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Snowblower Suggestions

Kelly Carlson Join Date: Posts: 1

2001-03-27          25977

We live at the top of a hill in central NH, with a mile long, 11 degree pitch access road which is about 14' wide - plus about another 3' to 4' on each side for piling up the snow before blockage by trees. This winter's 10+ feet of total snow, coupled with frequent 4' to 6' drifts, has proven to be a bit too much for my NH TC35D with a 7 1/2' Curtis plow. Our two largest storms each took 2 days of work, plowing and moving snow to get the road open.I think that a snowblower is the best solution, and am hoping for suggestions on front vs. rear mount, brands, approximate price, and maximum size that my TC35D can handle. Dealer recommends the Pronovost P-680, at $2,900 with hydraulic controls, is relatively expensive. Suggestions???

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Snowblower Suggestions

TomG Join Date: Feb 2002 Posts: 5406 Upper Ottawa Valley

2001-03-28          25993

Pronovost and others seem to be well regarded. Meteor, which I have, is less expensive and I haven't heard of a serious problem with them. It sure would be handy to get a 7' blower for a 14' road, but I doubt the tractor would manage a 7' blower, even with stretching the recommended HP. Having to make a 1-mile 3rd pass is going to add about a half-hour to the clearing time. If you want to stretch HP recommendations, you sort of reason that a tractor will handle light snows OK and just has to go slower in heavier snows. And, maybe a few really heavy ones will cause a lot of difficulty. So, how many heavy snows are there, and how much extra time does going slow take compared to the time a 3rd pass takes each and every time? I don't know the answer, but that's how I'd think it through. An alternative might be to just clear 12' of the 14' road. I've been talking up 3ph blowers even since I got one. However, I might think of a front mount if I had a mile by 14' to do. It's mostly a question of time. I don't mind driving backwards. In most snows, my tractor had enough power to run in the 3rd of my 4-range transmission. I run in second range, because it's too tricky to drive backwards any faster. Front mount blowers may be fairly specific to a tractor, which might run the costs up. In addition, the costs really go up if you don't have a mid-PTO. ....

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Snowblower Suggestions

Dave M Join Date: Posts: 1

2001-03-28          25998

I also have a Meteor 3 point blower. I paid about $1500 for the 75" model. The weak points of this machine are the lack of adjustable skids and the exposed drive chain and sprocket that powers the auger. On the other hand it is half the money of a truly superior blower, and compares very well to my friend's John Deere blower. Bolt-on skids are available and help prevent throwing stones. Blowers are great for snow, but can be broken by trying to blow tree limbs, rocks, mufflers and other car parts, etc. Beer cans and 2 liter bottles seem to just go through :-). The drive chain can be broken by a surprisingly small rock if it gets between the chain and a sprocket, and then you might also be looking at replacing a sprocket and/or bearing. It is not really worth while to try to blow less than 3" of snow on gravel, especially if the ground is not frozen solid. I think a plow is faster for small amounts of snow, anyway.

My 500' of driveway is no problem, but I would seriously consider looking into a front mounted blower if I had a mile of road to clear more than once or twice a year.
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Snowblower Suggestions

Dave M Join Date: Posts: 1

2001-03-28          25999

I almost forgot that it paid for me to shop around for my blower. Two dealers less than 3 miles apart were 25% apart in price.

Have you checked out the Pronovost web site to make sure your dealer offered you the right model?
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Link:   Pronovost Snowblowers

 
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Snowblower Suggestions

Dave Wells Join Date: Posts: 1

2001-03-28          26003

Kelly, a couple of thoughts that might be helpful to you... I have a JD4100Hydro with turf tires, and I have a JD 47" snowblower mounted on the front via a quick-tach hitch. The snowblower has hydraulic chute angling, and remote discharge cap control (via cable). I live here in western NH, and was fortunate enough to get to experience some of this winter's snow! I'd really suggest that you get a front-mounted snowblower - you're gonna be doing enough snowblowing that operating in a half-way turned around position will get very difficult after a while. It's a lot easier to operate, especially if you're trying to get up close to something, when you are looking ahead - not behind. I'd also strongly recommend that you get the controls for both chute angling and discharge - whether the controls are hydraulic, cable, etc. It's makes all the difference in the world to be able to change where you're blowing snow without getting off the seat. Not only does it remove a large "Pain-in-the-a.." factor, but you'll get done a lot faster too. Another suggestion I'd make is to get a snowblower that is JUST a little wider than your tractor - you want it wide enough to cover your wheel tracks, any FEL mounting arms that extend out, etc. By getting one just wider than your tractor, you maximize your tractor's maneuverability. Of course, a snowblower isn't as fast as a plow under most circumstances - but a good one is still pretty fast, and you don't end up with huge piles that take until June to melt, either! And, personally, I think that it makes your place look a lot better - once again, the snow you've removed is spread out over a large area, no big piles of slush, etc. I'm not really familiar with your tractor, and I don't know what a good snowblower for your machine will cost you. I strongly suggest that you get a 2-stage snowblower - stage 1 is the auger that feeds the snow to stage 2, which is the fan that blows the snow out the discharge chute. I strongly suggest that you get a shaft driven, not a belt driven unit. (You'll probably find that any you look at will be shaft driven, but I don't know for sure...) Belts are notorious for stretching and slipping, which translates into loss of power. Finally, if you are comparing two units with a different fan speed, the one with the higher fan speed will probably work better - all other things being equal. I'm really impressed with how well mine works - it has all the characteristics that I suggested to you. I ended up doing a lot of snowthrowing for myself and the neighbors that required me to cut through some pretty deep drifts. And, while most of the snow was nice easy-to-blow powder, the last 2 storms (8-10 inches and 14-16 inches) left a lot of wet heavy stuff. Not once did I have to get off the tractor to unclog the discharge chute! Hope this helps - Dave Wells ....

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Snowblower Suggestions

Steve Ciarcia Join Date: Posts: 1

2001-03-28          26006


Funny thing you should mention tractor snowblowers. I went through a lot to finally solve my problem. I have a 400 foot inclined driveway opening into a 40'x100' parking area. Traditionally, I've used my pickup truck with a plow and a Kubota L2550GST with FEL to clear it. I have a couple snowblowers including a 10HP one for cleanup.

Well, after the first 3-4 feet of snow this year (I'm in northern CT) where I had to use the walk behind snowblower because I couldn't even get the plow out, let alone push 20" of snow, I decided to solve the problem once and for all. I bought a Kubota BX2200 tractor with 50" Kubota 2-stage front-end-mounted snowblower. Since my primary use was snow removal I also got the Curtis hard-sided cab with heater, lights, etc, and wheel weights. Since part of your question was the cost, I paid $17,000 (of course, this includes the tractor too). I can go back and check but I think the snow blower was $2800.

To answer your obvious question, why didn't I just add the snowblower to the L2550? Well, I have a FEL and backhoe on that one and I don't like taking it off. It's still nice to have the front end loader whenever I need it and I don't care to drive backwards with a PTO snowblower (and freezing too).

For the last 3 snow storms (each over a foot) I used the BX2200 and it was great. Hydrostatic drive is absolutely perfect for snow blowing. The plow is still faster and more useful for the open areas but once I have more that 2 foot banks on the side of the road (virtually this whole winter) I have to use a snowblower anyway.

This is an executive toy and there is no cost justification. However, if you have a long driveway and lots of snow, there is no substitute for a front-mounted tractor snow blower.

--Steve ....

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Snowblower Suggestions

Kelly Carlson Join Date: Posts: 1

2001-03-28          26022

Just a note of thanks for all the helpful suggestions! ....

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