Frount Mounted Snow Blower Direction of Rotation?

[chyduke]

I apologize if this has been covered elsewhere, but I couldn't find it using a search. I have a B6000E I will be using as a dedicated snow removal machine. Where I live, we average 200" of snow per year, and there are many years in which we receive 300". Yep, walking behind a snowblower gets old pretty fast. I actually have a couple of questions I hope to have answered here:

1) What is the rotational direction of most (small) 2-stage shaft-driven snowblowers. I have seen a couple from John Deere. I am considering one in a 42 inch wide range.

2) I am thinking of having a sprocket machined to fit on the CCW B6000 PTO Shaft. This would then drive a roller chain and another sprocket to turn a driveshaft going to the front of the tractor (like the picture below) The driveshaft would be supported by a couple of bearings mounted below the tractor frame. If the PTO is CCW at the rear, the driveshaft would be CW at the front. I know the drawing is very simplified, and there will likely be a lot of stuff in the way, but does this solution seem workable? I would like to know your thoughts. In my experience, electric clutches and belts are less reliable than driveshafts.

 

[chyduke]

Well, here I thought I had come up with something original, but it turns out it has already been done by Erskine.

http://www.erskineattachments.com/attachments-catalog/snowblower-front-mount.pdf

I would think that the Erskine snowblower HAS to be CCW rotation since a roller chain is used at the rear PTO. The question still remains, what is the rotation of most shaft-driven snowblowers?

I'm sure I'll end up fabricating my own mount to run off the rear PTO. I would really like to use a B2750, but I'm not sure about the weight on my B6000E. They are also a little pricey

 

[Diydave]

You could always rig up a friction drive, they reverse the direction of input shaft.

I have a Satoh beaver, use a spinner fertilizer spreader on it, my solution was to unbolt the fins, and bolt them on backwards...

I wouldn't want to rig up a snowblower on mine, cause it only has like 16 HP, and won't power much of a blower.

Also if I got it wrong, I'd have a beaver with a snowsucker on it, and that would be the cause of many puns...

 

[chyduke]

Hmmm...hadn't considered a friction drive. Yes, I am a little concerned about the lack of horsepower on the B6000 running a snowblower. I may have to stick to something like a 37" blower. I think I remember reading somewhere that only the 540 speed should be used for implements. I'm not sure what the other two speeds are for...perhaps a generator?

 

[Diydave]

Hmmm...hadn't considered a friction drive. Yes, I am a little concerned about the lack of horsepower on the B6000 running a snowblower. I may have to stick to something like a 37" blower. I think I remember reading somewhere that only the 540 speed should be used for implements. I'm not sure what the other two speeds are for...perhaps a generator?

Don't know of a generator, but there are several japanese rice cultivators that were made to run faster than standard...

 

[chyduke]

Guess what I picked up today...

Guess what I picked up today...a front-mounted snowblower. It was for a not-so-popular Honda riding mower. Saw it sitting next to a mower/implement dealer. When I asked about it, the guy said he wanted 75 for it. My response was "you mean dollars?" Snatched it up right away and it is sitting in my garage.

Any thoughts on how to mount this on the front of my B6000E? It previously ran off of a vertical crankshaft with a clockwise rotation (as you sit on the tractor). I guess the rear PTO setup I mentioned earlier is out because I think these snowblowers need to run around 3000 rpm.

At this point I'm leaning towards a front electric clutch setup with a shaft running to a right angle 1:1 gearbox. The gearbox would take the place of the pulley shown in picture 4. I think this may work. Direction of rotation is shown in the pictures. Let me know your thoughts...

 

[Diydave]

Another way that would accomplish the same end, would be a hydraulic pump off the front of the motor, and a motor to connect to the drive chain... Advantage is that you can buy a hyd motor that is the correct displacement, to give the needed revs, and if you find that its runnin bass ackwards, you can just swap hoses...

 

[chyduke]

Hydraulic would be my first choice to run a snowblower, since I wouldn't have to mess around with linkage (belts, shafts, or roller chains) when it lifts and lowers. I just assumed the B6000 doesn't have enough horsepower to run a hydraulic pump big enough to power it. Any idea how many GPM I would need for a blower this big? It is 40".

 

[Diydave]

I would think 5-8 GPM, would be in the range...

 

[chyduke]

Finally got the snowblower going

Finally, everything (well, almost everything) is running on the B6000E . I mounted the snowblower up front. Added an auxiliary hydraulic pump and a 1.5" bore x 6" stroke ram to lift and lower it. The blower runs off the rear PTO similar to the Erskine model for larger tractors. The next step is to add a motor to rotate the chute and a linear actuator to raise and lower the chute deflector. Because of the CCW rotation PTO, I had to install a reverse rotation right angle gearbox to run the blower. You can see it in action here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGwGPkbEBMs&feature=youtu.be

 

[kubotasam]

You should post some pictures of the drive and gear box set up. Looks like you have done a great job!!

 

[chyduke]

Thanks Kubotasam! Here is a video of the setup:

https://youtu.be/CljnRo8t4Qs

Pictures below.

 

[Yooper]

I like it!