Snowblower pictures

[Raw Dodge]

The last couple days I've really been putting my ventrac and snowblower to the test..we got a lot of snow here more than usual and we got it in the early start on getting the greens cleaned up started at my buddies course,he's got 20 greens to blow off,I've got 10...we burnt a couple blower belts up,The Steiner originally recommends an a series belt,put the blower was meant for machines that had 20 hp or less,the 31 was tearing thru an a belt every 15 minutes...we finally found a B series belt that was cut not wrapped..it's working perfect,now we can fully utilize the power without fear of blowing a belt...The snow we were blowing range from 18 inches up to over 3 1/2 feet. It's not loose light snow, it's packed in several layers it's the total accumulation for this entire season.The average depth seems to be 20 to 22 inches .The old Steiner SB 348 blower may be old but it still can do the job. I would love to have a brand-new 52 inch ventrac blower,I just don't have the money,this is working really good actually.

 

[Marveltone]

You look like you're having way too much fun! Don't count out that old equipment. Much of it was well made and should have many more years service left.

 

[Raw Dodge]

Old equipment is pretty much all I operate and can afford to buy. I just tried to buy equipment that was built very well in its day and I can still find or making parts for it. This blower is built very simply I can fabricate just about anything on it I would need to other than the gearbox and it looks like it would be easy to match up if I weren't able to get parts.

I put a few videos on YouTube check them out and please subscribe.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_tfrh90-u0&feature=youtube_gdata_player

 

[Industrial Toys]

That's the blower I have for my Steiner 430 Max Diesel. Put it on for the first time a couple of weeks ago and Nada! Seems the 1/4" eye bolt that held the tension spring for the tension pulley had fallen out. Spent most of the day looking for one, but nothing that small. That turned into one expensive bolt which finally cost me sixty cents at the hardware store!

Anyway, probably not a bad thing. I never knew those other belts and gear box were under that cover plus a couple of greasable bearings. That's the problem when you have too much stuff! Well, now this area will get my occassional attention.

I still don't particularly care for Steiner and it's belts. Last summer, I went to cut grass on a property my Dad owns some three hours away, and half way through, burned the tractor to mower belt off! I was dead in the water and called it quits! I know, I should have had an extra, but which one? I mean, do I take a spare of all three? If I did, something else would surely go wrong! I leant a friend my stump cutter, also last summer and again they had belt issues! Now that I think about it, leant the tractor and stump cutter to yet another friend the summer before that, and yes again, belt issues. He returned it with one of those fibre segmented belts which he claimed was of high quality (and pricey). It took me no time to destroy it with the stump cutter. I have bought the cheaper belts that my dealer also carries, but they are simply not worth buying!

 

[Raw Dodge]

That's the blower I have for my Steiner 430 Max Diesel. Put it on for the first time a couple of weeks ago and Nada! Seems the 1/4" eye bolt that held the tension spring for the tension pulley had fallen out. Spent most of the day looking for one, but nothing that small. That turned into one expensive bolt which finally cost me sixty cents at the hardware store! Anyway, probably not a bad thing. I never knew those other belts and gear box were under that cover plus a couple of greasable bearings. That's the problem when you have too much stuff! Well, now this area will get my occassional attention. I still don't particularly care for Steiner and it's belts. Last summer, I went to cut grass on a property my Dad owns some three hours away, and half way through, burned the tractor to mower belt off! I was dead in the water and called it quits! I know, I should have had an extra, but which one? I mean, do I take a spare of all three? If I did, something else would surely go wrong! I leant a friend my stump cutter, also last summer and again they had belt issues! Now that I think about it, leant the tractor and stump cutter to yet another friend the summer before that, and yes again, belt issues. He returned it with one of those fibre segmented belts which he claimed was of high quality (and pricey). It took me no time to destroy it with the stump cutter. I have bought the cheaper belts that my dealer also carries, but they are simply not worth buying!

Believe me after 25 hrs with Steiners and having 2 of them for 13 yrs, I have blown many a belt..As for what you should carry,if I was traveling 3 hrs away hauling my machine,yes I'd have every spare belt and an extra blade,or 2, because Murphy's law dictates it will break then! Which belt is breaking,the top one (A38)? Is it the same one every time...I will tell you this,something besides the belt is wrong,my guess is either you bent the lower double idler pulleys mount,or the tensioner idler pivot point is worn out,allowing the idler to press on the backside of the belt at an uneven angle when tensioning it..the best bests I have used for the money are the basic gates/Napa A38, there are better belts but I don't get much more out of them,and. They are a lot pricier. One of the things I like about the Ventrac is it uses an electric clutch which eliminates the need for bending the belt inside out like the steiners idler does,this easily doubles the belt life,and it uses B belts,which are much beefier,a steiner with a B belt,usually has trouble disengaging and engaging smoothly,they also tend to throw B belts because they ride higher in the pulleys and although they are sold as A-B pulleys they are not that deep.ill look and see if I have any pictures of a bent double idler pulley mount.They get bent when you use the machine without a lower belt on it,such as a plow or slip scoop,and the double idler spring is broken ,it allows the double idler to drop close to the ground,then you catch it on something an bend it and don't even notice it until you go to use a powered attachment,and it blows belts...they also can simply crack the weld like mine recently did at 2500 hrs..I straightened and re welded it because I'm cheap.

 

[Industrial Toys]

Just keeping track of the different sized belts requires a super computer, particularly as there are two (confusing) numbers on every belt.

I noticed that when I mount my 60" side discharge mower, the implement (lower) belt rubs when raised, and I can smell it burning, so I have to remember to disengage the mower PTO when moving around with the mower up. Any thoughts on that one?

In general, do you find the basic attachment system to be easy? I know it should be, but I often have problems. Things bind, and move forward rather then letting me engage them fully.

BTW, What do you think of the 440?

 

[Raw Dodge]

Just keeping track of the different sized belts requires a super computer, particularly as there are two (confusing) numbers on every belt. I noticed that when I mount my 60" side discharge mower, the implement (lower) belt rubs when raised, and I can smell it burning, so I have to remember to disengage the mower PTO when moving around with the mower up. Any thoughts on that one? In general, do you find the basic attachment system to be easy? I know it should be, but I often have problems. Things bind, and move forward rather then letting me engage them fully. BTW, What do you think of the 440?

I think the fact that it's rubbing proves there is a problem with lower pulleys mount. When the double pulley comes forward and rubs against the mounting arms that usually indicates the Welds have broken or the mounting rod itself is bent underneath.Fix this and your belt problems will likely go away.it's not difficult to look at and figure out what's wrong this part of the tractor is very easy to get to. Remove the implement and either put down something to lay on if you don't have a nice clean floor.with the machine cold I would pull on the lower pulley mount, see how much play there is ,make note of any Forward and reward movement at this time.because it's so easy to do I usually just pull the lower mount off .i start on the side with the disengagement lever for the PTO drive there should be a cotter pin that holds the lower mount from sliding right out of the frame. I would take your pliers and get that cotter pin ready to come out,on the other side there will be a pretty stiff spring that holds the idler pulley up towards the machine remove that spring at either the mount or the frame.The idler pulley should now flop down towards the ground. Now go ahead and remove the belt tension adjuster by spinning counter clockwise until it falls off now simply slide the top belt to the engine off and remove the cotter pin you straightened in the beginning,and that whole lower amount should be able to go towards the rt side,once it slides out of the frame on the left side it should then come down and out.Get it up up on the bench and take a look and find out if the 5/8 thick rod is bent or if the pivot point welds are broken,or the back of the mount is just bent.i've got so much on my machines I can do this in less than five minutes it should take you 10 minutes tops the first time so I want to take a look and see what's wrong .

 

[Raw Dodge]

Number 25 is going to likely be your problem

 

[John Joseph McVeigh]

Great pix, RD. Thank you for sharing them.

As far as old equipment is concerned, there's absolutely nothing wrong with running old equipment that was well designed and well built. I tend to buy the best-designed/best-built equipment that I can afford, whether new or used, and then follow (or do more than) the recommended maintenance schedules, to keep the equipment running and in good condition.

E.g., I tend to keep my automobiles running for at least 15 years. Right now, I'm running a pair of Model Year 2002 BMW 3-Series autos, and I expect to get a lot more life out of each of them.

I'm new to the tractor world. I did buy the Ventrac snow blower to go with my Ventrac tractor, but I'm hoping to get many, many years of service out of them. Perhaps I should change the title of my thread in this forum to:

My Last Tractor Will Be a Ventrac 4500Y.

Best,

JJM