Normand Inverted Snowblower

[Fallon]

So you don't have too much issue with the open station and inverted blower? I've held off buying one over the years (although almost bit the bullet and wish I had) because I wanted to wait until I had a cab tractor. A lot of guys with the standard rear blower complain about the open station.
I have seen many good deals on standard blowers but I'm not interested in one, not too many used inverted blowers.

How many PTO Hp do you have? I have 39 and wondering how that 74" would do behind my tractor.

I have 32hp (maybe 25-27 PTO) on my L3200 HST. I have yet to bog my 61" standard blower in the snows we've gotten this year. Although we haven't gotten another nasty snow like the one that made 4' drifts & prompted me to get the blower in the first place. It handles 2' piles I windrow with the plow well though.

As my tractor is 60" wide & I'd need wheel spacers to put on rear chains I've been thinking about going wider if I can find a good deal. I doubt you'd have HP problems a foot wider than mine with 10 more PTO HP. Especially if its inverted, you'd have problems driving through that much snow.

 

[fishhead]

So you don't have too much issue with the open station and inverted blower? I've held off buying one over the years (although almost bit the bullet and wish I had) because I wanted to wait until I had a cab tractor. A lot of guys with the standard rear blower complain about the open station.
I have seen many good deals on standard blowers but I'm not interested in one, not too many used inverted blowers.

How many PTO Hp do you have? I have 39 and wondering how that 74" would do behind my tractor.

sorry just saw this now,
When moving forward , i never get any snow on me from the blower, even with the spout angled somewhat forward, i suppose you could get some with really strong winds but they are unusual here. if i stop and back up quickly without letting the fan clear a bit i can get a tiny bit of snow drifting straight up from the fan if the snow is dry, but its nothing like i had to deal with using a front blower on my previous B3030- that was at times excruciating. Basically human popsicle time.

Looks like your 4610 weighs a couple hundred pounds more, has a slightly longer wheelbase and about 4 more hp at the pro than mine so i think it would be fine. I like the added width over the 60 inch kubota i had as most of my drive is a combo of 10 and 12 ft widths and i can do a good quick down and back and get it cleared, saving all the fine work and some scraping for later.

The pronovost blower i got - p-74-INV seems very well made, the only slight issue i noticed was that it can at times float up a tiny bit on dense snow when i am driving fast- i might experiment cutting edge wise to see if i can address that. Also i will probably add some flow restrictors to slow the chute and deflector

One interesting thing i noticed is that when it loads up it totally changes sound, kind of becomes throaty, i think maybe other blowers might do this but they won't sound the same to the operator because on an inverted the fan faces the operator.

 

[GManBart]

The pronovost blower i got - p-74-INV seems very well made, the only slight issue i noticed was that it can at times float up a tiny bit on dense snow when i am driving fast- i might experiment cutting edge wise to see if i can address that. Also i will probably add some flow restrictors to slow the chute and deflector

One interesting thing i noticed is that when it loads up it totally changes sound, kind of becomes throaty, i think maybe other blowers might do this but they won't sound the same to the operator because on an inverted the fan faces the operator.

I've seen a lot of people say they worry that driving over the snow before the blower gets to it will cause it to pack down too much for the blower to break free and throw. Have you seen anything like that happen? I would guess the colder it is, the less likely it would be to have that problem, but you never know.

It always makes me wonder why inverted blowers are so common in places that get serious amounts of snow, and uncommon most other places where a lot of people suggest they wouldn't work as well.

 

[Avondale]

You might wish to consider what type of tires you have and your ground clearance before going with an inverted blower IF, like my industrial tires, you find deep or drifting snow a problem. I have met many a drift I could not drive through, despite having 4x4 and chains on all four wheels.

 

[skyhook]

I have read all I could find here. It seems to be a good blower. I do 25 drives all in town and use a JD 3520 with front blower and back blade that works well I'm just thinking one of these would work better.

Love the rear pull blowers, would never go back to the push kind again, but it seems you have the perfect setup now, the only reason I would have gotten rid of my rear pull, was for a "front" blower. Dave M7040 has a nice setup.

 

[fishhead]

I've seen a lot of people say they worry that driving over the snow before the blower gets to it will cause it to pack down too much for the blower to break free and throw. Have you seen anything like that happen? I would guess the colder it is, the less likely it would be to have that problem, but you never know.

It always makes me wonder why inverted blowers are so common in places that get serious amounts of snow, and uncommon most other places where a lot of people suggest they wouldn't work as well.

I have not noticed that the blower leaves more where the tractor wheels have passed over, The older tracks from previous vehicles passing do sometimes ice and that is harder to remove with any device. I will note that the tire chains probably help prevent the ice formation by and seem to break up or roughen any previously packed surface

Where i live drifting is uncommon due to the lack of high wind, and we get get frequent small snows so even though we average about 100 inches at my house i probably have to clear deep snow much less often than someone living in say the mid atlantic with a similar average but fewer and larger storms

 

[Piston]

sorry just saw this now,
When moving forward , i never get any snow on me from the blower, even with the spout angled somewhat forward, i suppose you could get some with really strong winds but they are unusual here. if i stop and back up quickly without letting the fan clear a bit i can get a tiny bit of snow drifting straight up from the fan if the snow is dry, but its nothing like i had to deal with using a front blower on my previous B3030- that was at times excruciating. Basically human popsicle time.

Looks like your 4610 weighs a couple hundred pounds more, has a slightly longer wheelbase and about 4 more hp at the pro than mine so i think it would be fine. I like the added width over the 60 inch kubota i had as most of my drive is a combo of 10 and 12 ft widths and i can do a good quick down and back and get it cleared, saving all the fine work and some scraping for later.

The pronovost blower i got - p-74-INV seems very well made, the only slight issue i noticed was that it can at times float up a tiny bit on dense snow when i am driving fast- i might experiment cutting edge wise to see if i can address that. Also i will probably add some flow restrictors to slow the chute and deflector

One interesting thing i noticed is that when it loads up it totally changes sound, kind of becomes throaty, i think maybe other blowers might do this but they won't sound the same to the operator because on an inverted the fan faces the operator.

Thank you for that excellent informative post. :thumbsup:
You answered all my questions.

 

[GManBart]

I have not noticed that the blower leaves more where the tractor wheels have passed over, The older tracks from previous vehicles passing do sometimes ice and that is harder to remove with any device. I will note that the tire chains probably help prevent the ice formation by and seem to break up or roughen any previously packed surface

Where i live drifting is uncommon due to the lack of high wind, and we get get frequent small snows so even though we average about 100 inches at my house i probably have to clear deep snow much less often than someone living in say the mid atlantic with a similar average but fewer and larger storms

Thanks...that makes sense!

 

[fishhead]

Piston and Gman, you are both quite welcome, thanks for the props
one thing i did not mention is that i also used to use a rear blade a lot and for whatever reason i needed to look back a lot more with it when moving forward, perhaps this is because you are often moving the snow several times with a blade whereas with the blower it goes bye-bye. generally i drive forward and have a great sense of where the edge of the blower is.

Too the newer pronovosts are closer to the tractor and this helps good bit

 

[Piston]

Does anyone make an inverted blower with a rotating drum? I know Provonost makes a standard style rear blower with a rotating drum, but I don't think anyone makes an inverted with that option, I wonder why, seems like it would be nice to have.