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snowmover
Join Date: Oct 2003
Posts: 9 Califon, NJ
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2003-10-26          67165

I have a paved driveway about 1500 ft. long on a 14% grade (with switchbacks). I need new equipment to blow snow. I am retiring a Honda 5013 with a 42" blower which is 7 winters old. The tractor is fine but the orphaned blower is shot. The combination was underpowered in deep snow with only 13 h.p. Does anyone have recommendations for a tractor/blower combination? I only use the tractor for snowblowing. Is it possible to put a blower on an A.T.V or Utiltiy vehicle so we could also have fun in the summer?
Thanks for any help.


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harvey
Join Date: Sep 2000
Posts: 1550 Moravia, NY
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2003-10-27          67166

This is a hard one to answer.

Me personally JUST FOR SNOW ONLY would like a 4210 JD and a 59"front mount with a hard cab, heater, wipers, lots of lights. Winning the lottery would make this a reality.

Probably should mention a 2-way radio so if I plug the chute I can call wife and she can ride her broom out to poke out the plug so I do not have to get out in the cold.


They do build pick-up truck mounted blowers but they are very pricey. I do not recall ever seeing a blower for an ATV.

How much snow do you get??? I've spent 6 yrs SE of Trenton and never saw snow to amount to anything just miserable cold.

Good Luck and welcome to the board Harvey ....

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Art White
Join Date: Jan 2000
Posts: 6898 Waterville New York
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2003-10-27          67180

I've never seen to much snow in New Jersey. I would think that a BX Kubota with a soft side cab and heat would be pretty nice! With the thoughts of the temperatures a back blade might not be to bad for clean-up or maybe a loader on the front with a rear blower for the ocassional clean-up and then you have a year around tool for the tractor. ....

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TomG
Join Date: Feb 2002
Posts: 5406 Upper Ottawa Valley
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2003-10-27          67181

My neighbour uses a blower on a riding mower. He gets by OK and there's quite a bit of snow here. Riding mowers are also useful in the summer but I've never thought of them as fun. I have wondered if some of these work ATV's with pto's might have potential for summer fun.

With a drive that steep and with switch-backs, anything that's very large is going to need lots of traction and steering. Getting a front mounted anything around a switch-back at speed is likely to be an issue. ....

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DennisCTB
Join Date: Nov 1998
Posts: 2707 NorthWest NJ
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2003-10-27          67190

Snowmover Welcome to the Board!!!

Actually, this is the section of NJ I live in, and yes we get quite a bit of snow here (compared to south Jersey). We are at a whopping 1000 feet above sea level, and located about 70 miles off the coast in the Kitatinny mountains in the NJ Snow Belt North West of Route 78 and Route 287. Though, I quess it is hard to call 1000 feet a mountain.

The combination of grade, snow Ice, freezing rain, snow, wet snow, dry snow that we get here is very hard to deal with. And in my opinion makes something with 4wd beneficial.

Snowmover, are you starting out at the top or the bottom to clear, and how long is the distance between switch backs?

Have you ever had a pick up clear your drive? Any problems? Do you have a place to push the snow??

The Honda 5013 is a pretty big machine, I would say it is bigger than most gas powered Garden Tractors, such as Wheel Horse and Simplicity, I would think it is at least as big as a BX, in fact I think the Honda 5013 has bigger tires on it than a BX series but has only 2WD.

Does snowmover need bigger tires like on a B7500 to get more traction on the grade?? ....

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Murf
Join Date: Dec 1999
Posts: 7249 Toronto Area, Ontario, Canada
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2003-10-27          67191

There are quite a few 'self-powered' snowblowers mounted on just about anything you can think of around here, mostly because of a local welding/fabricating shop that used to be run by a real inventive type.

Many years ago he developed a very straight-forward (read easy & cheap) way of driving a regular 3pth, PTO-driven type snowblower with either a full-sized car engine, or a 20hp Kohler horizontal shaft engine, depending on the size of blower you needed to run.

Basically the theory goes like this, if a small gas engine produces 20hp at 2000rpm, then geared down to 500rpm, it will develop significantly more torque. The engine is geared down using a heavy double chain drive system to drive the input shaft directly, there is no clutch involved, shear pins only. Likewise, the larger units are usually powered by an air-cooled VW engine, although I have seen some powered by large diesel engines, these bigger units are mounted on a subframe complete with it's own battery, etc., then the entire deal is carried and used in the bucket of a large payloader, but I have seen them on dump trucks a few times.

A full-time resident along the private road my cottage is on has a 7' blower mounted out front of a little Suzuki SUV, it is pushed by the truck, but rides on caster wheels. That little thing cuts through some pretty deep drifts without too much problem, I would think that the heater, wipers and radio make it a little more pleasant than a garden tractor would be doing the same task, not to mention quicker too.

Best of luck. ....

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snowmover
Join Date: Oct 2003
Posts: 9 Califon, NJ
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2003-10-27          67212

The driveway is about 12 ft. wide with 4 switchback about 125 ft. apart. The snow will drift in at the switchbacks to about 18" for a 8-10" snowfall. This would cause the 13 hp Honda 5013 to struggle at its slowest ground speed. In the past I solved the traction problem with alot of rear weight and chains on the rear drive wheels. That's why I want to upgrade to more power and 4WD like a Kubota BX2200 or Deere X575. But... I was hoping to come up with something more tricky and cheaper.
Thanks for the help. ....

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Murf
Join Date: Dec 1999
Posts: 7249 Toronto Area, Ontario, Canada
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2003-10-27          67217

IMHO, the cost of a CUT for a personal 'snow only' machine is too high to justify it, if it was for a commercial use it might be different.

The average costs I see around here looks something like this.

Mechanically sound used 4wd with rusty body, $500 - $1000
6' or 7' snowblower, $1000
New 20hp - 24hp Kohler engine and drive parts, $1000
Miscellaneous parts, welding & fabricating, etc., $1000

Total cost, ready for snow, $3500 - $4000

Not having to sit on an open station machine during a snow storm, PRICELESS ...... ;-)

Best of luck. ....

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AC5ZO
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 928 Rio Rancho, NM 87144
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2003-10-27          67227

Murf,
In post 67191, you said:

Basically the theory goes like this, if a small gas engine produces 20hp at 2000rpm, then geared down to 500rpm, it will develop significantly more.

I think that you must have been talking about torque. HP is always less after any speed conversion due to losses in the conversion mechanism. ....

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Murf
Join Date: Dec 1999
Posts: 7249 Toronto Area, Ontario, Canada
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2003-10-27          67228

My apologies to my observant friend in the desert.

I omited the word "torque" at the end of the sentence in question.

I have edited the post to correct the error.

Errors are ONE of the hazards of typing with two fingers while trying to entertain a Jack Russel Terrier (Terror?) on your lap and not spill your coffe at the same time.

And I thought working for a living was cstressful, sheesh.

Best of luck. ....

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itsgottobegreen
Join Date: Oct 2003
Posts: 329 Mt. Airy, MD
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2003-10-27          67299

How much would it be to have it plowed. I tell customers it cheaper and safety for them to pay me to plow it. Which it is, no chace of then having a heart attack to shovel snow. ....

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TomG
Join Date: Feb 2002
Posts: 5406 Upper Ottawa Valley
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2003-10-28          67314

I'd guess it's certainly true (and typo noted) that in a conventional small gas engine HP would decrease with rpm. I wonder if it's true generally? I always thought that low speed engines could be designed where torque gain at low rpm's could add more to HP than the decrease due lower rpm's. Small point and definitely off topic but maybe interesting to some people. ....

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Art White
Join Date: Jan 2000
Posts: 6898 Waterville New York
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2003-10-28          67324

You can do that Tom with any engine. The hard part is to build an engine that can handle high torque loads and not disintergrate. The govoner system can do that but on air cooled engines you certainly can not increase loads at low RPM when you don't have a fan with good rpm to cool it. ....

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TomG
Join Date: Feb 2002
Posts: 5406 Upper Ottawa Valley
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2003-10-29          67405

Second thanks of the day, and two of quite a few over the years. I was thinking of the conversion formula and basic engine tuning ideas. What you note are practical design issues I wasn't considering but sure can see now. Practical issues are probably why few really low rpm engines are designed.

I did hear something banging away in an oil field once at the rate of maybe 1 rpm but I don't know if it was a conventional engine. Well, it might have been one of the acetylene bird harassing gadgets used nearby on speed.
....

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