Hydraulic front snowblower compact tractor?

[grsthegreat]

i just had to clear off 3 more properties that had wind drifts obscuring cars and roads. drifts were over 24" deep. I would hate to have to drive over these to clear them. not smooth. some were small mountains.

 

[Dfixit1]

I have the opposite sentiment of truck vs blower. My driveway has a steep grade and tightly winds through the woods. Plowing it for the last 3 years was a giant PITA. Couldn't plow uphill many times, had to push banks back between trees in 10 different places, and I ended up with massive piles all over. Now with the blower on the tractor, I can blow uphill easily, don't have to do push offs all along the drive, and I'm done in the same amount of time or less. That was before the turbo addition over the weekend, I'm willing to bet I'll save an easy 5-10 mins now not having to worry about bogging it down.

It's a 5' blower driven by mid pto. I'm running at full speed in low range into 10" of fresh powder. Could never do this before. New Holland 1620 turbo - YouTube




As an overall use tool, I also vote for the blower also as a plow would never let you clear drifts like this. This was 14 hours of drifting last week BTW, I'm in the middle of a road making a path to a fellow firefighters stuck pickup.

You hit the nail on the head, piles everywhere and I got stuck several times this year due to ice under the snow and had to get the mule out because working the V while stuck wouldn稚 get it done.
One time was by myself, used the mule to stretch the pull strap and backed the truck up. Several tries and I was free.
FYI plow trucks up in my neck of the neighborhood bring a premium especially with only 12k miles, premium condition and never out on the roads during winter.

Unless something better pops up I may sell my tractor with backhoe and loader and buy a cab model with blower & loader. If not I may just add blower and install a field cab.

 

[leonz]

In all seriousness you should check with the nearest MK Martin Implement dealer and have a chat with him or her about a front mount single stage snow caster set up to use a mid PTO.

The Reist/MK Martin Meteor single stage units are designed to be converted from a PTO drive system to a hydraulic drive system as it comes equipped with a quick attach mounting plate for a high flow skid steer or for that matter a SSQA plate can be mounted on the loader frame to replace the bucket.
The hydraulic set up will let you use a Gear or vane pump equipped hydraulic power pack on the three point hitch of your tractor to power it.

When you do not need the hydraulic drive set up you can remove it from the snow blower and mount the snow blower on the three point hitch of the tractor with the quick hitch if you invest in a quick hitch.

The wheel horse single stage and IHC cub cadet single stage we had never lacked for power or torque with the V belt driven snow blowers and gear boxes and they were both 12 horse power lawn tractors.

 

[Dfixit1]

In all seriousness you should check with the nearest MK Martin Implement dealer and have a chat with him or her about a front mount single stage snow caster set up to use a mid PTO.

The Reist/MK Martin Meteor single stage units are designed to be converted from a PTO drive system to a hydraulic drive system as it comes equipped with a quick attach mounting plate for a high flow skid steer or for that matter a SSQA plate can be mounted on the loader frame to replace the bucket.
The hydraulic set up will let you use a Gear or vane pump equipped hydraulic power pack on the three point hitch of your tractor to power it.

When you do not need the hydraulic drive set up you can remove it from the snow blower and mount the snow blower on the three point hitch of the tractor with the quick hitch if you invest in a quick hitch.

The wheel horse single stage and IHC cub cadet single stage we had never lacked for power or torque with the V belt driven snow blowers and gear boxes and they were both 12 horse power lawn tractors.

I think there would be a problem with the quick attach method and Mid PTO as it would cause a driveshaft interference issue in the front mounted on the loader if you raised it past a certain point.

 

[Dfixit1]

The hydraulic front blower still appeals to me but from the responses I’m getting 29 hp PTO won’t cut it.

A couple questions, please excuse me if they sound ignorant. I’m in learning mode.

Does anyone know the rpm of a hydraulic snowblower auger?

Does anyone know the rpm of the Kioti Mid PTO (2000) front snowblower auger?

Which system is more reliable, less prone to jamming?

The Kioti front snowblower has shear bolts on the fan and auger. The hydraulic snowblower doesn’t use shear bolts but uses a pressure bypass valve for jamming?

Regards

 

[aczlan]

The other thing is a high flow volume system is needed with the hydraulic system that has more than 35+ gallons in capacity.

Actually, many of them use smaller (15-20 gallon) tank on the powerpack along with a oil cooler. That is sufficient cooling in the winter, but may not be enough for the summertime.

The hydraulic front blower still appeals to me but from the responses I’m getting 29 hp PTO won’t cut it.

Probably not with a hydraulic blower.

Does anyone know the rpm of a hydraulic snowblower auger?
Does anyone know the rpm of the Kioti Mid PTO (2000) front snowblower auger?

The fan speed is probably 540-600RPM and the auger speed is whatever they found is needed to match the fan speed.
Most front blowers use a 4-1(ish) reduction to get from 2000, 2200, or 2500RPM mid-PTO speed to a 540-600RPM fan speed.

Which system is more reliable, less prone to jamming?
The Kioti front snowblower has shear bolts on the fan and auger. The hydraulic snowblower doesn’t use shear bolts but uses a pressure bypass valve for jamming?

With the hydraulic one, you won't have to worry about shear pins and (if it has a valve) you can reverse the blower and back out whatever is stuck.
Reliability should be about the same.

Aaron Z

 

[Dfixit1]

Thanks Aaron Z for your reply.

I have a friend that had 140 driveway snow removal contracts. He took 2 Belarus 80 hp tractors installed cabs and hydraulic snowblowers. Painted murals on them. One day while clearing between two houses he said it grabbed a log and shot it out like a missle, he watched it go through a second story window.
He said, well I guess that’s an insurance claim! :laughing:

 

[aczlan]

Thanks Aaron Z for your reply.

I have a friend that had 140 driveway snow removal contracts. He took 2 Belarus 80 hp tractors installed cabs and hydraulic snowblowers. Painted murals on them. One day while clearing between two houses he said it grabbed a log and shot it out like a missle, he watched it go through a second story window.
He said, well I guess that’s an insurance claim! :laughing:

Here is the setup we have on our L3830 with a 7' Loftness front snowblower.
Rear gearbox:

First rear to front PTO section:

Second rear to front PTO section and mounting frame:

Front frame and snowblower:

It was originally on a larger NH, but I adapted it to our L3830 and it works well, have to go slow in heavy stuff though.

Aaron Z

 

[leonz]

I think there would be a problem with the quick attach method and Mid PTO as it would cause a driveshaft interference issue in the front mounted on the loader if you raised it past a certain point.

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You would not be able to mount it on your machine with the front loader and frame left on the machine so....

Unless your willing to spend the money on a bercomac with an engine on it your going to be out of luck unless you invest in a front mount kit from Pronovost to mount any tom, dick or harry rear mount snow blower or a mk martin single stage snow thrower on it.

Either way you looking at close to $10,000.00 or more with a large rear mounted hydraulic tank that may not be able to be lifted with your rear three point hitch.


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When your dealing with a hydraulic drive snow caster there are four things to keep in mind:

The impeller is always driven through a gearbox and they operate at 540 or 1000RPM(with larger 1000 RPM power take offs).

1. It may have a hydraulic gear motor that powers right angle gearbox through a lovejoy coupler that provides the rotary power to the impeller and the cross auger via the cross shaft at the same time through the chain drive.

2. it may have two hydraulic motors; a gear type hydraulic motor to power the impeller through a gear box and a second hydraulic motor(geroller) to power the cross auger through the chain drive.

3. you need fluid flow and pressure and a large oil volume that will require a long time to warm up to enable its use as hydraulic oil has to be hot to enable it to work well and efficiently deliver fluid power to a pump and motor.


A hydraulic driven snow blower for a skid loader can be set up with a gear motor for the impeller and a geroller motor for the cross auger that requires 35+ gallons per minute of high fluid flow.



4. last but not least $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$


If you have a motorized Bercomac 23 horse snow blower with the honda V twin you can always detach it to use the bucket as long as you have a SSQA mounting plate frame to moun the bucket and for the snowlower

 

[grsthegreat]

This is one of the reasons i needed a loader mounted unit. when my buildings shed, i have a real mess. The horses need to get out and i need to get into my shop. When the roofs shed in bad snow years it could be 6' high. Not as bad this year, but the packs are about 3-4' tall.
I had to cut off top layer first. heres it all cleaned up.

The barn wasnt fully shed off, but its 10F outside and i wanted to get rid of whats on the ground for the horses. Going going gone

The shop took 19 minutes start to finish. The barn took 11 . Back in 2008 when the barn shed, it took me 4 hours to clear it with my old 3 point blower and JD870 tractor. Mind you there was more snow. Back then i had to keep turning around to knock down piles with loader then turn and blow.