L60 with front snowblower - pavement scraping

sandalwood · Dec 28, 2015

Blower is made by Rad Industries in Quebec. Their web page suggests they only deal with tractor manufacturers but if you dealer is not able to suggest any adjustments or modifications, then you may wish to contact them directly.

Here there is little frost in the ground. Will things improve for you after your roadway freezes over?

sandalwood · Dec 28, 2015

Did you purchase the "down pressure relief valve" option?

Kubota strongly recommends it but I didn't want to spend another $2000. My dealer suggested with my paved driveway, I would probably be OK.

grizzjeeper · Dec 28, 2015

I did not but on float there is no down pressure so I would think the only need for that is if you are not using float and blower hits something. Like a relief valve when you add the blade attachment for it.

I will try new to widen the shoes, the design has long shoes BUT all the pressure is on the front inch wide section, so it just trenches like a knife. I am wondering if I lower the rear of show it would cause head to rise up.

kevin37b · Dec 29, 2015

There should be a full page sheet on this sight ie , snowblowers .or blades .They will scratch your driveway , plastic shovel will not . Skid shoes are asofuckinglutely worthless on a wet , muddy , not frozen rock driveway ! As far as float , as soon as it loads up it sucks deeper into the gravel drive , making it worse . I see 200 posts a year about this . You people are drivers not operators . Not being rude , but it is physics and geometry that will be your friend . Now let us talk chains or not ,ags or turfs .I have a 1978 JD 316 K WITH STEEL Cozy cab , 4W BLADE ,chains 2 75 lb weights on the back and 4 yr. old 18 hrs Vanguard . Turfs with 2 link and I can drive through 8
inches wet snow doing sidewalks with no curb to roll it off .HAPPY NEW YEAR ! Kevin.

lungdoc · Dec 29, 2015

kevin37b said:
There should be a full page sheet on this sight ie , snowblowers .or blades .They will scratch your driveway , plastic shovel will not . Skid shoes are asofuckinglutely worthless on a wet , muddy , not frozen rock driveway ! As far as float , as soon as it loads up it sucks deeper into the gravel drive , making it worse . I see 200 posts a year about this . You people are drivers not operators . Not being rude , but it is physics and geometry that will be your friend . Now let us talk chains or not ,ags or turfs .I have a 1978 JD 316 K WITH STEEL Cozy cab , 4W BLADE ,chains 2 75 lb weights on the back and 4 yr. old 18 hrs Vanguard . Turfs with 2 link and I can drive through 8
inches wet snow doing sidewalks with no curb to roll it off .HAPPY NEW YEAR ! Kevin.

While skill is no doubt important, I think the issue at hand here is that the implement in question doesn't have any manual or hydraulic ability to adjust the curl; and the set angle seems to be too aggressive and cutting in. Pretty hard to deal with even if you are, like the Sade song says, a smooth operator.

sandalwood · Dec 30, 2015

Agreed. Unlike 3 PH blower where top-link allows adjustment of "aggressiveness" of bite, I can find no where in operator's manual, a way to make a similar adjustment.

lungdoc · Jan 6, 2016

I wonder if this might be a solution? http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/snow-removal/350087-got-play-snow-today.html#post4334122

AJL · Jan 14, 2016

i just switched from a L2195A front mount to a L4474 with the 4 point hitch, and I'm finding it digs in more than the L2195 did. The only real difference is the hitch and the skid shoes, and both may be contributing factors. The 4 point hitch is heavier up front and I suspect puts more down force on the blower than the old style hitch. Additionally the L4474 has the smaller skid shoes, not the full length style like Moship shows in post #11. The "old" style are longer and have a more gradual incline. I'm considering ordering a pair of the old shoes to try. They will fit, but I would have to drill the mounting holes.

One other point, not directly related, is that the new 4 point hitch is 5 inches further out the front, which I can notice in turns, as the blower is that much further forward from the front tires. Not to bash, as I'm pretty pro Kubota and pro Canadian made, but the paint job on this thing sucks. No primer and if flakes off pretty easily.

Just my 2 cents.

crazyal · Jan 16, 2016

I normally don't use float. I just adjust the height depending on what's coming out of the blower. If it's snow I'll actually lift the front tires off the ground and brake steer. If it's rock or dirt I'll lift it up. May not work perfectly but it usually does the job without shearing pins. I also use my plow truck for the first plow to get the larger loose rocks off the drive. When in the garage my blower sits flat on the cement when down. If yours isn't then I would guess something is either wrong (maybe a mistake during fabrication) or you have a wrong part somewhere. Your dealer should be able to help you out.

AJL · Jan 16, 2016

Today I had a closer look at the skid shoes on the new L4474 while parked in the garage and I could see that the whole blower is tipped slightly forward and was it ting on the fronts of the skid shoes. There doesn't appear to be any way to adjust the pitch of the blower, but I was able to adjust the skid shoe so the front mounting bolt is one lower than the back, thus raising the front of the skids. In this configuration it sit on the back of the skids which should help. Will have to test it to see.