Convert pto snow blower to engine

[Marslander51]

I have a 6’ new holland back up snow blower. My neck doesn’t like it anymore. I want to convert it to self powered and to mount on my front “bobcat” mount on my N.H. TC45da.

Has anyone tried this? Any thoughts or advice?

 

[grsthegreat]

Mine was built as a hydraulic unit. I guess you could convert anything to hydraulic. But youll need a rear pto powered hydraulic powerplant to produce the flow and pressure needed. The tractors system cant do this.

 

[oldnslo]

I have seen some blowers with gas or diesel engines driving them. I am not how they are controlling the engine though. Boils down to how much weight can your loader support and how far forward will this weight be? Would suspect also requires some form of clutch for engagement of the blower so engine can be started and ran without blower turning.

Fair mfg used to and maybe still do make large (8 ft plus) diesel powered blowers. I believe these have some form of remote control for start, stop, throttle, etc.

 

[shooterdon]

I have seen separate gas powered blowers on SSQA. Think they are 25-27HP engines so it can be done.

I looked at them a few years ago and the price was high.

 

[leonz]

I have a 6’ new holland back up snow blower. My neck doesn’t like it anymore. I want to convert it to self powered and to mount on my front “bobcat” mount on my N.H. TC45da.

Has anyone tried this? Any thoughts or advice?

It depends on how much weight your loader can handle.
Even the largest V twin engines would not be able to provide the torque
needed.

A 4 cylinder Wisconsin air cooled engine off a Hesston windrower with a
Rockford power take off would work but you would need to mount wheels
on the new frame to carry the weight.

Can you live without the loader during the winter? The schulte folks have
a rear pto to front mount pto kits for tractors.

 

[jigs_n_fixtures]

Bercomac makes units for SSQA mounting with an integrated engine.

Bercomac

us.bercomac.com

You could do the conversion by getting a SSQA Plate, welding a frame to mount a 30 to 35-hp engine, and adapting the snowblower to run off the engine and not the PTO. Depending on whether you have third or fourth functions forward installed, you could run the chute and deflector either hydraulicly or with electric actuators. And you could either run the throttle on the auxiliary engine with a plain old throttle cable or add an actuator to control it. Throttle control would be pretty easy, as you would either run at idle or full throttle against the governor.

You would probably need liquid ballast, plus wheel weights, plus some additional ballast hooked on the rear. I'd check both ends on a scale, then lift the snowblower, and weigh both ends again, then add ballast to get the front to rear weight distribution back to the same percentages. The weight of the snow blower assembly will be quite a ways in front of front axle, so, it will take a lot of weight on the back to get the balance back.

 

[KWentling]

I think the easiest and probably most economical way to do this would be hydraulic.
I expect by the time a guy adds the weight of an engine and some kind of speed reduction it may be too heavy and it will be sticking out pretty far in front. A hydraulic power unit on the 3-point would give you rear ballast and a hydraulic motor to drive the blower would be light, compact, and easily coupled to the blower.

 

[MMC]

I have a 6’ new holland back up snow blower. My neck doesn’t like it anymore. I want to convert it to self powered and to mount on my front “bobcat” mount on my N.H. TC45da.

Has anyone tried this? Any thoughts or advice?

What about a compromise? Unless you're dealing with unusually high drifts, an "inverted" or "pull type" snowblower behind your tractor might be a considerably more economical solution.

I have an 8 foot Meteor pull type - I just bought a cheap camera and monitor for the cab and it works quite well for me to check on the snowblower occasionally, but I may not get the drifts you do. I do have a front mounted blade on the loader out in front, but rarely use it.

Best of luck.

 

[AntiqueIron]

I have a 6’ new holland back up snow blower. My neck doesn’t like it anymore. I want to convert it to self powered and to mount on my front “bobcat” mount on my N.H. TC45da.

Has anyone tried this? Any thoughts or advice?

New to TBN, so I apologize for anything I may screw up. lol.

First things to consider: how much does your blower weigh? Will you be using hydraulic, electric, or manual chute controls?

I have considered this in the past. It’s a sound idea.

Your loader is 1500 lbs to max lift at 19”. This should be a good idea as to your max gross weight of the blower.

My suggestion on the engine would be an air cooled beetle engine out of a rotted or wrecked car. No cooling system to maintain and you’ll be in a pretty optimum weather condition for that engine.

Another option is a small diesel out of a totaled something or other. You might be able to find a tractor that got crushed by a tree or a bad transmission or something and pull the motor and stab it in.

You’d definitely want a clutch of some kind, my mind inquires about a torque converter from a sport side by side.

Hope that helps!

 

[grsthegreat]

the ones like i have....not cheap . but my neck was all screwed up after 14 years of rear snow blower.

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[5030]

At 73, I don't like looking back at my blower either so I did the simple solution, I added a rear view camera with the screen next to my seat on the right hand side. Much easier and lots cheaper than any of the above solutions.

Actually, I have 3 cams, one facing backward in the middle, one facing to the right and one to the left but I installed them for running hay tools, not the blower but it works for the blower just fine too. Have had them for a number of years now and if I remember correctly, it cost me about 150 bucks and an hour to wire up and mount them. The cams are totally water and weather proof as well.

Been 3 years since I've had the blower on as being retired, if it snows I stay in the house toasting my feet in front of the fire now. On the remote chance we get snowed in, we just keep the fridge full and the dog food well stocked as I have no desire to go out and deal with bad roads and/or bad drivers. I have a real nice Lucknow 72" rear mount blower I'd sell cheap if anyone is interested. Even has a hydraulic chute rotator. It's CAT 1 or 2.....

 

[grsthegreat]

With the snows we usually see (80-120” per season) and wing, and winds, rear cameras would not work for me. Heck, id have to leave windshield wiper on to clear blow back snow. The front wiper is on entire time im blowing. Even my leds get covered in snow

 

[KWentling]

With the snows we usually see (80-120” per season) and wing, and winds, rear cameras would not work for me. Heck, id have to leave windshield wiper on to clear blow back snow. The front wiper is on entire time im blowing. Even my leds get covered in snow

While we don't see near that much snow my experience with a camera is much the same as yours. May work for some but didn't for me. Still was looking back way too much.

 

[tude]

Years ago while visiting Maine I saw a 1950's era Allis Chalmers row crop tractor with a front mounter snow blower. They powered the snow blower by using the rear PTO. The PTO had a gear arrangement fabricated to reverse the rotation for the blower mounted in the front. A long drive shaft with universals supplied the power.

 

[Grendahl]

I have a 6’ new holland back up snow blower. My neck doesn’t like it anymore. I want to convert it to self powered and to mount on my front “bobcat” mount on my N.H. TC45da.

Has anyone tried this? Any thoughts or advice?

Been there, done that. I added a Wisconsin V465 air cooled to a 7' Loftness dual auger blower and mounted to my CAT 910 wheel loader. Fun project. Here is a picture taken back when the weather was a bit nicer. You'll want around 3 to 4 horsepower minimum per foot of blower width. The Wisconsin I used is rated at 65 Hp, so its plenty for my setup. I run the chute rotation with an auxiliary hydraulic circuit.

 

[Grendahl]

I used a 2:1 ratio belt drive speed reduction to a jackshaft that then runs a 1.5:1 ratio chain drive down to the input gear box for the blower. That gives an overall 3:1 speed reduction from the engine to the blower input shaft. I usually run the engine speed to get around 700 RPM or so on the blower impeller. That will throw the snow around 60 feet or so.

 

[AntiqueIron]

Been there, done that. I added a Wisconsin V465 air cooled to a 7' Loftness dual auger blower and mounted to my CAT 910 wheel loader. Fun project. Here is a picture taken back when the weather was a bit nicer. You'll want around 3 to 4 horsepower minimum per foot of blower width. The Wisconsin I used is rated at 65 Hp, so its plenty for my setup. I run the chute rotation with an auxiliary hydraulic circuit.

How much does your blower weigh? That is one good looking machine.

 

[Grendahl]

I don’t know exactly. I’m sure it’s pretty heavy. According to the specs I have found, the Wisconsin weighs about 530 pounds. The blower is probably in the 1200 to 1500 pound range without the engine. The wheel loader picks it up without complaining.

 

[Grendahl]

It’s certainly possible to build a setup that is smaller and lighter than what I built. Keeping the unit as close to the loader lift arms as possible will certainly help. I eliminated some unnecessary weight by using the loader’s battery to start the Wisconsin and run the ignition system rather than adding another battery on the snowblower itself. I fabricated my own quick attach mount on the snowblower to match the factory Balderson style on the loader. Here are a couple pictures showing the quick attach mount just after I painted the snowblower. The cable in the first picture is for the electrical connection to the loader.

 

[bdhsfz6]

I have a 6’ new holland back up snow blower. My neck doesn’t like it anymore. I want to convert it to self powered and to mount on my front “bobcat” mount on my N.H. TC45da.

Has anyone tried this? Any thoughts or advice?

I assume your "bobcat" mount is on your front end loader (FEL). Is there a reason you want to use the blower on your FEL? Why not make a mount for the front of the tractor and lift the FEL up out of the way or remove it when you want to use the blower. That way, you could use a rear to front PTO adapter, or a mid PTO kit if one is available for your tractor, to power it.

Here's another thread on the subject:

Front PTO options

Hi Guys, I am looking for the best way to set up a front pto on my tractor to run a 6ft snowblower. I want to do this mechanically as opposed to hydraulically since my tractor is only 35 pto hp. I don't have mid pto so my options are: electric clutch( preferred ) or gearbox on the rear pto...

www.tractorbynet.com

I can see where a "bobcat" or SSQA attachment point would make the blower easier to connect, but how often would you need to do it? I mount mine once in the fall and remove it in the spring. No real need for SSQA.