Enough tractor for ARPS 70 Snowblower?

[gladehound]

Hi all,

I recently acquired an ARPS Series 70 Snow blower for the right price (free). This blower is about 7 feet wide, has dual augers and is built like a tank. I don't know how much it weighs. Definitely north of 1000 pounds but I don't know how far north of that it is.

The tractor I will try to run it on is a Kioti DS4510HS. This tractor lifts ~2400 pounds 24" behind the 3pt eyes. It has 45 engine hp and PTO hp is published at 38hp (shop manual) and 35hp (brochure) - not sure why the discrepancy.

The lowest reverse gear will go ~1mph at rated engine speed.

I know this blower is on the big side for this tractor. Does anyone have experience with a set up that is similar enough that they can tell me what to expect? If it is bogging in 12 inches of medium moisture snow in my lowest reverse gear, it wont really be a useful implement for me. However, if it can handle a foot of average snow per pass, it would work for me. Our biggest storms rarely exceed 2 feet. If I could take the top foot off on the first pass and the bottom on the second that would work - but not willing to ride the foot clutch. If it can't take a foot at a time I'll probably be faster just using the snow bucket up front with an angle rear blade in the back.

 

[Coyote machine]

I suggest looking for GRS the great, I believe is his username. He has numerous blower/plow knowledge, that will hopefully help you determine if the blower you have is suited to your machine.

 

[aczlan]

We have a 7' Loftness that we ran on the back of a Kubota L3830 (38 Engine HP, ~32 PTO HP) last winter with the 2-4' accumulations that we had in the late winter. We dont have a loader and the front was VERY light (easy to pop a wheelie). Horsepower wise with a full width pass, it had enough HP in 12" of snow and it was marginal in 18" of snow, but more than that and you were in 1st gear with your foot on the clutch to back off when it got too deep.
Granted, this was in hard packed deep snow (we bought it about the time we ran out of places to stack snow with the smaller tractors, so a lot of it was pushing back banks that we had stacked before).
Working on finishing adapting the front mount frame to for our tractor and I think it will work better there. At very least, it will be better balanced.

Aaron Z

 

[gladehound]

We have a 7' Loftness that we ran on the back of a Kubota L3830 (38 Engine HP, ~32 PTO HP) last winter with the 2-4' accumulations that we had in the late winter. We dont have a loader and the front was VERY light (easy to pop a wheelie). Horsepower wise with a full width pass, it had enough HP in 12" of snow and it was marginal in 18" of snow, but more than that and you were in 1st gear with your foot on the clutch to back off when it got too deep.
Granted, this was in hard packed deep snow (we bought it about the time we ran out of places to stack snow with the smaller tractors, so a lot of it was pushing back banks that we had stacked before).
Working on finishing adapting the front mount frame to for our tractor and I think it will work better there. At very least, it will be better balanced.

Aaron Z

Thanks for the input. Is that 7' Loftness a single auger or dual auger blower? Also, what MPH are you going at rated speed in your lowest reverse gear?

 

[Farmer495]

I've run a 78" blower on a 240 MF. Never slipped clutch EVER on it blowing snow, but did have to clutch if blower got overloaded. Just let machine clear, idle down, drive forward, reverse and be at full RPM before getting back into the snow.

Deep snow, carry blower high and take top off, next pass you might be able to go right to ground.

Once you had a full width clear path, you can then just take 2 or 3 feet at a time, what ever the blower/tractor will handle.

If your tractor will pick it up, you can blow snow.

Another "hack" if your reverse is a little too fast in deep snow, you can leave the tractor in neutral and push yourself backwards with your loader bucket...

 

[gladehound]

Good tip about using the bucket as a creeper. I do that when hooking up 3pt implements. I guess I could also just put the hydraulic reverser lever in neutral anytime it starts to bog and just wait till RPMs come up before proceeding.

I hooked it up today and it seemed to spin freely enough. Can't wait to try it out but no snow in PA

 

[aczlan]

Thanks for the input. Is that 7' Loftness a single auger or dual auger blower? Also, what MPH are you going at rated speed in your lowest reverse gear?

Single auger, I cant remember the speeds, but between 1 and 2 MPH.

Aaron Z

 

[gladehound]

I looked up the MF240 on tractordata.com and low reverse was 1.9 mph. My low reverse is 1.0 MPH. Sounds like it should work OK.

 

[Farmer495]

I looked up the MF240 on tractordata.com and low reverse was 1.9 mph. My low reverse is 1.0 MPH. Sounds like it should work OK.

You should do fine, just need some snow If it doesn't work the way you want, well, price was right, and it makes a great counter weight for using the loader!

I find a blower is faster overall clearing yards since the snow is spread out more and not in large piles. Drifts are not as bad over the winter. You also have the "clean in one pass" factor. I wouldn't worry about over lap, 7 feet first pass, and even if you are 3 feet width on the rest of the passes, you are still done with a clean yard and no banks quicker than a blade/bucket.

 

[gladehound]

I'm doing mostly driveways. I'll have a 6' high volume snow bucket in the front. I'll just drive one way with the bucket and the other with the blower - no turning around. Will just have to try it and see how I like it.