Catman1
Silver Member
I am purchasing a new Kubota 4330 from a local dealer. At first he quoted me list price. I then told him a price a received from a dealer further away and he match the price after consulting with the owner, (about $1200 less).
We have had very bad snow storms lately here in Colorado. I get bad drifting from the high west winds which drift a foot or two of hard snow over the driveway, even if it has only snowed an inch.
In 10 years of living here at this located, this has never happened this bad. This could be a freak year or it can go on for another 5 years. SO what to do.
I can clean the drifts with a my FEL on the Kubota. I have a 400 yard driveway that goes downhill at a 10 to 12 degree slope. This would entail dumping the snow on the side and building up really high piles (not good as the arear is tight and when the snow melts, the driveway surface gets mauled by the running water downhill. Plus when I am out of town a few days, my wife would have to plow and she would not hack the FEL.
A front end snow blower would do well here. It would also prevent me and especially her from driving backwards with a rear blower on those steep hills (and doing it at night).
I went to my salesman and asked him the price to add Kubota's front blower with hydraulic chute rotation. He said about $3500 as would take a lot of work. He later faxed me the quote and here it is:
72" front mount blower $ 2250
Hydraulic chute rotation $ 1642
Mid PTO Kit $ 310
Quick hitch kit for PTO and blower $ 1330
Drive line kit for both $530
Labor to install all $700
I can see the need for the PTO, hitch, and drive line to make the blower work. It just seems that these are "Retail" prices. Are these prices reasonable?
This is winter and he may be taking advantage of this. I may just have to buy as priced or pass on it to later when it may be to my advantage and not winter. I will just had to gut out the drifts and clean with the FEL. My wife may be stuck for days when I am gone.
A rear blower that works going forward may be an option from another maker but I don't know if that would work well driving into 1 or 2 foot drifts.
Any recommendations or other options?
We have had very bad snow storms lately here in Colorado. I get bad drifting from the high west winds which drift a foot or two of hard snow over the driveway, even if it has only snowed an inch.
In 10 years of living here at this located, this has never happened this bad. This could be a freak year or it can go on for another 5 years. SO what to do.
I can clean the drifts with a my FEL on the Kubota. I have a 400 yard driveway that goes downhill at a 10 to 12 degree slope. This would entail dumping the snow on the side and building up really high piles (not good as the arear is tight and when the snow melts, the driveway surface gets mauled by the running water downhill. Plus when I am out of town a few days, my wife would have to plow and she would not hack the FEL.
A front end snow blower would do well here. It would also prevent me and especially her from driving backwards with a rear blower on those steep hills (and doing it at night).
I went to my salesman and asked him the price to add Kubota's front blower with hydraulic chute rotation. He said about $3500 as would take a lot of work. He later faxed me the quote and here it is:
72" front mount blower $ 2250
Hydraulic chute rotation $ 1642
Mid PTO Kit $ 310
Quick hitch kit for PTO and blower $ 1330
Drive line kit for both $530
Labor to install all $700
I can see the need for the PTO, hitch, and drive line to make the blower work. It just seems that these are "Retail" prices. Are these prices reasonable?
This is winter and he may be taking advantage of this. I may just have to buy as priced or pass on it to later when it may be to my advantage and not winter. I will just had to gut out the drifts and clean with the FEL. My wife may be stuck for days when I am gone.
A rear blower that works going forward may be an option from another maker but I don't know if that would work well driving into 1 or 2 foot drifts.
Any recommendations or other options?