X749 With new 54" Snow Blower

[stlbill]

Hi Turbo:

I know the 47" inch could not accomplish the task. Any chance, if you set the spout cap just right, it will blow some of your snow to St. Louis? I will give you the latitude and longitude of my place if it will help.

We are predicted to receive 0.5-1.0" of wet snow tonight. Most of it will melt on contact with the warm ground. The natives are scared and several schools have cancelled classes tomorrow.

 

[cannyscot]

Many thanks, turbo36, I will pursue that with my dealer, maybe there's time to get it before the first snow flies.....late this year, we've had a beautiful November.

 

[Phunge]

noticed that you also have the 54" blade. How easy/difficult is it to switch between the two?

I currently have the 54" blade for my 2320, and was thinking about also getting the new blower.

 

[keeney]

Switching from Blade to Blower on all the JD front quick hitches is pretty easy and takes about 5 minutes. The important thing is to have an easy-to access flat spot to park the snowblower so you can get it lined up to put it back on without manually wrestling with it too much (like the inside of the very clean garage pictured). I put mine on a wheeled dolly so I can move it around in the garage and store it more out of the way.

You insert a locking pin into the angle portion of the quick hitch, and disconnect the angle hoses. A small bungee is handy to keep them from flopping around as they can remain on the tractor. Then you get the blower on the quick hitch by driving up and lifting it on the two studs at the top. The bottom swings into place and latches (automatically in theory, but as the holes wear, may require some manual persuasion to get it to line up and click in). You attach the chute angle hydraulic hoses, the chute elevation cable, and the front PTO drive shaft.

All of this assumes that you leave the under-belly drive shaft installed in the tractor front quick hitch when you first put it on. If you are adding the blower to a front plow setup, you will need a kit that adds the bearings and under-belly shaft to the quick hitch. The shaft is kind of a PITA to get to slide through the bearings after it gets a little more weathered. On smaller tractors like the one pictured, I think it also has to be inserted through some portion of the frame or front axle of the tractor (on my larger 4100 it is completely clear under the front axle). Installing the under-belly drive shaft is something you only want to mess with once per season.

[ I wish they had the larger 54" width blower available back when I got my 4100! ]

- Rick

 

[Phunge]

Rick, thanks for the great description. Sounds like once you have the hitch mounted with the PTO shaft, switching between Blower and Blade is pretty straightforward.

The Blade is great when there is not too much snow, but when we really get dumped on it would be nice to have the blower.

 

[keeney]

We just got about 8" here in Prior lake MN. I used my 54" blade that I extended to about 66" wide. The tractor was able to push it just fine (my 4100 is about an 1800 lbs machine) but the snow would pile up over the top and sides of the blade pretty quick and I had to take small bites and make a lot of passes to get the drive clear. The whole time, I was wondering if it would be quicker to stop and go back and put the blower on.

BUT, it was cold and windy and I don't have a cab. I knew that using the blower would be an uncomfortable exercise in getting face fulls of snow. There are only a couple directions I can blow the snow from my driveway and it always seems like the wind is blowing the wrong way!

- Rick

 

[megotatractor]

We had about 9 inches and wind. There is a 6 foot drift across my patio and back shed, care to lend me that blower? Well at least I have a windbreaker on mine and I stayed warm even in the 30 mph wind we had that day.(added a piece of plexiglass in back tied to the ROPS to keep the wind off my back) It took over an hour to push a 3 foot drift out into the field where it came from.

 

[Yourkie]

You have a very nice shop and garage. It is my fantasy to be as organized and to have such a space. Hope your Deere blower works out. I almost bought a front mounted Deere blower once and then realized that I would need to remove my loader mounts and loader every year to re-install it and instead went 3 point. On the other hand the older you get the less you want to be driving backwards.

 

[GOBOGIE]

I just bought my tractor (with a 47" blower) and almost waited for the 54" as I caught wind of it (no pun intended) right before I pulled the trigger. I figured out the width of my driveway and concluded that I wouldn't save any time with the bigger blower so I stayed with the 47".

If the 54" is anything like it's little brother it will do a smash up job! I couldn't be happier with mine! I live in a wooded area on a lake and get tons of snow and wind (not a good combination if you don't have a blower) and so far this has made quick of what 1-2 ft we've received so far!

Enjoy!

Cory

Obligatory Pics ->

 

[pilot-werx]

Are all Bulldogs alike? Ours is like a throw rug... Very beautiful dog!

Here are my thoughts on the two snowblower sizes... I have a 455 with the 47" blower and a 4210 with the 59" blower. In light snow the 59" makes quick work of anything. In heavy snow, the 47" is far superior. Granted the 455 is 22hp and the 4210 is 28hp, the smaller blower will throw snow without bogging down.......

If I had to pick one, I would take the 47" over the larger....