Front Mount vs Rear Mount Snowblowers

[atsah]

Also the rear blower is not as sort after because some people would rather not turn around in the seat to watch what they are doing. I have the rear blower and I don't mind turning around in the seat. I would rather the blower be on the back and still have my loader on the front to do other things with the tractor when I'm not blowing snow which is most of the time.

 

[PILOON]

Many compact tractors have an optional mid PTO

Translated + optional $$'s

I'd add that very few components are shared between front and rear blowers mainly due to rotation as most couple to the crankshaft and that rotates opposite to the PTO. (some exceptions do exist) notably some grey PTOs are non standard.

Rear have only 3 standards class 1,2 or 3 while every front output varies from brand to brand and model to model.

Even if a front blower is same from model to model or brand the mounting kits are generally model/brand specific, and that for sure makes a used front blower purchase a very dicey gamble.

 

[RNeumann]

A mid PTO is no magic cure. You can’t hook a blower to your loader and run a drive shaft to a mid PTO. So if you want a front blower to run off a mid PTO you would need to remove your loader, add a dedicated “frame” for the blower, get the special driveshaft with extra u joint, add some way to raise and lower the blower and then off you go. Having a mid PTO doesn’t make the front vs rear equal cost. Of course you can also use a hydraulic motor or do a stand alone engine on the blower- also added costs.
With all the unique features that are brand and model specific the competition isn’t there- that also drives cost.

 

[aczlan]

Translated + optional $$'s

I'd add that very few components are shared between front and rear blowers mainly due to rotation as most couple to the crankshaft and that rotates opposite to the PTO. (some exceptions do exist) notably some grey PTOs are non standard.

Rear have only 3 standards class 1,2 or 3 while every front output varies from brand to brand and model to model.

Even if a front blower is same from model to model or brand the mounting kits are generally model/brand specific, and that for sure makes a used front blower purchase a very dicey gamble.

I don't believe that you are correct on that. Kubota for example shares 90% of the parts on their front and rear snow blowers. There snow blowers are made by Rad up in Canada who also makes snow blowers for most other brands. The snow blower itself in those cases is almost identical. The only differences are the controls for the shoot and the mounting bracket to attach to the front of the tractor. In many cases, the mounting bracket is the same between many brands (not John Deere, but as I recall, Kubota, Massey, LS and New Holland all use the same snowblower side quick connect on the front).
The frame that hooks to the tractor is slightly different.
The way that they make that work is that the front mount blowers use an extra gear box or chain drive setup to reduce the speed of the PTO to 540RPM, lower the point where the PTO shaft from the tractor connect to the snowblower to below the midline of the fan and change the rotation if needed.

Aaron Z

 

[yooperdave]

Here is a good video of a comparison:
#13 Kubota B261 Compact Tractor Comparison Rear vs Front Mount Snowblower - YouTube

Excellent Resource!

Thanks,

Yooper Dave

 

[Whitbread]

I have a front blower on my 1620 and with all the twisty/hilly terrain I have to clear, I can't imagine doing it all with a rear blower. The blower frame takes less than 25 minutes to mount up and the hydraulics plug right into the loader quick connects. I leave the box blade in the back and it works perfect for backing up to a wall and pulling the snow cleanly away.

 

[chim]

Also the rear blower is not as sort after because some people would rather not turn around in the seat to watch what they are doing. I have the rear blower and I don't mind turning around in the seat. I would rather the blower be on the back and still have my loader on the front to do other things with the tractor when I'm not blowing snow which is most of the time.

A few years ago I bought a used rear blower and your approach is the same as mine was. This year I changed tractors and went with an 8' front blade using the FEL frame. The front blade is many times more effective at moving snow than the bucket was - even with the side extensions I made for the bucket. We've only had a few small snows this year, so I'm hoping for some real snow soon. The blower is still there on the back end if needed.

 

[KanakaRick]

I had the same dilemma last year and finally decided on the rear mount blower. Reasoning: The front mount pretty much dictates that your tractor for the time the blower is on it, is ONLY dedicated to snow removal, and it is no slight task to take the front blower off. I've got a mile of dirt driveway to do in Lake Tahoe. So, as long as the snow on the sides of the road is less than 24" high, I use my back blade to do the driveway. It's quick and I literally drive down the road at 15 mph and in less than an hour I am done. This leave the front blade to be used to push piles of snow out of the way when needed. When the snow gets deeper than 24", I take the rear blade off and add the 84" snowblower. I then use the front articulating blade to quickly do the driveway (it doesn't do as nice of a job as the rear blade, but it is still fast) and when I encounter either my driveway or my neighbor's I turn the tractor around and use the blower. Only on pretty rare occasions, do I need to do the main driveway to blow the edges, and that ends up being much slower. Overall- for me- this seems to be the best solution.

 

[nightdevil]

I sort of agree here... Although I do have a front mount. There are times I want to use my loader but don't want to go through the Hassel of taking the equipment off the front. Although on those big snow days I definitely prefer to look forward. So ... Pros and cons.

 

[atsah]

A few years ago I bought a used rear blower and your approach is the same as mine was. This year I changed tractors and went with an 8' front blade using the FEL frame. The front blade is many times more effective at moving snow than the bucket was - even with the side extensions I made for the bucket. We've only had a few small snows this year, so I'm hoping for some real snow soon. The blower is still there on the back end if needed.

The blade is a great idea but for me I need to clean my dog yard which entails lifting buckets of snow over a 5ft fence, I also bucket snow away from my porch, a blade would be perfect for the driveway but everything else I need to clear not so much. Everyone has a different setup because there needs are different. The blade is the way to go if you don't need to pickup and move snow to a different location.