Rear Counter Weight for Front Mount Blower

[Langanobob]

I have a Massey Ferguson GC1720 TLB (SCUT) that I use with a front mount snowblower in heavy wet “Sierra Cement” snow. I haven’t been removing the backhoe when snowblowing. I sometimes have trouble turning but all I have to do is raise the blower slightly and it will turn. I’ve been wondering if the heavy backhoe counterweight on the rear is causing the front tires to be light and not turn well. I run chains on all four tires.

How do you run your front mount snowblowers? Any sort of weight on the rear?

Thanks!

 

[masscity]

I have a L3540HSTC with a 6' blower on the front. I tried my 1000 lb ballast box for traction and made the front end too light.

Now I have my Dad's old 6' rear blade on the back for matting or any rocky areas, works great. I think it weighs 360 lb.

Also I have ag tires with 2 link chain on the back. I should have bought better chain, but I screwed up. 2 link chain will work on ag tires, but it has to be as loose as possible without coming off the tires, that way it keeps falling forward as you drive. I had a learning curve on that one.

 

[pmsmechanic]

I have a 4410 John Deere with a 5' snow blower on the front. We have a very flat yard so I don't use any chains at all. I also have turf tires which work quite well in the snow without chains. I don't have any traction issues so don't run any extra weights at all. My theory is that if I run into something I don't want too much traction. Hopefully there is less damage to the snow blower that way.

 

[leonz]

Don't forget that the snow blower on the ground is acting like a boat anchor
and you do not have a great deal of weight bearing down on all four wheels
at once to overcome the drag of the snow blower.

If you loaded the rear tires with windshield washer fluid you could
remove the backhoe.

I had 4 link ladder chains on the rear tires of the JD LA115 with the
2 stage snow blower and even with my butt in the seat and the
84 pounds of 2 suitcase weights I still need to load the tires.

If there was a single stage snow blower on the front of the LA115
I would not have had to load the tires.

After I loaded the tires I had zero problems with traction.

The junk lawn tractor and the junk snow blower were the problem
as they have gotten away from having axles that have axle stub
shafts that you have to bolt the wheels to mount them.

Have the rears loaded with Beet Juice or Windshield Washer Fluid
and you will no longer need that backhoe.

 

[ruffdog]

Why not use the weight of the blower to add traction to the front tires? I knew one guy that installed some garage door springs between the top of the grill guard down to the blower frame. When the blower was down, through the springs, there was still weight on the front tires so he could turn.

 

[atitus74]

It's possible things are very different with larger tractors. With my BX, 50" blower, turf tire there is no issue turning. I normally go in 2wd to start, switch to 4wd if I get any slip. To be fair, I'm running on pavement. Float mode used for the blower so it's weight mostly on skids.

 

[grsthegreat]

Mines a hydraulic blower, but i can turn easily while it on ground. But my system has a 30 gal hydraulic powerpack on back, so its acting like a counter weight

 

[bigtiller]

I have a Massey Ferguson GC1720 TLB (SCUT) that I use with a front mount snowblower in heavy wet “Sierra Cement” snow. I haven’t been removing the backhoe when snowblowing. I sometimes have trouble turning but all I have to do is raise the blower slightly and it will turn. I’ve been wondering if the heavy backhoe counterweight on the rear is causing the front tires to be light and not turn well. I run chains on all four tires.

How do you run your front mount snowblowers? Any sort of weight on the rear?

Thanks!

With your backhoe removed, your setup is nearly identical to my Deere 2305. It had the same issues that you describe. Lifting the blower up a fraction of an inch made turns much better. But sometimes I would backup and take a quarter width bite with the blower to make a turn in a drift.

I had 2-link chains on the rear tires, which was a must for drift busting. I never thought I needed more weight for traction.

 

[Langanobob]

Thank you for your replies. The backhoe is off now and I’ll leave it off when it’s time for snowblowing and see how it goes. Filling the rear tires is a good idea I’ve been meaning to get around to.

 

[MAX-24-Dean]

Don't forget that the snow blower on the ground is acting like a boat anchor
and you do not have a great deal of weight bearing down on all four wheels
at once to overcome the drag of the snow blower.

If you loaded the rear tires with windshield washer fluid you could
remove the backhoe.

I had 4 link ladder chains on the rear tires of the JD LA115 with the
2 stage snow blower and even with my butt in the seat and the
84 pounds of 2 suitcase weights I still need to load the tires.

If there was a single stage snow blower on the front of the LA115
I would not have had to load the tires.

After I loaded the tires I had zero problems with traction.

The junk lawn tractor and the junk snow blower were the problem
as they have gotten away from having axles that have axle stub
shafts that you have to bolt the wheels to mount them.

Have the rears loaded with Beet Juice or Windshield Washer Fluid
and you will no longer need that backhoe.

Leonz, could you explain why a you would not have to load the tires with a single stage blower?