Rear snow blower 3 point hitch qyestion

[SylvainG]

My 1000 ft road is not leveled. It goes up and down and the grade can be 5%-7%. Does the blower on the 3 point hitch 'follow' the road as I'm starting to climb or will it dig into the ground? Do I need to lift the blower a bit then and lower it when at a top of a hill, about to go down? Not sure if what I'm saying makes sense but when reaching the bottom of a hill, I feel like the blower wants to dig into the road.

 

[Cat385B]

If the road surface is not frozen, it will dig in. It will dig in further if it’s large or if the cutting edge is in good condition.
You can alleviate that slightly by shortening the top link, thus reducing the angle on the cutting edge.

 

[Paystar]

Yes, your blower will float. The 3 point doesn't have down pressure. The trick is to have skid shoes on the blower and as said above by Cat385B.....shorten your top link so that the top of the blower is leaned back towards the tractor. That will take away the "cut" angle from the cutting edge if that makes sense.

And if you are going down a really steep hill and hit a level surface at the bottom you may have to just raise the 3 point as you transition.

 

[cdaigle430]

My 60 inch has large skid shoes and the 3 point on my tractor can be set to float. You can adjust the angle of attack by adjusting the toplink. Angling the blade down will allow you to get more of a bite, angling it up will allow you to ride more on the shoes and bit the snow less.

 

[Captain Dirty]

In addition to the "float" of the 3-pt arms, my Lorenz has removable pins that will allow more float in the frame between the 3-pt and the body of the blower. As Paystar implied, at some point the float geometry will reach its limit, and you will have to adjust.

 

[SylvainG]

Thanks for the quick response

The blower manual states that both the output shaft of the tractor and the input shaft of the blower must be parallel to prevent premature wear of the universal joints. I was leery of angling the blower other than straight. Although the blower doesn't have skid shoes on its exterior side (like my small self propelled snow blower has), it does have round dome skid shoes (just behind the blower chute) but with only one adjustment that lifts it by an inch, which is too much.

 

[Captain Dirty]

The blower manual states that both the output shaft of the tractor and the input shaft of the blower must be parallel to prevent premature wear of the universal joints. I was leery of angling the blower other than straight.

Any deviation from perfectly parallel will cause the output end to accelerate and decelerate on every revolution; the magnitude increases with increased angle. Many, or at least I, will accept this for the small angle involved as a few turns of the top link are easier than adjusting the skid shoes.

Although the blower doesn't have skid shoes on its exterior side (like my small self propelled snow blower has), it does have round dome skid shoes (just behind the blower chute) but with only one adjustment that lifts it by an inch, which is too much.

A local fabricator or SnowBlowerSkids.com (with whom I have no affiliation; I just saw it on another thread) could make the ski-like skid shoes you would then bolt to the ends of your blower. If slotted, they could be infinitely adjustable and an infinite pain to adjust.

 

[PILOON]

Quote Originally Posted by SylvainG View Post:
The blower manual states that both the output shaft of the tractor and the input shaft of the blower must be parallel to prevent premature wear of the universal joints. I was leery of angling the blower other than straight.

That is the ideal situation but never happens,

There is however acceptable working angles that I seem to recall are about 15-20 degrees ether way.
I've run my blower with same U joints for some 12 years with same U joints at all sorts of angles and even drive with blower coupled as do every commercial contractor around here.
Grease is cheap, just keep them well greased!

And I'll add 'so what' if U blow a joint, cheap and easy to replace.
Besides you will probably cause more premature damage clutching blower on and off than leaving it to free spin while driving.

My 2 cents.

 

[RjCorazza]

Lots of good information. I don't use my blower that often, but I added a larger set of skid shoes. I also had the (3) adjustment holes machined out into a slot for infinite adjustment.
I can adjust the hydraulic toplink to tilt the blower if necessary, but in reality that is more of a pain in the butt for terrain adjustment.

I run into the same issue with my non floating fel mounted plow going downhill on a driveway and leveling off at the street (kind of a dip). Rather than messing with the fel, I generally raise the front blade totally off the pavement and catch the snow with the rear blade that floats through the dip.

 

[oosik]

We are assuming you drive in reverse to blow snow. Raise the cutting lip of the blower slightly by shortening the top link. My Op Manual for my blower said 15 degrees or less is OK for the angle of the PTO shaft. Less is, of course, better but blowing all your gravel to the ditch, just to be dead level, is foolish.

By the time I needed the blower to clear the berms - my mile long gravel driveway was usually hard as a rock. No digging in - just the occasional rock or mouse.