Rear Inverted Snowblowers 2019

shooterdon · Jan 18, 2020

Hilbilly,
I set my shoes all the way down as I broke a shear pin the first time out. I built up a bunch of gravel and that loaded it up. Lowering the shoes as well as surface getting frozen has solved the problem with stuff spitting forward.

I have a hydraulic top link and adjust that as well. Still experimenting but level so far works the best. My chute rotator is next to the top link lever so I wind up screwing it up as I am still getting used to the set up. I am thinking about putting the regular top link back on for blowing if I am too dumb to get used to it.

airbiscuit · Jan 18, 2020

First time out with the new snowblower in 5" of snow. It throws farther, goes faster, does a better job, and my wife says I'm better looking. Why didn't I do this years ago? The deeper fan certainly makes a noticeable difference in terms of how much snow it can handle and how far it throws.

Did my 1/2 mile drive. and 3 neighbors in half the time. Part of that is the deeper fan, part of that is ease of maneuvering (driving forward vs "parallel parking" over and over again), and I think I let the blower fill up more than when I am looking at it all the time. I even managed to run a hunk of 2x4 through it (no damage and no shear pin breakage!). It handled the snow well at higher speeds, and when it starts loading I can hear a grumble from the fan that lets me know I'm getting close to the point where I should slow down. I don't understand why I don't see these on dealer lots.

Kyle241 · Jan 18, 2020

Very nice Meteor. I really like the idea of an inverted blower and just missed a great deal on an Erskine 78”, asking price was $2200.

airbiscuit · Jan 18, 2020

Kyle241 said:
Very nice Meteor. I really like the idea of an inverted blower and just missed a great deal on an Erskine 78”, asking price was $2200.

My local dealer wanted almost $9k for that Erskine.

kco · Jan 19, 2020

airbiscuit said:
First time out with the new snowblower in 5" of snow. It throws farther, goes faster, does a better job, and my wife says I'm better looking. Why didn't I do this years ago? The deeper fan certainly makes a noticeable difference in terms of how much snow it can handle and how far it throws.

Did my 1/2 mile drive. and 3 neighbors in half the time. Part of that is the deeper fan, part of that is ease of maneuvering (driving forward vs "parallel parking" over and over again), and I think I let the blower fill up more than when I am looking at it all the time. I even managed to run a hunk of 2x4 through it (no damage and no shear pin breakage!). It handled the snow well at higher speeds, and when it starts loading I can hear a grumble from the fan that lets me know I'm getting close to the point where I should slow down. I don't understand why I don't see these on dealer lots.

Nice video, Airbiscuit. It's good to see the snow you ordered with your blower finally arrived.

Your conditions look similar to mine and ideal for an inverted blower--i.e. good shelter to prevent large drifts. Your neighbours will be happy you got the new toy too. Enjoy the blower.

Cheers

kco · Jan 19, 2020

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

Pete

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

shooterdon said:
Hilbilly,
I set my shoes all the way down as I broke a shear pin the first time out. I built up a bunch of gravel and that loaded it up. Lowering the shoes as well as surface getting frozen has solved the problem with stuff spitting forward.

I have a hydraulic top link and adjust that as well. Still experimenting but level so far works the best. My chute rotator is next to the top link lever so I wind up screwing it up as I am still getting used to the set up. I am thinking about putting the regular top link back on for blowing if I am too dumb to get used to it.

Hillbilly, it's good to see you diagnosed the problem with your blower and a solution is on the way. Also, for your situation it looks like having both types of blower is a good idea.

One short-coming of my Meteor pull-type is it has a fixed, welded cutting edge that is about 1/2" above the fixed, welded skids. So when the blower is level it is not as aggressive with packed snow as I would like. I make it somewhat more aggressive by shortening the top link and do so when required. However, there is a downside as described in the two attached pages from my blower manual:

View attachment PTO Angle Warnings.pdf

Being aware of that I minimize use with the PTO ends non-parallel. That said, my blower is in its 8th year of fairly regular use on several driveways and I do set it off-parallel as needed and it is still going strong. However, I did change the PTO shaft in the middle of all this when I got Pat's Easy Hitch and had to get a longer PTO shaft.

airbiscuit · Jan 19, 2020

The skids on my 68" Meteor Rear Pull are adjustable.

Hilbilly · Jan 19, 2020

airbiscuit; very nice video and I'm glad you like your new blower. I too am now a fan of the inverted blower. For my conditions and uses, I also need a rear facing blower or a front mount. Something that enters the snow before the tractor, so I will be keeping the old rear facing blower for those times I need the blower to enter the snow before the tractor.

The skids on the Farm King are also adjustable. On the highest setting the cutting edge is about 1/2" below the skids and that is where I originally had it set. It is now at the next lower position, which puts the cutting edge about 1/2" above the skid shoes. I may go back to the highest setting later, to reduce the amount of snow left behind. I am however very impressed with how this cuts the snow. I believe it is a combination of the weight and the cutting edge. My old blower did not have a cutting edge and the difference is huge.

I gave the blower a real workout today. I used the 8' wide front plow together with the 7' inverted blower behind me and drove along the edge of the driveway, plowing the snow banks back onto the driveway and letting the blower get rid of it behind me. Man that worked awesome and the blower was working great. No shaft shifting and it was blowing the snow plenty far enough for my needs. I would like a little more flow capacity (ie, a deeper fan) but this will do just fine and didn't cost and arm and a leg, like the higher capacity blowers. I kept running out of blower capacity and never ran out of HP. So the tractor can handle more blower capacity. This still wasn't a real test though, since I am not blowing freshly fallen snow. This stuff has been compacted by the plowing operations. If I get lucky I will get a new fresh dump of snow of around 8" to 12" so I can run this in conditions it was meant for.

REALLY liked being able to drive forward and I hardly ever looked over my shoulder. Like airbiscuit stated, I could hear the blower load up to a point where I needed to slow down. I also didn't have an issue with stuff kicking up and hitting the rear window. There were only a couple of times where that happened, which was surprising, since I was blowing the stuff that had been pushed into the side banks and has gone through a few freeze / thaw cycles. I expected more stuff kicking up but it was not an issue today. So I never adjusted the top link, to see if that made a difference. I also bought a piece of plexiglass to mount behind the rear window, if the problem persists.

Much happier with the blower, now that it is working properly.

airbiscuit · Jan 19, 2020

Excellent report. I have 4 adjustment holes on my skids. Currently, they are in the third hole, elevating the cutting edge about 1/2 inch above the skids. That means that it sometimes scrapes bare, and sometimes leaves 1/2" of snow. I may choose to lower it by one hole, but this seems like a safe, reasonable setting. I am waiting to see what happens when we get a heavy, wet snow. That is never good, no matter what you are using.

I'm glad you are happy with yours. I almost feel guilty looking back at the blower from time to time. I'm thinking eventually, this will be more like mowing with my bush hog - you just go.