Snow blower woes

[Ilikeurtractor]

Glad to hear it still will work out. Balance is definitely an issue on these relatively high-speed auger/impeller units. When I received mine the center paddles were cracked in the corners and the collector was also starting to break out. I beefed them up by welding straps on. Certainly this affected the balance on the auger but it doesn't seem too bad. I'm not sure how much effort the manufacturers put into balancing the units, I've never seen counterweights welded on any but I haven't really paid that much attention to it.

 

[amanda11270]

Finished up the blower today, cut off the sprocket box from the right and moved it to the left, flipped the gearbox 180, swap the side of the auger the sprocket was on. A little cutting, welding, drilling and some black paint and its finished. It appears to not wobble or shake much at all, I was pretty meticulous in attempting to keep the whole setup as true as possible, not certain how big of a concern that is with something like this. I will have to test it out the next time it snows. I dont mind fabricating and have quite the assortment of tools, however next time I will check the shaft rotation before buying, live and learn.

 

[Ilikeurtractor]

Looks good. Keep us posted on how it works. Did you get a chance to check the auger speed? Don't feel bad about the shaft rotation, that's an easy one to miss. I would have bought an incorrect one if the seller didn't bring it up during the sale.

 

[amanda11270]

I never got a chance to actually check the RPM speeds at the auger, however we got about 6 inches of snow outside and I did my whole driveway with the blower (about 1/10 mile) and with the tractor rpms at 1800 and above the blower moves snow real well. If anything it seems to work better when I hit deeper snow. The blower is good for my drive that is about a large truck width wide, and throws it off to both sides easily, however the parking area at my house is about 100 feet by 75 feet (where I park my company vehicles), so I have to go straight into it and just blow it forward to keep it off the whole area while blowing as it cant throw it as far as either the length or width. Im also glad I installed an eletric motor to do the spin of the chute as I would of been in and out of the cab numerous times. I wanted to use this unit before putting a linear actuator on the tip of the chute to change the throw angle from the cab. I wanted to use it before putting anymore $$$ into it, but now im sold on it and its capabilities.

 

[TomSeller]

Congratulations. You sure did a nice job.

 

[Ilikeurtractor]

Glad it worked out for you. Others will run into similar problems and may be able to use your modifications for a solution. To be honest I never really liked single-stage throwers much but I have to admit they do work pretty well for the most part. I'm sure you'll continue to be happy with yours. I found having a snow thrower on the front and a rear blade work really well together. Especially the rear blade for sidewalk work. Have fun!

 

[amanda11270]

To tell ya the truth I was skeptical of doing all this work on a single stage as I have only ever owned dual stage walk behinds before. I was adapting a gravely dual stage previously, but ran into a issue I could not resolve. I'm little afraid to stand in front of this blower as it works much more violently than any other blower I've used. But if anyone runs into this and adapts one, its definitely worth it, it throws much better than I would of figured. But probably not as good as the bolens dual stage they make, that probably won't need any modifications to work with the Isekis.

 

[Ilikeurtractor]

...But probably not as good as the bolens dual stage they make, that probably won't need any modifications to work with the Isekis.

From what I can gather Bolens offered three major types of small tractor snow throwers:

18000 series throwers - single stage and various widths from 32" to 42"
50146 - 2-stage 46" unit, light weight but takes CW input (non-Iseki)
1948/1949 - 2-stage unit, heavy, takes CCW input (Iseki)

I almost bought a 50146 before finding out it takes a different PTO direction input than my Isekis have. I have a 1948 unit that I plan on installing on a Iseki TS2202F (Bolens G244). The 1948 really is a monster among snow throwers. Installed weight is claimed to be over 500 lbs. In my opinion it's too much thrower for the TX series tractors although people have and are using them successfully on such. The 50146 would be an ideal thrower for the TX tractors if it turned the correct way. Alternatively I've found that the Kubota 50" 2-stage blowers (B2650/B2750/etc.) should be a better match for the TXs than the 1948/9. They take a CCW input and are chain driven to the impeller which allows easy speed changes via the output sprocket. They are designed to take around a 2500 rpm input vs. the 2000 the Isekis put out. I was fortunate enough to find a B2650 for a very good price but normally they are probably not worth the cost to buy and modify for an Iseki. Weight is about half of the 1948 do mainly to lighter construction (thinner steel) and lack of the heavy gear box.

 

[NHmitch]

This has been a great thread to follow, and the blower looks great! I have been thinking about doing the same thing for awhile, because I have a very large area on my farm that I snow blow with an older Ariens ST1032, that I just repowered with a 11hp briggs, however it would be great to do it from the tractor seat since my arms and shoulders are not good from the military rebuilding, or repowering both sides with lots of government hardware.
I have looked at quite a few Bolens snow throwers on Craigs List, and they all appear to be for the Bolens Mowers, not the Iseki's. Is that what you have on the front? I know that they sold one that came with the Iseki's and that may be the 1948/1949 models? I am just not sure what to look for. I was also wondering if you could use a PTO reverser to solve the directional issue. There may not be enough room, but I am not sure.

Amanda, Great modification, and thread!
Ilikeurtractor, great infor and specs!

Thanks for the advice, and glad that this worked out for you!

Last but not least, I know that they sold a snow plow with the Bolen/Iseki models. Does anyone have the model numbers, or know which ones will fit a TX? Thanks!

From what I can gather Bolens offered three major types of small tractor snow throwers:

18000 series throwers - single stage and various widths from 32" to 42"
50146 - 2-stage 46" unit, light weight but takes CW input (non-Iseki)
1948/1949 - 2-stage unit, heavy, takes CCW input (Iseki)

I almost bought a 50146 before finding out it takes a different PTO direction input than my Isekis have. I have a 1948 unit that I plan on installing on a Iseki TS2202F (Bolens G244). The 1948 really is a monster among snow throwers. Installed weight is claimed to be over 500 lbs. In my opinion it's too much thrower for the TX series tractors although people have and are using them successfully on such. The 50146 would be an ideal thrower for the TX tractors if it turned the correct way. Alternatively I've found that the Kubota 50" 2-stage blowers (B2650/B2750/etc.) should be a better match for the TXs than the 1948/9. They take a CCW input and are chain driven to the impeller which allows easy speed changes via the output sprocket. They are designed to take around a 2500 rpm input vs. the 2000 the Isekis put out. I was fortunate enough to find a B2650 for a very good price but normally they are probably not worth the cost to buy and modify for an Iseki. Weight is about half of the 1948 do mainly to lighter construction (thinner steel) and lack of the heavy gear box.

 

[Kiss4aFrog]

That is a nice conversion and the chute motors are an excellent touch.