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Woods SB72 Snowblower

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TC24daman
Join Date: Jun 2007
Posts: 23 Upstate New York
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2007-12-07          149064

I just ran my new to me snowblower and when running it only throws snow just past the end of the blower at best. It was purchased new by my father in-law and only used a couple of times. I haven't investigated too deep but was hoping someone might have some info to steer me in the right direction. PTO is running at 540 and ground speed was slow, maybe too slow? The fan is about 18" and 3 blades clearance looks to be about 3/8". I would still think it would throw snow at least 20-30 ft.

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candoarms
Join Date: Mar 2007
Posts: 1932 North Dakota
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2007-12-07          149065

Tc24daman,

Are you sure your blower wasn't designed to be used with a 1000 RPM shaft?

Some of the blowers that arrive here from other countries are designed for use with output shafts that spin much faster than the standard U.S. 540 RPM.

If your blower is designed to be used with a 540 RPM shaft, your trouble could be with a shear pin. If the shear pin has been sheared off, the fan may still turn, but very slowly.

Check the shear pin.

Joel ....

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TC24daman
Join Date: Jun 2007
Posts: 23 Upstate New York
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2007-12-07          149067

I'll check the shear pins. I bought it from my father in law who used it on his 36hp New Holland. He bought it new from his local dealer. ....

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candoarms
Join Date: Mar 2007
Posts: 1932 North Dakota
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2007-12-07          149068

TC24daman,

My fault for not noticing that you have a WOODS blower. It is designed for 540 RPM. I should have paid more attention to your question.

Joel ....

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TC24daman
Join Date: Jun 2007
Posts: 23 Upstate New York
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2007-12-07          149069

If it was a shear pin would it throw any snow at all? We got about 12-14" on the ground when I ran it and it cleared the driveway just didn't throw it past the end of it. ....

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candoarms
Join Date: Mar 2007
Posts: 1932 North Dakota
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2007-12-07          149070

TC24daman,

Yes, it will still turn, as the shear pins don't usually shear off perfectly clean. It will still drag on the shaft enough to rotate the fan, though it will slip considerably.

I'd check the shear pin, and replace if necessary. If that is not the problem, we'll have to investigate further.

This is going to be a fairly simple repair, as there just isn't much that can go wrong with these things.

Joel ....

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candoarms
Join Date: Mar 2007
Posts: 1932 North Dakota
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2007-12-07          149071

TC24daman,

Provided that your shear pin is good........

I'm assuming that you didn't overload the tractor. A 6' blower is just a bit bigger than your tractor is rated for. If you were watching your engine RPMs, you may have noticed that it dropped off as you were blowing snow.

If this was not the case, then I have to ask if you were running your blower at the rated PTO RPM? (Usually full throttle)

Joel ....

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TC24daman
Join Date: Jun 2007
Posts: 23 Upstate New York
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2007-12-07          149073

It is a little big, but the deal was right. Woods says an 18-30hp is recommended. I was running at 540 and it never slowed down rpm's. The snow is lake effect which is pretty light. I noticed it seemed to throw a little better when I increased ground speed some. Almost like it wasn't pulling in enough snow to throw it. I'll be checking the shear pins first thing in the AM though.
I appreciate all of the advice and time. ....

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candoarms
Join Date: Mar 2007
Posts: 1932 North Dakota
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2007-12-08          149075

TC24daman,

While you're checking your shear pin, take a look at the cups located at the end of each of your three fan blades. If those cups are badly worn, or bent, they won't throw the snow as efficiently as they should.

Your blower should easily throw snow at least 20 feet. The diameter of the fan is the key here. Smaller diameter fans just don't develop enough velocity at the tips to throw the snow great distances. The only advantage a smaller fan has to offer, is the fact that they don't require as much horsepower to operate.

You'll find that if you load the cups up pretty good, the blower will operate better than if you run it empty. Try running the blower at full capacity once. When you see snow pushing up over the top, it's a sign that you're traveling just a bit too fast.

Light, fluffy snow doesn't have much weight to it. Even if you launch a feather at 500 miles per hour, it isn't going to go very far. hehehe. Even so, your blower should be able to spit it out at least 20 feet.

I try to keep the snow pushed up in front of the blower just to the point that it's trying to climb up over the top. In heavy, wet snow conditions, my tractor tends to bog down a bit, so I have to take smaller bites.....about a half-width cut.

I'm running a Kubota B2100 (21 horse) tractor, with a 5 foot blower. You have a bit more muscle to work with.

Joel ....

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harvey
Join Date: Sep 2000
Posts: 1550 Moravia, NY
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2007-12-09          149111

Snow Blowers like to work. You have to have a good amount of feed into the blower to make it efficient.

To test your blower and see how the effect of feed rate affects your distance. Blow straight back and keep reblowing snow straight back until tractor starts to work hard and the distance blown starts to fall off. You will notice as soon as you start getting into reblown how much more efficient the blower gets and how much farther it will blow.

I have a top of the line blower and light fluffly only goes 10' matbe. I have to really get the ground speed up to fill the fan. If the fan is full and tractor is working it will blow over 40'. ....

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DennisCTB
Join Date: Nov 1998
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2007-12-09          149114

Please make sure that you are running your tractor at the full throttle so that you are actually getting the full 540. Your tachometer has a line on it to indicate the rpms needed to produce 540 PTO speed. Running even a small amount below the the line will get poor results.

Make sure your shoot deflector is not aimed down too low, adjust it for the range you want to through the snow.

Wet slushy heavy snow does not go very far, light dry goes a long distance.

In regards to shear pins I have been fortunate and mine have always been a binary event. I use the shear pins made for my Kubota blower and I keep a good supply on hand as I have broken a few, they are meant to break / shear not bend when an obstruction gets in the blower.

....

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TC24daman
Join Date: Jun 2007
Posts: 23 Upstate New York
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2007-12-09          149120

I was running at full throttle for 540. No bogging down. I'm also leaning towards not enough snow to make it work. I increase ground speed and saw some improvement. Lake effect snow is pretty light and fluffy, but I thought it should still throw it further. My old 48" would throw it pretty far. I adjusted the chute also and didn't see much change. I did also notice that when I engaged the PTO if any snow had accumulated in the blower or got pushed in backing out of the garage it would actually get stuck in the chute and not come out even if I drove into more snow. I guess I'll just wait for the real snow to get here and see how it blows 3-6 ft at once. If it doesn't work out I'll see about modifying the fan and lowering the clearance from blower fan to fan enclosure. ....

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TC24daman
Join Date: Jun 2007
Posts: 23 Upstate New York
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2007-12-09          149122

While I'm on the subject of snow, I've heard a couple people mention OFA Hakkis chains. Can anybody steer me in the right direction. They look pretty beefy. I have not had any luck finding duo rings for my size so these look t be the next best option. ....

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bialecki
Join Date: Jan 2007
Posts: 60 Southern Connecticut
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2007-12-09          149130

Try www.tirechains.com

Keep us posted on the performance. ....

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TC24daman
Join Date: Jun 2007
Posts: 23 Upstate New York
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2007-12-16          149350

18+ inches coming today, I guess I'll get to see if the SB74 is up to the task. We already have 4" on the ground with sleet falling now. Should make for an interesting mix. I've checked the machine out as far as I can and the only thing I notice is the fan doesn't seem to turn all that fast. when it does blow snow some follows the shoot up and quite a bit seems to fall back into the fan. ....

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hardwood
Join Date: Dec 2002
Posts: 3583 iowa
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2007-12-16          149351

I've never saw a Woods blower, but it likely is similar to most others where the fan is directly driven from the PTO shaft of the tractor giving it a 540 RPM speed. No snow should fall back down the chute when operating at full PTO RPM. Double check to be sure there isn't a key that has been sheared on the fan shaft and the fan is only spinning from the friction of the shaft in the fan hub. Frank. ....

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Woodie
Join Date: Jun 2004
Posts: 109 Michigan lower
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2007-12-17          149376

This series of posts got me to wonder.. as I have the Woods SB60. I pulled out my copy of the owners manual dated '96 w/rev '98 (xerox copy from dealer file)and it covers the 52, 60 and 74 sizes. according to the nice illustrations ;-) the pto drive shaft has a shear bolt at the pto end, a shear bolt on the sprocket on the auger shaft. As to the gear box Hardwood is correct the pto drives a straight thru shaft to the fan. from the 'nice' illustrations it appears correct the gear have keys and so does the fan whichis held on to the shaft by the bolt. Hope this helps- and hope I'm not too late with info. Also the trouble shooting page says "does not dischrge properly" caused by insuffient fan speed must be 540 pto Or auger overloaded-reduce grd spd...Busy clearing my yard from this last 9" snow. The dealer at first wanted to charge me for the manual as i had bought the unit used privately but the salemans that sold me my NHtractor and other Woods implements steped in and said free. Makes me like the dealership even more. ....

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TC24daman
Join Date: Jun 2007
Posts: 23 Upstate New York
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2007-12-18          149405

For future reference, the entire manual is available via pdf. on the woods website. I have it saved on my computer as well as the original. I've got a feeling though that something is up because I still get a fair amount of snow falling back in but all bolts and keyways check out ok. I'm still leaning towards reducing the clearance between fan and housing. I was able to clear the 15-18" we have received over the last two days though. ....

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treeman
Join Date: Feb 2002
Posts: 251 Wisconsin
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2010-12-11          175662

I know i'm late to this subject but will post anyways. I have been looking at blowers and bidding on some at auctions lately. One was a Woods 6', I noticed the fan dia was a normal size but the fan width was quite narrow compaired to many. I did end up buying a used Lorenz blower and the fan on that seems almost 3 times the width of the Woods blower. You would think wider blades would blow more air/snow. ....

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Murf
Join Date: Dec 1999
Posts: 7249 Toronto Area, Ontario, Canada
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2010-12-12          175693

Just remember though, the more snow each blade moves the more effort there is required to do it.

If you have say a 6' blower on a 60hp tractor you are giving the blower 10 hp per foot of blower. If however you are using that Same 6' blower on a 30 hp CUT then you're nowonly feeding 5 hp per foot of blower.

That's a big difference in what work it can do in a given period of time.

Snowblowers are pretty notorious for chewing up PTO clutches so some manufacturers limit the blowers ability to load up the driveline by reducing the design capacity.

That's why if you look through various manufacturers brochures you'll see that some say you can run a 6' blower with as little as 25 hp while others will say you need a minimum of 40 or more horsepower to run theirs.

Best of luck. ....

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TC24daman
Join Date: Jun 2007
Posts: 23 Upstate New York
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2010-12-12          175698

Murf, your probably right on that. I can load the blower up with snow with minimal loss of rpm and alls it does is pile up in front of the blower till it gets caught up. I'm ok with the 10-15ft it throws it plus the price was right! ....

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Woodie
Join Date: Jun 2004
Posts: 109 Michigan lower
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2010-12-12          175699

Another possibly of weak or inconsistent snow throwing as i found out last winter ,, I could see the auger turning when no load and it would be a 50/50 thing of blow just fine then snow would load in front of the blower- just pushing. I checked all the shear bolts etc. and while i had everything nearly dismantled I happen to look at the end of the drive shaft for the auger and seen the key on the drive sprocket for the chain looked only part way sheared, but on tear down it had completely sheared and would catch on it self. The key had broke down to a 'galled ' mess. It didn't score the sprocket or shaft very much. Replaced key and everything worked as normal. ....

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treeman
Join Date: Feb 2002
Posts: 251 Wisconsin
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2010-12-12          175714

I used my Lorenz blower for the first time today. The drifts were about 3ft deep and they were dense. The blower never plugged and snow would not pile up much in front of it. In those drifts, it eats horse power...big time. Even though I bogged the tractor down a few times, it never broke the shear pins. I even blew through a pile that I plowed up. From what I learned today, I would agree that with the narrow fan the Woods blower has, it's limited on blowing force. But, it sounds like it won't overwelm the tractor either. ....

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