X534 a.k.a Crazy Wheels and a Snowblower

[captplaid]

So how would an AWS X534 be with a snowblower. My first guess is this is not a good idea. Any turning with the wheel and the rear tires are pushing in a different direction than forward and it's easier to lose traction.


I also see the 534 blower is belt driven and not mechanical or hydraulic. How much weaker is this than the mechanical drive on the next series bigger?

I've never seen a blower on a 534 but I quession is this is a good idea.

Anyone tried it?

There's a blower on Ebay nearby and it has me thinking...a little.

 

[pennwalk]

I have a 425 aws with the 47 snowblower. It is a snow blowing machine. Where I run out of traction is uphill turning in more than 6" of snow. I have a set of rubber tire chains that take care of it. I am guessing that the X534 would do well.

Chris

 

[JB2]

One of the local Churches has a Deere X534 AWS with a 2 stage Blower on it... Works really well for manuvering up sideways and tight walkways at the church. They also mow about a 1.5- 2 acre cemetery with the X534 AWS as well. AWS has never been a problem with their X534.

They have chains on their X534 with weight on the back of the tractor.

Another local lawn maintnence business used to have a 445 AWS with cab & 47" snow blower which worked pretty well.

Take Care Jason B

 

[sparc]

So how would an AWS X534 be with a snowblower. My first guess is this is not a good idea. Any turning with the wheel and the rear tires are pushing in a different direction than forward and it's easier to lose traction.


I also see the 534 blower is belt driven and not mechanical or hydraulic. How much weaker is this than the mechanical drive on the next series bigger?

I've never seen a blower on a 534 but I quession is this is a good idea.

Anyone tried it?

There's a blower on Ebay nearby and it has me thinking...a little.

I know this thread is about 3 years old as I write this but since I own a X534 with snowblower I thought I would answer.

I bought my x534 in 2010 with the 47" snowblower, chains, and 2 42# suitcase weights and other attachments for mowing.

That next winter we had significant snow for our region PA/DE/NJ with over 60 inches of snow that season, most of it coming in 2 big dumps of >20 inches.

The x524 and snowblower performed very well. At first I did not use the chains but when I went to help a neighbor whose drive has a fairly steep rise of ~4.5 feet over a 50 foor run I could not run the snowblower up the incline. I could drive up there if the snowblower was dis-engaged and raised but not if I was trying to blow snow. Downhill of course no problem. I went to mount the chains (still sealed in the canvas bag) I had bought 8 months earlier only to find that the dealer had given me the wrong size chains. So once I got back to the dealer and swapped them out for the correct size chains I had no trouble on the incline.

The snowblower ate right through snow as deep as the height of the snowblower and threw it off to the side about 20 feet. It is the best attachment I bought for the x534 I think. I had considered buying a walk-behind which would have cost a few hundred less but I am so glad I didn't. This is much faster and easier and with twice the width I can clear my 60 foot long, 25 foot wide drive in about 6 or 7 passes which gives me plenty of time to do a couple neighbors drives adn still be done in under an hour.

As far as the belt drive it is in my opinion the weak point of the snowblower. I would much prefer a mechanical drive I think. In my case because of the type of curb we have I need to remember to disengage the PTO before driving up the driveway from the street. This is bacause with the snowblower running and the limited lift (about 4") of the snowblower the front of the snowblower will contact the curb pushing it up higher and causing the pulleys to become so misaligned that the belt runs off the driven pulley. Now you have to stop, shut the tractor off, and reinstall the belt. Takes about 3 or 4 minutes. As far as slippage I have not noticed any degraded performace because of the belt drive.

I did contact JD about a suggested improvement to the chute control cable and described what I consider a design flaw in the cable routing but never heard back from them. Its a simple fix for the cable getting hung up when you rotate the chute. Their method of securing the cable can be improved to eliminate the problem which I did for about $1 worth of hardware. If anyone expierences this problem let me know and I will detail how I fixed it.

 

[josie]

I did contact JD about a suggested improvement to the chute control cable and described what I consider a design flaw in the cable routing but never heard back from them. Its a simple fix for the cable getting hung up when you rotate the chute. Their method of securing the cable can be improved to eliminate the problem which I did for about $1 worth of hardware. If anyone expierences this problem let me know and I will detail how I fixed it.

I would like to know what you did with the chute control cable. I have an X530 with the 47" blower.

 

[kevin37b]

Sparc , what about them pallets ?

 

[sparc]

I would like to know what you did with the chute control cable. I have an X530 with the 47" blower.

On the pallets, see the thread for my recent response.

As far as modifying the 47" snowblower, I noticed that the chute deflector cable would hang up when rotating the discharge chute in either direction, but mostly when going from right to left. I'll take some photos of what I did later today and add them to this thread, but basically I took a SS eyebolt and a nylon spacer along with a couple SS nylock nuts and made a guide for the cable that lets it slide through the eye of the eyebolt and prevents it from hanging up. The nylock nuts let me loosely fasten the eyebolt to the blower housing just enough that it can rotate to follow the cable as it gets repositioned by the chute as it rotates. Tough to describe but the photo will clear it up and you'll see what I mean.

Don't know if anyone else has experienced this problem but it was a problem on mine from day one and everything was assembled by the dealer before they delivered the tractor so I figured it must have been done correctly.

Anyway, I suffered with it the first winter and when installing the blower the next winter I hit upon this solution and it has worked well for the past 3 winters. Once you do the mod there is no additional work to install the snowblower and the mod does nothing to damage to snowblower either during installation or use and is 100% reversable if you should so choose but I don't know why you would want to.

Pics to follow. Stay tuned.

 

[sparc]

I dug up the response I got from JD back in 2010 when I told them of my mod:

Subject: 47 Snowblower [Incident: 101216-000000]

Discussion Thread
Response ( ) 12/16/2010 12:17 PM

Dear Bob;


Thank you for contacting our Web site. Your information has been forwarded to the
department handling ideas from individuals outside the Deere organization and, if
necessary, you will be receiving complete disclosure instructions and a disclosure
statement to sign. You may also contact the department directly at (309) 765-5713.
Thank you for your interest in John Deere.

If we can be of further assistance, please call the Customer Contact Center at
1-800-537-8233. Our center is open 8:00 AM - 6:00 PM EST, Monday - Friday and
9:00 AM - 3:00 PM. EST, Saturday.

Thank you,

John Deere Customer Contact Center
Turf & Utility Products
USA/Canada
Customer (Robert xxxxxxxx) 12/16/2010 09:44 AM
I purchased a X534 tractor and 47" snowblower last spring. the dealer installed the
snowblower then removed it for the mowing season. When i installed the snowblower
the other day in preparation for winter i noticed the deflector cable binds when the
deflector is rotated. I reviewed the manual and verified the cable clamp was loose
so the cable could slide through as described in the manual. My problem is the cable
still binds and it is not an installation problem but a design problem.

I have developed a solution which is a easy and inexpensive fix to implement, less
than $1, but my modification improves the performance of the deflector chute by
eliminating the binding completely and there is no chance it could become fouled by
ice or snow during operation. If you would like to know how this was done feel free
to contact me.

Thanks,

Bob

Auto-Response 12/16/2010 09:44 AM
Your question has been received.​

Never heard another peep from them to this day. I wasn't looking for anything in the way
of compensation for this simple fix, so I have no problem releasing it to the world as I never
told them what the mod was so its still my idea. There is nothing to gain from this financially
and was never expecting anything, but their response seems to indicate that they thought I
was since it mentions a NDA to be signed. Perhaps that is why they never called.

 

[sparc]

so here are some photos to show what I have done.
Its very simple, but works well.

 

[Reaper911]

I would love to know the fix for the chute cable, mine is getting chewed up.

Thx!

I know this thread is about 3 years old as I write this but since I own a X534 with snowblower I thought I would answer.

I bought my x534 in 2010 with the 47" snowblower, chains, and 2 42# suitcase weights and other attachments for mowing.

That next winter we had significant snow for our region PA/DE/NJ with over 60 inches of snow that season, most of it coming in 2 big dumps of >20 inches.

The x524 and snowblower performed very well. At first I did not use the chains but when I went to help a neighbor whose drive has a fairly steep rise of ~4.5 feet over a 50 foor run I could not run the snowblower up the incline. I could drive up there if the snowblower was dis-engaged and raised but not if I was trying to blow snow. Downhill of course no problem. I went to mount the chains (still sealed in the canvas bag) I had bought 8 months earlier only to find that the dealer had given me the wrong size chains. So once I got back to the dealer and swapped them out for the correct size chains I had no trouble on the incline.

The snowblower ate right through snow as deep as the height of the snowblower and threw it off to the side about 20 feet. It is the best attachment I bought for the x534 I think. I had considered buying a walk-behind which would have cost a few hundred less but I am so glad I didn't. This is much faster and easier and with twice the width I can clear my 60 foot long, 25 foot wide drive in about 6 or 7 passes which gives me plenty of time to do a couple neighbors drives adn still be done in under an hour.

As far as the belt drive it is in my opinion the weak point of the snowblower. I would much prefer a mechanical drive I think. In my case because of the type of curb we have I need to remember to disengage the PTO before driving up the driveway from the street. This is bacause with the snowblower running and the limited lift (about 4") of the snowblower the front of the snowblower will contact the curb pushing it up higher and causing the pulleys to become so misaligned that the belt runs off the driven pulley. Now you have to stop, shut the tractor off, and reinstall the belt. Takes about 3 or 4 minutes. As far as slippage I have not noticed any degraded performace because of the belt drive.

I did contact JD about a suggested improvement to the chute control cable and described what I consider a design flaw in the cable routing but never heard back from them. Its a simple fix for the cable getting hung up when you rotate the chute. Their method of securing the cable can be improved to eliminate the problem which I did for about $1 worth of hardware. If anyone expierences this problem let me know and I will detail how I fixed it.