Snowblowing rules of thumb

[Lockport]

I used to have a Kubota T1770 with a belt drive blower and it would just stall if ice had froze in the auger preventing it from turning. You won't have to worry about that anymore. 3 cylinders of diesel powered craftsmanship on a chain driven, shaft drive auger will not be overwhelmed by a little ice. In fact, take big bites. Last year I cleaned a path to by back yard for a large BH to dig a broken septic line and it'll cruise through 24" on hard pack as fast as it can shoot it up the auger.

Gravel: Best thing to do I discovered this year was box blade the drive and get the crests and dips out. Second, set the skid shoes a couple inches. That's what they're for. If you like, after it develops a frozen layer, drop the shoes (although I never do).

Sheer bolts? Can't say, in three winters, I have ever encountered any situations where I have broken one.

Enjoy!

 

[SPYDERLK]

I used to have a Kubota T1770 with a belt drive blower and it would just stall if ice had froze in the auger preventing it from turning. You won't have to worry about that anymore. 3 cylinders of diesel powered craftsmanship on a chain driven, shaft drive auger will not be overwhelmed by a little ice. In fact, take big bites. Last year I cleaned a path to by back yard for a large BH to dig a broken septic line and it'll cruise through 24" on hard pack as fast as it can shoot it up the auger.

Gravel: Best thing to do I discovered this year was box blade the drive and get the crests and dips out. Second, set the skid shoes a couple inches. That's what they're for. If you like, after it develops a frozen layer, drop the shoes (although I never do).Enjoy!

Sounds like you have enuf power driving the same thrower I have on my BX1500. Mine is underpowered. From my experience with smaller walk behinds you need about 4.5 to 5HP per foot width at 18" depth to move at reasonable speed. So Im putting your PTO at around 20HP???

If it starts snowing again around here more than about 6" at a pop, I will mount an auxiliary engine on the snowthrower before I use it for deeper stuff. Its just too frustrating. Til I do that I will use the 8HP walk behind. It will practically pull you along thru more than a foot of snow. I mounted small outboard wheels with little snow guard fenders to allow for the gravel. Skids have brought the gravel up and caused trouble for me, but the worst is when a neighbor did a "favor" and plowed part of my 1mi drive before I got there. When I got to the disturbed area it started throwing gravel and broke the shear bolt.
larry

 

[Lockport]

Sounds like you have enuf power driving the same thrower I have on my BX1500. Mine is underpowered. From my experience with smaller walk behinds you need about 4.5 to 5HP per foot width at 18" depth to move at reasonable speed. So Im putting your PTO at around 20HP???

Nope. Just under 17HP at the PTO. Yours is just under 14. I have the BX2750B that mounts on the front of the tractor. I run it at high 2K RPM...nearly 3K. I am surprised you have trouble with it.

If it starts snowing again around here more than about 6" at a pop, I will mount an auxiliary engine on the snowthrower before I use it for deeper stuff. Its just too frustrating. Til I do that I will use the 8HP walk behind. It will practically pull you along thru more than a foot of snow. I mounted small outboard wheels with little snow guard fenders to allow for the gravel. Skids have brought the gravel up and caused trouble for me, but the worst is when a neighbor did a "favor" and plowed part of my 1mi drive before I got there. When I got to the disturbed area it started throwing gravel and broke the shear bolt.
larry

I have had springs with lots of gravel in the yard but never broke a sheer bolt. My driveway was crested down the center near the road, but this year I Box Bladed to get rid of some puddling spots and really leveled it out. First snow of the year I noticed I had pretty much resolved the problem completely. Gotta love that. With a mile of driveway thats a lot of blading. Especially if you went with a smaller blade like the 42" It wouldn't be like you were scarifying, though. I had my dealer get me a BB and he delivered a 60" and its been great. I have ripped roots with the teeth 1.5"-2" into my hard packed clay with the diff engaged and four wheel drive in low with occasional 'run at it' situations somewhat reminiscent of a tractor pull. Lots of fun!

 

[SPYDERLK]

Nope. Just under 17HP at the PTO. Yours is just under 14. I have the BX2750B that mounts on the front of the tractor. I run it at high 2K RPM...nearly 3K. I am surprised you have trouble with it.

Well... Its because mine is 10.6 @ PTO. That gives me about 2.5HP/ft and you have 4. That gives you the bulling performance of my 8HP walk behind, which is impressive.
larry

 

[Lockport]

Well... Its because mine is 10.6 @ PTO. That gives me about 2.5HP/ft and you have 4. That gives you the bulling performance of my 8HP walk behind, which is impressive.
larry

Right you are. I was looking at the BX1830 stats. That BX2750 snow thrower is way too big for that. Kubota should have made something about 40" across the front. When I had my T1770, it had a 17HP Kawasaki gas engine and its belt drive snowblower was 40".

 

[davitk]

I have a Kubota TG1860G (gas Kawasaki 18 horse) driving a TG2746 46" Kubota snowblower. Belt driven, handles everything thrown at it without so much as a hiccup (well, everything but the wife's trumpet vine and the chicken wire trellis), and throws a good 20 feet. Maybe I'm just lucky.

 

[Lockport]

I have a Kubota TG1860G (gas Kawasaki 18 horse) driving a TG2746 46" Kubota snowblower. Belt driven, handles everything thrown at it without so much as a hiccup (well, everything but the wife's trumpet vine and the chicken wire trellis), and throws a good 20 feet. Maybe I'm just lucky.

My T was really good at throwing snow. Only problem was it was too light and no diff lock. Chains and wheels weights it would still get stuck on a little ice and the slightest depression in the drive.

 

[SPYDERLK]

I have a Kubota TG1860G (gas Kawasaki 18 horse) driving a TG2746 46" Kubota snowblower. Belt driven, handles everything thrown at it without so much as a hiccup (well, everything but the wife's trumpet vine and the chicken wire trellis), and throws a good 20 feet. Maybe I'm just lucky.

My 8HP MTD 22" throws a good 40'. Maybe its spinning faster?
larry

 

[crazyal]

Barb wire fence is another nice thing to find while blowing. You would be amazed just how quickly it will pull it off the posts and hard it is to remove.

 

[pdowling1]

Barbed wire is also attractive when wrapped around a Bush Hog spindle. Loads of fun to remove!

 

[leolav1972]

Hockey pucks would make good projectiles.

Ropes, hockey sticks, and other odds and ends like dog bones hidden under a layer of snow are also interesting items to find.

As stated point the chute in a harmless direction?? if possible or have it angled down and try and keep the blown areas clear of debris.

And another little item but quite important. Have the snow blower placed so that it is not blocked in by vehicles that cannot move due to snow being piled up on them!

I caught one of those fiberglass driveway markers with my blower last winter. Its unbelievable how those things get wrapped around the auger and have to be cut off. There 30 minutes of my life I'll never get back.

 

[dutchman56]

With 1 km of camp road to along and another 2 more to help other people to main road rocks is a problem. This is my first winter with tractor as I bought it new in the spring

 

[Lockport]

With 1 km of camp road to along and another 2 more to help other people to main road rocks is a problem. This is my first winter with tractor as I bought it new in the spring

Well, you're going to love that. Keep the shoes high. Private road? Get a box blade to level it over summer. You look like your up off Hwy 11. Nice ride!

 

[dutchman56]

Off 17 up 101 past Wawa. yup it a private road with camps and some live year round. I will in 3 or so years when I retire. Tractor is my retirerment prensent to myself.

 

[Iceman65]

Note to self... Look out for gravel as it breaks shear bolts. Look into some sort of cab for next year. I now see what ya'll are talking about with the snow blowin back at ya! LOL!!

 

[GarthH]

Well spent a couple hours moving off the snow of the week. One small incident - caught my 250' cord that I had run out to the Kubota. Amazing a spool of wire had gone up 50% in just a couple months.

How do you keep the side ridges down. I had a longtime farm buddy say you will need cut them down or else the finger drifts will move in. My ridges are about 6" now and will likely grow as more snow shows up. I'm a little wimpy about tackling the side hills; I have wide turf tires that still seem to be pretty slippery.

Garth

 

[davitk]

250' is a LOT of wire.

I wouldn't worry terribly about the sides of the drive - your blower should be able to shoot the snow out of drifting range. Of course it will drift some, just keep the piles strategically located so as not to be a problem.

 

[FullBucket]

Snowblower got a workout today! A few spots were as deep as the body of the snowblower and the city plough left a mound four and a half feet tall at the road. Had to use the FEL to dig my way out at the end. Helped out a couple of neighbours with smaller green equipment too

Anyway my tip adds to those who talked about cleaning the augers to avoid snapping pins if they freeze up afterwards. Much easier to clean blower if you leave it raised after you park it. Gives easier access to clean and clear out the snow that falls underneath. Then just let the hydrolic pressure off to let the blower float down to rest.

 

[Russie]

I have developed some snow blowing "rules of thumb" over the years that some of you newbies to snow blowing may want to consider. I figure that I have moved about 5400 inches of snow with my three snow blowing rigs. Feel free to add to my list, I am always looking for new techniques:

RULE 1. This is an obvious one - don't put your hand in the moving augers.

RULE 2. Always clean all of the snow off of your equipment. I learned this the hard way the second time that I snow blowed. The snow blower was making a **** of a racket when I started, and then I noticed smoke coming from the drive belts in the back. So I shut it down and called the dealer. "Didn't you clean out the augers after you finished. When the snow melts it freezes on the bottom of the impeller assembly such that the impeller won't turn."

Now I clean off everything, but especially anything which if frozen could make it difficult to start the machine. With my new rig, I wipe all of the water off of the cab, clean off the wipers and pull them away from the wind shield. Of course, it helps if you have a garage.

RULE 3. Never put the blower on the ground on a gravel driveway the first time you use it, unless you enjoy changing sheer bolts. This way the ground will freeze better for future use. As a matter of fact I generally run my SUV up-and-down the driveway a few times in the snow to pack it into the gravel before I snow blow for the first time.

RULE 4. When the snow is deep, take smaller cuts of snow. My first run in the snow is very very slow, usually painfully slow. For a guy who used to race motorcycles professionally, this is very hard to do. My next cut might be a third of the width of the blower or less. I would rather make more runs and use a little more fuel, then be replacing belts as I did with my old snowblower. The guy who wrote the Kubota snowblower manual obviously has never snow blown before. It says in deep snow take the top layer off and work your way down. To me this is nonsensical. You're going to be driving a tractor in the deep snow and making a general mess. How about just taking a narrower cut of the snowblower potential? Anyway I have been doing this and it has saved many a belt on my old snowblower.

Thanks !! that's great info and Advise.
Russie

 

[Looking4new]

I realise this thread is 8 years old but that being said, it is a useful thread.
I 'wash' down my blower with windshield wash fluid after I use the blower EVERY time. I use the cheap -35 stuff because the blower isn't going to see 60 mph and freeze on the windshield. By wash down I mean that I splash some in the fan and some more in where the chute turns just to make sure things stay loose. I also grease every time I use it. I have a can of chain lube I keep with the jacket I wear for snow blowing and it is always warm and sprays good.