dk45 or dk50 for blowing snow

[musselmark]

I plan on buying either a DK-45 se hst or a DK-50 se hst mostly for blowing snow. Is there any sense paying an extra $1500.00 to go from 36pto hp of the DK-45 to 37.5 pto hp of the DK-50? Also should I get a 6' or 6.5' blower.

 

[rjwerth]

Snowblowers really like HP. Indeed, you are in the land of diminishing returns between the two, so if you have more time than money, stick with the 45...but spending $1500 now might give you that extra throw you just might need later.

 

[Gil Case]

My experience is that snow blowers like RPMs more than hp. I have a 5' Monitor on my ck 20 and it throws snow way over there. I have never had it bog down, even in wet snow. Now if it is too wet, it will clog the chute, but it is still turning.
I suppose someone might want a definition of "way over there", I would say it spreads it from 20-40' away depending on how you have the chute deflector set. There are no snow banks to worry about. Oh, and don't point it toward the house.

 

[Bigturk]

I have a DK40se and an older Pronovost 74 inch blower. I have to slow my speed in reverse to let the blower catch up sometimes but it will move even the heaviest snow. I would spend any extra money on a good quality blower. Spending more to get a better blower will be more noticable than the difference between the DK45 or DK50. Visibility is excellent in the Kioti DK cab. Let it snow, let it snow.

 

[IndyIan]

I plan on buying either a DK-45 se hst or a DK-50 se hst mostly for blowing snow. Is there any sense paying an extra $1500.00 to go from 36pto hp of the DK-45 to 37.5 pto hp of the DK-50? Also should I get a 6' or 6.5' blower.

I think some of the $1500 difference could be spent on getting a better blower, $500 spent that way could make far more difference than 3% more hp. I think with the HST too, a wider blower is probably better unless you have snow conditions deep enough that warrant a double auger blower.

 

[musselmark]

It really doesn't make any sense that they would bother making a seperate tractor model with 1.5 more PTO hp, does anyone happen to know the engine torque specs, maybe there is a bigger difference there. Is PTO power ever measured by torque instead of horsepower?

 

[musselmark]

I found it on their website, the 2.2 engine 140 Nm and the 2.4 engine has 155Nm which converts into 11 more foot pounds of torque

 

[Patches]

I have a Blizzard, B74 (74 inch) blower on my LK3054, that has 23 HP at the PTO. I sometimes have to run in low range, but have never had an issue moving snow, even the road plow windrow; actually seems to work better in a moderate snow fall (12 inches or so) than in a light snow, 6 or less :confused3:

 

[kiotiken]

An important question nobody has asked is how your using it. Do you have 1000`feet of driveway that cuts across an open field or a smaller enclosed area? Drifts and snow conditions will play a big difference. Either will power the same blower the only difference you MAY notice is how fast you can move with it. If shaving a minute or two off the job each time is important to you, go with the DK50. I started asking about the DK50 and my dealer had one in stock, but for a bunch of reasons, he had more room to negotiate a better price on the DK45 that he also had in stock so it would have been more like a $2500 difference between the two. That's more of what I would base my decision on.