snow blower conversion

[PILOON]

I had a front mount and opted to convert to rear as I could retain loader function.
Also my rear low gear was more suitable to blowing than my front low speed.
In my opinion front blowers need two critical things.
Double clutch (whereby the blower is always spinning) while the drive is 'clutched out' otherwise you are constantly shifting to neutral and re-engaging blower to unload it.
OR
hydrostatic drive so that you 'creap' when the snow is deep or heavy

All that being said; anybody want a cheap kit for front mounting your blower?
I'll swap for a repairable bush hog!
The kit was for a BERVAC 60" blower and is universal.

 

[john_bud]

I have never done this, but it would seem that you can get a QA plate for about $100 and mount the blower to it. Buy a PTO pump and fab a rear 3pt mount for it and it's reservour (~5 minimum, 10 would be better) then mount a hydraulic motor to the blower PTO and run hoses up to the front. I'd use 1/2 for pressure and 3/4 for return to minimize losses.

Costs would be about
100 for QA plate
400 for pto pump
100 for reservour
400 for hyd motor
200 for hoses
Figure 20% for overruns

Looks like 1400 bucks to convert to FEL mounted hydraulicly operated front blower. Not cheap, but more user friendly than a hard mounted one. If you have a 3rd function FEL valve, adding hydraulic chut angle would be a snap.

Just a thought ....

jb

 

[SkunkWerX]

Costs would be about
100 for QA plate
400 for pto pump
100 for reservour
400 for hyd motor
200 for hoses

The look on your friend's faces = Priceless!

 

[skidsteer.ca]

The skidsteer models we sell run on as little as 11 gpm and 2000 psi and on up from there. Most skids in the last 10 years have 15 to 20 gpm and 2500 to 3000 psi which is better.
Certainly is no reason why a rear pto pump could not be set up to run one. The only other thing you may require is a hydraulic cooler. Monitoring the oil temp during the first few uses would be prudent. Then add a cooler if needed.

If I figured it right 16.9 gpm and 3000 psi on my 773 gives me 27 hp to the 73inch blower. It works great.
I could never figure out why tractors have such small hyd pumps. Really is a shame, hyd drive brush cutting is often a better way to go too. Much easier on gear box parts.
Ken

 

[diyDave]

I mounted an old 4' 3ph pto unit on an Asv Rc30, and used the machine's remote ports to power it. What you need to do is know what your tractor's hyd system pressure (PSI) and flow rate(GPM). Then go to surpluscenter.com, and see if they have a motor that will turn @ 540 rpm at the pressure and flow rate that you have.(They have all of the formulas that you will need to do the math) They also have good tech support and their prices are pretty good too!

 

[amkfken]

Replying to my post #3 in this thread--mounting a walk behind blower to the FEL does work --sort of!
Makes the whole assembly too long to control and becomes a pain in the A** to operate on a crooked gravel drive, would work on a paved drive.
Spent 10 minutes taking it off, went back to using the FEL as before. Oh Well, no $ spent, just time!

 

[Kendrick]

I have a rear blower and would have to say probably the best setup is a standard plow blade on a qa mount so that you can quickly pile up the spill and low quantity. then turn around and blow the piles to their destination. I get 3-5 mph on my blower from this last round of snow. we have about 1500 feet of drive. half is shared that was cleared for me. it took 1.5-2 hrs to clear that with 18" of snow. a good ammount was tripple passes on my parking due to overflow and the fact I have to back drag the length of the tractor to clear the front out. I would have been able to cut that by about half or more if i had a plow blade on the front that was 80" or so. blower is @ 74 and just a hare to small. I am considering making a reversable plow blade using hydrolics to curl it from forward to back position. If i get really fancy may even get side tilt included.