No matter where you live, two important things can help you keep your Ditch Witch^® equipment—and your business—in tip-top operating condition year-round.

First, if you work in an area that experiences any kind of winter at all, be sure to winterize your equipment (see tips below). And second, familiarize yourself with the many Ditch Witch attachments available from your local Ditch Witch dealer. Just because there’s snow on the ground doesn’t mean you have to put your business on ice.

A guy who knows a thing or two about winter and the versatility of Ditch Witch equipment is Warren Hagenbuch, general manager of Ditch Witch Northeast in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts. Hagenbuch grew up in Michigan and has worked at Ditch Witch Northeast for twelve years, so he has seen his share of serious winter weather. But his customers aren’t the types to let a little thing like a blizzard slow down productivity.

“We sell a lot of compact tool carriers to rental houses because they’re always looking for equipment to rent out year-round,” says Hagenbuch. “We have a lot of attachments that lend themselves to winter use. A lot of customers like the rotary broom for small snowfalls. For the bigger snows, we’ve got the snowplow, of course. A lot of our customers—landscapers, for example—revert to snowplowing after fall is over.”

 

Hagenbuch says that because of the conditions of the Northeast—rocky, tough soil and a dense, congested urban landscape—his “bread and butter” products are the Ditch Witch 410sx vibratory plow (with trenching capability) and RT45 compact trencher. But for overall, year-round versatility, the compact tool carriers like the SK650 are hot items even when the mercury plunges.

 

“The extra horsepower of the SK650 makes it well suited for the type of hard ground we have up here,” says Hagenbuch.

“But the big thing about the compact utility line is the versatility, particularly the compact tool carriers and the XT855 excavator-tool carrier. They’re not specialized products; they will literally do seventy things and do them very well. I mean, it’s one thing to make a unit that can do seventy things, but quite another to make one that does them all exceptionally well. And these units do.”

Winterizing Tips

A few minutes spent winterizing your equipment will save you time and money in the months to come. The amount of winter care your equipment needs depends on both the climate and how it is used. Check your operator’s manual and keep the following tips in mind:

• Check coolant. Provide protection by using the recommended antifreeze/water mixture for the lowest temperature expected during operation.
• Change the oil and filter before cold weather arrives, and use lubricants for low-temperature applications.
• Maintain the battery. Remove cables, clean cable ends and posts, and clean and tighten terminals on the cranking motor.
• Check tire inflation. Tires inflated in a warm shop will be under-inflated when used in cold temperatures.
• Give hydraulic fluid and transmission fluid time to warm up before beginning work.
• If you’re running diesel equipment, be sure to idle the engine a few minutes before shutting down. This properly lubricates internal components.

Your local Ditch Witch equipment service technicians can help you make the most of your cold-weather productivity, and can suggest winterizing techniques suited to your particular operation.