Snow Snowblower Conversion

[carlhwv]

You can't tap into the tractor hydraulics to power your blower - there isn't remotely enough flow. You need a BIG PTO-powered hydraulic pump/reservoir that can run up to your FEL and drive the enormous hydraulic motor you are going to need.

Hydraulic Power Unit Attachment - Power Pack by Quick Attach Attachments LLC

Has anyone priced this? Also, does the HP rating equate to gpm flow rates?

 

[hutchman]

Has anyone priced this? Also, does the HP rating equate to gpm flow rates?

Kind of. I use the hydraulics calculator at Surplus Center to figure things out.

 

[Malachi Raymond]

I have an inverted snow blower. It is a two stage which you pull behind the tractor on the 3 pt.
I have not done it but I think with a bit of metal fabrication you could convert a back up style to a pull style and actually have it so you could still use it both ways by not destroying the existing hitch hardware.
I have a surgically fused neck and love being able to blow with out turning my head to look back.
Here is a youtube video of one in use:

Pronovost Inverted snowblower V 1 � e - YouTube

In this photo you can see that the 3 pt hitch lower arms are extending through the blower to provide a new 3 pt hitch lower points.

Unlike the first photo, on my blower there is a solid shaft that extends from the blower fan out to a pillow block on a structural brace running between the two 3 pt lower arms.
At this point the regular pto shaft connects to the blower.

Currently your fan will be held to the gear box by a bolt in the center of the fan hub. If you remove the bolt you will likely find that the fan hub is splined to lock to the gear box.

This is where my solid shaft is connected to the fan and welded to the fan hub. The center of the fan hub serves to center the solid shaft before it is welded.
The solid shaft and fan are restrained by the pillow clock set screw.

If this idea appeals to you I can provide more photos.

Sorry there is so much white space in my post. Dont know why

Dave M7040

If you wouldn't mind I would like some photos, that would be great thank you

 

[JWR]

.... The thing you need to watch if you go hydro is matching the pump/motor on the blower with the flow rate of your tractor system. My 7040 is rated at a little of 11gpm and the pump on the blower is 14-16gpm rated and the blower worked fine. Only used it in big 2' plus snows biggest was 4' and it chewed it up. Down side is no loader..definitely recommend running a blade on rear with this set up. Hope this helps.

Carlhwv is right about flow. He was getting by with marginal specs on his 7040 and your MX5800 has less main pump flow. Just won't work. I know of an airport clearing blower that seemed to have plenty of flow specs but had to be retrofitted with bigger hoses, etc.
Even if you had lots of flow, the single pump means a "one track mind" and the blower would stop the minute you tried to raise the loader, etc. Just a mess. Flow diverters are costly and do not solve your problem anyway. You'd really need a secondary pump on the PTO IF you go hydraulic. Then you have to watch out for 2 more things: reasonable rpm matching AND rotational direction. Juicy project. If you did have the FEL mounted hyd driven blower and a pump on the pto you should still be able to use a blade on the 3 pt in the rear and be able to "clear both ways."

 

[BoylermanCT]

Since hydraulic versions don't seem to be a good option, are there any self powered units? At work they use the giant front end loaders with snow pushers to clear all of our parking lots (acres and acres). They all push the snow into a few huge piles 20 feet high, and then they hook up a diesel powered blower to one of the front end loaders that is 12' wide and 5' tall, and blow the piles into the woods. The last of the snow melted on Friday. Regular snow has been gone for 4 weeks.

Do they sell a smaller self powered version that you could mount a quick attach to?

 

[PILOON]

While I have never seen one, I rigged my 48" Bervac for front mounting.
I made 4 pieces to replicate the FEL pin attachment points, welded those to the blower, calculated sprocket diameters and fitted the large one to the blower PTO input.
I then mounted a 16 HP Wisconsin motor on the blower body with the smallest matching sprocket. A chain tension mechanism came next.

The rig worked like a charm with very few hickups that were not easy to rectify.
The main shortcoming was that I really needed a clutch mechanism as starting was tricky.

All worked as I had hoped until the blower tried to ingest a scrapped car starter that was buried under the snow and totally destroyed the blower in that all the sheer bolts did not function due to rust having welded the augers and fan to their shafts. (blower was used and internal rust simply unseen)

 

[Al 2]

The OP was last year and we haven't heard back from him. If he or anyone else is interested in a self contained front mount blower for ATV or small tractor check out Bercomac. Bercomac - Accessories for Lawn & Garden Tractors, ATV, UTV and compact & sub-compact tractors . I have no experience with one on a tractor but 2 friends have them . One on an ATV and one on a Side X Side and they are very happy with them.
Al

 

[Al 2]

After looking more closely at the site it looks like the model for the tractor does not have it's own engine. The other ones do. As for mounting on the loader itself you would have to make up some kind of adapter.
Vantage 66" Snowblower - Bercomac.
Al

 

[BoylermanCT]

At $6500 for the Vantage 66", I think I will continue to drive in reverse! Could probably get a 2nd smaller used tractor with front blower for that kind of money.

 

[bdhsfz6]

The OP was last year and we haven't heard back from him. If he or anyone else is interested in a self contained front mount blower for ATV or small tractor check out Bercomac. Bercomac - Accessories for Lawn & Garden Tractors, ATV, UTV and compact & sub-compact tractors . I have no experience with one on a tractor but 2 friends have them . One on an ATV and one on a Side X Side and they are very happy with them.
Al

I just noticed the recent addition to my original post.

I got through the winter, including the 30" March blizzard we had, using my rear mount Woods SS74. It took a while but my stiff neck is finally gone. I appreciate all the advice and info provided in this thread. A PTO hydro powered front blower looks to be too costly to construct but I like the idea of a self powered unit. The only question is, if I fabricate the rig myself, how much HP would be required to spin a 74" blower in deep snow?

BoylermanCT makes a good point about the cost of buying a ready made self powered blower or building one myself. For the same $$ I might be able to get a smaller used tractor with a front mount blower.

I learned something this past winter that actually made me rethink the front blower issue. I mainly use it to blow back the snow piles along the side of the road when they get too high. When that happens, I can't push the snow over them with my pickup plow and the road narrows. During the March blizzard, my friend from across the valley came over with his L3830 to help. He has a 90" FEL mounted front blade which was much more task efficient. I was surprised at how high he was able to pile snow! Working at a 45 degree angle to the road, he pushed back the banks almost twice as fast as the blower moved them. The section he did looked pretty ratty buy hey, it got the road open!

I can get a FEL blade for <2k (I already have a 3rd function kit) and with the 74" blower on the rear, I'd have a pretty good working solution. I may just go that route.