Debris Blower -remote rotation & defection mod

dlctcg · Oct 1, 2019

We picked a used but in good shape RAD PTO Debris Blower awhile back & after a good greasing & changing its gearbox oil we used it a couple of times & planned to continue to use it as it was. At one point prior to us it had the optional electric deflector setup but it wasn't working when we got it & was missing the wire harness switches, so it was fixed at 90 degrees off the left side of the tractor.

Again we were happy with it fixed for the times we used it; it is how many of the debris blowers are anyway with a fixed 90 degree or some have the a 180 degree deflector basically allowing the air to be directed either to the left or right side of the tractor. The nice thing about this unit, unlike many out there, is it's air nozzle can rotate 230 degrees when working correctly... Well after looking at it I decided to see if I could get it working & also design / build a way to control the air deflection shoot (for height adjustment).

After some disassembly I pulled the electric motor for rotation jumper-ed it to power & found out the wasn't even bad, the shaft that the rotation worm gear was on was frozen-up on the framing housing.... After freeing it, cleaning, greasing & reassembly jumping power to the motor worked prefect.

For the deflector adjustment I found a 12 linear actuator with adjustable stops from the Amazon "open box" warehouse for around $30. Laid everything out, cutout a bracket, gathered a bunch of hardware & power deflector accomplished.

Lastly was to build the wiring harness & controls. I wanted to be able to remove the blower from the 3PT between the multiple seasonal uses but leave the controls & harness on the tractor then remove the entire harness at the end of the season to store this the blower... This is what I came up with... pretty happy with it...

RAD Control Box Mounted

RAD Control Box Quick Mounts

RAD Wire Harness Disconnects & Spring Wire Support

RAD Wire Harness Disconnects & Spring Support.jpg

After a test run I'm Ecstatic how it works... way more versatility for our usage... having the 230 degrees of rotation & the control of the air deflector to clean out our culverts... All from the drivers seat... :thumbsup:

Industrial Toys · Oct 1, 2019

Interesting. But kind of hard to follow what's going on. So you have two directional controls. One is direction, like right left, straight back, and the other is up and down? So two actuators?

I thought, what a nice looking tractor. Then I realized how much more I like tractors without the clunky Ag loaders on them.

dlctcg · Oct 1, 2019

Industrial Toys said:
Interesting. But kind of hard to follow what's going on. So you have two directional controls. One is direction, like right left, straight back, and the other is up and down? So two actuators?

I thought, what a nice looking tractor. Then I realized how much more I like tractors without the clunky Ag loaders on them.

So you are correct.... the unit has two motors...
One does the 230 degrees lest to right swing; this is super helpful for the lower part of our driveway where we have neighbors on both sides; I can back up the drive & blow straight behind me. It basically has swing rotation from about 2 o'clock to almost 10 o'clock (clockwise). This one is like a power window motor that spins the rotation worm gear rotating the air chute.

Second is the actuator that moves the deflector shield / flap up & down... (to control air angle upward or downward) Worked great for blasting the leave out of the drainage culverts.

Thanks on the tractor... we are still finishing from a ton of work on it.... but you are right it does look better without the loader... It's actually rare we have it off... but it there.... lol