Snow blower woes

[amanda11270]

So a while back I bought this blower for my Iseki tractor, I finally got around to installing it and guess what, it spins the wrong direction. Anyone know of a fix for this, I cant see one. My PTO spins counterclockwise from the front of the tractor, but the blower spins as if to push the tractor backwards, not drive it forward as it should DANG!

 

[Ilikeurtractor]

The Iseki tractor front PTOs spin opposite of most other Bolens and garden tractors. It's an important issue that tends to get overlooked. Took me a while to get onboard with that problem too. I'm not sure if Bolens produced both clockwise and counter-clockwise versions of the single-stage blowers but there seem to be plenty out there. You shouldn't have trouble finding one. Now a 2-stage seems to be more difficult.

Can you post pictures of the chain drive? You might have some sort of option there to change the direction. Not sure about the gear box.

 

[amanda11270]

Well the switch from PTO direction isnt made into the unit, so I decided to pull it apart, spin the gearbox 180 degrees, move the chain unit to the left side and wallah, it will spin the correct way. Nothing a liittle cutting and welding cant solve. I wouldnt be so into this, but I have already mounted up a electric chute rotation motor to it, and wired it into my tractor prior to learning it spins the wrong way. I drove about 200 miles one way two years ago to buy this thing, and spent about $200 bucks on it, fabricated a mount to fit an Iseki tractor. I even have a linear actuator to make the tip tilt.

It would have been great to learn that this thing could be made to accept cw or ccw PTO built into the unit, I figured maybe it would of because it was made back when they made em like they used to LOL.

 

[Ilikeurtractor]

Sounds like a good plan. :thumbsup: Undoubtably others will run into the same issue and they can use the same fix. IIRC when I replaced the seals in my gearbox you could run the output shaft out the opposite side of the box and it would spin the opposite direction. That way the user wouldn't have to make new mounts for the gearbox housing since it wouldn't have to be flipped. Not sure what your configuration is but something to look at. I don't know if that was the intention on the Bolens units or not in this application. I think the gearbox was used possibly for the mower decks also. Hard to tell for sure. Your gearbox looks a little different than the Bolens one from what I can see in the picture.

One other consideration is the input speed to the blower. It would be good to know what this blower is rated for. It may not match up exactly with the 2000 rpm rated output of your front PTO. This could be compensated for the easiest by changing out one or both of the chain drive sprockets to get the right speed. Too slow and you'll wind up with a plugged chute and little throw, too fast and you'll use excessive power and possibly tear things up from high speed.

 

[TomSeller]

Well the switch from PTO direction isnt made into the unit, so I decided to pull it apart, spin the gearbox 180 degrees, move the chain unit to the left side and wallah, it will spin the correct way. Nothing a liittle cutting and welding cant solve. I wouldnt be so into this, but I have already mounted up a electric chute rotation motor to it, and wired it into my tractor prior to learning it spins the wrong way. I drove about 200 miles one way two years ago to buy this thing, and spent about $200 bucks on it, fabricated a mount to fit an Iseki tractor. I even have a linear actuator to make the tip tilt.

It would have been great to learn that this thing could be made to accept cw or ccw PTO built into the unit, I figured maybe it would of because it was made back when they made em like they used to LOL.

I was going to say cut the auger shaft, switch the ends and weld the shaft back up but it looks like you got it figured out. I echo the concern on rpm.

 

[Ilikeurtractor]

Here's what I'm getting for ratios in the blower drive train based on a 12" auger diameter. If your auger is larger these speeds will likely go down by the same ratio vs. a 12", at least that would be my guess:

Tractor PTO - 0.738 (PTO/engine) which is close to the 0.743:1 ratio I found from measuring the pulley diameters.
Snow thrower gearbox - 0.621 (blower shaft/PTO shaft)
Chain drive - 0.818 (auger shaft/blower shaft)

For an overall ratio of 0.375 (auger shaft/engine). In the case of the Bolens unit, it is spinning at just over 1000 rpm at rated engine speed.

Bolens single stage blower speeds test - YouTube

 

[amanda11270]

Here's what I'm getting for ratios in the blower drive train based on a 12" auger diameter. If your auger is larger these speeds will likely go down by the same ratio vs. a 12", at least that would be my guess:

Tractor PTO - 0.738 (PTO/engine) which is close to the 0.743:1 ratio I found from measuring the pulley diameters.
Snow thrower gearbox - 0.621 (blower shaft/PTO shaft)
Chain drive - 0.818 (auger shaft/blower shaft)

For an overall ratio of 0.375 (auger shaft/engine). In the case of the Bolens unit, it is spinning at just over 1000 rpm at rated engine speed.

Bolens single stage blower speeds test - YouTube

Well, last night I discovered the ends of the impeller also need flipped, not sure if I want to continue, I like to do these projects, but I might be asking for problems balancing this rig once I get into that. Still pondering, but lost a little initiative since last night due to problem I didn't notice then. So do u think RPM would match with this blower?

 

[Ilikeurtractor]

You can check your gearbox for its ratio - just spin it about 10 times and count the number of turns on the output and divide the two numbers. Then compare the diameters of chain sprockets to figure out the chain ratio. Measure the auger diameter too and then you'll be able to make a comparison.

Not sure if I'm following on the impeller (auger?) flipping. If I understand correctly, you'd need to move the sprocket to the other side of the auger. I guessing this can't be done easily. Please clarify if you can.

 

[amanda11270]

Turns out I can do this. I got discouraged the other night due to finding that I cant just flip the auger over, the ends have to actually be cut off and switched to keep the paddle portion throwing snow into the chute the correct direction.

I first thought, how the heck am I gonna keep it true so it doesnt spin wobbly once I cut the ends off to swap them. Turns out after cutting the ends off, there is, or now was, a 1 inch rod going thru the center of the entire auger, but the internal auger outer tube is 1 3/4 inches with these steel spacers welded to the original center 1 inch rod to make up that 3/4 inch of space, those spacers make it so it has to be true. So today I got a new center shaft (1 inch solid steel rod cut down to fit the width of the blower thru the auger), then tonight I gently (as gently as possible with my grinder) removed the spacers from the original 1 inch center shaft by grinding out the welds holding them in place, then they fit precisely on my new center shaft so it cant be out of balance, same with the end chain gear, it fits so precise that it almost cant be out of round.

I will deal with the RPMs once I get the blower rebuilt, probably by Sat. I will have it back together as a blower unit by then hopefully, due to Xmas and the relatives coming over I will be postponed a few days. I figure the upper drive chain gear would be easiest to acquire in a different size if I need to adjust the blower speed since the lower one will be rewelded back on the auger, the upper uses just a set screw and woodruff key. I never had a single stage blower or any tractor mounted blower before, I had a dual stage walk behind in the past. But this single stage tractor mounted thing is really scary to be in front of when its turning, even when its going the wrong direction LOL.

I will post pictures of this once I get further, its a mess of parts now.

 

[TomSeller]

Sounds like it is all working out. Good deal.