Rear mount snow blowers...

[mbern]

Hi, Im looking for some advice on rear mount blowers. What brands to stay away from and what to look for as far as construction and durability..

 

[Billdog350]

I have a Luck-Now blower and they are BEEFY! All 1/4" stock, cast iron gearbox, #40 chain, etc. My blower will throw anything smaller than a grapefruit, NEVER gets jammed unless you catch a wire fence or large rock in it (ask me how I know), and the parts are mostly pretty easy to find and replace.

Leave it to a Canadian company to know how to make a kickass blower. I can post a video of my B9200 throwing a 5' path of snow over 30'....no complaints!

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

I would say good brands are Allied, Buel, Snowmachines, Kubota.

Size is real important too, measure the width of your back tires (account for spacing if going to add chains), and add a couple inches.

Also check the HP rating of the unit, if the unit says it needs 20 to 80hp and you have 21hp it's going to work your tractor hard, try to get a unit that is in the middle of the HP scale for your tractor.

 

[aeblank]

If you have an hst, i think sizing up is good. I have a 72" on an L3940. Kubota says to put a 64" on it, and I wholly disagree.

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[Dave_eng]

I would suggest you consider a pull type rear mounted blower as an alternative to a back up style. I have used a 90" one for years and would never go back to the basic style. I dont find any problem driving through the snow I am about to blow. With the optional rear blade you back right up to a garage door, drop the blade and drive ahead a few feet. Raise the blower and back up to blow the pile you pulled forward. You never have to shovel in front of doors. For older type tractors with limited reverse gear options this type of blower gives you the full range of transmission to allow you to match speed to the blower load.
Not having to turn around if you have a long drive makes life much easier as you get older http://www.orangetractortalks.com/forums/images/icons/icon7.gif

Smyth Welding is a high quality Canadian product like the Lucknow one mentioned earlier.

Here is a link to a size for your tractor.
http://www.smythwelding.com/product/snow-blowers/pull-types

Here is a photo of my 90" blower on my old Nuffield 465 with 2wd

The same blower on my new Kubota M7040

On my blower I made the rear blade myself and made it heavy enough to use to grading my long gravel driveway. I have even used it to level top soil much like a box blade. The hydraulic cylinders allow me to put a lot of down pressure on the rear blade which can help when you want to scrape.
Dave M7040

 

[Billdog350]

If you have an hst, i think sizing up is good. I have a 72" on an L3940. Kubota says to put a 64" on it, and I wholly disagree.

X2 on aeblank's point above. I have an HST B9200 and I can handle the 60" blower with my 21.5hp engine (17hp PTO) even with 2' of fresh snow. You just put it in a lower range and go a bit slower at WOT....if the blower bogs, just slow the tractor down a bit so it catches up. I can see how a GST or DT trans would NOT work as well if you're underpowered.

Honestly, except if you're diving into a snowbank or the frozen burm from the town plows, my machine doesn't bog, even travelling in mid range.

 

[mbern]

Wow Dave, thats a good looking setup... I have seen these but never hear how well they work. I am currently thinking about going with a woodmaxx unless I can find a used one to rebuild.

 

[aeblank]

I use my blower to widen our (seasonal) road. There are 3'+ banks. A forward facing pull behind would not work for me. It is probably an unusual situation, but keep it in mind. Cool setup dave_eng (is eng engineer? I am one.....)

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[Billdog350]

Again X2 on aeblank's point. I have a helpful neighbor that plows the driveway when I'm not home. He leaves piles everywhere, sometimes in front of my trailer. garage bays, etc. My rear mount blower was able to chew through a 6' high packed pile. A pull forward blower couldn't have done that.

the loader barely made a dent in that pile when I tried, plus the tractor just spun on the snow and ice trying to dig into the pile. Snowblower 1 : Snowpile 0.

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

I have no problem with my rear facing blower and agree way to many situations that I couldn't drive threw or over to move the snow.

What would be nice would be a cab... But oh well can't have it all.

A GST is kind of in the middle of the HST and DT, I can shift between gears without stopping so when I'm blowing and it starts getting a little rough or bogging me down I can just pull it down a gear or two without a problem, and then back up again when it get easier.

I love my HST on the B and Yes an L with HST is really nice too, just wasn't in the cards for 2k that I paid for my L.