, and our MacLean tractors are amazing little machines. Still, we needed to find a tractor that could handle the amount of snow we receive in Tahoe Donner with speed and reliability.

The Better 175 tractor from BM Tractors is a comfortably modern, mid-sized tractor that performs with the power of our large New Hollands but is also as maneuverable as our smaller, red MacLean MV5 tractors and our orange Holder tractors. As a result, the Better 175 is the most appropriate tractor on the market for Tahoe Donner’s demanding snow removal requirements, thanks to its high horsepower productivity and four-wheel steering maneuverability.

This new addition to the Elements snow removal fleet meets all California vehicle emissions standards and offers many other key features, including:

Fuel efficient
Tier 4 clean engine – very low emissions
Performs well on steep driveways
Excellent 360-degree visibility
Power and productivity of our larger New Holland
As maneuverable as our small Holder and MacLean tractors

As you may have read in our previous article Tools Of The Trade: MacLean MV5 Snow Tractor snow removal has evolved a long way from Police Force shoveling crews to the modern-day snow tractors you see clearing your driveways. Thanks to the advancements in engineering nowadays, there is an abundance of tractors to choose from but we at Elements have to be very selective due to where we live and the conditions we manage.

Our company was the first in Tahoe Donner to move from heavy, cumbersome front-end loaders to smaller snow blowers. We acknowledged that these smaller, more maneuverable tractors would cause less damage to the driveways and leave our customers with a cleaner, more thorough driveway clearing.

Any improvements to our snow removal fleet are aimed at providing you with quicker, cleaner driveway clearings while also making sure to invest in equipment that is environmentally responsible. After extensive research and testing of multiple other solutions, we believe that The Better 175 Tractor is the smartest progression in modern snow removal.