Snow blower chute going only one direction.

[MountainsSkies]

I may have seen old threads on this, but haven't figured it out yet.

Pretty big, very heavy snow here last night. Just did a bunch of clearing with my Kubota L4060 with a new Snowblower BL6399. Just about done and the chute on the snowblower started to rotate in only one direction. I thought maybe snow was jammed in its gear, but cleared it, and could rotate it in the direction slowly by hand that the hydraulics didn't work... so not jammed. The control is dedicated, seems just forward and backward (photo attached). I're read about a "detent", where you have to push the lever to the right, and then it will go forward, but I haven't been able to do that. It does feel as if the lever is meeting resistance, not going forward as easily, and when I try to push the lever forward, I hear some kind of motor, resistant sound (can't really describe this, not from the motor on the snowblower but forward on the tractor). As I said, feels almost as if the lever is not moving. I have not yet tried to reverse the hydraulic lines to see what happens. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Tughill Tom]

Check your hose connections, I've had one uncouple and it did that same thing.

 

[Orangeglow]

Besides checking your hose connections, flip the two hoses that control your chute. That way you can isolate whether it is the tractor side or the blower side that is giving you the problem.

 

[TheOldHokie]

Looks like you are using your rear remote for that function. If it was working before you have developed a flow obstruction in one direction. One of the rear remote couplers has probably taken a dump.

Dan

 

[MountainsSkies]

Looks like you are using your rear remote for that function. If it was working before you have developed a flow obstruction in one direction. One of the rear remote couplers has probably taken a dump.

Dan

I swapped the hydraulic lines on the tractor to see if it would work in the other direction, and it does. So the chute gearing itself is fine. Definitely feels as though the remote hydraulic switch itself doesn't want to more forward. There are some other controls near the front loader lever, a button that lights up green when pushed (not pictured on the manual), a toggle switch a top the front loader lever, and of course the lock lever lower down below the loader control lever. Seems pretty clear wha the lock is, I think. And maybe green light is for floating the loader (or the switch is)? There are icon labels I don't really understand (forgotten what they mean). But switching any of these does not allow the remote hydraulic lever to move forward easily. Something got switched while I was working perhaps? Or perhaps what Dan suggests happened? Not sure how that might have happened or how to fix it. Don't see any signs amiss. I am going to call my Kubota folks tomorrow, and see if they have any ideas or can stop by (they are pretty great). I'll post what I learn in case it can be helpful to others.

 

[TheOldHokie]

I swapped the hydraulic lines on the tractor to see if it would work in the other direction, and it does. So the chute gearing itself is fine. Definitely feels as though the remote hydraulic switch itself doesn't want to more forward. There are some other controls near the front loader lever, a button that lights up green when pushed (not pictured on the manual), a toggle switch a top the front loader lever, and of course the lock lever lower down below the loader control lever. Seems pretty clear wha the lock is, I think. And maybe green light is for floating the loader (or the switch is)? There are icon labels I don't really understand (forgotten what they mean). But switching any of these does not allow the remote hydraulic lever to move forward easily. Something got switched while I was working perhaps? Or perhaps what Dan suggests happened? Not sure how that might have happened or how to fix it. Don't see any signs amiss. I am going to call my Kubota folks tomorrow, and see if they have any ideas or can stop by (they are pretty great). I'll post what I learn in case it can be helpful to others.

Are uou calling the lever in your picture a switch?

Dan

 

[RCW]

I swapped the hydraulic lines on the tractor to see if it would work in the other direction, and it does. So the chute gearing itself is fine. Definitely feels as though the remote hydraulic switch itself doesn't want to more forward. There are some other controls near the front loader lever, a button that lights up green when pushed (not pictured on the manual), a toggle switch a top the front loader lever, and of course the lock lever lower down below the loader control lever. Seems pretty clear wha the lock is, I think. And maybe green light is for floating the loader (or the switch is)? There are icon labels I don't really understand (forgotten what they mean). But switching any of these does not allow the remote hydraulic lever to move forward easily. Something got switched while I was working perhaps? Or perhaps what Dan suggests happened? Not sure how that might have happened or how to fix it. Don't see any signs amiss. I am going to call my Kubota folks tomorrow, and see if they have any ideas or can stop by (they are pretty great). I'll post what I learn in case it can be helpful to others.

Let's back up a little......

Is this a rear-mounted snowblower, with two (2) hoses that connect to the rear of the tractor to operate the chute?

You operate that chute by the using the lever you showed in your photo?

The singular control for your rear remote (pictured by you) has nothing to do with the loader control (joystick) for your tractor if I understand correctly.

If I still understand correctly (may not) - - unplug those two (2) hoses at the back of the tractor, and plug them back into the tractor, ensuring they seat correctly.

You said when you did switch hoses, it worked the other direction, but not both.

Tells me you have a bad coupler at the back of the tractor or snowblower, like a couple guys said....

 

[MountainsSkies]

Thank you all so much.

Yes, I guess I called the lever a switch, but it is for sure a lever. Called the remote hydraulic lever, I believe.

Yes indeed, a rear mounted snow blower with two hoses, which I operate (the chute direction) by using the lever in my photo.

And yes, I do actually understand that the lever is completely independent of the loader joy stick (just was wondering what the green light button was and was trying to make sure I wan't missing something.... I appreciate you clarifying). So thank you again.

So yep, all understood correctly, and yes, switching the hoses did mean the chute rotated in the other direction, just not both.

So I will mention the idea of a bad coupler to my Kubota folks. It does seem odd that it got funky after some use, towards the end. Not much use also. I can't see any signs of that, but maybe not something that would be visible to me. Maybe they can help me out.

Gotta say, using the tractor for deep, heavy, wet snow removal was great... I have other equipment I've used for years; JD large lawn tractor with large front snowblower attachment; plow on my ATV; hand operated large snow blower; and of course just shovels (ha ha). All of this would have been overmatched (or chutes would have clogged repeatedly) with the deep, very wet, very heavy snow we just had.

Thanks so much for all the help and advice! I will keep you posted. And if anyone has other ideas, love to hear them.

 

[S-G-R]

I had something similar going on with my chute deflector. I changed both pioneer fittings and still had the issue. Dealer came out and fiddled with it and ended up replacing both hoses. It's been working fine since.

 

[TheOldHokie]

I had something similar going on with my chute deflector. I changed both pioneer fittings and still had the issue. Dealer came out and fiddled with it and ended up replacing both hoses. It's been working fine since.

Real easy to test. Disconnect hoses at motor and check for flow in both directions.