Rear Inverted Snowblowers 2019

[Hilbilly]

Both the bearings on shaft 41 are locking types and I think the collars were not locked properly at the factory. The bearing on shaft 42 does not look to be a locking type. There is a collar with 2 grub screws in it but it doesn't look to be a locking type since there is no hole to insert a punch. I could be wrong though.

Here is a pic of the cap I made for the end of the rear shaft. It is simply a piece of steel that was turned down to an outside diameter of 1.90" (slightly less than the diameter of the inner bearing race on the rear bearing), internal diameter of 1.50" and a 0.50" recess to fit over the end of the shaft. Then I drilled and tapped a 3/8" hole in the end of the shaft and ran a 1.25" bolt into the shaft and used blue locktite to hold it in place. I also drilled and tapped a 1/4" hole in the sidewall of the cap and drilled a small recess into the side of the shaft. Then ran a 1/4" grub screw through that and into the recess. Should stay in place now.

I also used a punch to tighten both of the back 2 locking collars. The rear most one got to a point where it wouldn't move any more, using reasonable force but the front one would snug up but not get tight. It would keep spinning. I think that one may have damaged the shaft when it moved.

 

[airbiscuit]

Farm King engineers may want to appropriate your idea.

 

[fitter1]

Just another thought about shaft misalignment as ruffdog pointed out, could your pto shaft be putting undo stress on blower shaft? Is it sliding in and out easily as you raise and lower blower? If you remove roller chain, are the gears inline? Treat the gears as a flange and check alignment with a small straight edge at 12,3,6,and 9 o'clock, then check the space between gears at the same locations. This will give you a starting point if you have to shim the pillowblock bearings or not. As for the bearings, some have the locking collars and some just lock to the shaft. Sounds like you have both.

 

[Hilbilly]

The driveshaft slides easily. This is a new blower and new driveshaft. I greased everything well before using it, including the entire driveshaft . I haven't taken the roller chain coupling apart and will wait until the replacement parts arrive. I don't want to take this stuff apart more than once.

I got to take the blower for a run today. We didn't get much snow but I wanted to give it a run to see if the shafts would move again. We have about 3" of fresh snow plus the snow that was plowed up against the banks from the last snow fall. So I ran tight to the banks to get as much snow as I could. I made one run down the driveway (1 mile) and then went to my daughters place to do her driveway and parking area. The blower worked well, even with the bent fan blades, until I hit something and the auger shear pin broke. Good news is that the shafts did not move. Don't know if the fix was the end cup I made or tightening the locking collars better.

The blower runs very smoothly and I would think that if there was a shaft misalignment I would hear or feel a vibration, rumble or something odd. Maybe not, but it didn't shift, so I'm just going to use it until the new parts arrive. Although the forecast for the next 2 weeks only shows minimal amounts of snow. So I may not get to give a real test.

 

[fitter1]

Sounds like you solved this, also like the end cap idea.

 

[Hilbilly]

One thing I did discover about the inverted blowers that is a negative! They kick up rocks, ice chips or whatever else they run into and it hits the rear window of my new cab tractor. I REALLY don't like that and will have to come up with a fix. I'm thinking to mount a see through material on the back of the cab or on the blower, to deflect this stuff away from my rear window.

In any case it sure is nice to drive forward and not have to look over my shoulder for hours at a time.

 

[airbiscuit]

How close did you set the cutting edge to the ground?

 

[Hilbilly]

I'm probably not the right person to ask. For the last 10 years I've used a rear facing snow blower with no cutting edge and was disappointed in how the blower would just float on top of the snow, instead of digging in. However, to be fair, I was trying to blow snow that had been plowed off the to the side of the driveway many times and become very compacted before I would try to blow it.

The new blower has a cutting edge and that is a whole new experience. The first time I used it I had the skid shoes set as high as they will go. That's how they came from the dealer. I quickly found that this blower, with the cutting edge and the heavy weight, would dig into the ice and cut through it, throwing chips into the rear window. I could also feel the tractor slow down as the blower cutting edge would dig into the built up snow layer or ice. So I raised the shoes one position and found that to be better for now. I can tell this is going to take some time to figure out and will change with the snow conditions. But I sure like being able to drive forward with the blower behind me, instead of backing up and looking over my shoulder.

I still think a front mount blower would be better for most situations but then I would loose the ability to have a plow or bucket on the FEL. For my situation and needs, I think the inverted blower, with front mount plow (or snow bucket) is a better solution.

 

[Boondox]

One thing I did discover about the inverted blowers that is a negative! They kick up rocks, ice chips or whatever else they run into and it hits the rear window of my new cab tractor. I REALLY don't like that and will have to come up with a fix. I'm thinking to mount a see through material on the back of the cab or on the blower, to deflect this stuff away from my rear window.

In any case it sure is nice to drive forward and not have to look over my shoulder for hours at a time.

Mine did that when it wasn't properly leveled. Shortened the toplink and the problem went away.

Pete

 

[Hilbilly]

Mine did that when it wasn't properly leveled. Shortened the toplink and the problem went away.

Pete

Thanks for the tip. I'll give it a try the next time I use the blower.