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Front end loader snowblower

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Snowbelt Denizen
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2005-12-09          120747

Does anyone make a snowblower for a compact untility tractor that mounts to the booms of a front end loader? It seems to me to be a simple solution, but I haven't been able to find anything out there.

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Front end loader snowblower

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Art White
Join Date: Jan 2000
Posts: 6898 Waterville New York
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2005-12-09          120774

Check out Provenost. ....

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Front end loader snowblower

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hyardy
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2005-12-18          121268

I had to build my own, i hav a mf 20 hp compact tractor
with a 6 ft snowblower attached to the loader forks I had to make a reversing gearbox for the power take off and run a shaft under
It works great ....

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Front end loader snowblower

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dwilliams
Join Date: Oct 2006
Posts: 1 Traverse City, MI
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2007-02-22          139949

how did you engineer this? what kind of gear box? I am very interested in converting mine. ....

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Murf
Join Date: Dec 1999
Posts: 7249 Toronto Area, Ontario, Canada
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2007-02-22          139950

DWilliams, if you hunt through the archives, I describe somewhere back there how I've done them.

Basically all you need is a piece of heavy wall tubing, and a couple of heavy gears, and some strong roller chain. If you're a bit of a scrounger, and hobble stuff together, you can also use the gears and chain from the timing chain off a couple of big truck engines.

You basically want a set of gears, and a chain, running in an oil bath, inside a piece of tube steel, the drives a driveshaft running up the under-side of the tractor.

It can all be made up from stock parts with minimal machining and welding by anybody with even a modicum of fabricating skills.

Best of luck. ....

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JAZAK5
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 276 coxsackie,ny
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2007-02-23          139971

I have bought a snow blower but if I had the time I would us a hydralic motor runing off of the remote hydraulics as a skid steer with a variable flow control for speed. Even 2000 psi is alot of force to contend with. In my opion direct drive off the impeller with a hydraulic motor and a couple of hoses is alot easier than the chain driven idea,this is the same idea that my erkine snow blower uses in a transfer box off of the rear pto. ....

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Murf
Join Date: Dec 1999
Posts: 7249 Toronto Area, Ontario, Canada
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2007-02-23          139978

Jazak, while it sounds easy to do as you say, it really isn't that simple at all.

It's kind of like the theory that if you put a generator on the front wheels of an electric car, and drove the back wheels, you would never run out of electricity. It sounds wonderful, but won't work.

A hydraulic motor, big enough to run a blower would be pricey, likely more than the cost of the hardware to do it mechanically. Secondly, that big hydraulic motor would also be thirsty, a hydraulic motor makes power by combining two things, high pressure and fluid flow rates, you can juggle the figures, one higher, one lower or somewhere in between, but high power requires BOTH high pressure (1,500psi and up) and high flow rates, for this, at least 15 gpm, preferably in the 25 gpm area.

The big problem though is hydraulic flow rates. A 'typical' 35hp CUT has a main pump (maximum) output of about 10 gpm if it's gear drive, and only about 7 gpm if it's a hydrostat, and bear in mind that is "maximum capacity" i.e. calculated, or 'bench-tested' not including parasitical losses from the system, including biggies like the quick-disconnects and the small diameter remote lines.

In the end I think you would need to connect at least 3 CUT's together to make enough flow to make a hydraulic blower work. I've used them on specially-equipped "high flow rate skid steers and powered by (expensive & complex) stand-alone PTO-drivien hydraulic systems, but they still don't work as nice as a PTO unit.

Best of luck. ....

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JAZAK5
Join Date: Jul 2003
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2007-02-23          139982

I agree, maybe the cuts self contained system would be marginal at best it was my first stab. A rear pto pump would do the trick in a heart beat along with a tank on the 3 pt hitch. My snow blower uses a long drive shaft running under the tractor to the rear pto with a power transfer box that slides into the snow blowers frame and pto. Yeah ,I looked at JD mid pto blower and I will tell everyone again.JD's 59 inch blower does NOT come close to the quality of this unit and it was cheaper to boot !!!!! yes ,the pump/motor would cost and everyone has design ideas, hydraulic disconects are faster and in my opion easier than welding and fabrication. The tank/pump set up like a 3pt backhoe would give someone that wants to keep the fel one the tractor an option. I would have looked into this option rather than dropping my fel to mount the blower. The idea of going into a 4ft high snow drift and sending it 30-40 ft in the other direction is is is AAARRRGGGHHHHH HULK SMASH !!!!You know the price of convenentcy and time are expensive !!! Hind sight is 20/20. ....

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oneace
Join Date: Mar 2004
Posts: 1490 south central pa
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2007-02-25          140013

Look at the John Deere in my pics. That is one heck of a snow removal machine. ....

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Art White
Join Date: Jan 2000
Posts: 6898 Waterville New York
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2007-02-26          140039

Thats an erskine blower and they do work well. We just had a customers 135 white in for some tranny work with a 108" mounted to it with chains to boot! Part of the fun with working a unit like that is the adjustablity of the spout with full control from the cab. ....

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gozarian
Join Date: Feb 2005
Posts: 13 Juneau, Alaska
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2007-03-02          140152

Why don't you check out the new Erskine pull behind. It attaches to the 3 point hitch and lets you keep your front end loader! You are "pulling" the blower through the snow; not much of a problem for guys with a chained up four wheel drive tractor. If you're blowing deep snow, you can lower your loader just enough to push deep snow out of the way or ahead of you while the blower gobbles up what you have just driven into! This sounds like one of the best deals in a long time to me; especially for us who want to keep our FEL attached! ....


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Murf
Join Date: Dec 1999
Posts: 7249 Toronto Area, Ontario, Canada
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2007-03-05          140207

A pull type blower is a great machine in dry fluffy powder snow, in wet heavy stuff they are a HUGE PITA.

When you drive over the snow it packs down and the blower rides over it leaving a layer of (soon to be) ice behind.

They have been around forever, but never really caught on outside of areas like the praires where they seldom see wet heavy snow, and the laneways are traditionally very long ones where turning around is a real pain in the neck, literally.

Best of luck. ....

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gozarian
Join Date: Feb 2005
Posts: 13 Juneau, Alaska
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2007-03-05          140220

Boy I don't know about that. I live in southeast Alaska where we invented wet snow and rain. I here what you're saying about packing the snow, but at 1058 pounds with a cutting edge? I haven't heard of a 3 point hitch mounted pull behind snowblower before, you say they have been around forever? The only reason I think it would work would be because of its weight and non stick material in the shute. That Erskine looks like a real beast! You also get to keep your loader! I'm still going back and forth as to which snowblower to get; front mount or rear mount! ....

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Murf
Join Date: Dec 1999
Posts: 7249 Toronto Area, Ontario, Canada
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2007-03-06          140231

If you read the first couple of lines of Erskine's website that you linked to they say "Founded in 1948, Erskine was one of the first companies to make rotary snow blowers. The first Erskine snowblowers, commonly known as pull types or v-plows, were made to fit on the rear of tractors and pulled through the snow."

So there you have it, they've been around for some 60 years now.

I hear what you're saying about the weight helping, but I've used them, we have had a few over the years on our farms, and several of our neighbours have them too, if they were the solution, everyone would have one.

I would also point out though, that the Erskine website, and most others for that matter, show a 6'ish foot blower as needing 30 minimum PTO horsepower. To say that's optimistic is an understatement.

I run a 5' blower on my L4310 (45 engine hp, 36 PTO horsepower) the odd time clearing drifts on the private road to my summer place. I can tell you, I don't think it would spin a 6 footer, it REALLY groans with just 5', another 20% would be more than it could handle.

At our farm we have a 7' double auger on a 100 hp 4X4 articualted machine, and you can still feel it lugging the engine down in heavy stuff.

IMHO, you would need a light touch and at LEAST 50 PTO hp to even consider one of those, especially up there.

Best of luck. ....

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gozarian
Join Date: Feb 2005
Posts: 13 Juneau, Alaska
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2007-03-07          140255

Thanks for that input! I agree that most of these manufacturers tend to "under horsepower" some of their products in their advertisements. I only have a 30 hp tractor (New Holland TC 30) so I am on the short side of the power scale with around 25 pto hp. That being said, I wonder if a front mount 63" would be too much for my tractor in the wet heavy stuff. I suppose I could always take smaller bites after that initial driveway opener. I don't have much choice in widths and if I go any shorter, I will be a lot narrower than my tractor. I don't have any hard packed drifts to go through, everything here comes straight down and is either wet snow mixed with rain (snain) or it can be dry and fluffy. Any ideas? ....

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Murf
Join Date: Dec 1999
Posts: 7249 Toronto Area, Ontario, Canada
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2007-03-07          140263

You're right, IMHO, you don't want to tackle anything more than bare minimum with that little power, a blower really eats up horsepower fast.

The simplest way to reduce the amount of power needed is to merely encounter the snow slower, not reduce the cut width. I don't know if your TC30 is hydro. or gear, but in either case, with the engine turning full PTO-speed, creep into the snow at as slow a speed as you can manage, if the blower lugs the engine down, slip it in neutral, or let off the pedal for a second to let it clear the build up of snow.

In an idle situation, and I know it's impossible to tell from the operator's position, there should be just a slight pile of snow in front of the cross auger and it should neither be growing or shrinking in size. Any faster and you're wasting power bulldozing snow, any slower and your not feeding the auger a 'full load' of snow and again wasting power.

I usually tell new snow blower operators to slowly increase their speed until EITHER they see snow spilling out to the sides, OR they hear the engine lugging down from the load. In either case, slow down until it goes away, you are then running at near peak efficiency for that setup.

If you have a big dump of dry snow, you can always raise the blower up, and take two passes at it, but in wet heavy stuff that often leads to a layer of hard pack left behind.

Best of luck. ....

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gozarian
Join Date: Feb 2005
Posts: 13 Juneau, Alaska
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2007-03-08          140299

Thanks for the reply! My TC30 is the hydro model which should work just fine for "easing" into some heavy snow. I'm contemplating stepping up to a larger tractor like the TC45DA. I've been doing a lot of snow removal lately and a little more power would be nice. I use the FEL in conjunction with a box blade on the back end for dragging snow away from tight spots. Don't get me wrong, the TC30 is a real little workhorse but you know how it goes, bigger is usually better! ....

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auerbach
Join Date: Sep 2007
Posts: 2168 West of Toronto
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2007-11-24          148693

Advantages of front mount: -Less strain on your neck. -If no cab, discharge is further from you. -Headlights better than reversing light.

Advantages of rear mount: -Major weight on two huge tires that can be locked together. -Lets you use blade to move snow or to fill with snow for front weight. -Easier to control outflow direction. -Easier to control height. -Easier to install. ....

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