B2650 using SnowBlower Black Smoke!!

[NEPA Guy]

Some quick googling has led me to find that John Deere makes a winter grill cover for their machines. It appears I'm not the first one to have this issue.

The John Deere dealer sells theirs for like $80, you can find it online for closer to $100. Kubota wants $300 plus?!?! Thats ridiculous. I already pissed away $70 to replace my filters. That alone could pay for the JD version.

The killer, once again, is that certain dealerships lack the professionalism when it comes to selling Kubota products.

Why isn't this in the manuals? (if I missed it please show me where)

Why wasn't this offered as a precautionary solution?

Especially that this issue has been around for years, this should have been addressed by kubota corp with more diligence. It just irritates me.

http://www.mytractorforum.com/12-john-deere-forum/156340-winter-grill-cover.html

http://www.orangetractortalks.com/forums/showthread.php?t=23141

Thanks for the vote of confidence that nothing went wrong with the machine with the black smoke, that was my biggest concern, but this could have theoretically destroyed the engine?

We shouldn't have to jerry rig anything. I want kubota to wake the F up.

 

[bucktail]

No, that little bit wouldn't have destroyed the engine. You'd need to make a habit of it and keep running it as you lost power. Keep the old air filter and dry it out. They'll still work. Back when I used to live more rural where driving through snow on the roads was a fact of life, I'd keep 2 or 3 air filters and swap them out when one got wet. The 81 reliant was the worst. Had to swap out distributor caps on that one on a regular basis as well.

 

[KubotaVet]

http://cloud.tapatalk.com/s/5891e6c939a6f/Resized952017010595150444.jpg?
This isn't anything new when you live with snow on a day by day basis. The attached photo is from our 90hp Case with a front blower from a few weeks ago. I've never heard about it blowing up an engine before or doing any serious damage, but I can't say 100% that it won't happen.

I just mentioned this problem to a friend that works for a small city street dept., and he said after a bad storm they can go through 3-4 filters in a day. It's just something you have to deal with. Try to find a way to reduce the amount of snow the tractor can take in and always check the filter after using the blower to clean/dry the filter.

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

 

[asgard]

Having previously spoken to my dealer about the potential of this happening and seeing the reality I decided to try a snow shield or intake pipe mod.

The intake at the filter housing is 1.5 inch OD - I did not have a 90-degree bend so I moved to the shield.

I was going to use some offcuts from a fertiliser bag but that was very rough.

Used some side sheeting from a trailer and used that on the sides - laced on with some zip ties and it looked OK.

Then I found a bit of rubber pool liner so I used that on the front. I think it is better but I will evaluate both.

To do the front I released the 3 bolts holding the light housing on and the 1 bolt holding the bottom air intake grill. Stretched the rubber over, cut 4 slots for the side mounts and 1 for the bolt and refitted, looks OK.

We will see how effective it is in operation.

Sorry it is not orange, but I though blue was a nice contrast.

 

[chad450r]

This is a common problem on the b2650 ( I have one) the dealer in Northern Michigan had a mod of cutting the tube shorter and the intake ends up behind the radiator.. Rubbish in my mind.. then in the summer its pulling hot air.

Mesh that was mentioned before is called FROGSKINZ I actually bought a 12"x 12" piece and had plans to make a cage at the intake tube and use the mesh as a sock. This material is used by K&N air filters as a pre filter.. and probably many others.. I have just used a rubber band over the mesh and intake tube and it has worked well.

 

[Tooljunkie]

Just needs a little wrapping around operator station now, keep yourself out of the wind too. Looks like the covers should help.

 

[bucktail]

We had a 70's version of this on our JD 4030:

http://www.turboprecleaner.com/

If you were blowing into the wind, you could watch it spitting snow out of the louvers. The air filter stayed clear of snow.

 

[Grouse Feathers]

If you plug off some of the air flow watch your temperature when blowing wet heavy snow. When blowing wet heavy snow on the 1/2 mile driveway I have to reduce travel speed to keep the engine near rated speed. This keeps the engine fully loaded and after 10 to 15 minutes the temperature starts to go up. This is on a BX with a cab and the cooling air intake plugged because it is inside the cab. The plastic baffle under the cooling air inlet is opened up as much as possible, but there is some restriction of cooling air flow.

 

[NEPA Guy]

Having previously spoken to my dealer about the potential of this happening and seeing the reality I decided to try a snow shield or intake pipe mod.

The intake at the filter housing is 1.5 inch OD - I did not have a 90-degree bend so I moved to the shield.

I was going to use some offcuts from a fertiliser bag but that was very rough.

Used some side sheeting from a trailer and used that on the sides - laced on with some zip ties and it looked OK.

Then I found a bit of rubber pool liner so I used that on the front. I think it is better but I will evaluate both.

To do the front I released the 3 bolts holding the light housing on and the 1 bolt holding the bottom air intake grill. Stretched the rubber over, cut 4 slots for the side mounts and 1 for the bolt and refitted, looks OK.

We will see how effective it is in operation.

Sorry it is not orange, but I though blue was a nice contrast.

That came out nice, I wonder if the kubota kit blocks the front vents like the JD one. I just want to make sure we can constrict the airflow like that safely to keep the snow out.

Thanks everyone else for the remarks, I'll follow up on some of the solutions offered. I'm going to wait to hear back from my dealer before I make any decisions.

I've got a steep learning curve, but its coming along.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UiiqiiTDj0A

 

[eipo]

Cool video. Thanks.


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[asgard]

Update to the front screens.

A couple of days ago while blowing about 3 inches of wet heavy snow I noticed the temp rising, not much above mid position, I decided that I probably had too much restriction so I removed the side panel covers.

Today I needed to move about 10 inches and mid-way through I again noticed a rise in the temp, as I was not quite half way through and only running about 25 minutes I decided it was again too restrictive. Removed the front unit and the temp immediately dropped to just above C. It was +2 C so maybe if it had been colder it would have lasted the entire time but I thought better of it.

I still have the modified intake pipe in place and that seems to be working without issue. I opened up the filter and it was clear and dry.

I think that any shielding would have to used only when the outside temp is well below freezing.

 

[Tooljunkie]

Mild temperature means wet,heavy snow. So its not blowing around like the dry fluffy stuff. So it makes sense why tractor was getting warm and filter stayed dry.

 

[asgard]

Today the snow was light stuff, I was blowing that 30+ feet with a bit of wind assistance.

Checked inside the engine, no snow, at that stage I checked the filter to see if the shorter intake was clear - and it was.

 

[NEPA Guy]

Thats great reporting. I've been sick with the flu and just barely managed to get out there and clear the road. I havent updated my air intake yet with the mod, but I did leave it off and had my cardboard shield still on. No issues as of yet and then the temps rose yesterday so I had to swap out to the plow. The best mod is the one you install once per season, not swap out as per situation. Thanks for the update.

 

[capo99999]

Just had same experience blowing powder with my b2650. 45 minutes in and suddenly black smoke, no power. Popped the hood and discovered ice everywhere and air filter packed solid with snow. Only 35hrs on machine and thought damage to motor. Thankfully found this post. This forum is fantastic. Thanks for posting!

 

[nbryan]

Happened to me today in 8" of -20C fluffy snow and a little breeze, sometimes there's no way to avoid driving through a cloud of wind blown ice crystals. I remembered this thread and the snow clogged intake issue, and that led to a reasonably quick fix, considering the -20C with 20KM wind conditions. Most of that time was carefully and laboriously prying the frozen snow packed cover and primary filter off the filter housing. Less than 1 square inch of filter was showing through, near the intake. Power loss and smoke, indeed. I cleaned the filter and tucked the intake nozzle at the rad behind the rad. Half an hour and on my way.

Thanks!

 

[Orange1forme]

As the OP posted, the 3350(same manual for the 2650) specifically states to remove a piece(I don't recall what) when using a front snowblower and/or operating in snow or icy conditions.
When I looked at the photos, there was little difference between the two tractors components.
I am thinking that Kubota either forgot to include the warning for the 2650 or maybe they installed the wrong intake(same as the 3350) on the 2650.

We have not had much of a winter this year, but I will be cautious of this and look at it this weekend.

 

[sheepfarmer]

While something less redneck would be nice, the best solution that I have found to keep the air filter dry and the radiator and adjacent screen free of ice is both

1. Plastic bag tied around the brush guard as a preliminary barrier, and
2. A corner off a fitted bedsheet held over the entire front and part of the sides of the engine compartment with magnets and a rubber band on the hood mascot.

I am usually blowing snow between 10 and 25 deg F, the engine temp does not go above 3 bars. Without them the filter gets wet and the front part of the engine compartment and radiator is a problem to thaw out and get the ice off.