How much power to run a 5' snow blower

[tessiers]

How much power does it require to run a 5' snow blower. I have a three point mounted snow blower and I would like to mount it to the Front end loader on my tractor. My 2 choices would be to attach a seperate Gas engine, what HP?, or my first choice would be a hydraulic motor powered by the rear backhoe remotes.

Northern Tool has a Dynamic Low Speed, High Torque Hydraulic Motor 11.85 GPM, 2050 PSI
Maximum Displacement (cu. in.): 3.15
Maximum GPM: 11.85
Maximum RPM: 880
Maximum PSI: 2050
Maximum Torque (in. lbs.): 885
1-year limited warranty

My tractor produces 9 gpm at 2050 psi, do I loose speed or torque with the reduced gpm's? I would need to slow it down to about 540 RPM's anyhow.

Is this motor strong enough?

My plan would be to keep the PTO shaft intact and build a 3 point loader mount so that I could still mount it front or rear.

[Tig]

Rule of thumb is 5hp per foot, so 25hp. So I guess you could convert 885 in.lbs to hp.
I had a quick look for a conversion and found.
Torque * RPM
--------------- = hp
5252

torque is in ft pounds for the equation so;
885/12 = 73.75 ft lbs

73.75 x 540
------------- = 7.6 hp
5252

At 880 RPM you get about 12.4 hp, but that would running your blower at a speed faster that it was designed to run.
So it sounds like that motor is too small.
You may want to look around to verify that this equation is valid.

[gerard]

I run a 5 footer off my rear pto with a 26 hp gear tractor (23 pto hp) which is a bit under the 5hp/foot rule and it works ok but I wouldn't want to go any bigger OR have any less power for that size snowblower.

[rimshot]

I've handled a bunch of snow this year with My Kioti CK20 (s) hst22 h.p. and a 60" rear 3ph Meteor blower. It doesn't miss a beat and rarely even bogs down for normal fresh snowfall. Naturally,I don't go full speed through an ice laced snowdrift but I don't feel at all underpowered. I believe this unit has something like 17-18 h.p at the pto.

rimshot

[stnbenn]

My John Deere F1145 and 60" Loftness 2 stage uses most of the 28 HP if I am in heavy deep snow and moving more than say 2 mph. I usually throttle it back to about 3/4 speed. It's a diesel so it likes to work....Stan in SW, Mi.

[hench861]

my b7200 runs my 60 ford just fine if the snow gets heavy i just put it in low range

[rambler]

I'd say 25 hp is a good rule of thumb.

Remember the 30% loss you get with hyd power in there somewhere. hyd is not very efficient, need to oversize by 30% or so. That would be a 30-35 hp hyd setup?

--->Paul

[Dmace]

I think its more like 4hp per foot. I run my 60" rear mount blower through ice solid snow banks from the highway trucks and she stills throws the snow over 15ft, 30 with the light fluffy stuff. With the HST, I think my rear PTO is just under 16hp at 540rpms, 21hp at the engine.

[bostonrats]

Hello Tessiers,

Did you go forward with the project? I'm on the same trail.

I have a Kubota L185DT. It came with a 60" front snow blower. There is NO WAY that I'm going to pull the loader and frame every fall, install the snowblower, and then pull and replace every spring...and have to go the winter without a bucket.

I made a pin in plow for last winter but for 2008/2009 I am putting a motor on the attachment.

I would love to use a 20 or 22 hp engine but have a 16 hp Kohler TH16S I just got cheap. This figures to 8 HP per 30". I used to have a Homelite snowblower that was 8 hp and it kicked butt. I also had a 12 hp Noma that couldn't toss a flake two feet.

I figure there is quite a bit going on between designs. I figure I'll run the fan at about 500 RPM after reductions. If the motor is too small it won't be too much work later to upgrade, my first job is to pull apart the Kubota snowblower and install new bearings, sprockets, and chain. I'll get these at TSC or Grainger. I'll use industrial flange bearings instead of the cheap ones they come with. After that's all done and painted I'll weld on the motor mounting area where I'll have the original electric clutch and a jackshaft assembly. I'll use the original two belt design between the clutch and snowblower. Not sure yet how I will couple the Kohler in.

In the end, my tractor has 18 hp to run the attachment and it's internal drive. 16 hp can't be too far off the original design specs. Maybe I'll be 20% short, maybe it will be fine. I'm sure it will blow snow, the only questions will be what will happen in wet snow or very deep snow...how slow will I have to go and will it clog. My feeling is that even if I have to creep for some storms it's still way better than plowing.

Best to you.

Originally Posted by tessiers

How much power does it require to run a 5' snow blower. I have a three point mounted snow blower and I would like to mount it to the Front end loader on my tractor. My 2 choices would be to attach a seperate Gas engine, what HP?, or my first choice would be a hydraulic motor powered by the rear backhoe remotes.

Northern Tool has a Dynamic Low Speed, High Torque Hydraulic Motor 11.85 GPM, 2050 PSI
Maximum Displacement (cu. in.): 3.15
Maximum GPM: 11.85
Maximum RPM: 880
Maximum PSI: 2050
Maximum Torque (in. lbs.): 885
1-year limited warranty

My tractor produces 9 gpm at 2050 psi, do I loose speed or torque with the reduced gpm's? I would need to slow it down to about 540 RPM's anyhow.

Is this motor strong enough?

My plan would be to keep the PTO shaft intact and build a 3 point loader mount so that I could still mount it front or rear.

[PILOON]

I ran a 4 ft blower front mounted by coupling via chain drive a 16 hp Wisconsin engine.
I used 10" sprocket on engine with 3" on blower.
Fabbed brackets to match FEL pin configuration therby allowing height adjustment.
Was cool setup as I could eat snowbanks from the top down.
Worked very well other than I made contact with a buried old car starter one day which demolished the blower beyond repair.

From there I obtained a 5 ft front blower setup at bargan price but reverted it to rear installation as I wanted a front plow for faster cleanup of lighter snow falls.

I'll go on record to state that in my opinion a front plow with a rear blower is the optimum tractor snow remouval configuration!

Also since I operated both 4' and 5' blowers on a 4' wide tractor I can attest that you absolutely want the blower 1 ft wider than your tire track!

Unerpower is not the big issue that some might think as I have been there.
The solution (say a 20" snow fall) is to raise with the 3 point your blower about 4" and blow for a reasonable distance, return to start point and drop the blower and finish off the lower level previously left behind.
Once a first pass is accomplished the remaining snow fall can be blown by using 1/2 wide passes.

No matter how wide or how much PTO power you have you will have to do this anyway to remouve the snow banks that the city crews pile up in the drive entrance!

Another reason I prefer the rear blower is visibility and manouverability.
You can see down over a rear blower and avoid obstructions while a front blower creates a VERY large blind zone.
Last winter briefly operated an 85 hp NH with a 7' front blower and that up front massive rig could practically hide a Honda civic.
Also the turning was simply nightmare.
Another downside is that that particular tractor required over $4000 of repairs due to the fact that with all that overhanging weight the whole mechanical mess simply broke off the front and took the pump, rad and assorted components with it.
Within 10 operating hours of the repair it was on the way to coming loose again.

Think of fork lifts.
Very manouverable because the steering wheels are opposite of the load.
Same goes for a rear blower!
With a rear blower you can safely work within inches of obstructions while with a front rig you have to stay feet away! (or guess and hope)
I can also attest that it does not take much resistance (merest obstacle) to suddenly cause that front blower to suddenly lurch and smash into the pricy car (or garage door) that you wanted to avoid.

As the NH dealer stated, A tractor is designed to pull farm implements, not to hang a ton off of the front end. (FEL.s are different as they have complete sub frame assy's)

Just my opinion as I have lived just about all configurations.

And PS; last winter here in Quebec we broke all records with multiple heavy snow falls and I maintained my 4 long drives with my 20hp Mitsubishi clutch tractor, 60" rear blower and homemade 60" blade cozy in my homemade HEATED cab with front and rear wipers and AM-FM stereo.
Only failure was my engine block heater! (try changing that at -20 deg!)

Would I change anything? yes, if money was no object I'd have hydrostatic vs clutch, but that's not an option for me.

My plow, my cab, and blower rotation mechanism are all 'DIY' projects.
The next project is power steering! (getting older! LOL!)