Price Check Frontier SB1164 Snowblower

[Joe Szabo]

Hi,

Wanted to get a sense of what a good price on a rear (~60") blower my be. I have different quotes on the Frontier SB1164; the best one right now is $2400 (out the door) but I need to pick it up about 100 miles away and I need to wait a few weeks for it to come in at the dealer. Does this seem like a good price?

I'm looking to add a rear 3pt snow blower to my JD 2320 for the following reasons and also wanted bounce it off everyone here to get thoughts on the direction I'm going in.

My (asphalt) driveway is 150' long and has a pad of about 50'x50'. I also plow 4 other similar driveways on my Maryland neighborhood and may end up doing even more later. We seem to get 3-5 light snows (2-6") each year which my 6.5 Myers blade seems to handle just fine (no loaded tires or chains) in about 5 or 10 minutes. Our recent heavy 10" snow (we get 1 or 3 of these a year) showed me that I needed to take almost 1 hour to do my driveway. This is because I could only push the snow about 15-20 feet before it stopped the tractor when I had to do 'left and right' side pushes until I could push forward again. Anyway, I had always thought rear blowers were not a good idea and that front blowers were better(hence the extra cost for them), until I realized that a rear blower could be used with a front blade on the tractor at the same time, plus help add rear weight too. I do not want to load my tires as I use this tractor to mow and do not want to 'tear up' the lawn? nor do I want to add chains due to 'tearing up' the driveway.

Any thoughts or insights are appreciated.
example of pushing 'heavy' snow taking a longer time...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqaf8fGEyYM

[Wayne_H]

Joe:

Wonder where you are in Maryland? I'm here in Davidsonville near Annapolis. With the exception of last year, I think we're better off plowing. Way faster. The exception would be if you are like my colleague in Lothian who has horse fences very close to his roads, he bought a blower this year from Atlantic Tractor because there is no place to push the snow without damaging the fence. His buying that blower this year will make sure we don't get more than a few inches at a time for the next few years...

[Joe Szabo]

Hi Wayne,

I'm over near Owings Mills. I know the plow is lot's faster for snows less than a few inches but once the snow gets deeper and heavier, it slows me down by bunching up in front causing me to then have to push it off to the sides.
I'm thinking that the blower will let me take a solid pass and then I can come back with the blade to clean up the sides. Overall, I'm hoping that I will be able to do a 10 heavy snow about 4 times faster with the blower on the back.

[Wayne_H]

Joe: Do you have a front mount blade and are you using chains? Without chains my 4400 does great with a front mount plow, even in this last heavy snow. When we start getting more than 12 inches, (not too often) I'll put the chains on it and it is un-stopable.

Any way you look at it, with the exception of last years big dumps, the plow is much faster than a blower will ever be.

Good luck!

Wayne

[kennyd]

Wayne, Joe is the guy I built the plow for

[Don87]

My thoughts, for your area(which looks urban), I would consider a walk behind blower.

A 60" rear blower can take out the neighbors windows(or car windows) in a heartbeat. A lot of times before you can react.

[JDGreenGrass]

My thoughts, for your area(which looks urban), I would consider a walk behind blower.

A 60" rear blower can take out the neighbors windows(or car windows) in a heartbeat. A lot of times before you can react.

I am in my first year operating the 1164 blower. I am totally impressed with it. Sure, I could make a pro's and con list of the 3pt. blower but, the pro's would win. It's the best method of clearing snow I have experienced, though I have never had a plow truck.

They are powerful rigs and are capable of doing damage. In a tight neighborhood, I would be concerned of taking out a window or worse.

Your one solution for too much power would be to get an 1154 and possibly run it at low rpm's.??....Don't know if this a good idea or not.??

Your situation may call for a front blade but, certainly think about the blower and get it if you think it will work for you. I find the blower and FEL to be the cats meow for a tractor set-up to move snow.

But, now that I think of it...5 to 6 inches isn't a lot of snow. These blowers tend to like a good batch of snow. And, they do tend to leave a groomed layer of snow. Once you get a good base raise the skid shoes for a better finished surface.

This photo reflects just a small pile of snow...the first snow through the blower, as a matter fact.....

[Gittyup]

We got 12" from this last snow here in Eldersburg. My drive is 100' long, 37' wide at the garage tapering down to 12' at the street. I plow it with a front mount blade on a little JD 425 garden tractor. Total plow time this past 12 incher? About 20 minutes, including doing half the culdesac. A front mount plow with hydraulic angle and lift is way faster than a blower for about 95% of the snowfalls in this part of country. Last year's 58" in 8 days was first time I wished I had a snow blower in over 20 yeas of plowing with the little john deere.

Spend your money on a front mount hydraulic blade. You'll stay drier and finish faster while saving some money too.

But, to respond to youre original question.. $2400 is about the going price. Have you looked at the one sold by northern tool?

Shoot! I want a blower too. Just can't really justify it except as a toy to play with. I suppose I could start charging for snow removal services.

[dave1949]

I'm on my first winter with a SB1174 blower. I only do my own drive and time isn't an issue. One thing I have noticed is if you have some solid/icy snow pack you are pushing the scrapper bar into, especially up hill, the tractor looses traction easier than I would have guessed. That's with heavy v-bar chains on the rears and using 2wd.

I agree with JdGreenGrass, you probably won't like the results of blowing a 2-3 inch snow compared to a blade. The blower excels in getting rid of deep snow in one pass and throwing it somewhere you can forget about it. Maybe not the best match-up for your driveways. Of course, you can aim the exit chute down to keep it from throwing as far. It will be a pain to keep the chute aimed in the right direction in tight areas. That would be the beauty of a front mount blower with electric or hydraulic chute controls.

I think a blower would be an excellent 'tool' to have available when you really need one.
Dave.

[Joe Szabo]

Thanks for all the feedback

Wayne - I have the front mount blade that Kenny custom mounted for me earlier this year it totally rocks!!! I do not have or will use chains as they will tear up the asphalt driveways.

I also had a 29 inch NOMA walk behind blower which was nice but I do enjoy the snow blade way more.

I appreciate the heads up on the windows and such from Don -- one plus I can think of though is that I should be able to knock off most of the snow on the evergreen trees near my driveway which may avoid them breaking apart from the heavy snow load.

Thanks to Dave for sharing your SB1174 experience too, I'm sure his advice will bear out for me too.

A special thanks to JDGG for the picture of the blower, I can't wait