Snowblower Experience

[techman]

With the 6" of snow we got in eastern PA yesterday, I was able to really test out the snowblower on my BX22.

The blower works extremely well. Throwing snow 50' is no problem. The electric chute rotate is also a great feature, combined with the vinyl wind cab, makes it a very comfortable job with all controls at your fingertip.

The only problem I had was breaking 3 shear pins. The clearances in the impeller-housing are very tight, and I managed to catch a 1/2" piece of gravel where the paving ends near the main road. When the pin went, you couldn't tell other than the snow stopped blowing, not a beat missed in the engine or a sound made. The good news is that the pins are VERY easy to replace. Right out in front in the open, a one minute job.

The other pin I killed was on the ribbon feeder. Got that one when I grabbed the edge of a brick on the brick sidewalk. It wasn't easy to judge the depth of the lead edge (I need some more time with it) and I caught the brick's leading edge. Again I didn't know it until the snow started piling up on one side. Also a real easy exchange.

I was fortunate that I planned ahead and had purchased several of each shear pin, so I was prepared. I considered extending the skid shoes to minimize the stone ingestion problem, but then my paved area will be not a nice. I just need to find the right height to get it to with the lift when I reach the end of the macadam.

A great tool. A bit of operational fine tuning by the operator and it should be smooth sailing in the future. One other note is that the blower can easily swallow all 22 horsepower from the tractor. Forward speed had to be kept low to keep from lugging the engine. But when you consider that you are moving a 50" wide path, it's easy to see where the power is going.

paul

 

[thefarm]

Shearpins can be a problem until you get the blower adjusted.Mine will do the same thing.I have a rear mounted blower.I can go right along with mine.My BX1800 really likes it.The reason I didn't go with the Kubota blower is I felt it wasn't built as good as the Puma and I didn't like the fact that it wouldn't raise no more than 4 inches off the ground.The wife clears out the driveway when I'm working.I can see her stuck with a front end one.The augar and the second stage and the housing is 1/4 inch.But it is somewhat of a bother to back up all the time.I use regular grade 1/4 inch bolts for my shearpins.I have a dirt driveway and I live on a dirt road.These will break just as quick.Which is good,I've rather repalce a 10 cent bolt,than have a $4-500 repair.I have most of my trouble at the end of the driveway.I drilled out the bolt on the PTO to take a 1/4 bolt.I forgot what size mm it was.Was only a couple mm bigger.American sizes are cheaper to buy for me.

 

[NY_Yankees_Fan]

combined with the vinyl wind cab,

I too went with a 54" Puma 3 pt blower, worked great, but the flying snow is not fun when the wind is blowing in the wrong direction, I can not justify a $2500 Curtis cab yet. Where did you get a cab and how much did it cost?

Thanks

Tom

 

[hwp]

Breaking shear pins is annoying but you didn't break a driveshaft or gearbox. Shear pins are cheap insurance. Using higher grade bolts for shear pins is not a good idea. Gravel is really hard on snowblowers and will result in a number of shear pin failures.

You said that the clearance between your impeller and drum was quite tight - it should be. This is a major factor in determining the efficiency of a snowblower. A wide gap allows a lot of leakage and therefore a lower dishcarge velocity. When I rebuilt my snowblower, I fit the impeller to the drum so that I had 0.020" clearance.

The other factor is the speed of the impeller - keep your engine speed up to get a good throw. When I am clearing snow I run my engine at 2000 rpm and put the pto in low range. This gives me an impeller speed of 1000 rpm and a discharge velocity of about 5200 feet/min.

You have a quite a lot of snowblower for the size of your engine - I'm not surprised you have to slow down. I have a similar situation with my unit which also has a 50" blower and a 24 hp engine.

Heated metal cabs are great but expensive unless they come with your used tractor as mine did. Before I got my current machine, I had a conventional garden tractor, initially wihtout a cab, so I used a snowmobile helment to keep my head dry and warm. That was a reasonable temporary solution but a cab is much better.

 

[art]

Just a few tips on how to make snowblowing a little easier. On the front mounts make sure you are in float on dirt or gravel. You can use the down pressure on the pavement to scrape and you shouldn't have any trouble. On three point units on gravel shorten the top link so you are riding on the heel of the blower which is where the bulk of skid shoes are on the economy blowers. Later on in the season after you have a good base than you can tilt it vertical to cut the base if needed. Always have extra shear pins, they don't break unless you need them.

 

[techman]

Tom:

I did a lot of digging for cabs and found almost everything was way too expensive for what I wanted - a shield from blowing snow.

Finally I stumbled on a plastic/vinyl one from Sears. Just what I wanted. The price was $ 199. Low and behold about 6 weeks ago I was getting ready to buy it and I noticed on the Sears site that it was on sale for $ 119 "while supplies last". I went and got one. Took a few hours and 4 holes to fit it to the Kubota.

I am not sure of the current status. I checked the Sears site and it is still shown. You can check it out. The Sears item is #07124274000

I have attached a picture taken when I fitted it up.

paul

 

[NY_Yankees_Fan]

Techman,

Does it have a back to it, I have a 3pt snowblower so need the protection in the rear. Does it have a door? I see it is back to $199. What did you have to do to get it to fit? Do you think it will fit with the FEL?

Thanks

Tom

 

[snowman]

Ran over what I knew was a bolt that I had lost from the tractor a few nights ago - broke the shear pin in the blower auger. Decided to wait until today (Sat) to fix it since I it was cold and dark and the auger was packed with snow.

Cleaned it out today and found the attached.

Was wedged in there nice and tight. Almost bought myself a grinder last summer to sharpen the mower blades; was forced to go ahead and buy it today. No other way to get this out other than grind it down.

 

[snowman]

picture didn't attach to previous post

 

[snowman]

After I got it out