I am considering a pull-type snowblower for my DK35 HST. I have an 800' driveway which I clear with a rear blade. But after making passes with the blade I have to make a pass with a walk-behind type snowblower to blow the snow into the field. Either that, or I have to make the final push of the snow into the ditch driving in reverse.
My dealer sells MK Martin blowers (
Farm Equipment from M.K. Martin Enterprise) and I'll get a quote on the SB68 P/T (68") model. I'll also look for others before buying.
Ah snow blowers(which are actually snow casters) one of my favorote topics:
I have added a lot of material regarding snow casters here and on the plowsite forum describing the potential volumes removed per minute with any snow caster by measuring the size of the impeller housing and multiplying the volume converted to pounds (one cubic foot of snow wieghs 21 pounds per cubic foot or more depending on snowmelting (during daylight hours) and air temperature which adds to snow melt wieght.
Factors to consider in any purchase of a snow removal attachment:
A front mounted blower will-
a. cost more to purchase as it is "machine specific" to the individual machine it is mounted to and it becomes a permanent wedding year after year good or bad with this SPECIFIC tractor.
b. has more material to mount the snow caster to this specific tractor.
c. a front mounted snow caster has a sub frame that will attach to the belly of the tractor and the rear axle in most cases.
c1. the front mounted snow caster and mounting frame takes up a very substantial amount of usable space if stored indoors.
c2. The subframe mounted snow caster has been blamed for many hundreds of viscious attacks on ankles, shins, boots, which include tripping over the sub frame when it deliberately jumps in front of the offending body part(been there done that)
c3. promotes one to create and or expand ones vocabulary of curse words in english, french, german, and swedish languages among others.
c4. the cross augers and impeller are generally smaller in size than the rea mounts and less efficient in snow casting heavy snows due to energy losses from speed and torque loss.
d. reduces the amount clearance under the tractor in question (not good when stuck). been there done that with snow plows (same frames).
e. requires speed reduction from mid point P.T.O.,
resulting in power and fuel waste(in my opinion)
A rear mount snow caster will cost less as it does not require one to purchase a sub frame to mount it on any tractor.
The rear mount snow caster will move from machine to machine when trade in tim comes and will not lose value quickly like a front mounted snow caster.
You can purchase a wider snow caster in a rear mount and simply operate a little slower at high idle for the rear P.T.O., to clear a wider path all the time every time and spend less time snow cutting for the the small bits and widths that are left.
Personally I like the Pronovost snow casters but its a matter of preference and ones pocket book.
I would contact Ken Sweet as he is a sponsor of the forum here and ask him for a price on his product lines as he also ships from his facility as well.
