X749 With new 54" Snow Blower

[jgayman]

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

Can you please post some photos of your new shoes when you have a chance?

 

[Kubotafan]

I have a Cyclone Rake and it has an impeller that is made of an "industrial-grade super-elastomer" material which is very tough and stands up well if hit by stones or other materials besides leaves and sticks. Perhaps the "plastic" impeller on the John Deere is something similar that will flex and retain shape rather than a metal that will bend. I have had to straighten metal impellers in snow blowers I have had, but never had a problem with the impeller in my Cyclone Rake.

 

[jgayman]

The jury is still out on mine. I will give it a chance to prove itself. While I am a newby with tractor-mounted blowers, I have been using large 2-stage walk-behinds for decades. Despite having a gravel driveway I have never had an impeller issue. I have broken a few sheer bolts over the years. My old MTD 12HP 33" is over 17 years old and the impeller is in perfect condition. That baby will throw snow 50-feet. I'm only hoping that the 2720 with 54" blower does as well.

 

[superbear]

OK the jury is in on the plastic vs. steel impeller. I had the steel one installed today and it made a world of difference! The plastic impeller would load up and bog where the steel moves the snow out the shoot at twice the distance and no bogging. I will be taking this up with JD, the plastic impeller was no more then being cheap, and sticking it to us the consumer. It was a $500.00 bill! As for the bower shoes I did have a set made approx. twice as long. This too was well worth the $130.00, but something JD should have addressed. I previously had the 47" on my 2320 it had a steel impeller so I had a first hand comparison. I looked at the 57" blower while they were installing the steel impeller it also had the same blower shoes that come on the 47" & 54" which is crazy to expect them to hold up the extra weight, but it did have a steel impeller. Seems JD needs to start figuring out that going cheap and costing the consumer to fix what they should have done in the first place. Had I seen the blower prior to it being installed and saw the plastic impeller I may have looked at another option. I have owned John Deeres for many years but I must say looking at the new ones seems they are cutting corners and quality is getting less reliable. I will post some pictures and keep you all posted as to what response I get from JD Headquarters. Merry Christmas Everyone.

 

[jgayman]

That's good news! (I think) Would it be possible to list the JD part numbers that were needed for the impeller conversion?

We had some snow last night but unfortunately it was less than an inch.

Merry Christmas

 

[superbear]

the plastic impellers do not throw the snow like the steel ones do! I replaced the plastic with steel and it throws at least 2 and 1/2 time further and does not bog like the plastic ones because they didn't have the weight and wings to load the shoot correctly. Not a fan of going cheap at the expense of performance. Eric

 

[carfan87]

For those of you that installed the metal impeller on your 54" blower what is the clearance between the outside of the impeller and the metal enclosure? My plastic one is 1/2". Looking at my Toro walk behind it's a strong 1/8". I was thinking of bolting some extensions to see if that helps with blowing distance. My Toro was excellent with heavy snow but my 54" Deere it terrible.

 

[superbear]

I don't think that the distance is an issue, I just had the metal impeller at the dealer and I am sure they did no more then nessesary and it is like night and day from the plastic one. With the plastic peice of crap I burned twice as much fuel also. I still haven't addressed it with John Deere Corp. but I will here next week and let you guys know what they say. It cost me like $560.00 to change out the plastic one, and then another $130 to fab new shoes to keep it from digging into the gravel driveways. Seems like JD hasn't gotten enough complaints because I looked at another new one at the dealer and they still have the plastic impeller, even though there is not one person I talked to that is not happy with it.

 

[carfan87]

I would think the distance would make a difference since more of the material may blow by. Since the metal one seem increase the distance snow is thrown by about 2x I'd think that gap and the hook on the end of the blades are what helps. The link below talks about reducing the gap increasing the distance thrown but these are not recomended for plastic impellers for some reason. I think if the plastic ones were re-disigned they would be fine. I was worried about my Toro having a plastic chute but it's held up great and does not rust.

HOW IT WORKS

 

[jgayman]

I just ordered a metal replacement impeller for my 54-inch. I took advantage of some rewards points I had and combined with a 10% off coupon the new impeller cost me $185. I don't have a garage so once it arrives I will have to wait for a warmer day to do anything with it. I may not even have a chance to try it this year given the lack of snow we've had but I will get it installed and be ready for next year.