Bring on the snow-pocalypse! I'm ready for it now. Although I doubt we get any more appreciable snowfall this winter. Last week, we got close to two feet of snow total out of two different storms only a couple of days apart. It's been pretty warm since then and lot of it has melted. About the only thing left for me to play in was large windrow along the side of the road in front of my place. With more warm weather for tomorrow and rain tonight in the forecast, much of that may be gone by tomorrow. So, I went out tonight to attach the snowblower to the tractor.
Incredibly simple to install, four bolts to attach the quick hitch to the tractor frame, slip the driveshaft onto the shaft in quick hitch and the other end onto the mid PTO shaft, drive the tractor into the blower and it locks into place. Hook up the hydraulic hoses and extend the lift cylinder into the latch on the blower and lock into place with a pin. Slide the front PTO shaft onto the shaft in the quick bracket and it's done... ready to go. Took about 20 minutes to bolt on the quick hitch and hook everything up from scratch.
Now the windrow of "snow" I had to test out the blower was less than ideal... it was more like a mound of heavy melting ice crystal not much unlike a slushy. The blower walked right through it. Now with it being so wet and heavy, it didn't blow it 40 feet or anything, but probably close to 10' off into the ditch. I can't wait to get this thing into some real snow. This blower came off of a tractor that had only 230 hrs on it and looks like it had only been used a couple of times... hardly a scratch on it and the paint is still fresh and shiney. What a joy it was to finally get a sweet deal on a piece of equipment that I didn't need to work on, rebuild, or repaint. Just attach it and go.
I still haven't gotten over the size of this thing. Parked next to my 322 with its 49" thrower, it dwarfs the 49 and makes it look like a toy. The other amazing thing to me is that for such a large piece of equipment, it's whisper quiet. I can't even hear it when the PTO is engaged. My 49 on the 322 rattles so much, it drowns out the engine on the tractor. With the shaft/gear driven 59, all you can hear is the tractor.
All that said, I do think that a couple hundred pounds on the 3pt would be helpful. I know, I know... you want to see a picture. I left my phone in the house so I didn't get one tonight, but I will get one soon.