Snow Equipment Owning/Operating Difference between Meteor v landpride v Buhler/Farm King 3pt snow blowers

[leonz]

I'm about to buy a 75" or 84" (my Kioti has a width of 66 inches) rear snow blower and I'm trying to decide between the above blowers. Each has 4 paddles, good size auger depth and diameter. I anticipate the Landpride is going to be slightly more expensive than the other two models and just want to make sure the unit I buy works and works well for a long time perhaps even after I retire my Kioti for another tractor down the road.

I'm still very much a nubie in owning and operating my tractor so I appreciate any thoughts, advice and information people can provide.

Thanks,

John

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About your Snow Caster needs,

It all depends on how much money and time you want
to spend clearing or how much time YOU actually have
or anticipate having to do snow removal.

First things first;

Buy snow stakes and put them in the ground before it freezes.

Are the tires loaded with ballast? if not you should have good chains with R4's

If you have a gear or hydro drive unit with a swivel seat all the better for you;
a hydro will also let you crawl along and the snow caster will act like an anchor
when stopping by lifting your foot off the pedal.

Some of the folks use rear truck mirrors and 4shorts has a back up camera.
I have one in my truck and would not be without it.

The snow caster will out last your mule and fit on the next one.

Purchasing a wider unit will permit you to make quicker half passes when desired.

You can purchase the next size horsepower class of snow caster and have very
little difficulty in using your mule BECAUSE YOU want the largest impeller diameter
for the class of snow caster you purchase. You can go a little slower and clean a
wider path thats all that means.

The open auger configuration for front and rear mount snow casters is a curse period
because it reduces the efficiency of the snow casters impeller as it a full width impeller
rather than an impeller with a tapered wing design-think of 4-6 right triangles welded to
the impeller shaft.


The depth size of the auger housing is somewhat irrelevant as the diameter
of the impeller is what you need to be concerned about.

The weight of the snow caster, the clearing width,
AND THE IMPELLER DIAMETER are the important
issues for you in this purchase.

Be sure to purchase a can of fluid film or have cans of'
inexpensive cooking spray on hand spray the impeller,
impeller housing, and cross auger to keep them from
freezing up with snow.


Be sure the impeller drum has drainage holes as it will get
warm enough to melt the snow and it will freeze up on you
if you forget to make sure it is free of snow and ice.

The slower you travel the further the snow and ice is
cast away from the driveway or road way.

Wet snow is not your friend and will be very difficult to
deal with UNLESS you travel slowly with the tractor as
it will flood the impeller housing and the impeller will not work as well.

this is why a solid auger is better as it cannot deliver more snow than the
impeller can handle-this is why you always have snow piles in front of the snow caster
when you drive at a higher speed as the snow has no where to go but in front of the snow caster.

 

[jvolock]

Leonz, all good points. The last three years, we've averaged 10-12 snow events requiring plowing operations over the past three years I've lived in Colorado. If we continue to get moisture through the winter like we've gotten the last 8 weeks, we may double the snow events and I'm thinking we may not only get more snow events but also heavier events and thus I'm thinking my rear blade might not handle the snow levels.

I'll take your advice into consideration in making a final decision.

 

[droptop]

I agree with most of what Leonz said except for the his preference of a solid auger vs an open auger. I had a solid auger on an old JD which was made by McKee. The problem with the solid auger is that in wet snow it has a greater tenancy to load up with snow and plug the auger until you just have a big tube of snow spinning that isn't feeding the blower. I've never had the open auger plug on my AgroTrend or my Lucknow.

Snow Caster? Come on its the 21st century, its a snow blower!:laughing:

 

[bubbacuse77]

I have Buhler Farm King that I bought used. It is 15 years old and is build so strong that the only thing I have done to it is weld a new cutting edge to the bottom.