Front mount snow blower questions

[crazyal]

So I mounted the subframe back on the tractor yesterday and put the blower on. Today I connected up the hydraulic lines, they are color coded yet the tractor has white and the blower chute has green (the rest match up). There are 5 hydraulic lines, two from the lift cylinder and three from the chute rotation motor.

When I connect up everything as described everything works fine. However to lift/ lower the blower it's controlled with the side to side motion on the lever. And of course the chute rotates by pushing forward or backward on the lever. I assumed that when the blower is down I should have it in float mode, with the lines set up this way will it float?

So you say just swap the lines. I tried that. If I set it up so pushing forward/ backward lowers and raises the blower it works fine. However the chute will only rotate one direction. When you try to go the other way the lines tense up but no movement. When I swap the two line going to the chute (leaving the other two that raise and lower alone) and it'll rotate that other direction only.

The hydraulic rotation motor has three lines, two that go into block on the front and one that comes out of the back. The one that comes out of he back is colored black and I have it connected to a connector mounted below the four for the FEL and it goes to the bottom of the transmission. I'm assuming it's a return line.

So how should I connect it? Does it need to float, I would think it does with the hills I have? Do I have the lines wrong? Does it sound like something else is wrong? Any advise is helpful.

 

[Evil the Weasel]

If it is only rotating to the left, you are not pushing it to the right far enough to get past the detent. It's a regen issue that is not a big deal once you get used to it. Same method as float for lowering it, but just moving it right to the second dump position.

 

[PHILIP8N]

I have similar issue pivoting my blade to the right, have to move past the detent. Pain in the butt but you get used to it 1/2 way through the season. Question, can you leave your sub-frame mounted, remove blower, and mount and use FEL, or do you have to remove sub-frame? I have not tried that on mine yet. Philip.

 

[crazyal]

I have similar issue pivoting my blade to the right, have to move past the detent. Pain in the butt but you get used to it 1/2 way through the season. Question, can you leave your sub-frame mounted, remove blower, and mount and use FEL, or do you have to remove sub-frame? I have not tried that on mine yet. Philip.

The sub frame can stay on the tractor if you decide to use the FEL. You loose a fair bit of ground clearance so I wouldn't go logging with it on but I do plan on using the FEL a few times a year to push back any snow banks.

I'll switch the hoses back and try it again pushing harder on the lever.

 

[Evil the Weasel]

The manual says NOT to use the FEL with the subframe mounted. Can you do it? Yes. Should you do it? Nope. The male end of the subframe is going to leak down since your valve will be busily working the fel. It's going to get jammed into something while moving around if not worse. The quick hitch goes on and off so easily it's ridiculous. I set it on one of those TSC carpeted wheely things and roll it in and out. One pin in the back and a T-bolt handle in the front. You don't even need tools to do it.

 

[crazyal]

The hose colors were wrong on the chute. I didn't realize it but when I rotated it to the right I was pushing to the left (in my head I thought I was pushing to the right). Once I rotated it to the hard stop on the right I tried moving the lever to the left and it wouldn't move. I never tried pushing extra hard to the right to get pass the detent.

Thanks for the help. It gave me a chuckle once I realized what I was doing. I was looking at the sticker telling all the movements of the lever trying to push it further to the left while looking at the sticker saying there was no further. Once I pushed it pass the detent on the right and it spun to the left I felt pretty stupid, lol.

 

[crazyal]

The manual says NOT to use the FEL with the subframe mounted. Can you do it? Yes. Should you do it? Nope. The male end of the subframe is going to leak down since your valve will be busily working the fel. It's going to get jammed into something while moving around if not worse. The quick hitch goes on and off so easily it's ridiculous. I set it on one of those TSC carpeted wheely things and roll it in and out. One pin in the back and a T-bolt handle in the front. You don't even need tools to do it.

When my tractor was shipped they mounted the subframe to make sure everything was there and worked then put the snow blower in the front bucket. If you look at my avitar it's from the day I got the tractor and the sub frame is still on the tractor. The front mount for the subframe mounts to the same place as the grill guard so you can only have one or the other. You will have to be careful with the hydraulic lines for the subframe since they can't be connected if you want to use the FEL.

 

[Evil the Weasel]

You have a different grill guard than I do then (and a different tractor . Mine mounts on the sides and does not interfere with the quick hitch.

 

[PHILIP8N]

The manual says NOT to use the FEL with the subframe mounted. Can you do it? Yes. Should you do it? Nope. The male end of the subframe is going to leak down since your valve will be busily working the fel. It's going to get jammed into something while moving around if not worse. The quick hitch goes on and off so easily it's ridiculous. I set it on one of those TSC carpeted wheely things and roll it in and out. One pin in the back and a T-bolt handle in the front. You don't even need tools to do it.

We are talking L series versus B series. My subframe is full length of tractor, have to remove drawbar, 2 mid pins, and 2 front pins. Not as easy as one would think. The up and down cylinder is double acting with seal off connectors, if it leaks down, you got problems. Philip.

 

[PHILIP8N]

The front mount for the subframe mounts to the same place as the grill guard so you can only have one or the other.QUOTE]

Thanks for the reply. I can mount my front bracket and grill guard at same time (don't have pic though). If you look closely at pic, I mounted bracket (with tractor/trailer tie downs) with counter sunk screws so I do not have to fight bracket when I mount grill guard (personally, I do not like looks of grill guard, usually only have it on when I am doing loader work that could be damaging). If I only have bracket on, I put bolts into bracket. Philip.