Snowblower Snowblower improvements

jim_wilson · Dec 18, 2005

The blower was originally setup to be mounted on the front of one of those big Jacobsen greens mowers - it had an adapter gearbox mounted on it to take the 2000rpm PTO of the Jacobsen and gear it down to the 540rpm gearbox on the blower. I took the adapter gearbox off and welded up a 3pt hitch mount so I could attach it to my tractor. I also had to get the correct PTO shaft for the blower which I bought directly from Loftness.
I did some research yesterday online and while I was looking at the Pronovost web site I noticed that they listed the speed of the impeller their blowers as being 540rpm. My impeller makes one revolution for every revolution of the PTO shaft so I am sure that everything is geared correctly. My guess is that the bad performance boils down to one of three things - the gaps between the impeller and auger and the snowblower housing are too big - the snow was too heavy - and possibly the tractor is not putting out full PTO power. When I was blowing the snow it did not bog the tractor down at all so I don't think I had too big of a load on it. Maybe I just need to wait until the next big storm and see how it does with a decent snowfall.

jim_wilson · Dec 18, 2005

I have never seen a blower that does that - could you post some pictures so we could get a better idea of how that works?

MadReferee · Dec 18, 2005

( I have never seen a blower that does that - could you post some pictures so we could get a better idea of how that works?)

There was a post about this time last year describing the same problem with pictures. The general consensus was that the chute was poorly designed. I can't seem to find the thread right now. Maybe ronjhall can help. He is better with Search than I am. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

BigEddy · Dec 19, 2005

I have a 60" Meteor - I too have about 1/2 spacing on the end of the rotor blades and that was how it came to me new - but I have never had a problem with the distance it flings the snow (except one time when I was trying to blow slush) . Typically my snow is 6" deep and varies from dense to fluffy.

I have a 12' wide driveway, and it will throw the snow at least 8' off the far side of the driveway - so maybe 18' from center of the blower to the center of the landing zone. That's with the deflector set at 1 notch above the most horizontal setting and the tractor at PTO speed exactly. Far enough that I don't have to blow it twice, as long as I'm not trying to blow up-wind and good enough for me.

In most cases, if I try to go too fast, the auger will pull the snow in faster than the impeller can clear it away - so I slow down to the point where the snow does not overflow the top or sides. At that rate I'm not overly taxing the tractor.

I've read about the dime test more than once on here - but I've never seen a snowblower that would even come close, brand new or otherwise - so I'm skeptical. I really don't think there is that much "leakage" off the ends of the blades (unless you are trying to blow slush) to make much difference. Certainly when I shut down and clear out the snow, I have snow stuck in all the corners and around the auger drive, but never is there any residual snow in the impeller opening. I think geometry makes a much bigger difference. Increasing impeller diameter by an inch or 2 would make much more impact on the distance the snow can be thrown - at a cost of more horsepower required.

I'd be very interested in quantitative studies by folks who modify their blade design to close the gap, or try the blade wipe solution. Does it really make a difference? And in all conditions, or only with slush?

If you really want to throw the snow further, my recommendation is to look for a blower with a larger diaeter impeller.

BigDogues · Dec 19, 2005

I think this is the thread that MadReferee is refering to.

MadReferee · Dec 19, 2005

Yep, it is.

kenneyz · Dec 19, 2005

I dunno guys, I've got the front blower on my BX 2200 and I'll tell you what it has NO problems throwing snow...or slush. We just had 6" of snow which changed to rain and left 3-4 inches of heavy wet snow/slush. I was thowing this stuff over 20 feet easy...I almost hit my house while doing in front of my garage. As far as puffy light stuff, I'll throw it 40-50 feet easy, the deeper the snow the farther it goes. I take of my parents driveway...there house is 65 feet long, from the far edge of the driveway I can throw snow past the middle of the house. /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

jimgerken · Dec 20, 2005

Yup, I would agree, there's something very wrong with a snowblower that only blows 12 feet. My homebuilt 59" wide singlestage unit running on 17 PTO Hp throws heavy snow 35-40 feet. I am voting for excessive tolerance in the fan. Mine was pretty close before painting, now after painting, it rubs.

jim_wilson · Dec 20, 2005

We got one good snowstorm here so far and there is nothing of consequence forecast for the next week so. I am going to wait for the next good snowstorm and try the blower out once more and see how it does. If I don't get good performance out of it I am going to start tinkering. It looks like the impeller on my blower comes off pretty easily - when I get a chance I may try taking it off and either weld or bolt on some extensions to the paddles so the tolerance is closer than the 1/2" that I have now.

Pks · Dec 20, 2005

Jim,

What's the diameter of your impeller? This is important.

FWIW:
In order to throw snow more than 20 feet, the impeller needs to be spinning fast enough to produce a tip speed of roughly 4500 feet per minute. If your impeller is 14 inches in diameter, it will need to spin significantly faster than an impeller that is 24 inches in diameter.

Since you converted your blower from a front mount and got rid of the gearbox, you may have missed a gear ratio calculation.

I have some experience with a Jacobson front mount blower that I converted from mechanical drive to hydraulic drive. Which makes me ask: Are you REALLY certain about this statement: 2000rpm PTO of the Jacobsen and gear it down to the 540rpm gearbox on the blower. ?I think my Jacobson impeller is 14 inches (don't really remember).

If your gearbox and power train is like mine, then you might have a problem with your new arraingement. My gearbox has a compound ratio and there are two other ratios along that power train (one ratio up-stream of the box and one down-stream of it). I don't recall the numerical ratios at the moment, but I know that the gearing slowed the shaft speed only a little bit.

I can make an educated guess that unless your blower fan is about 20 inches in diameter, it doesn't seem right that it was designed to run at 540 RPM.

My 60 inch Blizzard blower has an input speed of 2500 RPM, it goes through a single reduction chain assembly which produces a fan tip speed of just under 4800 feet per minute. That fan makes a slight buzzing sound when running at this maximum RPM with no snow load. The fan to housing clearance is about 5/16 of an inch.

It will throw heavy snow 20 feet or blow mailboxes off their posts (the flimsy ones). /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif