Looking for advice on which direction to go

   / Looking for advice on which direction to go #1  

dnw64

Veteran Member
Joined
Feb 13, 2017
Messages
1,535
Location
Southeastern Vermont
Tractor
Kubota B3030 Cab
Hi,

New member here and I thought rather than post an introduction on the New Member forum I'd just jump in here since this is the reason I discovered your site.

I have owned a 1972 Case 444 for almost 20 years. I got it with a 44" deck and 48" blower. Oh, and a front blade that wasn't set up right and I never bothered figuring it out. For the last few years I've been having someone cut my grass (I don't like doing it...) so all I've been using it for is blowing snow.

I started perusing this forum because I'm looking for an alternative. The tractor has been mostly good, with a few problems I've been able to work out. There are three primary reasons I'm looking to replace this as my snow remover.

  • Lack of power. The old 14hp still runs pretty strong, but blowing 48" width of snow quickly becomes a challenge. You might note from my profile that I live in Vermont, so 1-2' is not uncommon. While it WILL blow up to the top of the (what is it, 16"?) snowgaurd, you end up having to go very slow. This, in combination with the next issue can make it very unpleasant to use.
  • Lack of throwing distance. I have a 40' wide garage that sits next to and just behind our house, so all the snow from the parking area in front of the garage has to go to one side. This means that with the single stage blower, almost half of the space is getting doubled up on. Also, at the end of the drive where the road snow gets dumped it's hard to blow the snow far enough away from the road, so we end up with huge piles at the corners such that even in a 3/4 ton pickup you can have a hard time seeing oncoming traffic leaving the driveway before winter is over.
  • Too many things to fix. It's 45 years old, and while I have replaced and fixed things as time has gone on, it needs probably $500 worth of parts to get it where I'd like it to be. Most of that is in new tire chains, but it also needs some blower bearings, a new chain and sprockets, the starter/generator needs to be either rebuilt or replaced and probably a handful of other small things.

Probably if the Case had a 2-stage blower I would make the effort to get it back to 100%. And while I know some people have fitted 2-stage blowers to the Case, it's not worth the time and money to me to try and do that. I even half considered doing that and upgrading to an 18hp twin, but spending that much money on a 45 year old tractor that may need a new hydro pump or who knows what the next week seems foolish to me. I'm not that attached to it.

So here's where I stand today. A year and a half ago I decided I wasn't going to fix the tractor and went through the same thing I'm going through now. In the end I decided since all I was using it for was snow removal I would just get a big walk behind and ended up buying an Ariens Professional 32.

I used it once that first winter (probably our lowest snowfall on record, and we were away the other two times is snowed and had it plowed). After using it 6-8 times so far this year I've decided that a walk behind is not for me. My biggest complaint is the lack of stability/momentum. Any little bump or left-over piece of ice and it jumps all over the place. I'm 6'2", 210#, in reasonably decent shape and after 45 minutes I feel like I've just finished a workout. OK, as my son would say, I'm an old man (53 this month) but while it doesn't have to be fun, I refuse to torture myself unnecessarily. I love how far the 2-stage blower throws snow, but that's about it.

A little more info about the driveway. As I mentioned, it's about 40' wide in front of the garage, which extends about 40' to the end of the house, and then has a 10' extension for a turnaround that goes another 30'. The actual driveway itself is 10' wide and is about 150'. Everything is paved and relatively level (yes, in VT!). Because of the layout of the driveway, and the fact that we have finished lawn adjacent to most of it, I do not want to use a conventional plow. You have to backdrag a good portion of it, and then there's no place to push the snow. Any time I've had it plowed I hate it.

So, back to my reason for finding/reading this forum. I've been looking at CUT/SCUTs with front mounted snowblowers and found one that seemed like it would do the job. In fact it seems almost ideal. But I'd never heard of it so I've been researching and found quite a few posts here.

The machine I've found is a Steiner 430 Max with 54" snowblower. From everything I've read it seems like it is a well built machine, and most people say that with the Kohler gas engine (25/27 or 30hp - I'm not sure which at this point) it has plenty of power.

I guess my question comes down to this. It seems that the primary use for this machine is mowing, and especially mowing side hills. If all I'm going to do with this is blow snow, should I consider a more conventional CUT/SCUT? Is this overkill?

I guess I should mention that while I don't have an actual budget, I'd like to spend less than $10k. And the less the better, but not to the point of compromising functionality.

Sorry for such a long post, but I wanted to give as much relevant information as possible.
 
   / Looking for advice on which direction to go #2  
My next door neighbor (now passed away) had the exact machine you are looking at. I used it quite a bit after he got sick and plowed his drive and mine (a total of about 1000 ft.) It did a superb job and was mighty convenient to work around his "center island". I strongly recommend it.
 
   / Looking for advice on which direction to go #3  
Don't think you're going to bye a Steiner and blower on a budget of 10k. I've seen these in action and they sure do a nice job. Very versable machine.
 
   / Looking for advice on which direction to go
  • Thread Starter
#4  
Thanks for your positive reviews on the Steiner.

Don't think you're going to bye a Steiner and blower on a budget of 10k.

I see I wasn't clear. The 430 Max is no longer sold, I am looking at a used one - about 10 years old with just over 1000 hours, and a 3 year old blower. They are asking $8k for the package.
 
   / Looking for advice on which direction to go #5  
Because of my acreage I ended up going with a larger platform but looked at both the Steiner and Ventrac brands. They seem very capable and there are a lot of attachments that you could pick up in the future. The articulation feature makes handling a snap. It seems to me the used machine will serve you well as a single platform for your needs.
 
   / Looking for advice on which direction to go #6  
One comment about snow blowers not throwing far enough. As OP mentioned his single stage would throw snow over and then he'd have double amount of snow to blow to finish. What I do when in this situation is to start at the edge and empty an area of snow, then go to the beginning and throw the snow into the cleared area. This way, I still only throw the snow once, but cover some areas twice. Some areas required me to throw the snow to the end of a 150 ft drive/path, not to the sides. So I start in fresh snow and throw forward, and here I will be throwing snow on top of snow. But just continue down the first pass slowly. Then on the second pass I can throw snow into the area cleared in the first pass. Good luck on your choices. Jon
 
   / Looking for advice on which direction to go #7  
As much as I would like to see you with a rear mounted pronovost snow caster
and a JD series one mule with loaded rears and chains:


Another option would be a BCS or Grillo walk behind and
the widest 2 stage BCS snow caster for your workload.

All gear drive for both units and the only bad thing is the Honda engines
have exposed throttle controls that ice up but several members have made
aluminum covers for them to eliminate the ice issue.

Even the smallest CUT with a snow caster is going north of 14K with chains and loaded rears.
But in saying that buying new will get you a warranty and extended warranty.

But as many of us are mule shopping and do not buy locally we get better prices by
shopping out of the area.


If you go that route I would not buy anything less than a Pronovost or Lorenz brand of snow caster
as no one makes a single stage any more unless you buy a BCS 2 wheel tractor and its still to small
for what you want and too light a snow caster versus thier 2 stage units which stay on the ground.


I would just hate to see you replace the engine on the Case and have the transmission lose its clutches.
 
   / Looking for advice on which direction to go
  • Thread Starter
#8  
As much as I would like to see you with a rear mounted pronovost snow caster
and a JD series one mule with loaded rears and chains...

That was not at all on my radar, but I am very open to alternatives. Why do you like the rear-PTO option? I just can't imagine driving backwards all the time, but maybe it's easier than I think(?) or the results outweigh the disadvantages, or...?

Honestly I had categorically ruled out a rear-PTO solution, but also recognize that another perspective can be superior to mine. I know, I know, hard to believe, but true.

Thanks,
 
   / Looking for advice on which direction to go #9  
My brother owns several of the old Case garden tractors, they are tough , and I would not write yours off. Even if your transmission did go, I see Case/Ingersolls for sale often, some with bad engines but good elsewise. I have a rear 60" snowblower that works well, my first and by far fastest choice is my rusty old F250 yard rig, but you said you disliked plows. I find that sitting on the tractor at an angle helps a lot. That and I use a whole can of turtle wax in the fall, coating everything in the snowblower housing so the snow flies out.
 
   / Looking for advice on which direction to go
  • Thread Starter
#10  
A truck with plow would normally be my first choice, I had one at my previous location. You can pick up a functional unit for less than a comparable tractor setup, and be done in 1/4 the time.

I've been thinking about the rear mount blower and realized that I spend half my time backing up as it is. The largest part of my yard is a big rectangle and it's not feasible to turn around at each end. Of course I've been backing up at full speed, and most of the time I don't even have to turn around as the exact track isn't very important. Anyways, the idea is growing on me, as I could more easily go wider, say 6' as opposed to the typical 48-54" front mount. Then I'd only need one pass down and back on my 10' wide driveway, and obviously fewer on the parking/turnaround area.

BTW, I was looking at the Provonost site and they say for their entry level Lynx and Puma that you need 16-25 or 20-35 HP for their 70 or 72" models. Anyone running at the low end of their recommendations and have any comments on power to throw snow?

Thanks for all the feedback. I've got lots to consider now.

"Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed."
 
 
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