Snowblower Snowblower improvements

[jaybirdt]

Not trying to beat a dead horse here but does anyone remember the way to improve snowblower throwing ability?I remember a thread last year on this but couldnt find it.I have a 54 inch meteor snowblower that likes to plow snow more than blow it.It also only throws the snow about 12 feet even at higher than 540 rpm on the pto.I think it was to weld extensions on the fan but not sure. the clearance between the fan and housing appears to be about 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch. Nothing like waiting till the last minute got over a foot of snow today and still going Thanks, Jason

 

[BigDogues]

I remember that too. There was a guy on ebay that sold rubber wipers that you bolted on to the fan to improve performance. I searched but can't find the thread. Sorry /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

 

[beenthere]

One of the conclusions of the "snowblower plowing rather than blowing snow" was to look for a sheared 'shear' pin in the auger drive. Symptoms are of an auger not turning, but just pushing snow, some of which got into the blower to be blown out. Just a reminder to check for that.

That gap between the blade ends and the blower housing seems a bit much too. Are the blades worn off, or just purposely made that short? Maybe it is intentional for rocks and ice balls.

 

[hwp]

There are two critical factors which determine the throwing ability of a snowblower, the discharge velocity and the gap between the impeller blades and the drum. If the discharge velocity is too low, there will be little throw regardless of how well the impeller fits the drum. A discharge velocity of 5000 ft/min will result in throw of up to 100 feet. To determine the discharge velocity of your machine multiply the diameter of the impeller in feet by pi (3.14) by the rpm. For example, the impeller on my snowblower is 20 in. in diameter and I run it at 1000 rpm so the dicharge velocity of my machine is (20/12) x 3.14 x 1000 = 5233 ft/min.

The fellow that made my machine told me that the clearance between the impeller blades and the drum should be no more than 0.020". A good way to test this is to put a dime in the bottom of the drum. Each impeller blade should be able to pick up the dime and carry it to the point of discharge (90 degrees later). What happens for the other three quarters of the revolution doesn't matter. A larger gap will allow snow the fall off the end of the impeller rather than being discharged out the chute. If the gap between the impeller blades and the drum becomes too large, then the end of the impeller blades can be built up with beads of weld and then ground to fit the drum. I do this about every second season. If the gap between the impeller blades and the drum large enough, you can fit a band to the inside of the drum, but this requires a lot of care to get the drum perfectly round. /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif

 

[BigDogues]

Found it. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif SnowBlower Improvement Kit Just how old is your snowblower anyway? But I agree with beenthere, check your shearpins.

 

[BigDogues]

And here is the thread that they are mentioned in. About halfway down Junkman had said he tried a set with some success.

 

[jaybirdt]

Thanks for the ideas guys, the snowblower is only two years old but it never seemed to work quite right. Meteor is probably a cheapo snowblower as the gap around the impeller and housing is about 1/2 inch.It appears as though the problem with the snowblower is that it cannot get rid of the snow fast enough.No matter how slow I go and how fast the pto turns the snow only goes about 12-15 feet so it sounds like the problem is the clearance of the impeller and not the size as the 54 inch and 60 inch use the same impeller which I thought should make it work better as it is taking in less snow. I will take off the impeller and have one of the fabricators at work build up weld on the tips of the impeller. Thanks again Jason

 

[jim_wilson]

I think I have a similar problem with the snowblower on my BX23. Last year right at the end of snow season I got a Loftness 54" blower that I converted to use on the 3pt. I finally finished up my dirt work for the year last weekend and just got a chance to mount the blower on the tractor and try it out today - and was less than impressed with it's blowing ability. We got about 15" of light snow a week or so ago that has compacted down to about 8" - so I took the blower and tried a couple of passes of about 20ft and the best I could the thing to throw was maybe 8 feet or so. This was with the throttle wide open on the tractor so I assume I was at max PTO speed. I checked the throwing fan (impeller?) rotations against the PTO shaft rotations and I am getting 1 to 1 - the fan goes one full revolution for each revolution of the PTO shaft. The main auger goes about 1/4 rotation for each rotation of the PTO shaft. There is a gap between the impeller fan and it's housing of about 1/4" to 3/8' and a gap between the main auger and the blower housing of about 3/4 - 1".

Is there anything else I should check - is there any way to check that the PTO is putting out full power?

 

[kevincook]

Jim,

You say you converted the blower to work on a 3pt hitch. Was this a front mount blower? If so, when you did the conversion did you change the gearing at all. I think most mid pto's run at much higher RPM than a rear PTO. I'd have to double check but I think my mid PTO runs at 2000 RPM.

Good Luck,
Kevin

 

[Cord]

There is a third factor which will affect the blowers ability to throw the snow. That has to do with the basic design of the blower and the chute. Most modern blowers have a rigid drum and then rotate the chute to direct the snow. The problem is that the snow wants to go straight up. To redirect the snow the chute has a bend in it. This bend absorbs the energy from the snow. A blower with a bent chute will never be a awsome snow mover. The older snowblower designs had a drum that would rotate. With a rotating drum, the snow is never bounced off a chute, instead it flys straight out. I have one of these blowers and it throws the snow a honest 60'.