Front or Rear Snow Blower?

[aczlan]

Fluid power losses affect the mid mount PTO as it also fluid driven as an attachment through the hydrostatic transmission

Might want to check your sources on the whole "fluid driven as an attachment through the hydrostatic transmission" thing. The mid PTO on pretty much every tractor out there is gear driven just like the rear PTO.

The propeller shaft delivers the rotary motion to the front mounted gear box which is typically a reverse rotation method with chain drives or a reversing gearbox which also creates a further power reduction to the gearbox which provides
rotation energy for the snow caster.

It also doesn't sound like you have looked at a RAD front mount blowers used by Kubota, Deere and others as they are all direct drive and with a 2100 RPM PTO direct driving the impeller fan, they will really move some snow.

Aaron Z

 

[rayclar]

Ive gone through my first season (well almost,its still march) with my front mount , rear drive erskine and all i can say is wow. Solid well built heavy piece of equipment. I would recomend this unit to anyone. Oh and also NO SORE NECK ANYMORE?? Great work erskine.

 

[aczlan]

rayclar, can you post a couple of pictures of how it mounts?
I know someone who has the rear to front drive for one of those and it might be interesting to build a front 3 point and adapt a rear 3point blower to the front...

Aaron Z

 

[rayclar]

aczlan , every tractor mounts differently, even the kubotas are different. I had to modify my mount as erskine did not have a front mount for my model. My front mount , mounts where the loader attaches. Check out erskine's site.

 

[rgevans871]

I have an Erskine 5' pull behind blower which worked well for my first year using it, but we had very cold weather this winter and most of our snow was ideal for blowing. I have nearly a 1/2 mile driveway which we paved last year. I purchased the blower with the urethane edge. I have a Kubota 3010 with loaded industrial tires and traction was a little bit of an issue a couple times when there was ice under the snow. I concluded that there could be a situation where I might have to raise the blower slightly and make a couple passes. i didn't have to do that this winter. Overall I'm satisfied with the unit. It's a very well built piece of equipment.

 

[Cinco]

I will be shopping for a front mount, rear drive blower for next season. After dealing with snow removal in almost every fashion this winter, I have decided that is the way to go for me. I have asked for a quote from sheyenne twice now, so if no reply I will keep on looking. Giving my local dealer for erskine a call later today to see what they have to say. Will be running on my 35hp Jinma on the FEL attachment.

 

[DHD]

I've used the RM blower and FEL combination for the past 9 years.
A FM blower would have been too long a foot print to fit in my garage space.
With quick release bucket and RM blower my set up fits perfectly.
A sore neck has never been an issue, snow blowing a 500 foot and 300 foot driveway.
Most of the time I don't have the bucket attached to FEL, I use the bucket for frozen banks and hard packed snow.
Even if I had more garage space for storage, I would still prefer the RM blower and FEL combination, over a FM blower.
IMO the RM blower attachment system is less complicated than most FM blower systems and therefore
would probably have few future maintenance issues.

What ever your choice, good luck in your search.

 

[Cinco]

Well there is no reply from sheyenne. Got ahold of my local erskine dealer. At $10,700 it is a non-option. For that price I can buy a dedicated snow removal machine, what a joke. There is a municipality that is auctioning off a machine this summer I might pick up. Maybe a rear mount machine might be in the cards after all. At around $4000 it is way more doable.

 

[aczlan]

Maybe a rear mount machine might be in the cards after all. At around $4000 it is way more doable.

$4000? It had better be new (or close to it) for that price...

Aaron Z

 

[Balerguy2]

Just to add to the "Front mount vs Rear Mount Snow Blower discussion". After a decade of using my rear PTO blower (1970s) with IH-444 I mounted this same blower on the front of a New Holland skid loader (1980s). Great advantage with lift and roll back of the loader..................... and NO Turning around. Sold the skid loader and bought the Kubota L4610 (2001) and back to backing up to blow snow............................... Now in my 70s and I wondered about that permanent crick in the neck that would start at Thanksgiving and end about Easter every winter! It doesn't have to be that way! Take your already paid for rear PTO snow blower and put it on the front loader (sans bucket). You can angle (chisel) down pressure or "float", raise to cut drifts 5' high, all with the gear you got now plus some more bits................. Surplus Center has all of it. Think "Fluid Power". The only thing linking the rear pump end to the motor front end is 3 hydraulic hoses. No drive shafts or sub frames or anything limiting your raising the blower to the limits of your loader if you want. You want the bucket...................... just drop the blower and hook up the bucket.

Looking forward to going forward.........................

+1 to what ericher69 and
+1 to what grsthegreat said

 

[Cinco]

Yes that is the route I want to go, but finding used is near impossible and new is ridiculous in cost. I will look up "surplus center" and see what they have. Mounting up a rear mount blower to a FEL seems a lot more complicated than a couple bolts however, the rears are all PTO driven, and the pump would just transfer hyd power, not a physical point to power it.

 

[leonz]

Yes that is the route I want to go,
but finding used is near impossible and new is ridiculous in cost.
I will look up "surplus center" and see what they have.
Mounting up a rear mount blower to a FEL seems a lot more complicated
than a couple bolts however, the rears are all PTO driven, and the pump
would just transfer hyd power, not a physical point to power it.

==============================================================================



I wish I could say building a hydraulic drive front mount snow blower is simple BUT it is not!!!!!!!!!!!

The gallons per minute of oil flow and the motor type is another issue completely because of the torque
required to power a snow caster with a gear box. One of the reason fly wheels are used for some implements.




The systems require high pressure high flow oil systems with very very large tanks (25 gallons plus in capacity).

It takes a lot to build a hydraulic system from scratch.


A lot of the folks use mirrors for thier rear mount snow blowers
and it just takes a little practice.

 

[grsthegreat]

hes right. my hyd snowblower uses 25 gal rear tank with 3,000 psi, 15 GPM pto powered pump. mine is all hydraulic motors...no gears. The system works great, and i love it. But expensive.

Luckily i was able to sell my old tractor for enough to buy the blower, so it was a non issue for me. but to buy one your looking at about $10,000-11,000 for hyd power supply and all hoses and blower. plus $300 in hyd fluids.

another benefit of all hydraulic motors to drive unit....NO shear bolts...NONE. man, i hate shear bolts\



but before buying this unit, i looked at alot of high end rear pull and push units. A nicely built, heavy duty unit that mounts to the rear are in the high 4 to low $5,000 range. I likes the rear pull units, but it would be useless in clearing the snow that sheds off of my barns. otherwise i did like these units.

If i was doing driveways...id go rear pull no questions asked.

 

[rayclar]

cinco, what size of a erskine blower did you get a price on? I bought mine last march through ginop in michigan and paid 5k for a 60" , for another 1k u could have got the 72"

 

[skyhook]

hes right. my hyd snowblower uses 25 gal rear tank with 3,000 psi, 15 GPM pto powered pump. mine is all hydraulic motors...no gears. The system works great, and i love it. But expensive.

Luckily i was able to sell my old tractor for enough to buy the blower, so it was a non issue for me. but to buy one your looking at about $10,000-11,000 for hyd power supply and all hoses and blower. plus $300 in hyd fluids.

another benefit of all hydraulic motors to drive unit....NO shear bolts...NONE. man, i hate shear bolts\



but before buying this unit, i looked at alot of high end rear pull and push units. A nicely built, heavy duty unit that mounts to the rear are in the high 4 to low $5,000 range. I likes the rear pull units, but it would be useless in clearing the snow that sheds off of my barns. otherwise i did like these units.

If i was doing driveways...id go rear pull no questions asked.

I hear ya,
A member here posted a picture of his rear pull, it's similar to mine but mine's a 72".
If you notice at the back, there seems to be a continuation of the shaft,
with a black cover on it. I'm pretty sure these can be adapted for rear push or front push.
I'll be checking mine closer this spring and see whats up with that.

 

[Looking4new]

I hear ya,
A member here posted a picture of his rear pull, it's similar to mine but mine's a 72".
If you notice at the back, there seems to be a continuation of the shaft,
with a black cover on it. I'm pretty sure these can be adapted for rear push or front push.
I'll be checking mine closer this spring and see whats up with that.

It does look like your will swing both ways. I would put money on it.
You just need the rigging for the 3 pt.

Could the rear shaft be intended for a pull behind sand spreader?

 

[skyhook]

It does look like your will swing both ways. I would put money on it.
You just need the rigging for the 3 pt.

Could the rear shaft be intended for a pull behind sand spreader?

Wow, never thought of that, could be
I'll pull the cover off and check the shaft when i get a chance.

 

[Balerguy2]

It looks like that "black sleeve" is made for steadying a shaft.............. but the orange color behind indicates no shaft in place perhaps?

That Pull Behind blower would take some work to mount it up front on a loader (replacing the bucket ex.). Here are some pics to show my rear push blower mounted on the front. The blower in your pic would be more difficult to do a 4 point than

my setup. (It works really really well)....................... no more "pain in the neck" looking backwards!

Mine is 95% done (fix hoses to tractor frame, loader arms etc) but last "Thanksgiving" it was needed as is with snow coming down so now with spring here I can complete it. In dollars about 1/4 of the price of an OEM.

 

[Cinco]

cinco, what size of a erskine blower did you get a price on? I bought mine last march through ginop in michigan and paid 5k for a 60" , for another 1k u could have got the 72"

That is the price quoted to me for a 60", from Four Seasons in Grand Rapids.

Sold my jinma, looking at several newer tractors, still planning on a front mount blower. Found a shop that says bring them a tractor with a open hydro valve, and they will hook me up exactly like I want for a very reasonable price.

 

[skyhook]

It looks like that "black sleeve" is made for steadying a shaft.............. but the orange color behind indicates no shaft in place perhaps?

That Pull Behind blower would take some work to mount it up front on a loader (replacing the bucket ex.). Here are some pics to show my rear push blower mounted on the front. The blower in your pic would be more difficult to do a 4 point than

my setup. (It works really really well)....................... no more "pain in the neck" looking backwards!

Mine is 95% done (fix hoses to tractor frame, loader arms etc) but last "Thanksgiving" it was needed as is with snow coming down so now with spring here I can complete it. In dollars about 1/4 of the price of an OEM.

Nope, took the cover off, it's a pto shaft:thumbsup:
The possibilities are there to reverse it should the need arise.
I'd just have to weld up a three point on the other side.