Hydraulic front snowblower compact tractor?

[leonz]

If your going to spend that kind of money you may as well buy a Bercomac engine driven 6 foot cut two stage with a V twin honda and have a quick attach plate fabricated for it.

A snowvac two stage for your plow truck would be double that amount or more.

If you have a hydraulic reverser pedal on your mule you can sit sideways and just let the snow blower act as an anchor when you have to stop.

A Meteor 5 foot cut single stage with the 13 inch auger will be less money as it also has gathering side boards on it as well.

 

[grsthegreat]

My hydraulic unit runs great...worth every penny i spent. But my tractor is 45 hp.

My neck issues required a front mount system. I have seen some front mounts hooked up to mid ptos that seem to move some snow

 

[leonz]

He apparently does not wish to sit sidesaddle on the seat and use the reverse peddle or bolt a piece of plexiglass on his rops to stop any snow spray.


That is why I suggested the Meteor single stage unit for the mid point PTO on his mule.
One of the bercomac motorized snow blowers would eb too heavy to use on his mule unless he only lifts it a foot or less as it was designed to be used on an ATV or RTV.

He does not have enough fluid flow or reservoir capacity to enable its use UNLESS he carries a reservoir and at that eventual total cost a 48" Meteor single stage with the wings that are built into the system would be more than enough for his mule.

 

[fishhead]

Tough to recommend a course of action without any idea of locale, total snowfall, size of storms , type of snow, drifting or not - drive paved or not etc.
Those are the basics-

 

[Dfixit1]

Tough to recommend a course of action without any idea of locale, total snowfall, size of storms , type of snow, drifting or not - drive paved or not etc.
Those are the basics-

3/10 of a mile, gravel driveway with hills and 2 (90) degree turns, annual snowfall 144”. One area drifts. I been using the plow for 4 years and then moving piles with the 35 hp mule. I bought the mule with a backhoe for a build project and am done with the build. My thing is why have 2 different snow machines? Sell the truck with plow.

 

[finn1]

Keep the truck.

My experience is that a 62” front mounted snowblower takes two or three times as long as. 7’6” truck mounted plow for nuisance snowfall of, say 6” or less, but is invaluable for moving the banks back and clearing snow next to the raised deck. Your winters seem relatively mild, though, with only 144”, so I don’t know...

I previously used a skid steer to move the banks back, but the snowblower mounted on the tractor is a more efficient machine for that task.

Do you really need the loader for other tasks in the winter? Sounds like your backhoe is just adding ballast now. A front mounted blower is pretty easy to install and remove seasonally, but I would recommend a cab tractor for snow removal.

 

[Whitbread]

Keep the truck.

My experience is that a 62” front mounted snowblower takes two or three times as long as. 7’6” truck mounted plow for nuisance snowfall of, say 6” or less, but is invaluable for moving the banks back and clearing snow next to the raised deck. Your winters seem relatively mild, though, with only 144”, so I don’t know...

I have the opposite sentiment of truck vs blower. My driveway has a steep grade and tightly winds through the woods. Plowing it for the last 3 years was a giant PITA. Couldn't plow uphill many times, had to push banks back between trees in 10 different places, and I ended up with massive piles all over. Now with the blower on the tractor, I can blow uphill easily, don't have to do push offs all along the drive, and I'm done in the same amount of time or less. That was before the turbo addition over the weekend, I'm willing to bet I'll save an easy 5-10 mins now not having to worry about bogging it down.

It's a 5' blower driven by mid pto. I'm running at full speed in low range into 10" of fresh powder. Could never do this before. New Holland 1620 turbo - YouTube




As an overall use tool, I also vote for the blower also as a plow would never let you clear drifts like this. This was 14 hours of drifting last week BTW, I'm in the middle of a road making a path to a fellow firefighters stuck pickup.

 

[leonz]

Several of the members have long driveways/lanes longer than your driveway and they use a BX tractor with chains and or loaded tires with a slightly wider rear snow blower and do the first cut slowly in reverse and then they take half cuts for the rest of it to open their driveways.

a. You have the truck and the plow
a1. you have the tractor, loader and back hoe.

b. A small backhoe is something that will always be of use to you for one job or another in the future.

b1. it is a valuable piece of iron to you and of little value to anyone else and people will try to take advantage of you as it is of a limited range for a smaller machine to mount it on.

b2. The back hoe will be an asset for breaking up ice and ice packed snow banks as long as you have loaded tires and rear chains.

b3. many people make the mistake of using a tractor mounted loader for heavy work and bend the frames and the buckets and digging out packed ice and snow creates huge stresses on the backhoe boom arms and bucket as they are ment only for light materials

b4. I have to emphasize that if you try to sell the truck and plow it will only be worth what ever someone is willing to pay for it.
Trucks and especially plow trucks suffer from wear and tear and here in new York state its is no longer legal to weld vehicle frames and they suffer from a very fast loss of monetary value to the seller as the frames are automatically suspected of having frame damage.

b5. using a snow blower is always boring and tedious unless you have a very large engine framed mule to provide the torque needed.

b6. since your obviously going to committed to this future home it may be well worth your while to look at a Kubota RTV 1100 and the front mounted snow blower they offer for it. You will have a clear field of view with it a heated cabin and 4 wheel drive that will require you to have ice chains and at least 6 bags of tube sand in the rear box and to always carry diesel fuel and couple of shovels and a small cooler with water and snacks.

Even the smallest Kubota RTV and a motorized Bercomac snowblower for it is a viable option as it will have a heated cab, lights and you will need chains and ballast weight and you can buy a radio or wear radio ear muffs or use earplugs as these units will be very noisy with both engines running.
The RTV 1100 has an adjustable engine throttle and the automatic transmission that lets you set it in low low range to run the 2 stage snow blower they offer for it.
Its small lights are short coming as it needs a front LED light bar and a rear LED light bar for work and you have to have a beacon/flasher to be able to be road legal if you are opening up the entrance of your property.



I wish you the best of luck just remember that you need to look at this 5-10 years down the road and base your decision on the worst case scenario as you will have to dig out and deal with deep snows.

 

[finn1]

Witbread, I agree that the blower is the correct tool in some situations. Much of our snow comes in daily dumps of six inches or less that can easily be pushed aside with a truck mounted blade in a few minutes. It does a better, and faster job than the blower.

After a few weeks, or a two foot dump, the blower shines. An hour or so of occasionally moving the banks back with the blower beats spending 45 minutes daily on the tractor, when the truck clears the drive of a light six inch daily snowfall in a few minutes.

I have the uphill driveway issue too. Small snowfall is no problem, but uphill plowing is an issue with heavy snowfall.

My shop is a mile from the house, a long daily drive in a 14 mph tractor with loaded tires. The truck shines here, too.

 

[fishhead]

Thanks,

Unless you get huge storms that you can't keep up with It sounds like a rear pull might work , depending on the drifting area. I live in an area with similar snowfall and have a drive twice as long. paved though which helps. I keep seeing all these postings that blowing is slow but a rear pul really doesn't take much longer than a tractor mounted blade on smaller snows. Big snows you slow down obviously but then they also add time to deal with with a blade. With a 6 ft blower I can clear an 11ft+ swath down and back a 3/10 mile drive in 6-8 minutes. remember you would need a much wider blade to clear the same due to angling the blade and the spill back you get from the edges

3/10 of a mile, gravel driveway with hills and 2 (90) degree turns, annual snowfall 144? One area drifts. I been using the plow for 4 years and then moving piles with the 35 hp mule. I bought the mule with a backhoe for a build project and am done with the build. My thing is why have 2 different snow machines? Sell the truck with plow.

 

[grsthegreat]

i just had to clear off 3 more properties that had wind drifts obscuring cars and roads. drifts were over 24" deep. I would hate to have to drive over these to clear them. not smooth. some were small mountains.

 

[Dfixit1]

I have the opposite sentiment of truck vs blower. My driveway has a steep grade and tightly winds through the woods. Plowing it for the last 3 years was a giant PITA. Couldn't plow uphill many times, had to push banks back between trees in 10 different places, and I ended up with massive piles all over. Now with the blower on the tractor, I can blow uphill easily, don't have to do push offs all along the drive, and I'm done in the same amount of time or less. That was before the turbo addition over the weekend, I'm willing to bet I'll save an easy 5-10 mins now not having to worry about bogging it down.

It's a 5' blower driven by mid pto. I'm running at full speed in low range into 10" of fresh powder. Could never do this before. New Holland 1620 turbo - YouTube




As an overall use tool, I also vote for the blower also as a plow would never let you clear drifts like this. This was 14 hours of drifting last week BTW, I'm in the middle of a road making a path to a fellow firefighters stuck pickup.

You hit the nail on the head, piles everywhere and I got stuck several times this year due to ice under the snow and had to get the mule out because working the V while stuck wouldn稚 get it done.
One time was by myself, used the mule to stretch the pull strap and backed the truck up. Several tries and I was free.
FYI plow trucks up in my neck of the neighborhood bring a premium especially with only 12k miles, premium condition and never out on the roads during winter.

Unless something better pops up I may sell my tractor with backhoe and loader and buy a cab model with blower & loader. If not I may just add blower and install a field cab.

 

[leonz]

In all seriousness you should check with the nearest MK Martin Implement dealer and have a chat with him or her about a front mount single stage snow caster set up to use a mid PTO.

The Reist/MK Martin Meteor single stage units are designed to be converted from a PTO drive system to a hydraulic drive system as it comes equipped with a quick attach mounting plate for a high flow skid steer or for that matter a SSQA plate can be mounted on the loader frame to replace the bucket.
The hydraulic set up will let you use a Gear or vane pump equipped hydraulic power pack on the three point hitch of your tractor to power it.

When you do not need the hydraulic drive set up you can remove it from the snow blower and mount the snow blower on the three point hitch of the tractor with the quick hitch if you invest in a quick hitch.

The wheel horse single stage and IHC cub cadet single stage we had never lacked for power or torque with the V belt driven snow blowers and gear boxes and they were both 12 horse power lawn tractors.

 

[Dfixit1]

In all seriousness you should check with the nearest MK Martin Implement dealer and have a chat with him or her about a front mount single stage snow caster set up to use a mid PTO.

The Reist/MK Martin Meteor single stage units are designed to be converted from a PTO drive system to a hydraulic drive system as it comes equipped with a quick attach mounting plate for a high flow skid steer or for that matter a SSQA plate can be mounted on the loader frame to replace the bucket.
The hydraulic set up will let you use a Gear or vane pump equipped hydraulic power pack on the three point hitch of your tractor to power it.

When you do not need the hydraulic drive set up you can remove it from the snow blower and mount the snow blower on the three point hitch of the tractor with the quick hitch if you invest in a quick hitch.

The wheel horse single stage and IHC cub cadet single stage we had never lacked for power or torque with the V belt driven snow blowers and gear boxes and they were both 12 horse power lawn tractors.

I think there would be a problem with the quick attach method and Mid PTO as it would cause a driveshaft interference issue in the front mounted on the loader if you raised it past a certain point.

 

[Dfixit1]

The hydraulic front blower still appeals to me but from the responses I’m getting 29 hp PTO won’t cut it.

A couple questions, please excuse me if they sound ignorant. I’m in learning mode.

Does anyone know the rpm of a hydraulic snowblower auger?

Does anyone know the rpm of the Kioti Mid PTO (2000) front snowblower auger?

Which system is more reliable, less prone to jamming?

The Kioti front snowblower has shear bolts on the fan and auger. The hydraulic snowblower doesn’t use shear bolts but uses a pressure bypass valve for jamming?

Regards

 

[aczlan]

The other thing is a high flow volume system is needed with the hydraulic system that has more than 35+ gallons in capacity.

Actually, many of them use smaller (15-20 gallon) tank on the powerpack along with a oil cooler. That is sufficient cooling in the winter, but may not be enough for the summertime.

The hydraulic front blower still appeals to me but from the responses I’m getting 29 hp PTO won’t cut it.

Probably not with a hydraulic blower.

Does anyone know the rpm of a hydraulic snowblower auger?
Does anyone know the rpm of the Kioti Mid PTO (2000) front snowblower auger?

The fan speed is probably 540-600RPM and the auger speed is whatever they found is needed to match the fan speed.
Most front blowers use a 4-1(ish) reduction to get from 2000, 2200, or 2500RPM mid-PTO speed to a 540-600RPM fan speed.

Which system is more reliable, less prone to jamming?
The Kioti front snowblower has shear bolts on the fan and auger. The hydraulic snowblower doesn’t use shear bolts but uses a pressure bypass valve for jamming?

With the hydraulic one, you won't have to worry about shear pins and (if it has a valve) you can reverse the blower and back out whatever is stuck.
Reliability should be about the same.

Aaron Z

 

[Dfixit1]

Thanks Aaron Z for your reply.

I have a friend that had 140 driveway snow removal contracts. He took 2 Belarus 80 hp tractors installed cabs and hydraulic snowblowers. Painted murals on them. One day while clearing between two houses he said it grabbed a log and shot it out like a missle, he watched it go through a second story window.
He said, well I guess that’s an insurance claim! :laughing:

 

[aczlan]

Thanks Aaron Z for your reply.

I have a friend that had 140 driveway snow removal contracts. He took 2 Belarus 80 hp tractors installed cabs and hydraulic snowblowers. Painted murals on them. One day while clearing between two houses he said it grabbed a log and shot it out like a missle, he watched it go through a second story window.
He said, well I guess that’s an insurance claim! :laughing:

Here is the setup we have on our L3830 with a 7' Loftness front snowblower.
Rear gearbox:

First rear to front PTO section:

Second rear to front PTO section and mounting frame:

Front frame and snowblower:

It was originally on a larger NH, but I adapted it to our L3830 and it works well, have to go slow in heavy stuff though.

Aaron Z

 

[leonz]

I think there would be a problem with the quick attach method and Mid PTO as it would cause a driveshaft interference issue in the front mounted on the loader if you raised it past a certain point.

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You would not be able to mount it on your machine with the front loader and frame left on the machine so....

Unless your willing to spend the money on a bercomac with an engine on it your going to be out of luck unless you invest in a front mount kit from Pronovost to mount any tom, dick or harry rear mount snow blower or a mk martin single stage snow thrower on it.

Either way you looking at close to $10,000.00 or more with a large rear mounted hydraulic tank that may not be able to be lifted with your rear three point hitch.


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When your dealing with a hydraulic drive snow caster there are four things to keep in mind:

The impeller is always driven through a gearbox and they operate at 540 or 1000RPM(with larger 1000 RPM power take offs).

1. It may have a hydraulic gear motor that powers right angle gearbox through a lovejoy coupler that provides the rotary power to the impeller and the cross auger via the cross shaft at the same time through the chain drive.

2. it may have two hydraulic motors; a gear type hydraulic motor to power the impeller through a gear box and a second hydraulic motor(geroller) to power the cross auger through the chain drive.

3. you need fluid flow and pressure and a large oil volume that will require a long time to warm up to enable its use as hydraulic oil has to be hot to enable it to work well and efficiently deliver fluid power to a pump and motor.


A hydraulic driven snow blower for a skid loader can be set up with a gear motor for the impeller and a geroller motor for the cross auger that requires 35+ gallons per minute of high fluid flow.



4. last but not least $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$


If you have a motorized Bercomac 23 horse snow blower with the honda V twin you can always detach it to use the bucket as long as you have a SSQA mounting plate frame to moun the bucket and for the snowlower

 

[grsthegreat]

This is one of the reasons i needed a loader mounted unit. when my buildings shed, i have a real mess. The horses need to get out and i need to get into my shop. When the roofs shed in bad snow years it could be 6' high. Not as bad this year, but the packs are about 3-4' tall.
I had to cut off top layer first. heres it all cleaned up.

The barn wasnt fully shed off, but its 10F outside and i wanted to get rid of whats on the ground for the horses. Going going gone

The shop took 19 minutes start to finish. The barn took 11 . Back in 2008 when the barn shed, it took me 4 hours to clear it with my old 3 point blower and JD870 tractor. Mind you there was more snow. Back then i had to keep turning around to knock down piles with loader then turn and blow.