Snow Equipment Owning/Operating First tiome using the old Model 70 ARPS snow blower

[Jerry/MT]

We got about 6 inches of snow today and I used to back blade my lanes with my '54 Ferguson TO-30 and it took me a 2 hours. In March I bought an old Model 70 ARPS , 3 pt hitch mounted snowblower that's built as stout as an oak outhouse. It weighs about 1200 lbs and has a double auger. It needed a little work but not much.

I went out this afternoon and hooked it up to our Ford 4610 and proceeded to clear the lanes. It wook me 30 minutes and that's counting the hook up. I used a 7 ft backblade previously and I had it set at the max angle to move the snow off to lane. I had to makes at least two passes on the lanes and the multi passes in the parking areas and the entrance. With this blower it's one pass on the lanes and two to three passes in the parking areas and at the entrance. I picked up a little gravel off the drives but I think that helped clean up the rust in the chute. I think a few adjustments to the hitch and I can elimnate the gravel disturbance. 6 inches of snow isn't really much of a test for a 7 ft double auger machine, but I think is was a good test for a greenhorn snow blower operator like me. I think I'll have to design a plexiglas "backwindow" for the ROPS to keep from looking like a snow man if the wind is blowing. I also think I need to adjust the chute deflector to blow the snow farther away. That might help me from getting covered with snow.

This was my first experience with a snowblower of any kind and all told, it went well. Any tips that you experienced snowblower operators want to pass on are welcomed.

 

[mpham]

Great right up. I learned a long time ago to always blow with the wind. Also, sometimes it makes a difference in the direction you are traveling. On my driveway if I go outwords with the blower facing left it hits my face. If I blow inwards with the blowerblowing in the same direction as out it is not as bad. If you get enough snow in the face it's not fun anymore. I finally had enough and now will try a heated cab this year. The only problem with the glass on the ROP will be when the snow sticks to it and you will have to stop and clean it off.

 

[Jerry/MT]

Great right up. I learned a long time ago to always blow with the wind. Also, sometimes it makes a difference in the direction you are traveling. On my driveway if I go outwords with the blower facing left it hits my face. If I blow inwards with the blowerblowing in the same direction as out it is not as bad. If you get enough snow in the face it's not fun anymore. I finally had enough and now will try a heated cab this year. The only problem with the glass on the ROP will be when the snow sticks to it and you will have to stop and clean it off.

Thanks for the tips. Better to clean off the plexiglas than have myself covered in "snow dust"!

 

[rsewill]

You'll discover that setting your chute to blow further will mean more snow on you rather than less. Steeply lower the angle of your chute and the snow will hit the ground a lot quicker where it won't bother you.

 

[Jerry/MT]

You'll discover that setting your chute to blow further will mean more snow on you rather than less. Steeply lower the angle of your chute and the snow will hit the ground a lot quicker where it won't bother you.

Thanks! I was wondering about that. It seems that when the snow is blasted skyward it looks like a atomized mist and it hangs in the air and thus is susceptable to being blown back or you drive into it.

 

[grsthegreat]

Blowers definately work best with a deeper dry snow. Youll never find a position to blow that doesnt make you into a snow devil after 2 hours of blowing the junk. I did this for 14 years and have finally descovered the way to blow snow and not get covered in snow.

A cab :laughing:

Did you say its a double auger blower. those things need some serious horsepower behind them. what size tractor do you have?

 

[Jerry/MT]

Blowers definately work best with a deeper dry snow. Youll never find a position to blow that doesnt make you into a snow devil after 2 hours of blowing the junk. I did this for 14 years and have finally descovered the way to blow snow and not get covered in snow.

A cab :laughing:

Did you say its a double auger blower. those things need some serious horsepower behind them. what size tractor do you have?

Yes it's a double auger blower. it weighs about 1200 lbs.

It the owners manual says 50-70 hp. It's mounted on a Ford 4610 which is rated at 46 pto hp but if I had to I could put it on the NH TD95D which is rated at 82 pto hp. The NH has the cab so it would be nice to put the blower on it but it's also nice to feed the cows with the cab tractor. Feeding is everyday. Snow blowng isn't.
Our snow here is generally dry and not hard to deal with except when it drifts. I had been dealing with the lanes with a back blade but when it drifts in, it's really hard packed and even using the NH loader it's real time consuming to try to dig out. Took me about 4 hrs to do 300 ft last year and that's only a quarter of the clearing. I'm sure I can beat that with the blower.
I used it on 6 inches of snow last week and running it at 540 rpm (1800 engine rpm) on the 4610 didn't make the tractor break a sweat.

 

[Kodthree]

feed off the front, blow off the back of the NH? How about a small hydraulic motor and a sprocket welded under the chute for your rotation? Dad's runs like this. I'll try to email you some pictures or drawings if I can find them.

 

[Jerry/MT]

feed off the front, blow off the back of the NH? How about a small hydraulic motor and a sprocket welded under the chute for your rotation? Dad's runs like this. I'll try to email you some pictures or drawings if I can find them.

Can't feed off the fron with a spinner with out some modifications to the bucket/FEL and running long lines to the bale spinner.

I just found a small cylinder on ebay for $40 + shippng that I can hook up like the OEM rotator. I had a design for one that would use a hydraulic motor but the OEM style is a lot easier to do. Finding the cylinder was the tough part.

Of course now that I'm prepared for the big snow, all we have is freezing fog! We got about 6 inches of snow three weeks ago aand I went out in cleared the drives with the blower in less than an hour and that was the first time I used a snowblower.

 

[Kodthree]

That OEM style you provided pictures of looks a good bit easier (and cheaper) than my hyd. motor idea.
Also, I concur with the idea of adjusting the chute discharge angle lower to avoid your snow dust storm. A plexiglass rear ROPS window is an idea that would probably just end up ticking you off after one pass. A lot of work to keep it clean enough to see through.
As far as picking up gravel, what about using your idea of a radiused "cutting" edge like you use on your backblade? With the weight of your blower, a smaller diameter (1.5-2.0" ?) might work nicely...does the Model 70 have a replaceable edge?