X749 With new 54" Snow Blower

   / X749 With new 54" Snow Blower #51  
I have a new JD 2720 with the 54" blower and not impressed at all the plastic impeller is a joke. I previously owned a 2305 with a 47" blower that had a steel impeller and it out preformed it 54" by 2.5 times as far as distance it would throw the snow. This is the first good snow fall we had in Alaska this winter 10" and not impressed with the inefficant plastic impeller at all. I called my JD dealer and having him check if the 47" impeller will work on the 54" if not I will have one made at a local machine shop, and I will make sure John Deere knows that by them getting cheap or just poor engineering of the design was not too smart.
 
   / X749 With new 54" Snow Blower #52  
Have to agree I am not a big fan of the plastic impeller and am having my JD dealer check to see if it will take the steel impeller that was on my 47" blower that I sold with my 2305, had I known the 54" had a plastic impeller I just would have stayed with the 47" because that one was extreamly impressive in how far it throw the snow, I would say approximately 2.5 times the distance, and I used it for 3 seasons in Alaska and it was still in great shape.
 
   / X749 With new 54" Snow Blower #53  
The new 47's also have a plastic impeller.
 
   / X749 With new 54" Snow Blower #54  
that is just crazy what were they thinking. I think there must be some old steel ones in stock somewhere! But then again it took 3 weeks to get a set of work lights for my new 2720, I wonder if other JD dealers stock parts, and may have some in inventory from the old 47's from what I hear they are interchangable, my service guy is looking into the shaft being able to accept the steel impellet I will let you know what the verdict is.
 
   / X749 With new 54" Snow Blower #56  
The new 47's also have a plastic impeller.

I believe the impellers are interchangeable, if you can still come up with the steel one
it should fit without any problems.
 
   / X749 With new 54" Snow Blower #57  
thanks for the reply. My dealer has a steel one coming. I also just had the machine shop make me a longer set of shoes for the blower, hopefully that will carry some of the weight and from sinking in the snow eliminating picking up the gravel. It is -22* so I will try them out when it goes above 0* and let ya'll know how they work for those that have been complaining of picking up gravel, not all of us are lucky enough to have paved drives:)
 
   / X749 With new 54" Snow Blower #58  
superbear, if you still have issues on thawed ground and your skid shoes, have some plates welded to the bottom of one of
your sets, to create more surface ares. 4x6" or should be enough, i've seen many done this way, with both the forward and
rearward ends of the plate bent up a bit to prevent digging in too much.
then you'll have a floating set for thawed ground, and another set you can use once everything freezes and sets up
 
   / X749 With new 54" Snow Blower #59  
That is exactly what I did, I tried them out today at minus 22* in an area I didn't compact the snow and they seemed to be the answer. It amazes me that John Deere didn't account for this since they use the same shoes on my old 48" my current 54" since there is a substantial weight difference, but a little thought and we got it handled. Thanks
 
   / X749 With new 54" Snow Blower #60  
Try some of the JD on-line merchants. I bought a set of work lights for my 2720 and had them in less than a week - and at a lower price than the dealer quoted.

Please let us know how you make out with the 54" blower. This will be my first year with the 2720/54" blower combo and that plastic impeller is really going to have to impress me. I was looking at the JD parts catalog and they do not show the 47" as having a plastic impeller although many recent buyers have reported such.

The parts book lists the 47" steel impeller as AM109105 ($243.36) and the 54" plastic impeller as AM138205 ($76.05). The plastic impeller requires some extra parts for the shear bolt flange whereas the steel impeller has the flange welded on.

It would be great if they were interchangable - although strange at the same time. It would only take a miniscule difference to not fit and equipment manufacturers seem to go out of their way these days to make seemingly similar parts non-interchangable.

I would gladly spend the $250 to give my 54" blower a steel impeller. The one in my 20-year old MTD walk-behind has held up nicely. :)
 
 
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