Pros/Cons of Front Mount Snowblower vs Rear Mount

[greenhulk18]

I have a 2018 John Deere 3032E. I bought a 64" John Deere rear snowblower, Way too expensive, my bad. It is a rear mount. I disabled the seat switch so I can pretty much swivel around on my seat without the tractor shutting down. I live in the North Woods of Maine. Two years ago we ha over 115" snow. I have a 2011 Tacoma with a Snowdogg plow 75MdD that I use to Plow first then use the tractor to blow it into the woods. That system has worked great for me but you must remember that you have to plow with the storm, not try to plow the storm. Some nights I am out at 3 or 4 Am and so is the Town plow. They must know something.

 

[9fingers]

Go with the front mount. I plowed snow for 15 years with a 1 ton with a 9ft plow and got tired of "rolling" deep snow in front until I could drive it off to a side. Tried a rear mount 3pt blower with my tractor and wound up with long time neck and back pain. Unloaded that mistake as soon as i could.

 

[pwhite42]

KanakaRick,I think you got the answer in your original post. Front mounted blower and a back blade in the rear. After owning a rear mounted blower for years, I purchased a front mounted blower. Couldn't be happier.

I prefer a two stage blower but I'm not going to get into a P....n contest as to which is best like in another recent thread on this forum. All I will add, all two stage blowers are not built alike, just as all single stage blowers are not built alike. To each their own.

I have a 2 stage front PTO blower on my Massey GC2300. It's horrible in wet snow. I bought the plow for it also and have been using that along with a simple plow in the bucket of my Kubota L2250 and a single stage blower on my 8hp BCS 725. The BCS works better at snow blowing than the Massey. I think a single stage would have worked better than the 2 stage.

 

[Hay Dude]

A pain in the neck
Thats the difference :laughing:

 

[airbiscuit]

I like having a rear mount snowblower so I still have use of my loader. I had a 3pt rear mount (push) snowblower and it did a great job. I didn't like blowing in reverse and constantly turning my head however. I sold it and bought a Rear Pull Snowblower and absolutely love it. I blow the same are in half the time, and no crick in my neck. We seldom get over a 24" snowfall, so it all works well. If I had 3' drifts, I would have kept my rear push snowblower.

 

[Lowrider2120]

I like having a rear mount snowblower so I still have use of my loader. I had a 3pt rear mount (push) snowblower and it did a great job. I didn't like blowing in reverse and constantly turning my head however. I sold it and bought a Rear Pull Snowblower and absolutely love it. I blow the same are in half the time, and no crick in my neck. We seldom get over a 24" snowfall, so it all works well. If I had 3' drifts, I would have kept my rear push snowblower.

I bought a $500 rear PTO blower from a neighbor who was moving South. Mounted it to a QD plate and put HF 22 hp gas engine with chain drive and added a 6 gal boat gas tank and a small garden tractor battery to start the gas engine. I have less than $1500 in it and 2 years ago I blew 110" of snow with it along my drive way and 1.2 mile road out to US 95. Great winter project and there are pictures of it somewhere on the site. Can't beat a front blower but they ain't cheap unless you go my route. Especially nice with a heated cab to sit in while blowing.

 

[jmcmurray]

One thing I haven't seen mentioned yet is the number of gears or speeds in each direction.

I have a nearly antique rear mount v type fan snow blower:


I think the v plow requires more traction to push the snow into the fan so I had to grab a bale with the loader.

Backing is a bit of a literal 'pain in the neck' but what I find most problematic is having only 3 available speeds in reverse versus 9 going forward. It makes it hard to balance keeping the blower nicely loaded for maximum throw and overloading the machine by going too fast.

I only have to use the blower about once every 3 years for exceptional snows or drifts so it's not worth converting it, but I would much prefer it hydraulically driven and quick attach to the loader.

 

[Stache]

Everyone has been copying the Beilhack designs rather than becoming an authorized Beilhack builder using their designs since the Beilhack Patents lapsed.

If you really want to see a bunch of frozen cow chewing machines working you can google Beilhack railway snow clearer's.
I have a couple of images that I have uploaded in the snow removal page.

The single stage Beilhack machines in any power class put the Leslie rotary plows and all the larger two stage units to shame as they are self propelled and the four largest units being the HB900S, HB1000S, HB1200S, HB1600S have three V 12 Turbo charged and after cooled water cooled Duetz engines in the newer machines. The original engines that were offered as original equipment up until a early in the last decade were Mercedes Benz V-12 water cooled turbo charged and after cooled diesel engines.

leonz

Leonz, my wife says I can't have one, because we can't afford the train tracks. Beilhack - Clear track ahead - YouTube -but I can see why you're voting for "front-mounted" blowers.

 

[oosik]

For some 25 years I had a 3-point snow blower. It was used when the driveway berms couldn't be graded back with my 3-point blade. My first tractor was a Ford 1700 4WD. There is NO QUESTION in my mind. Could I have afforded a FEL mounted blower - that's what I would have had. I have a mile long gravel driveway, mailbox area and yard which I clear snow. After three to four hours of "looking back" - only Tylenol & JD would quell the pain.

Now with the much heavier Kubota - the snow clearing is ALL done with the rear blade.

 

[ChesapeakeBoy]

I use to have a rear push blower. For 5 years I used a skid steer blower (15-25gpm) I put together my own power unit. It cost me $900 plus hoses As you see, in this video, I mounted the res on my 8' blade. I was able to blade or blow. I use the bucket weekly to move firewood to the house. I traded my MX4800 for a MX6000cab this spring, and I found a Normand inverted, for the same price as I sold my skid steer blower for.... so now I will be leaving the bucket on the front, and blowing on the rear, but driving forward.

11/21/215 MX48 snow blowing first time with GoPro - YouTube

Kubota MX48 first snow... 1" - YouTube