Snow Equipment Buying/Pricing Rear Snow blower for Kubota BX2200

[Sedge1]

Friends, I am in the market for a rear-mounted snow blower for my Kubota BX2200. I decided to get the rear-mounted so that I can keep the bucket mounted. It also seems to be a much simpler rig and is about $1500 cheaper. I contacted one dealer who recommended a Bervac Blizzard 54" that costs $2600. Another suggested the Frontier 54" at $2500. And a third was the Frontier in 48" for $2050. This one was suggested over the 54" because the fellow said that a 54" would be too big for my rig, especially if the snow was dense as it usually is where I live. That seemed to make sense to me - and it was $500 less than the bigger rigs.
I would appreciate any observations on the makes of the blowers that I am looking at, and if the 48" rig would be the best for my size tractor. And for those of you who run a rear mounted, do you wish you had gone with a from mounted unit? Again,I do like the idea of having thebucket mounted for moving snow that I can not reach with the blower. And the counter-weight factor makes sense to me as well.
Thanks for any other insight and suggestions.

 

[oldnslo]

The only time you have to use the full 54" width is the opening pass. I prefer to have the blower slightly wider than the tractor so that you can turn some without the front tires running over the snow. Also with the HST you have infinite speed control. Tractor starts grunting slow down not grunting speed up.

 

[repair1]

Welcome to the forum Sedge1

I would go with the 54" but if you get a lot of heavy, wet snow I would be leery of going any wider. I have a 50" Allied Farm King and it just barely covers the wheels. As oldnslo said you will only use the full 54" for the opening pass so it won't be a big deal. Personally, I am happy with the rear mounted blower. I use the bucket a lot to move snow piles and to clean up at the end of the driveway. With the pedal arrangement on the BX it's easy to sit sideways and use your right heel on the reverse rocker. I do believe I could go faster with a front mounted blower, but I would not give up the versatility of having the bucket mounted on the tractor.

FYI.. the Farm King was $2000 three years ago but I think some people paid less than that. It may be hard to find one this time of year.

 

[mjym]

hi i have meteor 51 inch on a kubota bx1830 with front loader and its good enough for me if the snow is to thick i go slowly

 

[alltherage]

I have a 72" with 23pto hp. I also suggest going wider than the tires with a hst tractor. Controlling speed makes all the difference. I could handle an 84" even

 

[mddorange]

:welcome:
To the forum from Alabama. How much snow you got? Are you making a mint clearing everyone's snow?

 

[Amvcane]

Sedge1,

I have not researched the manufactures or models you have mentioned, but two things I would look for.
Largest diameter fan for greatest throwing distance.
Chain driven auger for longevity.
Width is not that much of an issue as others have mentioned. Your second pass will probably be only 3/4 wide to avoid wind rowing.
Three point blowers are pretty simple mechanically and usually have low hours of usage compared to other attachments. You may also want to consider a used unit as these things last for decades and will save you much money. I picked up a 1995 Schulte which still had the original shear pins in the auger and driveshaft.
Good luck with your purchase.

 

[DHD]

Welcome to the forum.
It's great to have another person from Maine on here. (I'm over in the Farmington area)

These guys are correct about larger diameter impellers throwing snow farther.

Your BX2200 with it's 16.7 pto HP could power the John Deere Frontier SB1154 RM, it's got a 4 paddle 24" impeller recommended Min 16 pto HP - Max 35 pto HP and it's 54" wide.
I recommended going with the 54" wide blower anything narrower will also probably come with a smaller diameter impeller, resulting in less snow throwing distance.

For my Kubota B7800 I have the little bigger SB1164 and it also has a 4 paddle 24" impeller and it'll blow snow over 35', I've actually measured 38' snow blowing distance.
I bought SB1164 used and have had it 2 years. Only issue I've had is replacing the occasional broken shear bolt. It's a very reliable rugged unit.

If the snow is really deep or heavy and wet, and the blower starts to bog down, I just slow my ground speed until the pto speed is back to normal, keeping pto speed up is key.
The first pass through the snow is the slowest.

Do you have a cab for your BX2200 ?

I have one for my B7800 and I highly recommend a cab if your going to be snow blowing.

Good luck in your search

Edit @ 11:13am
I believe the Blizzard, Frontier and Kubota rear mount snow blowers are made by RAD out of Canada, and these blowers are all identical except for color.
At least a couple of years ago that was the case, I just looked at some photos of some new Kubota rear mount blowers, and from what I can see, it's the same as my Frontier.
I can't find any photo of a Blizzard snow blower, but I did see a new one locally 2 years ago and it was the same as my Frontier.
Just look them over and see if you can see any differences. I don't see why the Blizzard 54" should cost more than the Frontier 54", unless maybe now they are different.

 

[Sedge1]

:welcome:
To the forum from Alabama. How much snow you got? Are you making a mint clearing everyone's snow?

Thanks for asking and obliged for the kind greeting.
We got around 60" in the past two weeks. A bit further Downeast, Eastport got, as of yesterday, 76" in 10 days. Not counting the 6-8" overnight, and what is falling right now. That is a record for my home state.
Three weeks ago I was looking at green grass wondering if it was going to be one of "those" winters. Now I know it is going to be one of "those" winters. Did I mention the fairly constant below zero air temps at night? Skiing last weekend at -6F and gusts to 25mph was a bit nippy.
These days, you probably could make more money selling a place to put the snow rather than plowing it. That is why I am looking at a blower. The plow truck is running out of room to push the snow on my road, which is about 2/10 mile.

 

[wawajake]

I went with a 51 inch rear snowblower see picture, 2 seasons now, I don't mind the rear facing aspect because it is far to advantageous to have bucket still usable . At times when pushing back my banks or fine tuning around obstacles, need the bucket...or back dragging sidewalks down to concrete , or digging in areas you are not sure if anything is on ground that would otherwise clog blower............mine is an AgriEase