Snowblower Snowblower width
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PILOON
Super Star Member
The general rule of thumb is "about 6" wider than your tires" and another is "5 hp per foot of blower".
I run 60" behind a 20 hp and up to 5-6" of powder snows no problems but over that or with wet heavy snow you need to develop techniques.
Trick is to not lug the engine down.
With HST matching speed is easy but generally a slow process depending on snow type.
I run 60" behind a 20 hp and up to 5-6" of powder snows no problems but over that or with wet heavy snow you need to develop techniques.
Trick is to not lug the engine down.
With HST matching speed is easy but generally a slow process depending on snow type.
leonz
Super Member
As Piloon has said technique is everything,
You need to have loaded tires and good chains
if you expect to push a seven foot snow caster.
The great thing about a wider animal on the back
is you can take half cuts at a faster speed strictly
dependent on the snow depth, repeat the snow depth,
repeat the snow depth....
AND if you have heavy wet snow you need to slow down and
be sure you have cooking spray or fluid film to spray the chute
and spout and impeller to keep the snow from sticking due to
the heat from the friction of moving the snow.
Slow and steady speed wins the snow casting race each and
every time along with loaded tires and good 2 link V bar or
grader chains with chain tensioners.
You need to have loaded tires and good chains
if you expect to push a seven foot snow caster.
The great thing about a wider animal on the back
is you can take half cuts at a faster speed strictly
dependent on the snow depth, repeat the snow depth,
repeat the snow depth....
AND if you have heavy wet snow you need to slow down and
be sure you have cooking spray or fluid film to spray the chute
and spout and impeller to keep the snow from sticking due to
the heat from the friction of moving the snow.
Slow and steady speed wins the snow casting race each and
every time along with loaded tires and good 2 link V bar or
grader chains with chain tensioners.
beesnstuff
Member
mpham
Veteran Member
I run a 54 on my 20 and it can have a hard time with that. Slows/bogs the engine down in 12 inches of heavy wet snow. Have to crawl at times.
Everhard
Gold Member
I'm running a 60" on my Ck20s (not hst) - it ran it fine this winter, and I had to blow 2' of snow a number of times including clearing trails thru my property and my neighbours after the snow had sat all winter - I only have 2 speeds in reverse but the low gear seems to be slow enough for the heavy loads. When there was just a few inches of lighter stuff I could blow it using my higher gear which was great, made short work of clearing the driveway! Lol. Hst would certainly make it an easier task.
I don't think going much bigger would be a good idea though, you'd have to go so slow that it would be less efficient. Consider that your first pass will have to be slow given you'll be using the full width of the blower, in my case I run right up the middle of the driveway, then I can take a pass on either side that is maybe a third to half of the blower width at best and generally I can take that pass in high gear (with hst obviously you can vary your speed but same idea you'll be able to go much quicker) - so first past slow, then 2 fast passes and the long part of the driveway is done will be actually quicker than trying to run a much larger blower on the same tractor since the first pass will be slower, and even if you do it in 2 passes vs 3 passes doing it in 2 passes at a slow speed will still be slower than 1 slow pass and 2 fast passes.. Man I hope this logic is making sense! Lol.
Long story short I think like myself you'll find plenty of people running a 60" blower on a ck20 without any problems.
Key is watch your rpm's when you get into a heavy load and make sure you feather the throttle to maintain the rpm's and as you've got hst you have the luxury of being able to slow down/pause if need be if you hit some particularly heavy load.
E.
I don't think going much bigger would be a good idea though, you'd have to go so slow that it would be less efficient. Consider that your first pass will have to be slow given you'll be using the full width of the blower, in my case I run right up the middle of the driveway, then I can take a pass on either side that is maybe a third to half of the blower width at best and generally I can take that pass in high gear (with hst obviously you can vary your speed but same idea you'll be able to go much quicker) - so first past slow, then 2 fast passes and the long part of the driveway is done will be actually quicker than trying to run a much larger blower on the same tractor since the first pass will be slower, and even if you do it in 2 passes vs 3 passes doing it in 2 passes at a slow speed will still be slower than 1 slow pass and 2 fast passes.. Man I hope this logic is making sense! Lol.
Long story short I think like myself you'll find plenty of people running a 60" blower on a ck20 without any problems.
Key is watch your rpm's when you get into a heavy load and make sure you feather the throttle to maintain the rpm's and as you've got hst you have the luxury of being able to slow down/pause if need be if you hit some particularly heavy load.
E.
aeblank
Veteran Member
I don't understand the smaller blower, cause the bigger goes too slow logic.
For a horsepower, you're moving a certain volume of snow. Period.
Bigger=slower ground speed, but hey, it's bigger so it's moving the same volume of snow.
I sized mine for 2-trips. Up and back on my driveway. Bigger is of minimal gain, since I still have to go up and then back. If its so small that I have to go up and back twice, that's a waste. If there's 2' of snow, I'll go 0.5mph. If there's 6" of snow, I'll go 3.5mph. Big deal. It's pretty natural to assume if there's 4x the snow depth it'll take longer and you'll have to go slower.
This all assumes an HST. Gear ratios are certainly a compromise. And of course, there is some physicality limit where the blower will "manhandle" the tractor, that's bad.
For a horsepower, you're moving a certain volume of snow. Period.
Bigger=slower ground speed, but hey, it's bigger so it's moving the same volume of snow.
I sized mine for 2-trips. Up and back on my driveway. Bigger is of minimal gain, since I still have to go up and then back. If its so small that I have to go up and back twice, that's a waste. If there's 2' of snow, I'll go 0.5mph. If there's 6" of snow, I'll go 3.5mph. Big deal. It's pretty natural to assume if there's 4x the snow depth it'll take longer and you'll have to go slower.
This all assumes an HST. Gear ratios are certainly a compromise. And of course, there is some physicality limit where the blower will "manhandle" the tractor, that's bad.
beesnstuff
Member
If your tractor stalls, or when your shear bolt goes you'll be going at 0 mph. Narrower blower is easier on the tractor. Harder to get stuck.
If you ever cleared 12' of snow from your driveway, you know what I mean. Winter 2013-2014, I had 12'+ on mine, I could not reach it with my loader.
I wish I had more power (JD 5083e) or a smaller blower.
aeblank
Veteran Member
True, regardless of blower size.
Not sure why that would be. Tractor abuse would be way (way way way) more operator dependent than anything else. The loads are nowhere near the material limits.
Perhaps. Having a little more room after cutting a path somewhere may help from getting stuck, but maybe not. I'll give you that one (it falls into my comment about the blower "man handling" the tractor).
I've never done 12' of snow. That is obviously an extreme situation. I think it might be fun for the first couple hours, and then suck for the entire rest of the day that I'd be digging out. Not even sure how I'd go about it. The only proper equipment for that seems like it'd be a loader-mounted hydraulic/PTO blower.
Maybe it's just me....... 100% happy with my "oversized" blower and wouldn't have it any other way.
beesnstuff
Member
Less stuff to blow per ft of driving
I used loader to dig under it, then ram into it to shake it off, once it collapsed to 6-8', use loader to move snow, the last 4' did it with blower. It took the whole day to clear our quarter mile driveway. Only few spots were 12', most of it was covered in 6-8'. And it was an extreme winter. Once in every 30-40 years type of thing.
You'll be ok clearing anything under 2', but if you get more snow than that and have a long driveway to clear, you'll wish you had a smaller, heavy duty blower just to cover your tracks.