Snowblower for TC29D

[Neophyte]

Does anyone out there own a front-mount snowblower for a TC29D or TC33D? I was talking with a NH dealer and he was telling me that you need to remove the FEL subframe in order to mount the snowblower. Is this true? I would probably go with a rear-mount if this was the case since I would like to swap with my FEL on occasion in the winter.

Also, has anyone ever considered mounting a hydraulic powered snowblower on their FEL bucket or FEL arms? What would stop someone from doing this? It would allow you to have the best of both worlds. You could keep your FEL attached, have the good visibility of a front-mount and be able to easily remove your snowblower since it is not attached to the mid-PTO. It would still be more money than a rear-mount but probably less than a front-mount. Why don't people do this? Is the hydraulic pump capacity the limiting factor since most tractors have 7-10 gpm and snowblowers can require 10-12 gpm?

I appreciate any input you may have.

[5030]

I don't know where you live, but I have a woods sb60 rear mount that I want to sell. You don't want to go with a front mount hydraulic as the flow rate of you pump will not power the blower in heavy snow conditions. Blowers take a lot of power no matter how you drive them. About the only application in smaller equipment that will run a front mount is a skid steer. They have high flow rates and will maintain sufficient line pressure as long as they have a big enough engine.

I had the sb60 on my 3710 kubota which had 32 pto and in heavy wet snow, it worked the tractor pretty hard.

[Neophyte]

Daryl,

Unfortunately, I'm in ME.

Thanks for the info. From what you are saying, I should probably stay with 60" or smaller for rear mount blowers on smaller compact tractors.

[5030]

Absolutely. A blower will consume a large amount of horsepower and torque. When you get one, you want a 2 stage. The auger turns slower and the ejection fan turns faster.

If you have hydraulic outlets on the back, get a hydraulic chute rotator. Icing in the chute can make it hard to rotate.

I coat the chute with slip plate. That way heavy wet snow won't stick to the chute and plug it up.

And most importantly, if you use the blower on anything but concrete or asphalt, be VERY careful which way the chute is pointed. The snow coming out can have gravel or dirt and stones in it. You can do a lot of damage to buildings, windows and people real fast. Sort of like a tractor mounted machine gun.

[snowman]

5030's right re: consuming power. I have a front mount blower on my kubota B7500 - 5' wide. You do need to crawl along slowly when you get the heavier snow that's 3-4".

Powder is much easier, but it usually all ends up in my face.

[rambler]

Here in Minnesota, I got a 1720 (~27 hp) & tried it with my 7' 2 stage, single auger snow blower. Worked fine. It can be a load for the tractor, but slow reverse gears is the key, and with live pto you just push the clutch when you get to the big drifts.

You want a blower a bit wider than your tractor in any event.

Me, I want a loader on the front, the blower on the back. Never understood why anyone wants a blower on the front, seems all wrong for so many reasons to me.

Running it with hyd will sap away about 1/3 of the hp in heat & flow resistance over a mechanical connection, so generally doesn't work well except on skid steers where they have hi flow rates & no other connection.

--->Paul

[deepsnow]

Neophyte, 60" NH/Loftness 3pt snowblower required running @~2500 rpm to get through ~18" of late spring (heavy wet Lake effect) snow in low range (NH 25D). I'm not sure if a hydro front mounted snowblower would have blown that snow anywhere.

[AndyMA]

I have a Ford rear mount blower for a compact that I'd like to sell. I used it for a while on my 1710 and it worked fine. I no longer have drives that are blowable so I use a plow. I'm in central Mass. The blower has been used so little that it still has paint on the augers. Drop me an email if you're interested. (BTW it's blue to match your tractor)

Andy

[Radiopoor]

What size? How much? [img]/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img] Nosey and maybe interested. [img]/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]