That's a long one
With a new blower do yourself a favour an hook it up when the weather is nice, and just run it for a while to work in the gears. Ensure everything is greased, but not too much on the pto shaft. The grease will act like glue if there is too much. Nothing like having to use a bar to pry off the pto shaft to change the shear pin.. I went through 4 shear pins in an hour the first time I used it. Trying to find things dropped in deep snow at 5am isn't fun. Know where the extra shear pins and tools are before you start
. It was never very cold last year, only 1 day below -20C. Probably averaged 15 minutes warmup while shoveling of the doorsteps. I never left it running unattended after it blew off the hydro filter that first winter on startup (35 hours with factory fill hydro fluid) . I leave it outside, so I figured when the snow melted off the hood, that was a good indication it was warming up. Exercised the loader, moved it around a bit , if everything felt right then I would start blowing. The last 2 years I have only replaced the shear pin once when I went into a drift that had ice buried under it. Clear an area larger than necessary, you never know if it will melt before the next snowfall. The higher the edges, the faster it drifts in.
The Agrotrend doesnt use skid shoes, the bottom rides on the ground. By using the toplink you can adjust the angle. Too aggressive, and it will scrape off the top layer of gravel. With a gravel driveway, I would let the ice build up a bit to lock in the gravel, then leave a light covering of snow for traction while driving on it with a car. Saves on the spring cleanup of gravel on the grass. It worked in the wettest slush, although I would have to stop to clear the build-up out of the chute every now and then. Good distance for throwing snow. Try to go too fast and it will bog the engine. The blower almost fits within the loaders width, so I could clear out the really icy stuff with the FEL (usually the end of the driveway after the plows have been by). I've had a few drifts higher than the blower (over 2 feet),just backed into them with it raised, then backed up again with it on the ground.
Overall the size fits the 2300/2310 very nicely. As I have a GC2300 ,no BH, I put the blower on the start of Nov., and remove the start of April. Makes a satisfactory counter weight for loader work without having to put on the boxblade.
I have been in snow deep enough that the tractor would not move without using the loader as a plow. If you don't have a plow/loader, park it with the blower facing the direction you want to go. The front end also felt light, difficult to steer straight. I ended up foam filling my front tires at an industrial tire shop after the first winter. Each front now weighs 62.5 pounds.
Remember, I'm just some guy on the internet, read the owners manual, and take every story with a bit of salt. Two situations will rarely ever be identical.
