Snow Equipment Buying/Pricing Snowblowers: FEL Mount vs Rear Pull

   / Snowblowers: FEL Mount vs Rear Pull #51  
@TYMNorsky - I have the same blower in 72". Absolutely love it! It's not any faster than using the rear blade early in the season, but later in the winter when the blade used to pile up huge snowbanks (which then froze) there were a couple of sections of my half mile dirt driveway where I'd have to move the snow one bucket at a time. With the blower there are no snowbanks, just a path of firmly packed snow about 40' from the driveway. I've also discovered that during the winter months when we can't reach the compost pile without snowshoes if I put the compostables in the bucket then dump them near the pile and run over it with the blower they get sliced, diced, and blown into the compost pile.

Pete
 
   / Snowblowers: FEL Mount vs Rear Pull #52  
@TYMNorsky - I have the same blower in 72". Absolutely love it! It's not any faster than using the rear blade early in the season, but later in the winter when the blade used to pile up huge snowbanks (which then froze) there were a couple of sections of my half mile dirt driveway where I'd have to move the snow one bucket at a time. With the blower there are no snowbanks, just a path of firmly packed snow about 40' from the driveway. I've also discovered that during the winter months when we can't reach the compost pile without snowshoes if I put the compostables in the bucket then dump them near the pile and run over it with the blower they get sliced, diced, and blown into the compost pile.

Pete

It is a sign of beauty
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   / Snowblowers: FEL Mount vs Rear Pull #53  
Looking to upgrade my tractor (a JD 3720 cab w/ 59" snowblower) to a JD 4052 cab. The Deere/Frontier FEL mount is pricey in the $14k to $15k range. The tractor is going to be a tuff-enough sell to the CFO, but the SB2176 blower will likely make upgrade a deal breaker with the CFO...

Is anyone here using a rear pull like the Erskine 725RP? (link here: 3-Point PTO Rear Pull Snowblower | Snow Equipment | Snowblowers | Tractor Attachments | Erskine Attachments LLC). Any idea of price range for this unit ?

-OR-

Is anyone here using an FEL mount like the Erskine 73"? (link here: 2;) Snowblower w/Hydraulic Power Unit | Snow Equipment | Snowblowers | Tractor Attachments | Erskine Attachments LLC). Any idea of price range for this unit vs the $14-15k for the Frontier?

Thanks for any comments...
Hey John, I see from your signature that you got your tractor (your upgrade got upgraded :)). Are you any closer on picking which snow blower? Curios because I'm checking out a used Erskine 620RP on Monday and 90% sure I'll buy it as long as it's in good operating condition. I can't find a lot of information about the brand, but the 620RP significantly out weighs the Pronovost and Normand equivalent models and almost twice the weight of MK Martin. I'm assuming this means its pretty heavy duty.
 
   / Snowblowers: FEL Mount vs Rear Pull #54  
Well, COVID hasn’t killed all deals! The 2015 Erskine 620RP I looked at wasn’t used after all, it was inventory at a John Deere dealer that had never sold and had some rusty metal. I bought it with hydraulic chute rotation and electric deflector that was never installed for $2170 CAD delivered and with warranty. I can’t wait for snow!
 
   / Snowblowers: FEL Mount vs Rear Pull #55  
Wow, that's a great deal. You are going to love it. Report back after you've used it.

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   / Snowblowers: FEL Mount vs Rear Pull
  • Thread Starter
#56  
Hey John, I see from your signature that you got your tractor (your upgrade got upgraded :)). Are you any closer on picking which snow blower? Curios because I'm checking out a used Erskine 620RP on Monday and 90% sure I'll buy it as long as it's in good operating condition. I can't find a lot of information about the brand, but the 620RP significantly out weighs the Pronovost and Normand equivalent models and almost twice the weight of MK Martin. I'm assuming this means its pretty heavy duty.
Yes. After speaking with another gent in the Eastern UP who has the same tractor and now snowblower, I went with the MK Martin SB78 P/T rear pull snowblower MK Martin Link. Made my final payment on it this past weekend and will be scheduling a delivery for next week. I'll add some pics of the tractor and blower when I finish setting everything up.
 
   / Snowblowers: FEL Mount vs Rear Pull #58  
I run a 10 foot power angle plow on the front and a 7 foot Lucknow (Helm Engineering) 2 stage blower on the back. I prefer not to even think about snow actually. I don't find it fun to deal with but I have a couple rental properties I have to keep open. The big plow pushes big snow but with drifts, even with the front tires chained up, I still need the blower to bust them. Problem with the blower is, it takes every bit of my 90 pto horsepower to run it. I can suck down some serious diesel but I'm always toasty inside the cab and no looking over my shoulder either, I have 3 cameras mounted facing back, one in the center and one facing left and one right. Picked up the plow for 500 bucks from the county a few years back and added the Bobcat style SSQA plate. It's a beast. Almost too much for the tractor.

Here you go...
 

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   / Snowblowers: FEL Mount vs Rear Pull
  • Thread Starter
#59  
Well we got our first real snowfall of the season, not huge numbers here about 8 inches fell yesterday and into this morning. NW winds to 25 mph with gusts to 40 mph created drifts along the length of the drive way.

The prior light snows amounted to about 3 inches, which I drove over and packed down a couple of days ago so it would freeze and not have the snowblower blasting gravel all over the place. I also added 1.25 inch blocks of poly to the bottom of the skid shoes, which keeps the scraper blade about 1.5 inches off the ground with the skid shoes all the way down. Didn't fling any gravel today.

But all I can say is this machine is frickin' awesome! Made quick work of clearing my drive and the neighbor across the street. The traction of the Nokian tires is impressive too - and they're not loaded.

Other additions include swapping out the stock Deere work lights for the Larson 665's. Put a pair of 40 degree beams in front and 80's in the rear. Dang what a difference! They really light up the night. Pricey, but worth every penny in my book. Also swapped out the stock halogen headlight bulbs for the JDM Astar bulbs the gent on Good Works Tractors suggested. Not a real focused beam, but certainly more visible to on-coming traffic when you're out on the road. I installed four Feniex Fusion amber strobes on the cab and two of their green strobes on the back of the snowblower. While I had the roof off installing the Feniex strobes I also ran a back up camera to the bracket on the back of the cab, as well as a custom switch box. Works real nice to keep an eye on the blower without having to turn around constantly.

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   / Snowblowers: FEL Mount vs Rear Pull #60  
Well we got our first real snowfall of the season, not huge numbers here about 8 inches fell yesterday and into this morning. NW winds to 25 mph with gusts to 40 mph created drifts along the length of the drive way.

The prior light snows amounted to about 3 inches, which I drove over and packed down a couple of days ago so it would freeze and not have the snowblower blasting gravel all over the place. I also added 1.25 inch blocks of poly to the bottom of the skid shoes, which keeps the scraper blade about 1.5 inches off the ground with the skid shoes all the way down. Didn't fling any gravel today.

But all I can say is this machine is frickin' awesome! Made quick work of clearing my drive and the neighbor across the street. The traction of the Nokian tires is impressive too - and they're not loaded.

Other additions include swapping out the stock Deere work lights for the Larson 665's. Put a pair of 40 degree beams in front and 80's in the rear. Dang what a difference! They really light up the night. Pricey, but worth every penny in my book. Also swapped out the stock halogen headlight bulbs for the JDM Astar bulbs the gent on Good Works Tractors suggested. Not a real focused beam, but certainly more visible to on-coming traffic when you're out on the road. I installed four Feniex Fusion amber strobes on the cab and two of their green strobes on the back of the snowblower. While I had the roof off installing the Feniex strobes I also ran a back up camera to the bracket on the back of the cab, as well as a custom switch box. Works real nice to keep an eye on the blower without having to turn around constantly.

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Really nice Deere ya got there.
 
 
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