X748 (from mowr to blowr) what's involved?

[OneMarineE5]

Considering buying a new X748 with a 48" mower deck. Can anyone tell me what is involved attaching a new JD snow blower. My understanding is the deck does not interfere (though I'd never want mower on when blowing) with hooking up blower. I was told blower hooks into a take-off on the front axle...

Help :anyone:

PS - Wife is twisting my arm to find out....

 

[Dutch445]

First of all,
why the 48" deck? barely covers the tires,

2nd, the snowblower will mount onto the tractor
while the deck is on, but you can't power it.
the snowblower and mower use the same mid pto
on the front of the transaxle, so to power the snowblower,the
deck has to come off, and then a driveshaft connects the
mid pto to the front axle where a short shaft runs thru
the front axle. the front side of this short shaft is where the
snowblower itself gets it's power from.

all in all, a swapover can be 10 mins, no tools, and everything
pins into place. hardest part of it all is dealing with the mower
drive shaft where it connects to the mid pto, need to do that a
few times to get good at it.

 

[jenkinsph]

I have looked into this in the last few weeks, fairly simple swap out, the pto is easy to hookup as long as everything is clean and lubed.

 

[OneMarineE5]

First of all,
why the 48" deck? barely covers the tires,

...................

I don't really need the deck for mowing, but having it...I use it. The need for the deck is for heavy leaf cleanup using a polyvac system. Leaf cleanup is one of my primary "hate to do tasks" that occupy's more of my time, and more time than anyone believes until they see my place in Fall and Spring. 48" deck allows me to get mower with the boot (for the polyvac system) into more places than a larger deck would. I can also squeeze a 48" deck onto my F350.

Thanks for reply both of you

 

[Deadman]

Its super easy. Deck removal is 2 minutes Max.
Then putting front quick hitch on is 3 minutes, becuase you need to hook up the hydraulic couplings.
Then the blower mounts to the quick hitch, and thats a 1 minute job.
Its super easy. :thumbsup:

 

[captplaid]

An old JD salesman once said you buy a lawn mower for grass and a snowblower for snow. You don't buy a lawnmower and try to blow snow with it.

This is not the case anymore

Super easy like they say. I have the green 7-Iron deck and just drive over the deck so I don't have to pull it out.

I've had the deck off once this winter. I've put the the blower on 3 times. Nothing wrong, I was just using the rear PTO and needed the extra room on the front.

In anycase. 10-15 minutes for the entire process. No elts to deal with. No pins to line up with a hammer and punch.

 

[jenkinsph]

Considering buying a new X748 with a 48" mower deck. Can anyone tell me what is involved attaching a new JD snow blower. My understanding is the deck does not interfere (though I'd never want mower on when blowing) with hooking up blower. I was told blower hooks into a take-off on the front axle...

Help :anyone:

PS - Wife is twisting my arm to find out....

So did you decide to go with the 748 instead of the 500 series you originally mentioned? Did you get the 2720 or still waiting for it?

 

[OneMarineE5]

So did you decide to go with the 748 instead of the 500 series you originally mentioned? Did you get the 2720 or still waiting for it?

Oh yeah, I have the 2720 and the X500. I have until sometime this week to trade the 500 up to the 748. I kinda think I'm gonna hold off for now though.

 

[jenkinsph]

Oh yeah, I have the 2720 and the X500. I have until sometime this week to trade the 500 up to the 748. I kinda think I'm gonna hold off for now though.

I was wondering about that I can understand why I wanted a 749 having three larger compacts but it would seem to be a much closer match in size when compared to a 2x20. That is I would think any of the heavy duty tasks can be done with the 2720 and leave the mowing and snowblowing to the x500.

I use the x749 to handle the mowing and light 3 pt tasks in close quarters. If all I did was mow my own lawn I could have gotten by with a 320 easily.

You should be in good shape with the X500 and the 2720 to handle a multitude of tasks.:thumbsup:

 

[OneMarineE5]

..................................... That is I would think any of the heavy duty tasks can be done with the 2720 and leave the mowing and snowblowing to the x500.........................:

So you think the X500 would do ok snow blowing even though it is rear wheel dr only?