3PTH Snowblower Conversion

Hilbilly · Nov 11, 2018

Earlier this year I decided to convert my 3PTH blower to hydraulic for use on my skidsteer. I had a temporary setup just to try it out and loved being able to drive forward instead of backing up and looking over my shoulder for hours. Had some issues with the SS and decided to use the blower on the front of the tractor. So I've been busy trying to get this together. I already created 2 mounting options for the hydraulic motor on the blower earlier as shown below.

This is the direct shaft mount.
View attachment 578480

The side mount allowing for speed increase or decreases between the motor and the blower input shaft.

For the tractor front mount I need a hydraulic power pack attached to the tractor rear PTO. I already had a PTO pump I got at an auction several years ago but the pump would not produce enough flow at 540 rpm. The pump is rated for 2500 psi anywhere from 200 rpm to 1800 rpm and flows up to 37 usgpm. To get the 16 to 18 gpm I want, I need to increase the pump speed and decided to make a chain and sprocket speed increaser. Initially I'm going to set up the speed increaser to produce about 18 gpm.

I couldn't find the input and output shafts I needed so I made a pair.

I've got the assembly partially done and here it is with the tractor PTO shaft and pump connected. I've got the assembly mocked up so I can determine the dimensions I want for the framework.

The driveshaft is too long and I'm looking for a shorter one.

I've still got a ways to go but won't get any more done for a couple of weeks but figured I'd post this to see if anyone notices something vital I've missed. I will post more pics when I get back to this.

Edit: forgot to include a pic of the SSQA to 3PTH adapter I made for this project.

JLwoodworks · Nov 11, 2018

Looks great so far. I would like to find a blower to do a similar project, but perhaps with it's own engine instead of hydraulic.
The only thing I can think that might be missing is a cooler on the power pack. I feel like I've seen them on many of the commercially available units.

Jay

nyone · Nov 12, 2018

You may not need a cooler if all your doing is blowing snow. If the tank is large enough and the weather is cold it may not be needed but wont hurt.
You could always weld some fins on the tank for this application.

I believe they say you want 1gal of hyd tank per every gpm the pump puts out.

Industrial Toys · Nov 12, 2018

This was the lightest, loader mount, powered snowblower I could find, made commercially by McKee. It had a very low hour 4 cyl Wisconsin Motor that I sold, because I don't much like gassers, and have a Deutz 911 to put on there. I am not sure I will be able to lift it.

There are some very Micky Mouse blowers out there, with basically lawn mower engines.

A friend converted a blower for use on just skid steer. He did some neat trick with valves so he could turn the chute while the blower was operating, using only one hyd circuit from the machine. He found an electric chute to be not to his liking.

Hilbilly · Nov 12, 2018

nyone,

I read the same thing about the tank capacity but read a thread where one of our members made a similar system and installed a 25 gal tank. He found the oil would not warm up and ended up removing some fluid from the tank and only running with 12 gallons. With that the oil temp would only get to around 80* a couple of hrs of hard work. I'm hoping for similar results. Plus there is no way I'm buying one of the 25 gal tanks from PA at a final cost of $700. If this tank doesn't cool enough I will either add fins as you suggest or piggy back another 5 gal tank that I have onto this one. Worst case scenario is I get a free 45 gal barrel and cut in half and make my own tank.

Industrial Toys,

I plan to add a remote chute turner to the blower once this part is done. I really don't want to use an electric setup because that means running wires from the battery to the motor and switch plus mounting the switch somewhere. I've already added a 3rd function valve to my tractor and have hoses ready to use at the FEL. I found some links showing the use of a hydraulic cylinder to rotate the chute and will use a similar setup. I've also got a spare hyd cylinder that will get used for this.

I really hope this setup works because it will be SOOOOOOOOO much nicer to drive forwards and have the remote chute turner.

Industrial Toys · Nov 12, 2018

I think his accomplishment, was not having the auger stop to turn the chute.

It's too late, but years ago I found the nicest compact 2:1 JD gearbox with appropriate splines. You only had to secure it. I wanted to try and run a PTO generator at half throttle but it did not work on a little JD tractor.

texasranger556 · Nov 13, 2018

What size hoses are you running? Should include some sort of relief valve if you don't already have one.

Hilbilly · Nov 13, 2018

3/4" hoses and the relief valve is on order. Should arrive next week. Looking forward to getting this done but no time for another 1 1/2 weeks.

Hilbilly · Dec 7, 2018

I finally got it finished. All I need now is some snow to give it a try.

I love the chute turner. It works very well and smooth too ........ at least it does without a bunch of frozen snow and ice on it.

I gave it a test run to see what tractor RPM's I need to get the blower to run at 540 RPM. Using a laser tach I found the tractor running at 2000 RPM produced 560RPM at the blower input shaft. I'm also going to see what tractor speed I need to get the blower up to 600 RPM and use those as my upper operating limits for blowing snow.

The chain drive also ran nice and smooth with no visible wobble or chain flopping. Only issue so far is a small leak at the pump output connection. I hate NPT connections.

I also made some other improvements (I hope) to the blower. I added some weld onto the end of each fan paddle to reduce the clearance between the fan and the housing. Some places I added as much as 1/2". Also added a plate over the fan intake like I've seen on the newer models of this blower.

One other improvement was a float for the blower to ride up and down on its own, so it can follow the contour of my driveway. It can be seen in the second pic. Just a piece of 2" tube with a slot in it.

Come on snow.

Hilbilly · Dec 31, 2018

We finally got some snow and I gave it a try. It worked well and I think it threw snow further than it did when it was on the back of the tractor but I think that was due to the changes I made to the blower and the fact that I could run the blower at a higher rpm. Downside is that it would bog down easier but I think that is because the pressure relief valve is still at the factory setting, which I think is only 2000psi. I will put a pressure gauge on it and bump it up to 2500psi (maybe a little lower). That is the max continuous pressure the pump is designed to run at. The relief valve and the motor are capable of 3000psi cont. This is a huge improvement over having to back up.

i just got a Go Pro clone and just figured out how to post on YouTube, so forgive the crappy video but here is the trial run in about 7" or 8" of fairly light snow. The snow fell 2 days ago and was wet when it came down but the temps dropped and the snow seems pretty light now, except for the crust. Just after starting to blow you can see the throw distance reduce and then a few seconds later start to increase again. That is due to me starting off slowly then increasing speed, then slowing down again. The tractor rpms didn't seem to drop much and that is why I think it is a relief pressure setting. Time will tell.

YouTube