Small cab tractors With snowblowers

[milkie62]

With recent storms and future longer length driveway of the kids houses I have contemplated a dedicated snowblowing/finish mowing tractor with cab,AC & heater. A 5 foot blower would be sufficient as wood a 6 foot finish mower. Has anybody bought a tractor/blower setup and had it underpowered ? I will not be in a hurry since I will be retiring and being able to just wear a sweatshirt with a cup of coffee while leisurely blowing approx. 1000 feet of driveway plus parking areas could be relaxing. Will need a blower due to drifting and hate keeping piles pushed back. Used with up to around 700 hrs would be preferred.

 

[RjCorazza]

Not sure what you consider small, but there are lots of scuts with aftermarket cabs out there. Many manufacturers are putting factory cabs on smaller machines than were available in the past.
A 60" blower is certainly doable on a 20hp (+ or -) tractor.

One used machine I would avoid like the plague is the Kubota B3350, but I suspect you are looking for something smaller.

 

[chim]

I'd say go with around 35-40HP for a 6' mower with A/C unless the land is flat and you mow frequently. My 32HP L3200 with a DIY heated cab has sufficient power for a 64" rear blower and a 6' RFM, but not much in reserve. When the temptation to mow with a 7-1/2' deck and A/C became overwhelming I went with 10 more horses. Figured 5HP each for the additional width and A/C. Worked out fine.

 

[leonz]

It all depends on whether it is using a front mount snow blower or a rear mount. The front mounts need more power than a mid mount drive system UNLESS; you invest in a smaller SCUT with a cab with a loader and use a single or two stage motorised snowvac snow blower mounted on the loader frame. I am still waiting on snowvac to post information on these snow blowers.

EDIT:

The front mounts are generally reduced down from 2,200 RPM through the hydraulic drive in the mid PTO which eats up engine power.
As much as I dislike the snowvac design, but they can work as long as the operator just sets the cruise control on the mule and watches the world go by and listens to the radio, drinks coffee etc. I am waiting to see what they have on the single stage unit they keep bragging about.

A machine with 700+ hours may just be beaten up enough with hidden damage that its not worth it and it may not have a mid PTO system either.

Something like a used cabbed narrow low profile orchard and vineyard Kubota 8540 with a mid PTO and a 7 foot plow would work but they may be hard to find and the last one I looked at was over 11,000 Canadian dollars.


A new Ventrac with the largest Kubota engine and their front mower and snow blower with the all season cab would be less money.
and it has a belt drive system for the mower and snow blower from what I remember.

 

[aczlan]

It all depends on whether it is using a front mount snow blower or a rear mount. The front mounts need more power and a mid mount drive system

You keep saying this, I dont see how it can be the case.
If we use as a comparison, a 50" 2 stage 3 point blower and a 50" 2 stage front mount blower, both with the same diameter 4 blade fan and both with a open auger.
The front mount one will have a gear or chain reduction assembly, so in both cases the fan is spinning at 540RPM and you might lose a little efficiency there, but the front PTO goes through less reduction, so that should even things out.

In such a case, why would the front mount blower one need more power than the 3 point one?

Aaron Z

 

[bridge4]

My tractor is like 29.5 or something at the PTO and I have a 64 inch rear mount blower. I just got it but have used it after 18+ inches and about 4 inches. I have a lot of area I clear off between two drive ways and parking areas. With the 18+ inches I had to go slow and eat at it bit by bit. Took me about 7 hours, but it was my first time and a lot done in dark, so lets call it 5.5 daytime hours.

With just 4 inches the entire thing took a little under 2.5 hours. So it really was all about how much snow was on the ground. I didn't find myself wanting for power really in either storm, its just something that can take time.

 

[super55]

As the old saying goes. There's no replacement for displacement. From what you described in your wants on your next tractor I would get the highest HP that model offered.

From personal experience I would look at something at least least 35+ hp. I use a cabbed john deere 4400 with a 59in blower and 90% the platform can handle it as fast as I can feed it within reason. Certain areas I can get 2-3' drifts and the machine will handle it but it's slow. Part of it is from only being 35hp and the other is the blower itself has to work hard to push the volume through. Only way I think I could go faster is with a much bigger tractor with a dual auger blower.

When checking out which brand to got with be sure to check out ease of installation/removal of implements especially if you go with a front mount blower and mid-mount finish mower. There is a chance that certain parts might have to be removed or added to facilitate having the other implement attached.

 

[seville009]

No matter what you get, it will always feel underpowered at some point.

Basically, get the highest horsepower equipment that you can afford and deal with.

I got a 50 hp skidsteer with a heated cab about ten years ago; much nicer than an open tractor when blowing snow. The 50 hp is ok; just have to manage how large of a bite to take depending on the weight of the snow.

 

[finn1]

Don’t know what your snow is like, but I suspect upstate NY may be in the Great Lakes snow belt, much like my house s. In any event, my Kioti Ck5010 has a 60” front mounted snowblower, and I wouldn’t go any lower in power, especially for the late season wet blizzards. I also use it to remove the snow we shovel off of our~42” high deck. We typically get 4-8” of lake effect snow daily at the season’s peak, so the snow shoveled off the deck has to be cleared away at least biweekly or you have to shovel up to clear the deck.

This now is quite compacted a DVD’s requires full power to throw ~40’ or so to the lake level.

Another thing to consider is blower width. Mine is 60” and I consider that marginal. Even 6” wider would make things go quicker.

 

[bridge4]

Don’t know what your snow is like, but I suspect upstate NY may be in the Great Lakes snow belt, much like my house s. In any event, my Kioti Ck5010 has a 60” front mounted snowblower, and I wouldn’t go any lower in power, especially for the late season wet blizzards. I also use it to remove the snow we shovel off of our~42” high deck. We typically get 4-8” of lake effect snow daily at the season’s peak, so the snow shoveled off the deck has to be cleared away at least biweekly or you have to shovel up to clear the deck.

This now is quite compacted a DVD’s requires full power to throw ~40’ or so to the lake level.

Another thing to consider is blower width. Mine is 60” and I consider that marginal. Even 6” wider would make things go quicker.

One thing I went back and forth with when sizing mine was the width to available power. I feel at 30hp, over a little 5 feet was about as much as I wanted to push it with my tractor and not have to crawl. I wanted my blower solidly in the upper end of HP recommendations. I could have done one a foot or two larger, but would have been at the bottom of the requirements, which to me doesn't make sense.