Antonio Carraro for snowblowing

[MarkFromWA]

George, yes, the video is clips from different days. Long story, but I wanted to try a used blower for a while before deciding on an expensive one. I had a used snowblower lined up for a couple months that wasn't a big investment, but then the seller backed out and I had to scramble to find something. The local dealer had one without hydraulics so I bought that and had to wait for the hydraulics kit to come in.

Leon and Jon, I did look at the Pronovost with the rotating drum. My local dealer couldn't get Pronovost (only MK Martin, Lorenz and Frontier), and so up front I'd be investing a lot in something that I'd need to get shipped cross-country along with the premium cost and needing to fiddle with a hydraulic multiplier out of the gate due to not having enough remotes. For most of the driveway I don't care where the snow goes as long as it's off the road, but as I get closer to my neighbors I need to be more careful about where it goes (even if I'm not throwing in the direction of a house or car, I try to deflecting it downwards so it stays close-ish to the road instead of making a mess of untouched snow fields). If I had to splurge on a snowblower I think I might still go towards the euro-style, but the Frontier is working well enough for me so far.

George, it is pretty noisy when snowblowing. I haven't spent much too time on other tractors, but it doesn't seem overly noisy. When working with non-PTO implements, it has an "automatic" mode where the engine rpm modulates with the pedal to keep the engine speed only as high as it needs to be (kind of like a car), and I usually don't use ear muffs in this mode. When set the engine up to 2300 for snowblowing I definitely need hearing protection. The hydrostatic whine isn't as loud as the video makes it out to be, though, it's just the roar of the engine.

Jon, this particular model has a quite roomy cab. I've seen other models on the dealer lot, and AC definitely makes a lot of tight cabs. There are two sister models to my tractor (TR 7600 Infinity and SR 7600 Infinity). I think the TR cab would be fine, too, but only for one person. My model has steering tires, as does the TR (although the TR has room for bigger tires with chains). The SR is extremely narrow and articulated, and gives up stability on steep slopes. If I had to spec out a new tractor, I might go with the TR for the chain clearance, and it has a fancier joystick available that controls hydraulic flow based on how much you move the joystick rather than just being on/off.

 

[MarkFromWA]

Jon, I don’t use the loader much. It’s not a bad loader, and the self-leveling is nice, but it’s more difficult to attach than a 3-point attachment and you can’t have it on at the same time as a 3-point attachment. It's way under-rated at 700lbs. I've lifted my mower (550kg) off the delivery truck at about the top of the lift range, and moved a ~1600 block of concrete around near the bottom of lift range (that was very tippy), and both of those lifts felt sketchy. Also, the tractor-side attachment bracket is huge and makes hooking up PTO implements more difficult (the PTO shaft has to hang in the right place to thread through the bracket). Also, my non-fancy joystick always has forward/back as the 3-point lift, so the controls are left/right on the joystick for curl/dump and loader lift is via joystick buttons which is a bit weird.

I used the forks way more than the bucket, and I ended up adapting an old forklift mast to the 3-point hitch which has double the lifting capacity and generally better ergonomics for doing forklift-y things. Bonatti offers a front loader that can stay on while using 3-point attachments, I was advised against it given how far back the front tires are leading to tippy-ness. If I had to do it again, I might have gotten the front loader for when I need a high dump bucket or downforce, and then use the forklift for heavy lifting. In any case, loader work is not a strong suit of the tractor.

 

[ptsg]

These are low profile tractors made to work on hills. Being a low profile tractor, means there will be a transmission between the legs of the operator, which naturally makes for a somewhat tight operators platform and tight cab as well.

 

[LouNY]

Nice looking machine, the bi-directional has always been of interest to me. Also from what I've seen many of them have both front and rear 3 points.
I have seen them at a few farm shows and as much as I liked all the features and ideas, I'll never buy one of the ones that I have sat on or rather I should say IN because it is just about like getting dressed to get in them. My size 14eeee feet with boots didn't fit well plus having to swing one leg up and over all the operating levers in the middle just didn't work for me. The dealer I was talking with a couple of years ago was waiting for a larger model to come in for me to try out but when it came in I went and looked at, there was no comfortable way for me to get in amd out of the cab.

 

[MarkFromWA]

Yes, the transmission/drivetrain does sit between my legs. I'm 6'0" and it's never been much of an issue for me, but I have short legs and a long torso, and I could see how space might be an issue for some people. The TTR cab has a ton of foot room, though. The manual toplink has been sitting on the floor of the cab since I installed the hydraulic toplink this fall. I also have a fire extinguisher (secured to the side but takes up floor space), a bottle of oil for the snowblower roller chain, and a small tool bag that usually lives on the floor.

The biggest ergonomic issue IMO is that the HST pedal is below the brakes rather than next to them, and so the top of your foot can hit the bottom of the brake pedals, especially with big boots. That's more a function of the reversible station than the size of the cab.

 

[jonsstihl]

there really isn't much space between the fenders and the back /front tires, lets say the tires on the three point end of the tractor. thanks for the extra pics. always nice to see other options. I wonder how much load that forklift mast puts on the top link mount. It sure does look handy to be able to lift pallets up high with more capacity than the loader.

 

[Sportsman762]

Thank you for the detailed write up of the unique setup you have @MarkFromWA . I really enjoyed hearing the pros and cons that you have found with the machine. If chains will not fit under the fenders have you thought about using tire studs. You mention that you have summer tires. The views you have are amazing, but the drops would terrify me if I would hit ice and go sliding.
How easy is it to change the direction of the seat? I have always wanted a Versatile bidirectional and the Antonio Carraro is like a mini one.

 

[MossRoad]

...

Nitrogen Accumulator
Aside from the reversible operator’s station, the other quirky feature of the tractor is a nitrogen accumulator to provide springiness to the 3 point hitch (Antonio Carraro brands this as “uniflex”). The 3-point hitch lift cylinders have a second piston hidden inside attached to the accumulator, so the cylinder can be lifted by either the normal hydraulics or the accumulator. With the accumulator set to less than the full pressure to lift the implement, and the normal hydraulics on float, a portion of the weight of the implement is transferred to the tractor. For example, I can charge the accumulator until it’s lifting nearly all of the 1200 lb snowblower, then I can lift the snowblower off the ground by hand.

I thought this feature would be most useful for limiting how much gravel I pick up. It’s useful for this, but only on certain implements. For implements like a rear blade at an aggressive angle where the blade digs in (or when using my land plane in the summer trying to not dig so far into loose gravel), the digging force and gathered material provides so much downforce that adding lift with the accumulator doesn’t do much until you add so much lift that it’s no longer floating along the ground. I also usually use these implements at a lower engine speed, which makes the accumulator slow to charge when I need it. I mostly use the accumulator with the snowblower which has the cutting edge parallel to the ground. Adding a hydraulic toplink (which unfortunately required a multiplier because I only have two remotes) along with the accumulator has been effective for limiting the gravel picked up. I took the side skid shoes off because they didn’t help where the road is crowned, and they provided too much floatation other times.. My road faces north in some areas and south in others, so it’s not unusual to be frozen solid in some places and exposed thawing gravel in others, and as a result I’m frequently adjusting the toplink and the accumulator when using the snowblower.

The accumulator has also been advantageous for traction. I can transfer some of the weight of the snowblower to the tires, while still letting the snowblower follow the contour of the road. Without this feature I’d be more motivated to put chains on all four tires.

That's one thing I like about my little articulated machine with everything mounted out front on the FEL arms...

If I start losing traction while mowing uphill, I just pull back on the joystick an inch, all the weight of the mower deck and FEL arms immediately transfers to the front axle, and up the hill I go.

Nice setup! Congratulations.

 

[fishhead]

Mark, if you do decide to upgrade blowers you might be able to get a normand or pronovost from a dealer init eastern CA and have them ship it to grand forks or somewhere close across the border and import yourself.
That's what i did and i chose an are that had a non-winter and bought in April-dealer found an equipment dealer in Lethbridge that would take the shipment and up I went.
Because the blower was made in Canada it was duty free (that may change)

 

[leonz]

Hello and good morning Mark from Washington,

Are you located closer to Wenatchee or the East portal of the Cascade tunnel?

I was wondering if you looked at Agrizeta steel tracks for your Carrero tractor for winter use?
They have the metal cletrac tracks with long cleats for added traction.

You can increase your JD snow blowers efficiency by using slick sheet material lining the chute
and the impeller paddles and fan housing and lining the flat back of the snow blower with slick sheet material
from Mcmaster Carr.
The slick sheet material is used to reduce the friction created by a snow blowers impeller/fan and
it allows the snow blower to throw the snow further away as the resistance of the snow being fed to the
impeller/fan paddles is reduced a great deal.

When mk martin purchased the Reist Industries snow blower line they ruined the single
stage units by increasing the size of the snow blower rotor and by making it too large
and as a result it requires much more power to use it.