Pros/Cons of Front Mount Snowblower vs Rear Mount

   / Pros/Cons of Front Mount Snowblower vs Rear Mount #11  
Just bought my neighbor's Kioti DK50 and been plowing my 1.5 mile long driveway with it this year. Considering getting a blower next year and wanted to know the pros/cons of the front mount to the rear mount. I am thinking with a front mount I can leave the box scraper on the back to quickly push piles while blowing with the front. It is not uncommon to get 4' snowfalls here and a couple of times last year I had to make 2 passes with the blade to get down to the road because of so much snow. Anyone have any experience comparing the two? Ideally, I'd like to get a hyrdaulic front blower, but I need to make some money this summer to afford that, so most likely I'd be looking at a pto for the front.

I think your thoughts with the front blower is the best bet. Sure it's more money but most guys have a sore neck after an hour of looking over their shoulders. I blow on pavement and scrape on our gravel roads. On gravel in big storms, I'll keep the blower an inch off the ground to avoid rocks and scrape the little left. Blowing the snow also keeps the driveway and roads from building up on the sides.

I also added a quick attach so I can take my scraper off and add the sander.
 

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   / Pros/Cons of Front Mount Snowblower vs Rear Mount #12  
What about a rear pull type snowblower? Such as an Erskine? It keeps the loader on the front and no over the shoulder snowplowing. This is the direction I'm considering for next year.
 
   / Pros/Cons of Front Mount Snowblower vs Rear Mount
  • Thread Starter
#13  
The local dealer tells me that a front pto will hook up with little issues, so although I'd love to do hydraulic blower on the front, I don't have $12,000 laying around to do it with; not to mention it sounds like I need to then use the rear 3pt to hook up a hydraulic pump and reservoir. Too much hassle, I'd like to keep it simple. As for having a front facing blower in the back, it is not uncommon to get 4' snowfalls here, so I think the blower has to be the first thing that encounters the snow and not the other way around. Any recommendations on good brands for front blowers? I will look up the one in Ontario. As always, I am looking for the best bang for the buck, and I have the quick release on the front arms.
 
   / Pros/Cons of Front Mount Snowblower vs Rear Mount #14  
I think the Reist is better than the Meteor (also made in Ontario). Pronovost (made in Quebec) is better still. That is only my opinion.
 
   / Pros/Cons of Front Mount Snowblower vs Rear Mount
  • Thread Starter
#15  
Leon, I've been looking at the Reist online, and I like it. And you've had no problem with heavy snow? For some reason I've always thought the big drum machines worked worse in the heavy snow, and the machines that had narrow blades worked better; but it looks like you've used this machine and it works well? What am I look at cost for the 2000 in $US? How hard would it be to mount to a front PTO drive?
 
   / Pros/Cons of Front Mount Snowblower vs Rear Mount #16  
I have not had a rear mount blower but I have had a PTO driven front mount and this I purchased a new tractor and had them build me a loader mounted blower from a Puma rear mount. First the PTO driven one was on a John Deere 2210. It was a pain to put on and take off. Put the mounting bracket on, get the blower on, run the lines and connect the shaft. Reverse to get it off.
The loader mounted one has been great. It was a Pronovost Puma 3pt blower. My dear removed the 3 pt and added a SSQA plate and mounted the hyd motor. Yes you would need a rear PTO driven hyd pump and a small tank on the 3pt.

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Since these pics I have added quick disconnects for the hyd motor on the blower and will be adding them to chute lines also. That will allow me to swap to the bucket by simply disconnecting 6 quick disconnects and drop the blower.

Blower was $3000, conversion was $4000.

I highly recommend the Pronovost. The Puma is a mid line blower. The Lynx is the entry level, but still very well built. I think the Lynx would have been about $2500.
 
   / Pros/Cons of Front Mount Snowblower vs Rear Mount #17  
Leon, I've been looking at the Reist online, and I like it. And you've had no problem with heavy snow? For some reason I've always thought the big drum machines worked worse in the heavy snow, and the machines that had narrow blades worked better; but it looks like you've used this machine and it works well? What am I look at cost for the 2000 in $US? How hard would it be to mount to a front PTO drive?


===================================================================================

No the drum machines do fine in heavy wet snow they have a slower ground speed in deep snows and just go slower.

I will tell you that the single stage snow thrower we had on our cub never clogged ever and the snow was thrown 50+ feet in the air in powder and far away with the 12 horsepower Kohler it had with a small belt driven one to one bevel to bevel right angle gear box on the snow blower frame
powered off the front of the Kohler engine that powered the mule with a single V belt using a snubber pulley under tension.

The four Toro snow pups I have owned since 1978 never wimpered in heavy snows they just took a little longer as they were belt driven using a multigroove flat V belt to power the rotor paddle on all four snow pups. I use fluid film to prevent snow from sticking and it works wonders and the snow gets tossed much farther too.
I do not own a Reist snow thrower and I wish I did and I can and will tell you the physics are the same whether it is snow pup or a Riest as they use rotors for the single stage design.

The series 1000 runs between 450 to 500 rpm with the the 540 RPM rear mount.
The rotor rotates at 8.3333 revolutions per second at 540 RPM and the slower you go the farther it throws it as you are breaking up the snow pack in smaller chunks.


The rotor speed can be changed but with the snow you have up there I would not want to change the rotor speed as all you would need is either fluid film, slick sheet material or paint the inside of the chute and spout with EZ slide paint from Tractor Supply.

The rotor flights/auger flighting is shorter and pulls in only so much per revolution The rotor housing does not allow any more snow than what the rotor flighting lets into the housing in one revolution.

The rotor can be adjusted to close the gap in the rear of the housing and by doing that it throws the snow even farther as there is no snow left in the rotor housing. Both sides of the rotor push the snow to the center paddles and the center paddles throw it up and out through the chute and spout.

You can always line the chute and spout with slick sheet or spray it with fluid film to coat it.
The slick sheet works well for both types of snow casters.

And you could also have longer ski type feet made for it to keep it from digging in the gravel and
reduce the chance of swallowing stones.


I was given a quote for the 48" Series 1,000 Reist single stage with a PTO shaft, manual chute rotation, chute angle control for $2,750.00 Canadian Loonies last Wednesday plus shipping, VAT, etc.and the exchange rate is perfect for our side of the border=more bang for the buck with the United States Dollar.

I do not know what it would cost to ship it to Truckee but as I understand it Fastenal will ship odd items and AMTRAK ships freight also so that could be a viable option for you as AMTRAK still runs up and down Donner Pass and through Truckee.


They can build the series 1000 wider but that would cost more of course.


With NAFTA the shipping and paper work is much less of a concern as the borders are considered open and fluid as far a trade goes.


NOW:

The snow blower has many parts that are obtainable locally and they are:

1.The rotor bearings

All bearings and V belts are Metric.


2. The roller chain for the single width drive chain

3. drive and driven sprockets are single row tooth SAE sprockets

3. gear oil

4. grease


The thing is the snow you get up there is both heavy and wet-Sierra Cement/Cascade Concrete etc.,
and it takes time to get rid of it but if you get dumped on the first pass will be the slowest one as your taking a full width cut and you can take half cuts to work a bit faster and lining the chute with slick sheet or painting it with EZ Slide will only help you get rid of it faster and you will have no snow banks to close in on the road either.


I would call the Folks at Reist and talk to to them about your mule and provide them with all the specs and the Mid Mount PTO Speed as well as the dimensions and its ground clearance so you can have a definite idea.
Sending the a followup letter by registered mail with all the specs on your machine is always in your best interest too.

If your mule has a mid PTO it is much much faster than the rear PTO and they will have to use a reversing gearbox or chain drive to spin it backwards to power the front PTO.
 
Last edited:
   / Pros/Cons of Front Mount Snowblower vs Rear Mount
  • Thread Starter
#18  
Leon, thanks for taking the time for writing such a detailed response. Cford, that is such a clean set up you have, and that might be worth looking into also. What type of snow do you have where you are located? Heavy or light? How's it perform? So you are talking roughly $7k for the hydraulic set up? Really? Did you have to install it yourself? If so, how difficult was it and did you have to purchase any extra parts to pull it off? The only downside is giving up the 3pt on the back. Either way, thank you everyone for such detailed answers. It gives me more concrete info to pursue though the summer to figure out what I want to do next winter. This winter we were lucky the snow levels were so high as if they were at my elevation, I'd still have 20' of snow around my house (the people on Donner Summit DO have 20' of snow around THEIR houses right now).
 
   / Pros/Cons of Front Mount Snowblower vs Rear Mount #19  
===================================================================================

No the drum machines do fine in heavy wet snow they have a slower ground speed in deep snows and just go slower.

I will tell you that the single stage snow thrower we had on our cub never clogged ever and the snow
was thrown 50+ feet in the air in powder and far away with the 12 horsepower Kohler it had with a
small belt drive of the front of the Kohler engine that powered the mule.

The four Toro snow pups I have owned since 1978 never wimpered in heavy snows they just took a little longer as they
were belt driven using a multigroove flat V belt to power the rotor paddle on all four snow pups. I use fluid film to prevent snow from sticking and it works wonders and the snow gets tossed much farther too.
I do not own a Reist snow thrower and I wish I did and I can and will tell you the physics are the same whether it is snow pup or a Riest as they use rotors for the single stage design.

The series 1000 runs between 450 to 500 rpm with the the 540 RPM rear mount.
The rotor rotates at 8.3333 revolutions per second at 540 RPM and the slower you go the farther it throws it as you are
breaking up the snow pack in smaller chunks.


The rotor speed can be changed but with the snow you have up there I would not want to change the rotor speed as all you would need is either fluid film, slick sheet material or paint the inside of the chute and spout with EZ slide paint from Tractor Supply.

The rotor flights/auger flighting is shorter and pulls in only so much per revolution The rotor housing does
not allow any more snow than what the rotor flighting lets into the housing in one revolution.

The rotor can be adjusted to close the gap in the rear of the housing and by doing that it throws the snow
even farther as there is no snow left in the rotor housing. Both sides of the rotor push the snow to the center paddles and the center paddles throw it up and out through the chute and spout.

You can always line the chute and spout with slick sheet or spray it with fluid film to coat it.
The slick sheet works well for both types of snow casters.

And you could also have longer ski type feet made for it to keep it from digging in the gravel and
reduce the chance of swallowing stones.


I was given a quote for the 48" Series 1,000 Reist single stage with a PTO shaft, manual chute rotation, chute angle control
for $2,750.00 Canadian Loonies last Wednesday plus shipping, VAT, etc.and the exchange rate is perfect for our side of the border=more band for the buck with the United States Dollar.

I do not know what it would cost to ship it to Truckee but as I understand it Fastenal will ship odd items and AMTRAK ships freight also so that could be a viable option for you as AMTRAK still runs up and down Donner Pass and through Truckee.


They can build the series 1000 wider but that would cost more of course.


With NAFTA the shipping and paper work is much less of a concern as the borders are considered open and fluid as far a trade goes.


NOW:

The snow blower has many parts that are obtainable locally and they are:

1.The rotor bearings

All bearings and V belts are Metric.


2. The roller chain for the single width drive chain

3. drive and driven sprockets are single row tooth SAE sprockets

3. gear oil

4. grease


The thing is the snow you get up there is both heavy and wet-Sierra Cement/Cascade Concrete etc.,
and it takes time to get rid of it but if you get dumped on the first pass will be the slowest one as your
taking a full width cut and you can take half cuts to work a bit faster and lining the chute with slick sheet or
painting it with EZ Slide will only help you get rid of it faster and you will have no snow banks to close in on
the road either.


I would call the Folks at Reist and talk to to them about your mule and provide them with all the specs and
the Mid Mount PTO Speed as well as the dimensions and its ground clearance so you can have a definite idea.
Sending the a followup letter by registered mail with all the specs on your machine is always in your best interest
too.

If your mule has a mid PTO it is much much faster than the rear PTO and they will have to use a reversing gearbox or
chain drive to sping it backwards to power the front PTO.

With my front mount blower powered off the mid PTO I paid $4,000.oo I think. It is Meteor, made in Elmira, Ontario.
Something that is not discussed much is that you can apply to the Ontario goobermint to get the sales tax back because you are taking the item out of the Province. Back in the 1990s all I had to do was show my drivers license and the supplier would knock off the sales tax. But now you need to apply for the tax rebate. The GST part of the Harmonised Sales Tax you cannot get back. That replaced the old Manufacturers tax that the manufacturer paid. It doesn't hurt to ask about the tax breaks.
 
   / Pros/Cons of Front Mount Snowblower vs Rear Mount #20  
Leon, thanks for taking the time for writing such a detailed response. Cford, that is such a clean set up you have, and that might be worth looking into also. What type of snow do you have where you are located? Heavy or light? How's it perform? So you are talking roughly $7k for the hydraulic set up? Really? Did you have to install it yourself? If so, how difficult was it and did you have to purchase any extra parts to pull it off? The only downside is giving up the 3pt on the back. Either way, thank you everyone for such detailed answers. It gives me more concrete info to pursue though the summer to figure out what I want to do next winter. This winter we were lucky the snow levels were so high as if they were at my elevation, I'd still have 20' of snow around my house (the people on Donner Summit DO have 20' of snow around THEIR houses right now).



Hello KanakaRick,

Just as an FYI to help you Reist has an authorized dealer for their product line in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Their name is Tram Sales They are located at 10757-182 Street Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Their telephone number is 1-780-484-2231


I only want you to succeed Rick as your snows are always troubling to both manage and clear and always making a very very long snow season and you require both simplicity in design and an implement that allows easy repairs and the single stage units do not require shear pins as they use a direct chain drive behind an access cover that is just pinned in place with spring cotter pins.


Leon
 

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