Quick Attached Snowblower on B9200

[kenrevo]

I wanted to add a snowblower to my B9200 and give that models designed for it are nearly impossible to find and worn out I decided to look for a newer model and get it to fit. I figured other might want some ideas if they want to do the similar thing. I ended up getting a B2782A snowblower with hydraulic rotation and electric deflector; it came with a B2791 subframe. The subframe fit a lot better than it thought:

I did have to cutout around the bearing support to to clear the front diff:

I decided to used the mounting holes on the FEL (BF350) subframe to attached the quick attach bracket for the back of the subframe. I needed to extend the standard mounting to reach this area:

These are the mounting brackets I made:

I don't have a good picture of the brackets installed but I'll try to take one tomorrow.

For there mid-PTO, the fixed shaft was too long to allow the PTO shaft to fit. Kubota does have different fixed shaft options; mine had the longer one. The shorter shaft would require the rear bearing to be mounted on the opposite side and would interfere with the front diff housing. I cut down the shaft so I could mount the bearing on the required side and enough to get the PTO shaft installed. I welded it back together with 3 thou of run-out:

I also had to make a mounting bracket to hold the hydraulic control valve as the one for the FEL is attached to it. I decided to get a new valve and make a bracket that I can use with the FEL and quick attach hitch.

 

[kenrevo]

Here is the bracket and the hydraulic valve:

Here are a couple of pictures of the rear sup-frame mount:

 

[Dave_eng]

You have done a nice job.

Did you "index the shortened pto shaft?

Dave

 

[kenrevo]

Yes I did, I think it was a .5" pilot and chamfered the ends to get better weld penetration:

 

[Dave_eng]

Yes I did, I think it was a .5" pilot and chamfered the ends to get better weld penetration:
View attachment 48196

My concern had to do with the U joint phasing. People who do not work on driveshafts for a living often fail to appreciate how critical phasing is for smooth operation.

Phasing

Dave

 

[kenrevo]

Good point, I've never heard about phasing before. I'm not too concerned about it with this shaft. This shaft doesn't have u-joints itself; it has 2 standard pto shafts on each side with the u-joints on each end of those. The standard configuration from kubota allows the u joints to be miss-aligned because of all the different spline/alignment options. I looked in the manual and it doesn't say anything about aligning the u-joints between the the 2 shaft.

 

[Dave_eng]

Good point, I've never heard about phasing before. I'm not too concerned about it with this shaft. This shaft doesn't have u-joints itself; it has 2 standard pto shafts on each side with the u-joints on each end of those. The standard configuration from kubota allows the u joints to be miss-aligned because of all the different spline/alignment options. I looked in the manual and it doesn't say anything about aligning the u-joints between the the 2 shaft.

A quick but not absolutely certain correct thought.................

I think you are making the situation seem too simple. A U joint attached to either end of your intermediate shaft is still a U joint. at each end.

To rule out my concerns, look at the splines on either end of the welded shaft. Look closely for some feature of the splines that would only allow U joint connection to happen in only one position. A missing spline for example.

If such a feature does exist then indexing is an important part of the shaft's design. The same feature would be present on the U joints which slide unto the ends of the welded shaft

The amount of vibration a poorly indexed shaft can create is quite substantial and damaging so best to treat this seriously..

If the splines are made to only go together one way then there would be no mention of this in the WSM as the design is fool proof (except when a shaft is cut)
Dave

 

[kenrevo]

I installed the snowblower this weekend and check the splines and the splines aren't indexed, I can put the shafts on in any position. I did try the blower with the 2 shafts in and out of phase and didn't notice too much difference in vibration but I'm going to run them in phase to eliminate any potential issues.