JD snowblower on B5100E

[Doubletrouble]

So I managed to aquire a 44" JD snowblower for next to nothing. It's a belt driven 2 stage blower with a quick detach hitch. Got to looking at it and the clutch drive pulley on the front of my b5100 which normally runs my 48" woods belly mower. I think I can make this work.
I have fabricated mounting bracket for it that bolt in the same spot as the parts for the mower drive. I was able to mock it up so far and have the lift mechanism figured out using the 3 point in the rear.
Now to work out the pulley placement for the belt drive. The drive pulley (tractor) is vertical the driven pulley on the blower is horizontal. I will try mounting an idler at the bottom of the bracket on one side and use the other side for the tensioner.

 

[Doubletrouble]

This is my idea for the belt drive routing. Any thoughts? Will it work?
Thanks for any input.

 

[dlsmith]

Not sure, but you are going to have to twist the belt 90° between each successive pulley, and that may be hard on the belt given the short distance between pulleys.
Also, I assume from your notes, that you want to move the proposed idler pulleys to tension the belt. If so, that will move the pulley either up/down or forward/backward and will mis-align the belt with the pulley on the tractor or the one on the blower, and that's not going to work very well.
Also, from the looks of the way it is attached to the tractor, when you raise the blower, that will wrap the belt farther around the idler pulleys, tightening the belt.

After looking at your setup, I'm not sure what would be the best way to drive it.

 

[Justasquid]

Can you remove the 90 degree gear drive on the blower and mount a pulley directly to the shaft coming out? That would make both pulleys in the same plain. If the gear drive is providing reduction or speed increase, you could compensate with different size pulleys. The other Benefit would be you could get the blower closer to the tractor and have less frame work out there.

 

[Doubletrouble]

Both valid points. That's why I wanted some opinions.
I don't know for sure if there is any speed change through the gear box. The drive pulley on the tractor and driven on the blower are different sizes which would alter speed slightly.
I also did consider mounting the blower closer to the tractor and remove the gear box but I don't think there would be any room at all for a belt tensioner and when raising the blower it would also tilt the pulley and maybe pop the belt off.

 

[Justasquid]

Or you could mount a small pto shaft. you can purchase weld on spline shafts that you could weld to the pulleys. Then buy small pto shaft.

If you need to lower the angle of the pto shaft, you could mount a bearing and pulley below the one on your tractor. I had an old bolens tractor that was set up that way.

Or, find another blowers right angle gear drive, rotate the existing one on the blower 90 degrees, mount another one on the tractor in-line with it. Then the belts are rotating inline with the tilt.

of course, it all depends on how much time money you want to invest. Either way, very cool project.

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

You need to remove the gearbox and use a PTO shaft to drive it.
The Front PTO runs at 2500RPM and the blower should be run at or about 540RPM.
You need to figure out what that ratio of pullies should be.

 

[Dave_eng]

The B series of your vintage when equipped with a front mounted blower had angled struts running from the lower blower mounting points to back near the bell housing to resist the twisting back forces when the blower pushes into the snow.

These images are from forum member Torch who also fabricated a loader for his B7100.

Do you have more details on the blower you have. Model number for example.

Have you verified that the Kubota engine rotation direction matches what the blower was driven by originally.

The garden tractor 44" two stage blowers I could find were driven from a vertical engine crankshaft operating at 3,600 rpm.

If this is correct the drive arrangement you are trying to make work may be too slow.

Dave

 

[Doubletrouble]

Thanks for the input. Those supports would be a very good idea. As far as the belt rotation, yes it matches in direction. RPM might be a problem if the blower was driven at 3600 rpm, I believe the governor on the diesels is set at about 3k I think?

 

[barts]

Thanks for the input. Those supports would be a very good idea. As far as the belt rotation, yes it matches in direction. RPM might be a problem if the blower was driven at 3600 rpm, I believe the governor on the diesels is set at about 3k I think?

That's correct - the engine produces 12 hp at 3000 rpm on the B5100.