Snow Attachments Pro/ cons and issues with front-mounted Snow Blower for Compact Tractor
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RjCorazza
Elite Member
If your tractor has a front end loader, a disadvantage would be loss of the loader for stacking snow or moving dense piles. Another con would be the expense of a front mount blower.
My preference is a rear blower so that I can also use the loader or ssqa plow. 90% of my residential snow plowing is with a rear blade and front ssqa blade. For large snows I can have the 3pt blower on in just a few minutes.
Most front blower folks like moving forward while snow blowing, which would be a plus.
I suspect you will be limited to a Kubota front mount blower.
My preference is a rear blower so that I can also use the loader or ssqa plow. 90% of my residential snow plowing is with a rear blade and front ssqa blade. For large snows I can have the 3pt blower on in just a few minutes.
Most front blower folks like moving forward while snow blowing, which would be a plus.
I suspect you will be limited to a Kubota front mount blower.
leonz
Super Member
Hello MatUdeS,
A kubota snow blower is all you can buy for it unless you purchase a motorized snowblower to mount on the loader using an SSQA plate and extra pneumatic tires and wheels for it to maintain floatation for it as the caster wheels most of them come with are no good in snowpack if you leave snow on the ground.
Regardless, you are going to need liquid ballast in the rear tires, chains and a weight box to overcome any issues with traction and maintaining adhesion to do useful work.
It would different if they being kubota offered a front or rear mount single stage for the Kubota sub compacts but they cost more money to make and the single stage snow blowers made by mkmartin are too large for any subcompact or a compact tractor as the auger is 16 inches in diameter when it should be 13 inches in diameter.
The old single stages I grew up with being the old wheel horse, IHC Cub Cadet and Simplicity Lawn tractors form the 1960's to the early 1990's were essentially unstoppable unless you had thick icepack. They used Kohler and Briggs single cylinder engines with simple belt drives that were easy to maintain and the V belts could be replaced without hand tools. you cannot depend on the current quality of small lawn tractors/lawn mowers made today as they take machine specific metric V belts that cannot be cross referenced to use normal A series V belts UNLESS you have the ALL the pulleys removed and machined to fit an A series V belt.
The only other option I would suggest is investing in a plow blade that you can mount the SSQA plate of the loader and plow small accumulations and then go back with the rear mount snow blower to clear the piles on sides of the road if you plan on investing in a BX sub compact.
You are going to have to drive slowly until you can take a half cut allowing you to travel faster with the BX if that is what you are set on operating.
Unless you purchase a cabbed BX with heat and defrosters your going to have to dress very heavily as it is an open station tractor.
Investing in a used plow truck is dicey and will cost even more money as you still have to depend on the frame being in good shape.
and road legal and you will need to have a beacon on it when operating near a highway where your private road ends.
once the frame starts rusting and has holes in it it is no longer road legal.
If you know you have an honest dealer you will see them behave much differently than a commission based salesperson as they will tell you whether a sub compact tractor will be adequate for your needs and if they are honest they will tell you NO.
A cabbed B3030 series with, cruise control front mount snow blower, turf tires and chains is what you should consider at a minimum as your going to spend a lot of time clearing snow and your going to get very cold very quickly unless you dress in insulated coveralls, sorrel boots with removable liners and spare hats and gloves in your pockets.
Its a case of buy once and cry once and be able to handle deep snowpack if that is what you have to deal with.
A kubota snow blower is all you can buy for it unless you purchase a motorized snowblower to mount on the loader using an SSQA plate and extra pneumatic tires and wheels for it to maintain floatation for it as the caster wheels most of them come with are no good in snowpack if you leave snow on the ground.
Regardless, you are going to need liquid ballast in the rear tires, chains and a weight box to overcome any issues with traction and maintaining adhesion to do useful work.
It would different if they being kubota offered a front or rear mount single stage for the Kubota sub compacts but they cost more money to make and the single stage snow blowers made by mkmartin are too large for any subcompact or a compact tractor as the auger is 16 inches in diameter when it should be 13 inches in diameter.
The old single stages I grew up with being the old wheel horse, IHC Cub Cadet and Simplicity Lawn tractors form the 1960's to the early 1990's were essentially unstoppable unless you had thick icepack. They used Kohler and Briggs single cylinder engines with simple belt drives that were easy to maintain and the V belts could be replaced without hand tools. you cannot depend on the current quality of small lawn tractors/lawn mowers made today as they take machine specific metric V belts that cannot be cross referenced to use normal A series V belts UNLESS you have the ALL the pulleys removed and machined to fit an A series V belt.
The only other option I would suggest is investing in a plow blade that you can mount the SSQA plate of the loader and plow small accumulations and then go back with the rear mount snow blower to clear the piles on sides of the road if you plan on investing in a BX sub compact.
You are going to have to drive slowly until you can take a half cut allowing you to travel faster with the BX if that is what you are set on operating.
Unless you purchase a cabbed BX with heat and defrosters your going to have to dress very heavily as it is an open station tractor.
Investing in a used plow truck is dicey and will cost even more money as you still have to depend on the frame being in good shape.
and road legal and you will need to have a beacon on it when operating near a highway where your private road ends.
once the frame starts rusting and has holes in it it is no longer road legal.
If you know you have an honest dealer you will see them behave much differently than a commission based salesperson as they will tell you whether a sub compact tractor will be adequate for your needs and if they are honest they will tell you NO.
A cabbed B3030 series with, cruise control front mount snow blower, turf tires and chains is what you should consider at a minimum as your going to spend a lot of time clearing snow and your going to get very cold very quickly unless you dress in insulated coveralls, sorrel boots with removable liners and spare hats and gloves in your pockets.
Its a case of buy once and cry once and be able to handle deep snowpack if that is what you have to deal with.
unimog_jason
Silver Member
- Joined
- Nov 16, 2007
- Messages
- 189
- Location
- New Brunswick, Canada
- Tractor
- JD 755, Kioti DK40SE, JD 410
I have a front mount on my Kioti and it's mostly great.
When I bought the tractor, I had close to 1km of driveway to clear, so front mount was the only viable option.
The single downside of front mount is that I need to remove my loader to use it. The loader pockets load up with ice and it becomes a bit of an ordeal to change over, which is only once a month and winter only really last 4 months for us. Depending on how the Kubota loader system works, this might not even be an issue for you.
At my current house with a much shorter driveway, a rear mount would be fine, but I'm not going to change at this point unless I change tractors.
When I bought the tractor, I had close to 1km of driveway to clear, so front mount was the only viable option.
The single downside of front mount is that I need to remove my loader to use it. The loader pockets load up with ice and it becomes a bit of an ordeal to change over, which is only once a month and winter only really last 4 months for us. Depending on how the Kubota loader system works, this might not even be an issue for you.
At my current house with a much shorter driveway, a rear mount would be fine, but I'm not going to change at this point unless I change tractors.
The pro's and cons would really be a more useful list if some info like type amount and frequency of snowfall and details of what you want to clear. found that they work but are slow. Depending on the above some other solution may be better or not.
Leonz point about horsepower is a big factor- I had one on a 3030 and it was slow
Leonz point about horsepower is a big factor- I had one on a 3030 and it was slow
Hilbilly
Veteran Member
You might want to check out this guys YouTube channel. He has a B2601 with a front mount blower and his driveway is about 1 mile long. His conditions may be different than yours but it should give you some idea of the performance of front mount blowers on the B series tractors. GP Outdoors - YouTube
He has a lot of videos dealing with snow. He recently got a bigger B series tractor with a cab but I don't think he has done any snow removal with it yet. So all the snow videos should be with the smaller tractor.
My driveway is a mile long too and I can tell you from experience that using a rear facing snow blower and looking over your shoulder for hours at a time is very uncomfortable and gets worse as you age. I've tried many methods of dealing with snow over the 12 years I've lived here and it's been an evolution of learning and trying different things. You will get all kinds of opinions on what is best and some people are adamant that their way is the only way. However their conditions may vary from yours and you will need to be the judge of what works best for you and your conditions. I have 2 areas to maintain. Area 1 is around and between buildings at the top of my driveway. The area is about 80 ft x 200 ft and is this area I can't use a blower so I have evolved into using a front mount plow with hydraulic angling. I have added wings to the plow to serve as a snow pusher and that works well for that area. Area 2 is the long winding gravel driveway that is cut into the side of a mountain. For this area I initially started with a rear blade and in the first year I discovered that I can only push the snow so far and then the banks start to push in and the driveway gets narrower and narrower. Then the banks have to be blown back. I then went to a front mount plow with hydraulic angling and that was better but I still had to deal with the banks pushing in. Just about every year I would have to spend hours backing up, using the rear facing blower and it was killing my neck. Some years I would spend days doing this. I tried using mirrors but they would just mist up and become useless. My latest evolution of snow removal methods now includes the front mount plow / pusher for area 1 and an inverted snow blower for area 2. I only started using this method late last year and so far I think it the best setup for my conditions. I considered, and still do sometimes, getting a front mount blower because there are times when an inverted blower wont work but a front mount or rear facing blower will. Such as blowing through high snow banks or blowing away snow that has fallen from building roofs. The the blower must be the first thing that enters the snow, not the tractor. 12 years now and I'm still trying to find the best methods for my conditions and think I might be close. Oh I kept the rear facing snow blower too and it's not a big deal to switch the inverted blower for the rear facing blower.
Last year we got 4 ft of snow in 24hrs and I was sure glad I had the rear facing blower. It saved my butt and a few of my neighbors. A front mount blower would have also worked and without having to look over my shoulder for hours.
Good luck on your journey and keep us posted.
He has a lot of videos dealing with snow. He recently got a bigger B series tractor with a cab but I don't think he has done any snow removal with it yet. So all the snow videos should be with the smaller tractor.
My driveway is a mile long too and I can tell you from experience that using a rear facing snow blower and looking over your shoulder for hours at a time is very uncomfortable and gets worse as you age. I've tried many methods of dealing with snow over the 12 years I've lived here and it's been an evolution of learning and trying different things. You will get all kinds of opinions on what is best and some people are adamant that their way is the only way. However their conditions may vary from yours and you will need to be the judge of what works best for you and your conditions. I have 2 areas to maintain. Area 1 is around and between buildings at the top of my driveway. The area is about 80 ft x 200 ft and is this area I can't use a blower so I have evolved into using a front mount plow with hydraulic angling. I have added wings to the plow to serve as a snow pusher and that works well for that area. Area 2 is the long winding gravel driveway that is cut into the side of a mountain. For this area I initially started with a rear blade and in the first year I discovered that I can only push the snow so far and then the banks start to push in and the driveway gets narrower and narrower. Then the banks have to be blown back. I then went to a front mount plow with hydraulic angling and that was better but I still had to deal with the banks pushing in. Just about every year I would have to spend hours backing up, using the rear facing blower and it was killing my neck. Some years I would spend days doing this. I tried using mirrors but they would just mist up and become useless. My latest evolution of snow removal methods now includes the front mount plow / pusher for area 1 and an inverted snow blower for area 2. I only started using this method late last year and so far I think it the best setup for my conditions. I considered, and still do sometimes, getting a front mount blower because there are times when an inverted blower wont work but a front mount or rear facing blower will. Such as blowing through high snow banks or blowing away snow that has fallen from building roofs. The the blower must be the first thing that enters the snow, not the tractor. 12 years now and I'm still trying to find the best methods for my conditions and think I might be close. Oh I kept the rear facing snow blower too and it's not a big deal to switch the inverted blower for the rear facing blower.
Last year we got 4 ft of snow in 24hrs and I was sure glad I had the rear facing blower. It saved my butt and a few of my neighbors. A front mount blower would have also worked and without having to look over my shoulder for hours.
Good luck on your journey and keep us posted.
Gallows
Bronze Member
GP posted a new video installing the new front snow blower on His LX2610. No snow yet.
#342 Kubota K64-22-7CF Commercial Snowblower Install. Kubota LX2610 compact tractor. - YouTube
#342 Kubota K64-22-7CF Commercial Snowblower Install. Kubota LX2610 compact tractor. - YouTube
If I was doing commercial work clearing sidewalks all day long I'd want a cab and spend more money for a front mount blower. I'd also probably get one of those articulated trackless machines with a spreader instead of a CUT.
On the farm I'd rather spend the money on a cab, bigger PTO HP, and get a less expensive rear 3PH snowblower.
On the farm I'd rather spend the money on a cab, bigger PTO HP, and get a less expensive rear 3PH snowblower.
Langanobob
Gold Member
- Joined
- Feb 1, 2007
- Messages
- 409
- Location
- Reno, NV
- Tractor
- AC HD6G, Ancient Kubota HK5 Mini Excavator, MF GC1720
I have a front mount blower on my MF GC1720 which is about the same class of tractor as your BX. Taking the blower on and off is a little bit of a project. Heavy winters with lots of snow when I leave the blower on all winter I can’t think of any drawbacks. Light winters when I occasionally need the loader for other work, it’s kind of a nuisance taking the blower and loader on and off. A cab would be nice! I just bundle up in a snowmobile suit.
I think almost all the front mount blowers are made by one or two companies. I bought a used blower off of a New Holland tractor and adapted the mount to work on my Massey. Took some work but I saved a lot of money over buying a new blower from Massey.
I think almost all the front mount blowers are made by one or two companies. I bought a used blower off of a New Holland tractor and adapted the mount to work on my Massey. Took some work but I saved a lot of money over buying a new blower from Massey.
atitus74
Silver Member
I have a BX with a front mount blower. I have about 1600 feet of drive way to clear, including going around and getting up close to cars, etc. Doing it all carefully and doing a real good job takes over an hour. Lets say 45 mins if I was just doing 90% and not touching up. Thats with average not too heavy snow, etc. If we get really wet snow it could nearly double the time. Do the math to figure out how long that is going to take with a mile to do, and then decide if you have that kind of time.
That being said, as long as you have a FLAT, LEVEL area to get the loader on and off without having to fiddle with it, the process of switching does not take very long on a BX. It works for me with the size area I have, and the fact that we don't get constant snow fall here.
That being said, as long as you have a FLAT, LEVEL area to get the loader on and off without having to fiddle with it, the process of switching does not take very long on a BX. It works for me with the size area I have, and the fact that we don't get constant snow fall here.