New Snowblower

[adventure bob]

Recd my new Pronovost 800TRC yesterday. Holly cow this thing is a beast. Pronovost also appear to be experts at packing all the loose parts for shipping. Everything was tetris'd into the auger and tied in place with heavy wax lacing and zip ties. It took me an hour to get all that stuff out of there. You definitely had to be patient and hold your tongue just right to get it loose.
So as I go through this, ill post my experience with it and how it goes putting it together. It came without the 3 point pieces attached to the frame so those were the first thing to go on. Makes it much easier to move around. I pulled it off the flatbed with a bobcat and it was tricky. It has two lifting eyes on top but the chute kinda gets in the way for easy lifting. Made it work though.

First thing I noticed about this thing is that it is **** heavy and everything is thick steel. The internet pics do not do this thing justice. I have seen posts where folks have questioned the value of this thing being worth the extra money. Just in shopping for a snow blower and looking at everything from landpride to Schulte, I have to say this is the beefiest snowblower I saw. I didn't see an Erskine so I cant compare there. The other thing I noticed was that this thing is huge. Its an 80" working width but height of the housing and height of the chute are huge. Maybe its cause I'm used to garden tractors with small blowers on the front. But even compared to Kubotas snow blower that's nearly the same width, this thing is huge.

Things of concern so far: Mine has hydraulic chute rotate and discharge angle, and because its a TRC it has a hydraulic chute rotation for side discharge. The two orbital motors were not installed at the factory. Kind of a nit pic but why wouldn't they have just installed them and set gear contact depth? Another nit pic is that when you buy it they tell you up front that you have to have hydraulic lines made. Many hydraulic implements state that the customer has to do this due to the many differences in tractors and equipment match ups. Not that big a deal, but my grapple came with lines... Tractors running rear snow blowers aren't THAT different. Lastly the instructions, or lack thereof frustrated the wife to no end. Nearly everything is going together from internet pictures and the parts diagrams in the back of the book. I'm a mechanical guy and have a full shop and do all my own maint to a bunch of equipment and vehicles, but sometimes there's value to torque specs and sequenced steps. I'm not asking for Ikea level idiot proof with a single allen stock but....

Its a beautiful day today so ill try to shoot some happy snaps of putting it together.

 

[JerryK]

SHAME ON YOU for posting this without the pictures....... NOW I CAN'T WAIT.....!!!!!!!! [[[ ]]]

 

[leonz]

Recd my new Pronovost 800TRC yesterday. Holly cow this thing is a beast. Pronovost also appear to be experts at packing all the loose parts for shipping. Everything was tetris'd into the auger and tied in place with heavy wax lacing and zip ties. It took me an hour to get all that stuff out of there. You definitely had to be patient and hold your tongue just right to get it loose.
So as I go through this, ill post my experience with it and how it goes putting it together. It came without the 3 point pieces attached to the frame so those were the first thing to go on. Makes it much easier to move around. I pulled it off the flatbed with a bobcat and it was tricky. It has two lifting eyes on top but the chute kinda gets in the way for easy lifting. Made it work though.

First thing I noticed about this thing is that it is **** heavy and everything is thick steel. The internet pics do not do this thing justice. I have seen posts where folks have questioned the value of this thing being worth the extra money. Just in shopping for a snow blower and looking at everything from landpride to Schulte, I have to say this is the beefiest snowblower I saw. I didn't see an Erskine so I cant compare there. The other thing I noticed was that this thing is huge. Its an 80" working width but height of the housing and height of the chute are huge. Maybe its cause I'm used to garden tractors with small blowers on the front. But even compared to Kubotas snow blower that's nearly the same width, this thing is huge.

Things of concern so far: Mine has hydraulic chute rotate and discharge angle, and because its a TRC it has a hydraulic chute rotation for side discharge. The two orbital motors were not installed at the factory. Kind of a nit pic but why wouldn't they have just installed them and set gear contact depth? Another nit pic is that when you buy it they tell you up front that you have to have hydraulic lines made. Many hydraulic implements state that the customer has to do this due to the many differences in tractors and equipment match ups. Not that big a deal, but my grapple came with lines... Tractors running rear snow blowers aren't THAT different. Lastly the instructions, or lack thereof frustrated the wife to no end. Nearly everything is going together from internet pictures and the parts diagrams in the back of the book. I'm a mechanical guy and have a full shop and do all my own maint to a bunch of equipment and vehicles, but sometimes there's value to torque specs and sequenced steps. I'm not asking for Ikea level idiot proof with a single allen stock but....

Its a beautiful day today so ill try to shoot some happy snaps of putting it together.

SHAME ON YOU for posting this without the pictures....... NOW I CAN'T WAIT.....!!!!!!!! [[[ ]]]

==================================================================================================================================================================================================================

Hello adventurebob,

Did you buy this snow caster from Paul Vanderzon or another dealer?


Congratulations on purchasing the workhorse er toy er snow caster er snow gulper.
I am sorry they did not ship a manual with your new toy. If you want you can call the
Pronovost company in Quebec and they can mail you a manual or E-mail one to you

They speak English fluently on the phone so no worries there.



Phone 1-418-365-7551
fax 1-888-652-9270

They should still be open until 4:30 EST I think.

The pronovost family builds heavy snow removal machinery with continuous welds and thick plate steel for all their weldments
on snow bcasters and the other farm machinery they make.




I am sure it was an oversight and they they will help you without question and send a manual so no worries there.
Its their busy time of year up north as snow for them happens early and they are selling and making snow casters
constantly



The nice thing about it is it will fit on a larger mule if you decided to trade up an engine frame size or two so you do not have to worry about matching the implement to the power.

The thing about the hydraulic hoses is that there are more than a handful of hydraulic couplers used by the mule manufacturer and if they supply one type of male coupler it may not match the female couplers you have on your mule. So its better for the customer to purchase what he or she needs from a local supplier or the implement dealer

The other major thing is whether your mule requires a 2 or 4 braid high pressure hydraulic hose of 6,000 PSI strength and The Pronovost Family has no way of knowing that and the hydraulic hose used must match your mules hydraulic system operating pressure. .

The other thing is the lower links on all mules are different and some are cast one piece lower link units without a crank on the right lower link to make a dirt plow suck deeper and or a quick hitch may be installed on a customers mule requiring an even longer hose.

It is also a case of different male and female remotes, the length of hose needed for the remotes is and would be different on every mule and hoses that are too long will get tangled and hoses that are too short will require you to buy additional hoses and if they get ripped apart and make a mess on an open station mule having oil sprayed all over will require a trip the car wash unless you have a steam jenny.

You going to find that the rotating impeller housing will throw all types of snow farther and faster than the chute position especially if its very wet snow.

You can purchase an chute extension for the TRS80 as well to keep the snow flowing above you and not at you if the wind direction changes.

As far not installing the hydraulic motors its case of them possibly being damaged in transit and the required hydraulic hose pressure must match your mules hydraulic pressure requirements and you must have the correct quick couplers for you mule as there are a dozen or so different brands and styles made for JIC
(Joint Industrial Council)hose and fittings. The JIC regulates and mandates matching fitting threads, hydraulic hose manufacturing and testing requirements and the componenets used to make hydraulic hose and fittings. The JIC is made up of members in the hydraulics and pneumatic manufacturing industry to create a set type and size of fittings and hoses for all applications.




.

 

[adventure bob]

Leonz, theres a manual with it. Its very basic, as I stated. I would call what came with it a consumer level warning/users manual. Not a shop manual that facilitates assembly. Its all good though. For clarity, this is going on the back of Kub L6060. I have hydraulics for all three functions on the snow blower. The blower did come brand new from a dealer here in the States.
More to come on the progress...

 

[adventure bob]

Heres a shot Ill post more as it goes together.

 

[adventure bob]

View attachment 485847View attachment 485847

 

[adventure bob]

apparently I have difficulty posting pics here.

 

[oosik]

Nice unit. You aren't kidding - that's one HD snow thrower. I've had problems posting pics the last three days. At least, you did get yours posted - I never could.

 

[leonz]

Hey Adventurebob and Oosik,


I think a lot of it is due to internet traffic and the bamd width taken upo by the spam bots
and the trollers using their denial of service attacks.


Bob, could you upload some more images of the rotating drum and the chute gearing and the hydraulic motors??

I do not remember if the TRC units have a chain drive to rotate the impeller drum if the unit uses a chain drive both sides of chain on either side of the hydraulic motor must be tight to avoid the chain skipping and falling off

The gear on the hydraulic motor that is used to spin the chute has to be tight as well but not so tight that it binds.

 

[leonz]

Hey Adventure bob,

I have a down loaded manual for their herd of snow casters.
Send me your e-mail via a PM and I will e-mail a manual to you quickly.

 

[fishhead]

Bob, you may or may not have the same cushion valve on the chute rotation motor as my p-74-inv but be careful as the valve i have uses a very shallow thread depth and my initial hoses were set up with a more standard fitting and i damaged the valve. Pronovost was super cool and helpful in replacing the part. They are very good to deal with and the blowers are really well made- i would have loved a trc inverted blower but no such thing at the time
Enjoy yours

Hey Adventure bob,

I have a down loaded manual for their herd of snow casters.
Send me your e-mail via a PM and I will e-mail a manual to you quickly.

 

[adventure bob]

Leonz, Thanks for posting that but most of it doesn't apply to my blower. The chute rotator I have is a direct drive hydraulic motor to the chute. The one in the manual you posted is cable driven from a ram. Adjusting it is relatively easy, its a nice design with the adjuster plate and bolts. How far in or out to adjust it is another issue though.

 

[adventure bob]

Heres a shot of the motor with the gear in place and the position of the motor under the mounting plate

 

[adventure bob]

Why is the site randomly flipping images sideways?

 

[leonz]

Hello Bob,

I went through the manuals again last night and all the Pronovost manuals that have the hydraulic rotation option are shown in the specific exploded diagrams.

As the chute rotation hydraulic motor is bolted in place it has no adjustment other than replacing the gear or the mating gear on the chute.

There has to be a little gear "backlash" movement to allow the sprocket to mesh with the chutes replaceable gear teeth section.


You need to call Pronovost in Quebec or the dealer you purchased it from as that hydraulic motor may require B.S.P. hydraulic fittings with B.S.P. (British Standard Pipe O Rings with the blue stripe).

The BSP hydraulic fittings allow more adjustment of the hydraulic fitting to allow them to be connected to steel or two wire hydraulic hoses.

 

[leonz]

If your holding the smart phone vertical/upright at all times when taking an
image of the snow clearer to post one of the moderators can rotate it for you.

 

[aczlan]

Why is the site randomly flipping images sideways?

Because when you take a picture with your phone/camera instead of rotating the picture and then saving it "right side up" it saves the picture and includes a note saying which side is up.
The forum software doesn't handle that for preview thumbnails which is why they are the wrong direction, but when you load the picture fullsize, it is right side up.

Aaron Z

 

[adventure bob]

Pics are off real camera and they are all right side up on my screen and camera. All were shot portrait.

 

[adventure bob]

Leonz thanks for the heads up on the BSP fittings. Getting things assembled is mostly from the exploded parts diagram in the back of the users manual.

 

[adventure bob]

I talked to my dealer today and the manual I have is the only one he knows of. Ill keep posting progress in case someone buys a similar blower. now if I can figure out how to stop the pics from posting weird....
Fish, would you be willing to post a couple of happy snaps of the lines and fittings you ended up with? The tractor end and the snow blower end.