Snow Attachments snow blower in heavy snow

mike194 · Mar 16, 2009

the fan is driven right off the pto shaft so the fan is spinning 540 rpm. I think i am going to move the fan farther back in the housing. I looked and had around 1/2 inch of gap between the fan and the back of the housing. on the side of the housing there is probably about 3/8" of gap, but the housing is not perfectly round so it goes from about 1/4 to a little over 3/8. i may add some rivet some rubber to the ends of the paddles so they sort of squeegie the inside of the housing or at least get closer.

cdcole · May 3, 2009

Mike, I just bought the same blower. The chain on the left side as you look at the augers. It is very robust and heavy. Like you I repainted it, replaced the chains - readjusted, etc.. It looks like you did a complete teardown and did a wonderful job. Now for my question: Did you get it to work properly? I am very concerned as I have no way to test mine until next winter. It looks like mine was well used so it must have satisfied someone but geez, after hearing your 3 feet throw job I am a little concerned.

George2615 · May 3, 2009

In post #10 Dave says an easy way to check is if the fan turns the same speed as the PTO. Post #11 Mike says its spinning at 540 RPM the same as the PTO.

Does Daves post mean a blower fan that turns the same as the PTO is a 1000 PTO RPM unit or a 540 RPM unit. If it means a 1000 RPM blower fan turns 1:1 with the PTO then Mike's 540 RPM PTO speed is too slow.

mike194 · May 3, 2009

Yeah the snow i was blowing was very wet, the next day , i then set the fan further back in the housing and tried some more wet snow and i probably got about 10 feet out of it. i also sprayed some silicone on the fan and chute and i am sure that helped out too.

mike194 · May 3, 2009

Cdcole,

Send me a PM if you need any info or where to get some parts. I usually buy everything i need from surplus center like a lot of other people on this site.

i also think that the curtis gearbox is a little light for the unit
https://www.surpluscenter.com/item.asp?UID=2009050320352012&item=1324&catname=powerTrans

if you look at this page it has a chart and i figure that the gearbox is going maybe 200 rpm and it says that the gearbox will only handle about 6 HP at this rpm which is pretty low, so i always find the cheapest chinese bolts i can find to use as shear pins.

Spudland_Dave · May 4, 2009

George2615 said:
In post #10 Dave says an easy way to check is if the fan turns the same speed as the PTO. Post #11 Mike says its spinning at 540 RPM the same as the PTO.

Does Daves post mean a blower fan that turns the same as the PTO is a 1000 PTO RPM unit or a 540 RPM unit. If it means a 1000 RPM blower fan turns 1:1 with the PTO then Mike's 540 RPM PTO speed is too slow.

1:1 on blowers usually means its a 540 RPM input...I know all the blowers in the 48-80" range are pretty much only 540 input...I havent seen a blower in that size range yet that wasnt 540.

George2615 · May 4, 2009

Thanks for straightening that out Dave. I was confused as to which snowblower fits a 1:1 rotation.

cdcole · May 8, 2009

Mike, I think the gearbox HP is ok. The bulk of the HP is consumed on the blower right? You would know better because you have actually used yours!

irvingj · May 9, 2009

Mike194-- in my experiences with a walk-behind, the single most important factor behind throwing distance (other than a stretched belt) was clearance between the impeller blade tips and the inside of the round fan housing. Just a little "extra" clearance will decimate throwing distance. Check to see if the impeller blades have been bent from rocks-- that'll do it every time!

You might want to look for clearance specs on your blower, but I doubt that it should exceed 1/4". Nice refinishing job!

Oh-- and a really dumb question.... I suppose you verified direction of fan rotation? Looks like it should be clockwise as you face it from the rear....

ritter2008 · Dec 6, 2009

I just bought a George White & Son 87-Super Blizzard. I've tried to locate the mfg. but I guess their no longer in business. We had about 5" of snow and I used it and was very disappointed in the way it performed. It was a better plow than a Snow Blower. I'm using a 60 hp. tractor. I would like to know if anyone knows how many rpm this should run at. Thanks for any help you can give me..