Snowblower Which snowblower?!?!?

[rico304]

I did my research and decided on a Pronovost Puma 3 point hitch snowblower. Now that I have decided on Brand, I can't find one! /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif
Dealers in my area carry the following brands:
Meteor 60" $1688
Bervac 64" $2038
Schulte 62" $2645 (said he would sell for 2500 if I buy it by tomorrow)
JRW 60" $2053

My goodness. Too many snowblowers!!! Any one of them stand out as top notch? (Or bottom line?)
Thanks! Pronovost dealer is still trying to get one(Puma) for me. If not, I have to look for anther one. Thanks!!
Smith

 

[George2615]

I have the Puma 64" I use on my Mahindra 2615HST. I like the blower. Seems to be well made and at 540 PTO RPM it throws pretty good snow. Good luck on finding one.
George

 

[sweettractors]

Dont forget to add to your list, the Farmking/Buhler 60 inch at $1595 + shipping--Ken Sweet

sweet@scrtc.com

 

[BigDogues]

How far are you willing to travel? I know Keats Equipment in Keene, NH usually has a good stock available.

 

[CamshaftLF]

Have the 3pt ber-vac model very pleased, bullet proof in my book,eats snow like its candy,had it for 5yrs, my model doesn't have any chians driving it, straight off the pto shaft to the fan and auger less maintenance. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[MadDog]

Did you get a list of New England dealers from Pronovost? When I bought mine about 2 months ago, I emailed them and they gave me the names of several dealers, including at least one in New Hampshire. They all had 'em in stock as of that time and I bought from Orchard Hill in Belchertown, MA.

..very nice folks and good to deal with.

FWIW, I would suggest that you consider getting the hydraulic chute rotation and deflection options. I am glad I did. Also, get a bunch of spare shear pins and nuts for each of shearpins on the blower and drivetrain. My Puma has 3 shearpins, on driveshaft, auger and chute rotation gear housing. The shearpins are NOT the same sizes that fit walk-behind snowblowers so get 'em from the dealer.

Hope this helps.

 

[rico304]

Thank you all for the help! I hope to narrow it down and get it by the end of next week.
I did E Mail Pronovost (6 days ago) no reply yet. I'll e mail again for list of dealers. They had a number to call as well, but it wouldn't go through.
I only have one dealer that I can find, and I am planning on calling the NH dealer suggested as well.
Thanks again!

 

[MadReferee]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( The shearpins are NOT the same sizes that fit walk-behind snowblowers so get 'em from the dealer. )</font>

MadDog,

You can also get them cheaper from the local hardware store. According to the parts diagram, the shear pin on the Puma auger is 1/4"-20 grade 2 (I think this is a misprint since the manual specifically calls for grade 5 for all shear pins), the one on the chute is the same only grade 5, and the one on the pto shaft is a metric M6 (I use 1/4"-20 here).

 

[MadDog]

MadRef: You must have REAL hardward stores in NH; not just the Big Boxes" that only sell what moves in volume. I've only got one hardware store that carries a decent inventory and even it only had pins for walk behinds and those didn't say what grade they were.

I called my dealer and he sent 1/2 dozen of each right out.

Happy Holidays, MadRef. Best to you and yours.

 

[ttowne66]

Rico

Those prices seem to be on the high range. I found a Meteor dealer that was willing to sell me an un-assembled 66in model for $1550. Took about an hour to assemble and could do the second time in 30min. Perhaps you could do the same? Dealers are making a high profit margin right now. Why? because they can!