Snowblower recommendations

[BWSwede]

Hello all,

I currently have a Farm King 840G snowblower. It is a 84" wide model with a single auger (15") with a 23" fan and a 25" cut. This model is for tractors with 60 to 90 hp. My tractor has about 75 hp at the PTO.

Where I clear snow we average 275" per year and it is often the wet dense stuff. I find the 15" augers tunnel under the snow to the point the snow above it is being pushed by the back of the auger housing. I also find myself having to baby the blower in hopes of not shearing the auger shearbolt (I am using the manufacturer's recommended bolt diameter and grade). In the last dozen or so years with the setup I have never found my tractor to bog down when a lot of snow is being put through the blower. It simples starts pushing the snow that isn't fed into the blower fast enough.

What I am looking for is a 7' wide blower with a little taller cut than the 25" the Farm King 840G has. What I am especially looking or is a blower that has a large diameter single auger that more or less is the full height of the cut.

Can anyone give me a recommendation for a make and model I may want to look into?

TIA,
BWSwede

 

[leonz]

Hello all,

I currently have a Farm King 840G snowblower. It is a 84" wide model with a single auger (15") with a 23" fan and a 25" cut. This model is for tractors with 60 to 90 hp. My tractor has about 75 hp at the PTO.

Where I clear snow we average 275" per year and it is often the wet dense stuff. I find the 15" augers tunnel under the snow to the point the snow above it is being pushed by the back of the auger housing. I also find myself having to baby the blower in hopes of not shearing the auger shear bolt (I am using the manufacturer's recommended bolt diameter and grade). In the last dozen or so years with the setup I have never found my tractor to bog down when a lot of snow is being put through the blower. It simples starts pushing the snow that isn't fed into the blower fast enough.

What I am looking for is a 7' wide blower with a little taller cut than the 25" the Farm King 840G has. What I am especially looking or is a blower that has a large diameter single auger that more or less is the full height of the cut.

Can anyone give me a recommendation for a make and model I may want to look into?

TIA,
BWSwede

Ah, so you are close to Skyomish and Stevens Pass eh?

The Pronovost PXPL80 would work for you, it is going to come down to what you are willing to spend. The PXPL80 is 1,220 pounds of work horse that would work with your current tractor and a larger one without worrying about overpowering the snowblower.

The only other snow removal tool I would recommend is the mk martin 2076 single stage snow blower and adding 8 inch wings to the side weldments wings.

As you are in the beginning of snow season it is too late to fully line your current snow blower and its fan housing with slick sheet material and securing the slick sheet with grain elevator carriage bolts.

If you do anything now, I would strongly suggest that you coat the fan housing and chute with Fluid Film from the gallon can using a lambs wool paint mitt, you will double your casting distance by doing this.

 

[seville009]

If I am understanding your tunneling issue correctly, changing blowers probably wouldn't solve the issue.

if the snow is higher/deeper than the blower opening, I do what you are experiencing - tunnel under the snow, then back up and let the excess snow collapse and then blow that snow away.

or.....you can raise the blower and basically skim off the top layer, then back up and blow away the bottom layer.

Similar to how you would blow back snow piles


just kind of have to chip away at the deeper stuff

 

[mikester]

I find my Lucknow blower with the curved round chute handles the wet stuff nicely and doesn't tend to plug like my old AgroTrend with the angular chute.

Do you have a double auger?

 

[RjCorazza]

Assuming you don't want to go through the snow twice, why not consider a 2 auger blower? I've seen full height single auger blowers, mostly on much larger machines or in Europe.

I checked my Luck Now blower specs and it has a 24" cut with a single 14" auger. The only time I've used it in a 20-24" snow the snow above the auger quickly collapsed into the auger, and out the chute. A 36" snow required multiple cuts, which is expected.

 

[RLstangs]

Lorenz offers five different ser

Lorenz snowblowers have dual paddle augers.

 

[Manhattan]

I have a 20+ year old Ariens. Still runs fine. Starts on the 2nd pull. Have replaced the cord a couple of times. Came with a starter that quit about 5 years ago.

 

[BWSwede]

Thank you very much for the replies.

The tunneling issue I am experiencing is not the entire blower tunneling (although that does happen at times) it is the tunneling of the auger. When it tunnels under with wet snow the back of the auger housing meets the snow above auger height and compresses it further which tends to keep it from falling down onto the auger. When this occurs I can back up and see where the auger has dug into the snow and I can see the snow above the auger height is still in place (hasn't collapsed and fallen onto the auger).

Although I don't get a plugged chute as often as I did when I first starting blowing snow it is good to know the round shaft type of chute does not plug as often as the round types.

I do not have a double auger. It is something that I have considered and this type of blower could potentially solve my tunneling issue but is seems to me they are quite heavy and with more moving parts are less appealing to me. I have seen videos of the large single auger blowers and they seem to work very well.

I checked out the Pronovost PXPL80 and although the fan diameter is a little larger and the cutting height a little taller it seems like the auger diameter isn't much larger (taller) that what I have now. It seems like it might tunnel like my current one does. (Perhaps I am missing something.)

The MK Martin 2076 is intriguing. I haven't used a single stage blower since my younger days when I had one on a Bolens H16. I like that it would mill through large blocks of ice but what I didn't like was the casting distance. By mid-winter I couldn't get the snow over the tops of the banks. I am assuming the 2076 doesn't have a casting distance issue.

Thanks again guys.

BWSwede

 

[metalbender]

Had an old Allied seven ft at the acreage here. Was on the back of a Massey 1105. It was 36 inches high, had a large and deep fan. Much larger than my current new model seven ft. Sold it with the tractor, $500. Might be a model to look for. You could search Schulte blowers, they make the real deal.

 

[BWSwede]

Thanks for the heads-up on Schulte. I'll give them a look.

BWSwede