Just brought home my first snowblower

[Soldier415]

MK Martin Meteor SB68 on my Kubota L3010.

Looking forward to not having to rake gravel back up from both sides of our 1/4 mile driveway in the spring anymore.

The heated cab will be nice

 

[oosik]

MK Martin is a good machine. A suggestion - do a THOROUGH walk up & down your driveway & the shoulders before the first snow. You are checking for "objects" that can be picked up by the snowblower and thrown to a great distance or can damage the blower. Rocks, sticks, fence posts, dirt mounds etc,ect. At the bare minimum these can easily snap a shear bolt. Mice & gophers hiding in the berms, which will also be thrown a long way, are just part of the fun of a blower.

 

[Soldier415]

MK Martin is a good machine. A suggestion - do a THOROUGH walk up & down your driveway & the shoulders before the first snow. You are checking for "objects" that can be picked up by the snowblower and thrown to a great distance or can damage the blower. Rocks, sticks, fence posts, dirt mounds etc,ect. At the bare minimum these can easily snap a shear bolt. Mice & gophers hiding in the berms, which will also be thrown a long way, are just part of the fun of a blower.

Good advice, thanks.

The driveway currently has a high crown/ridge in the center. I was thinking I should get out there with the box blade and flatten the road before the first snow. Thoughts on that?

 

[screamin400]

My neighbor just came across a huge old cast iron roller. My tractor cannot lift it so thinking about a ton and 5 feet wide. Before snow when my driveway is wet I am going to roll it. Should take care of any small stones sticking up.

 

[oosik]

Ahhhhh - I would probably NOT want to flatten the driveway. The high crown is what helps shed rain/water and keep the driveway from getting soggy. My biggest problem was waiting until my driveway froze up hard enough that the lip of the snowblower didn't dig up the gravel. My blower was only 60" wide so it took three passes to get the full width cleared. You know - up one side, down the middle and then the remaining side. Even with your new 68" wide blower - I bet it will take two passes, at least, to clear the driveway.

If, like me, you can't wait for the ground to get frozen & hard - - with the blower all hooked up, lower it to the ground, then shorten the top link until the front lip of the blower is 1.5 to 2.0 inches off the ground. This way you can blow snow to your hearts content and not risk digging up and blowing the gravel off the driveway.

Believe me, if that front lip digs in to your driveway - your snow blower will blow the gravel/dirt just the same as snow. The only difference is the discharge will be brown/black and it will sound like four marbles rattling around in an empty 303 tomato can.

 

[leonz]

MK Martin Meteor SB68 on my Kubota L3010.

Looking forward to not having to rake gravel back up from both sides of our 1/4 mile driveway in the spring anymore.

The heated cab will be nice

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Ouch!!!!! they did not put skids on it or sell skids for that snow caster?????

Your going to need a hard freeze before you can use it or pack down the
first couple of snowfalls for the first few inches of base to avoid problems.

I hope that they can sell you skids for it as the cutting edge even tilted back
by threading in the top link is going to dig.

 

[joeyd]

I have the same the same snow blower and have a few suggestions. First paint the chute rotation handle orange or some bright color so you can see it easily when raising the 3pt. you don't want to hit your tractor with the handle. Next keep extra shear pins on hand until you get the hang of clearing your drive. Going too fast in heavy snow can cause a jam and a sheared pin. I use Fluid Film on the inside of the chute, auger and intake to help keep things "moving". MK Martin does sell kid shoes for this model if you need them. They were very responsive to my emails when I first started using mine. Enjoy it!

 

[oosik]

I finally noticed something on your new blower. Hard to explain, but--- the sheet of steel that forms the bottom of the blower does not extend out to the full extent of the vertical wings. Boy, I hope that makes sense. On the blower I had the bottom went from the outer edge of the vertical "cutter" on one side to the outboard edge of the vertical "cutter" on the other side. Leonz comment brought this to my attention. Tipping my blower back so the lip was 1" to 2" off the ground would have a much greater impact on not scraping up gravel than on yours. That's because the lip on your blower is further back - its actually behind the auger. The lip on mine was in front of the auger because this sheet of steel was much bigger, wider, deeper - whatever.

Anyhow - seeing what I see now - I would recommend that you obtain skids because tipping your blower back probably will not prevent digging.

 

[RoyJackson]

Nice blower!

I'm going with the guys who suggested getting skid shoes. I'd be very surprised if they weren't optional, so I check with the manufacturer first.

I see you have a manual chute rotator. That's a bit of a hassle with with a cab tractor. I sold my Woods blower due to the manual rotator (replaced with a Frontier with hydraulics). Now, if you're in a situation in which you can set the chute in one direction while the tractor is warming up...a long straight driveway, for example; a manual chute isn't an issue. My drive isn't that long and is a loop, so I do need the rotation as I clear around the loop.
If you do want to go with hydraulics or electric chute rotation, try MK Martin first. If not available through MK Martin, there are aftermarket options.

While typing this...driveway markers are a good idea too. I definitely need them too! Invariably, I clear a an area that's half drive, half lawn! Better put markers on my list too!

Anyway, good luck with the blower. I'm sure you'll find blowing snow is a blast!

 

[JerryK]

I made a set of skids for my 78" rear JRW blower out of 3.5" by 4" angle that bolts onto the sides of the blower. You can put these on for the first few weeks of blowing to help keep the blower elevated a little as you build up your frozen base. Driving on the first small snowfalls help make this base. Once the drive gets frozen, you can pull the angle off and go with the factory skids. Tilting the blower back a little at the start helps too, but remember to keep the PTO shaft angle less than 15 degrees while it is under load blowing snow. Depending on the winter and the weather you get, you will still run into soft ground at the side of the road occasionally. Clean, grease chain, and paint the inside of the fan/chute area each spring.... and ENJOY...!!!!! Here a picture of my blower with the added angle iron skids at the first of the season.