Snowblower Is something wrong with my snowblower?

[SnowSeb]

Thanks again to all that reply, this website and the people on it are great.
Ron, I don't usually run at full rpm, in lighter snow usually at 2200 rpm, full pto rpm being 2500(i think), but i did try at full rpm and with about 4 inche of the wet stuff it plugged in 1 pass.
Do most people run full rpm all the time? On a side note, for transportation driving, what do you run for rpm. In my case speed is important, but don't want to over rev.
Rambler, I think you may have found the problem in the round section, that is were it plugs, also if you look at bottom section of chute it has an angle that is blocking part of the width, looks like it is for reinforcing chute. The top section does not squeeze in. I'm now thinking of getting someone to shorten the round section and cut out those angles, and reinforce it to compensate for taking out those pieces. I wish i had a welder.
Back blade sounds like would work well, but could do without expense and have to swap from blower to blase.
Sorry this is so long, but i think i got it all in there.

 

[Bob_Skurka]

You will NOT over rev the tractor, they have limiters on them to prevent it, so don't worry about that.

Regarding running the engine at 540 PTO speed, I do it all the time when I am running a PTO powered implement. I know some people do not do that, but I simply do not understand their logic. The implement is designed to rotate the blades, fans, tines, etc at the rated speed and one would guess that an engineer, who is far brighter than I, figured out the appropriate gearing to turn the blades, fans, tines, etc at their optimum speed based on the 540 RPM PTO speed.

For transportation driving, I run at the RPM that gets me to the speed I want to travel. In many cases I run the tractor at full RPM because I want to get to where I am going. When I have more time, and can do with less noise, I will back down the RPMs but only because I want a quieter tractor, not because I am worried about wearing out the tractor.

Please understand that a diesel engine in a small tractor can easily last for 5000 to 10000 hours running at or near full speed for much of its life. These things we play with have tough little engines.

 

[JimMorrissey]

As others have likely mentioned.....Spray the chute and the internals with PAM cooking oil, or use some kind of silicone spray. Night and day difference. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[JimMorrissey]

I totally agree AND run my implements designed to run at 540 @ 540, especially my rear snowblower.

From the picture....I'd lift that chute top up a bit. That will definitely slow the snow down and cause build-up. I leave mine wide open. Wet snow needs to leave with the least amount of disturbance. Remember to use PAM on the fan and especially the chute. I spray the whole thing with PAM on a regular basis. It helps tremendously. PAM is pretty cheap too.

 

[JimMorrissey]

No luck with PAM.....Hummm. I haven't tried to blow really wet snow in a couple of years, especially snow that is nearly in a liquid state. -Give silicon a shot.

 

[Deerlope]

Try some good old liquid household floor wax. Just put it in a spray bottle to apply. There is a snowplow wax out there but I don't think anything will last very long on a blower chute.

 

[dieseltoys]

I know sometimes when using my blower if I travel too slow and don't feed enough snow into it, it has a tendancy to plug if the conditions are wet. A trick I use is to windrow the snow into a pile with my blade and then blow the pile away, that way the blower gets a full load and can maintain a high velocity in the discharge. Another solution that works is to wait for the temperatures to drop back below freezing and let the snow tighten up and dry out a little before blowing, this only works when the weather cooperates however.

Steve

 

[rambler]

Tractor engines are designed to run between idle & max rpm for your model, which may or may not be marked on your rpm gauge. It will be listed in the manual. I would not exceed this rpm speed for any real length of time. It is likely your throttle will let you exceed max rpm by a little bit. So, 'wide open' is a bit of a difficult thing to define exactly. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif You can run your tractor anywhere in the range of speeds allowed, and a diesel perhaps perfers to run fast moreso than running too slow. Too slow can give you all kinds of problems in the long term. A diesel engine is happiest running clost to max rpm doing actual work. While it will wear out quicker in actual hours, it will last much longer in accumulated engine rpms if running faster with a load.

For PTO speed, this is typically marked on your gauge, and is 10-15% less than 'wide open' for your engine model. Most pto implements run best if you run about that speed - 540 rpm. Especially spinning implements, like a mower, bush hog, snow blower. They are designed with that speed in mind, and will give the best performance right at 540 rpm. You lose some performance running slower, and you may harm things long-term (or make things fly apart violently) if you exceed that speed - shear pins lose their effectiveness, etc.

Now, there are many pto implements I run at idle - a wood splitter, cement mixer, sprayer pump, and even the baler & my sickle mower I run at reduced speed. Not everything should run at 540rpm.

That's the long way of saying:

Run your snow blower at 540 rpm most all of the time.

Drive your tractor at any engine speed between idle & red-line for your model without worry.

'Wide open' is a bit of a difficult term, as there is the max rpm for your engine, and a fuel lever setting that is a bit more...

--->Paul

 

[JimMorrissey]

I think the key to putting waxes / PAM / silicon on the blower chute and inside the fan housing is to apply it when the metal is dry and relatively clean.

 

[Junkman]

Wax should be put on when the metal is clean and dry and allowed to harden before use. As for the person that said PAM was cheap...... well, she had very expensive tastes when I was dating her.... /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

I was just looking at the pictures. It appears that there is a wide gap between the blades of the secondary impeller and the metal. If there is a large gap, then the force that the snow is propelled out of the second stage will be diminished. I found a company in Canada that made a flexible material that was designed to bolt onto the blades to give it more "umph". I had put them on one of my old tractor snowblowers and they made a big difference. I no longer have the information as to who made them, but I did buy them on eBay a few winters ago.