Snow Anyone Have Experience With 59-inch Front Snow Blower?

[Vic_N]

755inNY

I live about 3 miles north of Herkimer. I understand your comments on snowbanks. However, I understand from my new neighbors that the county road crew creates huge snowbanks in front of my 2 driveway entrances after a heavy snowfall. It sounds from your and others' comments that I can install the snowblower and forget the FEL for the winter. Thanks for your feedback. It was helpful.

Vic

 

[TMcD_in_MI]

Regarding the blower and FEL situation: I have a 4310 with a 59 inch blower and have no problem switching them back and forth in the winter. The frame that supports the blower and the front of the PTO driveshaft can stay bolted to the tractor. As I recall, I just pull three pins and four hydraulic disconnects and off come the blower and lift cylinder. Drive over to the FEL and it goes right on. Piece of cake.

Tom

 

[Neophyte]

Tom,

Thanks for the reply. That makes me feel a little better. I know the 59SB framework for the 3320 is a little different from the 4310. I'm hoping that it's just as easy.

By the way, are you connecting the snowblower hydraulics to the FEL controls? Am I correct to assume that forward/back on the FEL stick would be down/up on the snowblower and left/right on the FEL stick would be the chute rotation?

 

[TMcD_in_MI]

Tom,
By the way, are you connecting the snowblower hydraulics to the FEL controls? Am I correct to assume that forward/back on the FEL stick would be down/up on the snowblower and left/right on the FEL stick would be the chute rotation?

Yes, you have that exactly right, although you could hook the hoses up to do just the opposite, if you felt like it.

I love my blower, and, even though it is as easy to swap as I said, I usually just leave it on all winter. If I need to move snowbanks, I just carve into them with the blower. It can get the snow a lot farther from the drive than my FEL can.

Tom

P.S. I got a cab last winter and man, what a difference. No need to get all bundled up in a vain attempt to stay warm and dry - just throw on a jacket and gloves and head out the door. How sweet it is.

 

[Neophyte]

I recently talked with a dealer who has installed several of the new 59" Snow Blower setups on 3x20 tractors. He had nothing good to say about the new setup. He doesn't understand why Deere moved to this new design. He said he definitely preferred the old setup on the 55 Series and TEN Series tractors. He said the new setup is very difficult to install and it's not something you would want to remove in the spring.

I took some pictures of the new setup. It seems overly complicated to me. After talking with him and seeing the new setup, I think I'm going to try to adapt my 55/TEN Series hardware with my new 3320. He seemed to think it would be fairly easy to do but he has yet to try it. Has anyone out there adapted their old 59SB framework with their new 3x20 tractor?

Picture Comments:
* You can see that the hydraulic lift cylinder for the snowblower now remains on the tractor when the snow blower is removed. I don't like the idea of leaving this on through the off-season.
* With the new system, the hydraulic lift control lines remain on the tractor when the snow blower is removed. With the old system, all four hydraulic lines remained with the snowblower. Again, it seems odd to have these hanging around throughout the off-season.
* You can also see the bracket connections to the tractor are significantly more complicated. This is not something you would want to remove in the spring.
* I like the concept of the front 3PH but it would make more sense if you could leave it on during loader use. Even once you remove the Snow Blower, you still cannot use the loader. In order to use the loader you need to remove the A-frame, top link and lower link arms as seen in the last picture.

Again, I would be very interested in hearing from anyone who has adapted their 55/TEN series snow blower hardware to their newer 3x20 tractor.

 

[Bulldog160]

My vote is JD green. Everyone has yellow. Might be hard to get decals for it if you go that route.

 

[Vic_N]

Neo,

I'm a first-time tractor owner and although I've had lots of mechanical experience your comments and photos were eye-opening to me. And here I am poised and ready to buy this darn thing. I just got a quote yesterday that, as expected, was eye-popping: $4800, including $147 freight, $300 setup and $491 discount. That doesn't include the 8% sales tax! I have some concerns now after reading your post. But I've looked at rear-mount blowers and other brand front-mounts and this 59inch SB looks like my best bet. I guess nothing is perfect, is it?

Vic

 

[Neophyte]

Vic N,

You may want to ask your dealer if they would be willing to try to match up the 4310 59SB framework to your tractor. It will definitely reduce the cost of materials but it may increase the cost of dealer setup. Some dealers may even have the 59SB framework for a 4310 in stock; I know mine did.

If you have lots of mechanical experience, you may want to purchase the framework for a 4310 and adapt it yourself. You could potentially save money on the parts and the cost of dealer setup.

List price for the 59SB with 3320 framework is $4844.

List price for the 59SB with 4310 framework is $4592.

You could save up to $550 if you adapted the 4310 framework yourself. Of course, this is all in theory for the moment.

 

[dwelsh]

Looks like you stole a pretty nice unit as long as the gearbox is in good shape along with the bearings. Some sand blasting and paint and it'll look just like you got a new one. Nice purchase!!!!!

 

[dwelsh]

I live along the coast of Lake Michigan and between the Alberta clippers and lake affect snow we have similar snow banks to yours. I have the 59" blower on my tractor but I also have a 60" Frontier back blade that works as counter weight and helps to knock the top of the banks down so they are more manageable. Not that the blower alone won't do the job but it's just nice to have options.