What size blower for a 30-35 HP tractor

[aeblank]

If you want a front blower, don't settle for anything else.
I have one, and wouldn't have it any other way.
Drive forward/faster. No piles of snow. I can blow in 1/2 (or less) the time it took me to plow with a pickup/Boss plow. 800' driveway plus turnaround areas in about 1/2 hour.

39HP, 74" wide. It's one size larger than "recommended" for the L3940, and I'd be ok with a few inches wider. Hydrostatic is a must to control load.
Back blade works for pulling away from the garage and scraping down whatever buildup there may be.

 

[CobyRupert]

Having slow and low enough ground speed is more important than brute HP.

:thumbsup: Exactly!
For a given task (moving x tons of snow) it takes a certain amount of Energy, regardless if it takes 15 minutes or 2 hours. Horsepower is really a measure of how long it takes to deliver that energy, or basically the speed you can go.
Rough approximations, but basically for a snowblower of a given width, the horsepower requirement just means you can do the work twice as fast as a tractor with 1/2 the horsepower.
Or think of it this way, if there's twice the amount of snow, or the same amount but it's twice as heavy, you just have to go 1/2 the normal speed.
Or if you have 1/2 the horsepower you have to go 1/2 speed,
but if it's powder snow at half the weight, you can go normal speed,
or if the storm fall is 1/2 the height of the "designed" height you can go normal speed, etc, etc.....







Or if you have 1/2 the horsepower at the

 

[fishhead]

having had a b3030 with rear blade and front blower and now having a jd 3720 with a 74" rear pull I can attest that the JD clears snow much much better than the 3030. Rear pull blowers are nothing like a rear push, it follows you and tracks very well, I think they are easier to use than the front, Too, when you need to you can very clearly see the entry to the blower- as a result there are fewer impacts, and they are less impactful. The increased horsepower makes a big difference in the speed of travel and width of swath.

Spindrift is much less of an issue when the blower is behind you in the direction of travel.

They have become a weapon of choice by commercial operations as they are quick and easy to use. I can do a quick and dirty on my 1/2 mile lane in about 15 minutes. To do a really nice job on the main shared drive, 2 quite large private drives with oversize parking areas and 2 circle drives and 4 pullouts usually takes an hour.

Since you don't want a loader you could do a front mount blade combined with a rear pull- probably the ultimate small tractor combo.

Of course the smaller tractor might be less damaging to turf, depending greatly on tires and air pressure. But you said the lawn is oversize so a bigger machine could be an advantage. With the same air pressure in the tires you would get the same contact pressure

I get blowing snow and drifting . With a front plow I have to drive like mad to try to fling it over the sides of the driveway. A rear blower is out of the question. Don't really plan on looking over my shoulder for the rest of my life and as I get older my reflexes will get slower I assume. Also with drifting my driveway by springtime using a plow tends to get over into the yard by 12-15 feet some years. I would be looking at a mid-pto setup for the snowblower.Seen a nice Branson new but I was really afraid of the small 24 HP engine and the tiny front tires. Thinking along the lines of Kubota 3030 size to JD 3520 size.

 

[Slowpoke Slim]

If you want a front blower, don't settle for anything else.
I have one, and wouldn't have it any other way.
Drive forward/faster. No piles of snow. I can blow in 1/2 (or less) the time it took me to plow with a pickup/Boss plow. 800' driveway plus turnaround areas in about 1/2 hour.

39HP, 74" wide. It's one size larger than "recommended" for the L3940, and I'd be ok with a few inches wider. Hydrostatic is a must to control load.
Back blade works for pulling away from the garage and scraping down whatever buildup there may be.

I'm curious how high you can raise that front blower off the ground?

 

[aeblank]

I'm curious how high you can raise that front blower off the ground?

Good question. I'd have to measure. Not terribly far. A foot, perhaps. It's the old style Kubota. L2195A with associated sub-frame.

 

[finn1]

I bought a Kioti ck4010 se hst to blow snow in the UP.

Couple of comments based on my first half year moving snow.

First, this is a 40 hp tractor with a 60 inch blower. I consider the power marginally acceptable for operating the blower to move our compacted lake effect snow. Works great in fresh snow, but lugs the engine severely when moving the compacted banks back, to the point that I have to take small bites or barely nudge into the bank.

I would not own a tractor without a heated cab or with anything other than a front mounted blower.

The truck moves snow much faster, but by this time of year I run out of room to stack the snow, so, all in all, the tractor with blower is a better tool than a truck with plow. I still use the truck got the daily lake effect nuisance snowfalls, then about once a week use the tract/blower to dispatch the accumulated banks.

Visibility is better with the tractor, and I can snuggle it right up to the house and deck to make room for the next weeks deck scrapings. The Smaller tractor that I have, therefore, is actually more suitable than a larger, higher horsepower tractor overall, despite my earlier comment about horsepower limited blowing capability in impacted snow conditions.

The tractor/blower is fantastic for clearing the snow that sheds off the steel garage roof in front of the garage doors. Before the tractor purchase, I had to use a skid steer for that task, as the truck with plow was useless if the temperature was above freezing.

 

[RjCorazza]

I will be looking for a cab tractor in the 30-35 HP range with low hrs to mount a front snow blower & 6' blade in the winter and a 5 or 6 rear finish mower or bush hog to maintain an over size lawn/foodplot.... snip

Lots of variables when discussing snow, fyi I ran a 6 foot blower with a 34hp HST tractor with good results. The blower now is used on my 40hp cab tractor.
As far a finish mowers, A 7 foot mower was ideal on the previous 34hp machine.
Lastly, a low hour non dpf emmision tractor may be difficult to find, and will likely be sold for a premium price.

 

[leonz]

Many forum members have small sub compact mules with wider rear mount snow blowers
with driveways and access roads much longer than yours.
They just take there time on the first pass in deep snow and take half cuts or a little more with the next cuts.

Your better off looking for a larger new Kubota sub compact with loaded tires, rear chains, the high output alternator and
a wider rear mount Pronovost snow caster money wise as you can get a good aftermarket cab with a high output Kubota heater defroster that pulls the heat from the engine cooling system with one tapping coming off the side of the engine block.

You might as well talk to Art White about a Kubota 1870 or 2370 with 2 sets of rear remotes, turf tires, V bar chains, a metal simco cab and a 48 inch Pronovost Puma 2 stage snow caster for the money you want to spend. You can always have snwo wings welded to it to increase the snow gathering width with the smalleer 48 puma inch snow caster.

My neighbor loved her 2360 with the metal aftermarket cab as she was able to clear snow in a short sleeve Tee shirt all winter when she had to clean her huge driveway.

You have enough room to sit side saddle in the seat and push down on the reverse pedal and use the rear mount and still be able to control the mule as the rear mount.

A widened Puma 48" rear mount with an extended chute will also avoid issues with snow spatter affecting you visibility too.
As Piloon told you his rear camera also works very well and he has no issue with it in the cold.

A rear mount will let you clear snow in one pass if it is not deeper than the height of the snow blower and you will be ising less fuel as its running at a very effective PTO speed to clear snow.

A front mount is going to require a reverser in either a roller chain and sprocket configuration or a oil bath gearbox drive and a second propeller shaft and you will need to keep it on the ground as it has a low ground clearance.


Another option is a 48 inch rear mount single stage from Riest Industries- simple effective easy to own and repair and its snow blower rotor speed can be increased by simply changing gear sizes to operate above 570 RPM.

You could mount it on the front of a 2370 with a mounting and gearbox kit from Riest also.

I wish my JD had a single stage like the IHC 112 Cub cadet I grew up with in 1968.

 

[Tractorable]

Check out the Yanmar YT235. One of the nicest cabs on the market. Mid PTO to power a front blower, three range HST, cruise control, auto throttle, really nice machine.

 

[George2615]

I will be looking for a cab tractor in the 30-35 HP range with low hrs to mount a front snow blower & 6' blade in the winter and a 5 or 6 rear finish mower or bush hog to maintain an over size lawn/foodplot. Any suggestions on blower size and/or tractors ? Want to stay away from newer tractors with def fluid. Driveway is approx. 1700 feet long and I will be retired so I will be in no hurry. Right now I use my truck but do not want to beat on a truck when I get my next one with the drifting. Snow blower and rear blade will be my best bet. A cup of coffee,just a sweatshirt and tunes playing is the desired effect .LOL

First of all, I hope you're going to have pants on with that sweatshirt and coffee. LOL

For blower size, general rule of thumb is you need 5HP per foot of width so attachments will usually be in the 6-7' range.

I don't know what your budget is but take a look at NEW LS and Kioti brand tractors. LS sells a front blower, not sure but imagine most others do also. I don't think I've ever seen a used tractor with front blower for sale. Front blowers are expensive.

I've been very happy with my 36HP cabbed LS XR3037HC. Easily plow and blow snow with my coffee, tunes, and FULLY CLOTHED but no jacket or gloves needed. I run a used 7 1/2' truck plow on front and a 7' Lorenz double auger blower on the rear.