Finally bought new 54" blower!

[Dyer retired]

Dale,

Congratulations on the new blower....I'm guessing you are giving it a workout by now. The heavy stuff is coming today from the weather reports. I was also born and raised in the County...Hillside Avenue in Caribou. I grew up two houses up from the Pinette's, the youngest of whom is the Guidance Counselor (I think) at Caribou High School. Looking at your Bio, you probably run into him once in awhile? John

 

[Kamik]

Dale,

I finally had an opportunity to give the new blower a trial run as over the last 3 1/2 days Portland received about 12 inches of heavy wet snow. In summary, it works great!

It handled everything from 3" in the windy open areas to 3foot drifts around the base of the house and seems to throw snow best when there is sufficient volume to keep the auger housing full, either because of deeper snow or faster running speed.

It had no trouble at all with the frozen plow banks at the end of the driveway. When I pushed hard enough against the bank to overload the blower the tractor would bog down, but in practice it handles that packed frozen chocolate chip cookie dough with aplomb.

The fan, though, obviously likes to run at full speed. As the blower is loaded with more snow the sound changes over from a whine to a low growl, even getting the wife's and neighbors attention. I quickly figured out that if the blower wasn't growling I was going too slow. Using the snow blower is so much more efficient than using the loader.

I opened 11 driveways today and cleared the sidewalks around the city block I live on. Snow, ice, gravel, rocks, the dogs' Nylabones, some kid's rollerblade, all went in and came out with more or less noise and, so far, only a couple of scratches on the fan blades. For me this snowblower is a keeper.

Kamik

 

[Dale1995]

I also had lots of seat time this morning blowing lots of very heavy wet snow with this new blower. Up here in Caribou, Maine it looked liked we were going to get a whopper of a storm, when I went to bed last night we already had quite a bit, but by this morning the temps had warmed up to 37 degrees and it made blowing the snow miserable. I think this was one of the heavest snow I have ever blown, but the 54" blower took it all in stride. It didn't blow the snow real far due to its water content, but my 47" wouldn't have done any better either. I love the extra width, especially around buildings. The snow was so wet it was making snowmen in front of me! So far so good. Now if we could only get some nice fluffy stuff to blow

 

[castiman]

I also had lots of seat time this morning blowing lots of very heavy wet snow with this new blower. Up here in Caribou, Maine it looked liked we were going to get a whopper of a storm, when I went to bed last night we already had quite a bit, but by this morning the temps had warmed up to 37 degrees and it made blowing the snow miserable. I think this was one of the heavest snow I have ever blown, but the 54" blower took it all in stride. It didn't blow the snow real far due to its water content, but my 47" wouldn't have done any better either. I love the extra width, especially around buildings. The snow was so wet it was making snowmen in front of me! So far so good. Now if we could only get some nice fluffy stuff to blow

I have the 47'' blower for my 2305, would like it to be a little wider for the wheel coverage, is the new 54'' any higher or is it just wider.

 

[orlo]

Dale: I've thought about doing the same on my 2305. Is the mount/lift the same so you are just swapping the blower & shaft, or did the mount or PTO change also?

 

[Kamik]

The John Deere literature says the 54" snowblower will handle 20" deep snow drifts, but the actual distance from ground to top of throat is 18.5 inches. Regardless, it tackles just about everything you give it, you just might need to make two passes with one higher than the other.

One thing I don't like about the snowblower is that it's left-to-right weight distribution is unbalanced, causing it to lean with one show lower than the other when lifted off the ground. But I'm just picking nits.

 

[Henri88]

Dale, very nice pic. Really looking good. Keep us inform on the plastic impeller. I still wish they would of use a 4 blade impeller. By the way, what is that object painted in that beautiful green color, by the red post, in the back ground of the pic?

 

[Dale1995]

That green item in the background is a John Deere Mailbox, that is mounted to a square steel post, I designed to tip up, so that when ever I am blowing the driveway I can simply tip it up, also if the snowplow drivers go a little too fast and throw lots of slushy snow the force of impact from the snow will tip the mailbox up instead of destroying it. The blower uses the same mounting and lift system. Changed everything over in about a half hour.

 

[Henri88]

That green item in the background is a John Deere Mailbox, that is mounted to a square steel post, I designed to tip up, so that when ever I am blowing the driveway I can simply tip it up, also if the snowplow drivers go a little too fast and throw lots of slushy snow the force of impact from the snow will tip the mailbox up instead of destroying it. The blower uses the same mounting and lift system. Changed everything over in about a half hour.

So that's what it is. Hey, all whats left to do is set-it up with a hydraulic cylinder.

 

[TCowner]

Dale, Your mention of the way you designed your mailbox to be protected from the snow plow man and his slush reminds me of what actually happened to me.

About 20 years ago I was blowing snow at the end of my driveway on my 430 John Deere garden tractor with no cab. The temp was just around 32 degrees so the snow was wet. I saw the plow operator coming down the highway but they ususally raise their blade when they get to a residential driveway. Well, this one didn't. When I finally realized what was about to happen it was too late to do anything about it. I was hit with the full blast of slush/salt from the plow going about 50 mph. The impact of the slush nearly wiped me off the tractor. Fortunately for the plow operator, I needed some time to recover and I don't keep any weapons on my tractor. Probably fortunately for me as well as I would probably now just be getting out of prison.

The following fall I installed a Cozy cab on the John Deere to protect me from these types of assaults. At least that's what I told the wife.