59" blower for 3x20 series

[kennyd]

Hmmmm... An electric chute actuator, that sounds like something I might be interested in doing myself. I have some stepper motors but maybe I could do it with a 12v windshield wiper motor and linkage.

I think he means the chute deflector? That is most easily converted to electric control with a linear actuator. The chute rotation is already hydraulically controlled. Using stepper motors or WW motors for the deflector would be a PITA.

 

[Rob-D]

Something to keep in mind is that, unless they have changed the blower, the impeller has no shear protection. I've broken 2 of the castings the impeller bolts to when something got caught in the impeller.

Al

Hi Al,
I was looking at that. My 47 blower did have a shear pin on the impeller, the same type as the front tines. I thought this one did too. The is a bolt back that looks like it should shear but the manual only speaks of the tines.
Rob

 

[Rob-D]

I think he means the chute deflector? That is most easily converted to electric control with a linear actuator. The chute rotation is already hydraulically controlled. Using stepper motors or WW motors for the deflector would be a PITA.

I don't think so. I built a bunch of stepper drivers when I was setting up my CNC so the circuits are built. It would just be a matter of programming a microcontroller. It would be pretty neat, I could have a 4 position switch that would open the chute 1/4, 1/2, 3/4 or full. Most times one of those positions is all I need.

Rob

 

[arrabil]

I leveled some ground composed of dirt, rocks, and gravel with my 59 blower last year. Shooting gravel like a machine gun. Never broke anything. The snowblower is an amazing tool for this purpose. I wonder if anyone else has done this?

I leave the front hitch and driveshaft mounted but it kills the front ground clearance and I'm very careful about operating the tractor in the woods because of it. I always clear the ground with the loader before driving over any unknown terrain.

I also store the snowblower on wheeled dollies. Makes it much easier to move the thing around and to install/remove it.

 

[Rob-D]

I leveled some ground composed of dirt, rocks, and gravel with my 59 blower last year. Shooting gravel like a machine gun. Never broke anything. The snowblower is an amazing tool for this purpose. I wonder if anyone else has done this?

I leave the front hitch and driveshaft mounted but it kills the front ground clearance and I'm very careful about operating the tractor in the woods because of it. I always clear the ground with the loader before driving over any unknown terrain.

I also store the snowblower on wheeled dollies. Makes it much easier to move the thing around and to install/remove it.

It's not hard to pull off the mid PTO drive shaft so I guess I'll do that in the spring. I'll have to check to see what sits the lowest, I'm in the woods a lot and I don't like the fact it hangs down so much. I'll take photos when I get a chance but we're off to get our winter vegetables today so it won't be till tonight or tomorrow before I get to it. What I will say is that the parts are very beefy and I put this together myself not the dealer, so I know what goes into it. My dealer is pretty good but no one puts your tractor together as well as you do if you know what you're doing. Where the instructions call for Loctite it gets Loctite.
I'd say the whole job took me about 4 or 5 hours to do. I could do it faster now but it was my first time at it. I must admit the whole thing looks pretty impressive. I heard stories about plastic impellers but the only plastic on the blower is the cover for the chute rotation cables.
Did you ever shear the impeller pin? As for using it to blow rocks and debris, I wouldn't do that! Especially when someone here said he cracked the drive casing when he jambed the impeller. On my 47 I was helping a neighbor out and picked up one of his kids sneakers in the impeller. It sheared the pin, I'm wondering what the 59 blower would have done with no protection there. Like I said, there is a bolt through the impeller shaft that seems to me would shear but I don't know for sure. If it's a grade 5 I may switch it out for a grade 2.
Rob

 

[Rob-D]

Here ae some pics.
You can see the front hitch comes right off. The two plates at each end of the blower are for the shear pins.
If you look at the photo where the 3ph attaches to the tractor you can see how they have it set up to come off easily.
The picture of the impeller shows a grade 5 bolt which I suspect should shear if the impeller jambs, let's hope so!

Rob

 

[arrabil]

The parts are beefy, and I'm not much concerned about destroying them, but I don't like the idea of digging the front hitch into the ground and getting dirt in the bearings or all over the PTO shafts. I'm far less worried about the driveshaft itself. On my 4200 it gets out of the way pretty quick after leaving the front hitch.

I've never broken a shear pin. But I don't think they're even half the strength of Grade 2.

EDIT: you posted as I was replying.... I can't believe you have grade 5 bolts for shear pins. Grade 5 can take a lot of shear force without breaking.

 

[Rob-D]

The parts are beefy, and I'm not much concerned about destroying them, but I don't like the idea of digging the front hitch into the ground and getting dirt in the bearings or all over the PTO shafts. I'm far less worried about the driveshaft itself. On my 4200 it gets out of the way pretty quick after leaving the front hitch.

I've never broken a shear pin. But I don't think they're even half the strength of Grade 2.

EDIT: you posted as I was replying.... I can't believe you have grade 5 bolts for shear pins. Grade 5 can take a lot of shear force without breaking.

Deere's standard shear pin IS a grade 5.

 

[arrabil]

Depends on the equipment... the walk behind snowblowers use special bolts with a neck down on both ends of the shaft they fit through so they break in a known location. And they are definitely weaker than grade 2. My MTD walk-behind uses unmarked bolts without a neck down and they don't look up to grade 2 either. I'll go look at the 59" later today and see what I have.

 

[chickenman]

Here ae some pics.
You can see the front hitch comes right off. The two plates at each end of the blower are for the shear pins.
If you look at the photo where the 3ph attaches to the tractor you can see how they have it set up to come off easily.
The picture of the impeller shows a grade 5 bolt which I suspect should shear if the impeller jambs, let's hope so!

Rob

grade 5 is pretty tough and will take a lot of torque to shear

if you're worried about that I'd try a standard bolt first

if its hydraulic the you could put a relief valve in parallel with the motor and set it low then crank it up with experience

that will let the blower stop and all you have to do is clear the jam and keep on blowing