GC1700 Series Snowblower Width

Langanobob · Dec 27, 2017

I知 looking at a used 63 wide front mount PTO snowblower for my GC1720. The blower is from a larger 30HP compact tractor and I will have some adapting and fabrication to do on the mount. I知 a little bit concerned about the blower width. It is a foot wider than the 登fficial MF2360 blower and also the snow blower guidelines in the snow removal section recommend not getting a blower wider than your tractor. We get heavy Sierra Cement snow here and in addition to HP I also have a concern about maneuverability and weight. Sounds like I might be trying to talk myself out of it!

Anyone have any comments or suggestions?

Thanks,
Bob

dnw64 · Dec 27, 2017

If it was any easy hookup I’d say try it. But my guess is that it will be too much, especially since you have a lot of wet stuff. I’d pass on a lot of fabrication and find something else.

Fiziksgeek · Dec 27, 2017

Extra width is helpful around curves. I have a circular driveway with granite cobble curbing, and the 50" blower is kind of a pain to follow the edge. If you don't have curves, adapting the larger blower is probably not worth the effort. I think you'll be OK power wise, but will have to slow down as the snow gets deeper obviously.

Weight wise, I think the 50" is a little light. I got my 1720 in the winter and immediately put the blower on. Not having my tiny shed rearranged for the extra implements, I left the backhoe on for ballast, that was a mistake. The front end bounced dangerously. I've since used my ballast box, with a little weight removed, 300lbs seems pretty good. I don't think you'd have any issues even if the blower you are looking at is double the weight...just ballast appropriately.

One thing to check: Is the blower you are looking at made for the same mid PTO speed (RPMs) that the GC1720 provides?

Langanobob · Dec 27, 2017

Thanks for your comments. Fiziksgeek, yes, as near as I've been able to determine it's made for a 2000 RPM PTO. It has a chain drive reduction so I'd be able to make relatively small RPM adjustments.

AxleHub · Dec 28, 2017

One other thought, I recall that the kubota blower and Massey blower were very similar but their rotation was reversed which surprised me so on this blower you are considering you may want to check rotation compatibility.

Langanobob · Dec 28, 2017

Wow. Never considered a rotation difference. Would be a classic case of Murphy’s law. I’ll check. Thanks!

cdaigle430 · Dec 29, 2017

There is a guy on youtube who has a 68 inch mounted to his GC1710, cant get to it to post a link now because Im not allowed at work. It works very well, he even has a Bernco cab...