Rear Inverted Snowblowers 2019

[kco]

The Meteor fan design looks like a bit more robust than the Farm King. The steel looks thicker and the reinforcement for the blade runs the entire depth of the blade. You can see the bend in the plate that restricts the drum opening on my blower in the third photo.

The blue arrow in this photo points to the gap which is filled with ice:



The edge of that plate should be right against the drum opening.

 

[airbiscuit]

KCO, I am curious about the PTO connection on tghe Farm King. On my Meteor, the PTO shaft goes directly from tghe tractor to the fan (with the second PTO universal joint). On the Farm King, is there a stub shaft that goes from th efan to some sort of hanger, and the PTO attaches to that?

 

[Hilbilly]

The Meteor fan design looks like a bit more robust than the Farm King. The steel looks thicker and the reinforcement for the blade runs the entire depth of the blade. You can see the bend in the plate that restricts the drum opening on my blower in the third photo.

The blue arrow in this photo points to the gap which is filled with ice:

View attachment 636654

The edge of that plate should be right against the drum opening.

There are so many things about my old Meteor that are better than the FK. The Meteor uses an oil bath gear where this is open gears. The Meteor uses a #60 chain for the auger drive, the FK uses a #50. The steel for the fan is way thicker on the Meteor and the bracing is MUCH more robust. The auger bearings on the Meteor are grease-able and the FK are not. The auger flights on the Meteor have right angle bracing stiffeners and the FK does not. On the FK there are 3 bearings for the fan drive shaft and 2 of them are not grease-able either. The FK website states this blower is suitable for tractors with 60 - 90 hp. My tractor only has 53 PTO hp. I think a 90 hp tractor would tear this thing up.

The restrictor plate shown in photos 5 and 7 was flush with the fan housing before I used the blower. The fan blades hit that plate and bent it out.

Hoping I will not have hassles about the warranty. I also need to check with the dealer to see if he filed the warranty registration card. Even if he did, it may not have reached them yet.

 

[airbiscuit]

Now I am installing the last, and I thought easiest piece to my snowblower - the PTO. The tractor end goes on just fine. the blower side goes on about an inch and stops. My old one had the push button one on each end. This one has a slotted end and t bolts that cinch it down. I can still wobble it, but it won't go any farther. It is not in a handy place to get at it.

Any suggestions?

 

[Hilbilly]

Hard to tell without seeing it. Does the blower end shaft have a slot with a key in it? If so you may not have them lined up properly or the key could have a burr on it that is preventing it from sliding into the slot on the driveshaft.

Got any pics of that shaft and the end of the driveshaft?

 

[airbiscuit]

I'll get some pics. The shaft coming out of the blower is a standard PTO spline.

 

[Hilbilly]

Does the driveshaft have a collar around the end that connects to the blower? If so that needs to be pulled back as you push the driveshaft onto the blower shaft.

If I don't respond for a while or a few days it is likely because our power went out again. We are in the middle of a nasty storm with high winds and heavy snowfall. Temps are plummeting and supposed to get down to -34 over the next few days. Good time to have a cab tractor

I've go to go and put the new blower on the tractor and head down to my daughter's place to get rid of snow. Her husband's plow truck broke down and they will get snowed in. I was down there last night too.

 

[airbiscuit]

Thanks to Hillbilly, and a DUH top me. Thanks, because I took some pics, and then removed the snowblower from the tractor for better pics. Then as a test, I put the tractor end on the blower and it slid on. Tried the blower end again and no-go. Then I took the clamping bolts out, and it slid right in! They protrude slightly so go in the groove of the PTO shaft to keep it from sliding out - DUH.

Here's how one decision can affect a series of events. It has been quite cold, and I was assembling this snowblower and lubing up my old snowblower at the same time. I took both PTO Shafts into my warm basement to grease. I should have attached the PTO to the blower when it was unattached from the tractor, but I had put it on th tractor to get it into my pole building. I thought this thing would just slide on, so that started my cascade of wrong decisions. The other thing is that is the heaviest PTO shaft I have ever dealt with.

So, now I just wait for snow!

 

[jpm]

Some days it just goes that way. It's good that you got it figured out

 

[Hilbilly]

It would be so much easier if there was only one universal connection method.