L245DT with rear snowblower

brunswick000 · Feb 4, 2011

Hello all. Im in the midst of purchasing an L245DT. Its mostly for my lane-way which is nearly 500m long, and being from Canada it will see a lot of snow. It comes with a 5' rear blade, and luckily its fitted with a full, heated cab as well. Im sure the blade will handle the snow fine, but id like to be able to throw the snow if possible. Ive got a line on a McKee 6' snow thrower, with a manual chute. My question is whether or not others here think the 245 can handle a thrower that size? The seller has it listed as requiring a 540 rpm pto, which I know the 245 has so maybe its just a matter of size? Im a new tractor owner so I don't want to make any hasty purchases that won't end up working out for me.

brunswick000 · Feb 4, 2011

Nobody? Just want a "yes it will work", or a "no it will not". Anyone have any input at all?

Diamondback · Feb 4, 2011

Owned a L245 for six years and was completely satisfied with the unit. Had the front end loader, six foot box blade and 6 foot scrape blade but have no experience with snow blowers. Be patient. I'm sure a few will chime in before the weekend is over. Lots of great advice here.

Come on fellas, throw a little knowledge this guys way!

rbargeron · Feb 4, 2011

That blower is on the large size for the L-245 but it will work ok. Two good things about the L245. It's low-speed gear range goes quite slow in reverse which you will find handy on the first pass in a deep snowfall. And the pto has two speeds 540 and 1000 rpm, which may be useful in spinning up the blower a bit over normal speed. If the blower is turning faster it purges itself out quicker at any given feed rate - so it may work ok for you. For light snowfalls the wide machine will get it done quicker.

moship · Feb 4, 2011

Bronswick000,

I can only relate to the JD750 I had which put out a claimed 18hp at the PTO at 540 rpms and the use of a 60" Inland 2-stage snowblower. This tractor was manual also with 2 reverse gears. I never had a problem with it and there was only a couple of times I even came close to stalling the engine due to too much load from the snow blower. This was after a couple of Nor' Easters droping nearly 36" of snow that had packed down after a few days and became dense and crusty. All I had to do was raise the blower a few inches off the ground and no problems. After the first pass just don't take a full cut. For reference this blower had a 3 blade ~23" fan on it.

I'm guessing you will be OK with the wider unit considering you have 20% more hp at the PTO. With some operator care I do not anticipate any problems. I'd go for it. If it is used and you do not end up liking it you can alsways sell it and get most if not all of your money back.

brunswick000 · Feb 5, 2011

Thanks for replys. I appreciate the feedback. I think ill go for it. Im in South Eastern Ontario so we never get huge dumps of snow here anyway. Looking forward to not having to pay for plowing anymore. Thanks again.

leonz · Feb 5, 2011

brunswick000 said:
Hello all. Im in the midst of purchasing an L245DT. Its mostly for my lane-way which is nearly 500m long, and being from Canada it will see a lot of snow. It comes with a 5' rear blade, and luckily its fitted with a full, heated cab as well. Im sure the blade will handle the snow fine, but id like to be able to throw the snow if possible. Ive got a line on a McKee 6' snow thrower, with a manual chute. My question is whether or not others here think the 245 can handle a thrower that size? The seller has it listed as requiring a 540 rpm pto, which I know the 245 has so maybe its just a matter of size? Im a new tractor owner so I don't want to make any hasty purchases that won't end up working out for me.

Just be sure you can open the rear window to reach down and rotate the crank-unless the snow thrower crank is short and you will be stuck hopping in and out a lot to change direction.

I would find out if the Mckee can be converted to dual hydraulic operation before I even thought about buying it first though as I am assuming you have dual remotes.

You should also look at the Pronovost Puma 64 and 72 models as they have dual hydraulics for the chute rotation and spout control.

With this long driveway I would purchase a new Pronovost Puma with the hydraulics before I bought the one with the crank and manual spout changing.

brunswick000 · Feb 5, 2011

I hear you on the hydraulic chute. The manual chute may very well be an issue. I just need to get something for as cheap as possible. Was thinking of adapting an electric chute to it this summer for the following winter.

Would love to get a new blower of a more appropriate size as well. 5' would be perfect I think. They just seem harder to come by for some reason. Perhaps ill just stick with the blade this year and be happy ive at least got the tractor.

Its been a long while since ive operated any machinary so im worried ill be out there all day pushing piles of snow all over the place, but not actually accomplishing anything.