2782B snowblower: very disappointed in ability

[Orange1forme]

For the bogging down issue check the airfilter for snow and ice. If you have not already removed the intake tube to the airbox remove it. This will prevent any snow from being sucked into the filter. Just remember to put it back in the spring.
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I had this issue lat year, but not this year.

I bought the snow covers for mine, made by a member on this board.
If not using them, I have a "cover" to minimize build up. At higher temps, I was concerned with the 4 bars on the temp gauge.

 

[sheepfarmer]

Well I had a much harder time than usual trying to blow this 6 inches of heavy wet snow, as did the OP under similar conditions. All of the expected problems, skids digging into unfrozen lawn, front end not steering because too loaded up, snow getting pushed, leaving piles when I backed up. The augers and fan were working fine, seemed to be a lack of skill on my part, since every so often I'd get the groundspeed and height just right and it would throw it 20 feet. Got off to a slow start since my seat switch was objecting to my down coat, coveralls and the cold. Then it started to rain. My young helper who was doing my patio and sidewalks with my Yooper Scooper decided it would be fun to make a square snow pile with each shovel full packed in with vertical sides the temp after this afternoon is going to range from 9 to 24 deg for the next week, so I am betting the square igloo is going to be here until March.

Birddog's grille cover worked great, temp stayed at 3 bars. Snow wasn't blowing near tractor so didn't use side covers.

 

[RCW]

Well I had a much harder time than usual trying to blow this 6 inches of heavy wet snow,

Ouch...6" of the slop is a problem, a heavy problem....

 

[bird dogger]

I had this issue lat year, but not this year.

I bought the snow covers for mine, made by a member on this board.
If not using them, I have a "cover" to minimize build up. At higher temps, I was concerned with the 4 bars on the temp gauge.

Hi Orange1forme. When I first made these covers for my B2650 I was concerned with the temps also. But in the winter I try to get my temp gauge to reach and run in the 3-4 segment range or even higher. With an infra red heat gun and the display reading 3-4 segments the engine oil temp on my B2650 was maybe in the 190F range. I could easily hold my hand on the oil filter. Depending on oil types, it appears the breakdown from high temperature starts in that mid 200*F range or above. According to some experts the oil should be maintained in that 200*-230*F +/- range to get rid of any condensation, prevent sludge build up, etc.

We had 4+ inches of nice dry snow here overnight. I cleaned four neighbors drives (due to vacations, hip surgeries, stranded in airports, etc.) plus my own today and couldn't get my gauge to get above 4 bars. When the temps here moderate a little bit more I'm going to try to get above 4 segments and shoot some oil temps with the heat gun to see what the actual temps are at 5, 6, 7 segments displayed. One thing I've noticed is that the gauge is quite linear with displaying its segments, in that it just doesn't all of a sudden jump and skip segments. I really have to load my blower hard to get it to register to the next higher segment on the gauge. But again, that's here in North Dakota in most likely colder temps than you're operating in. But it holds true in anything up to about freezing temps (+25 - +30 F.). Unless you see your gauge rising up into those upper limits you should be ok.

 

[bird dogger]

Well I had a much harder time than usual trying to blow this 6 inches of heavy wet snow, as did the OP under similar conditions. All of the expected problems, skids digging into unfrozen lawn, front end not steering because too loaded up, snow getting pushed, leaving piles when I backed up. The augers and fan were working fine, seemed to be a lack of skill on my part, since every so often I'd get the groundspeed and height just right and it would throw it 20 feet. Got off to a slow start since my seat switch was objecting to my down coat, coveralls and the cold. Then it started to rain. My young helper who was doing my patio and sidewalks with my Yooper Scooper decided it would be fun to make a square snow pile with each shovel full packed in with vertical sides the temp after this afternoon is going to range from 9 to 24 deg for the next week, so I am betting the square igloo is going to be here until March.

Birddog's grille cover worked great, temp stayed at 3 bars. Snow wasn't blowing near tractor so didn't use side covers.

Sheepfarmer, good to hear those covers are working well for you, too! Our snow was quite dry from this storm albeit quite hard and packed from being so wind driven. It seems like no matter where one lives, Mother Nature has a way of making sure each of us have conditions and obstacles to figure out
and learn how to deal with them. Wet, slushy snow is most difficult to deal with.

After looking at Orange1forme's pics and others of their snow blowers I see one difference on mine that might be helping me with the wet slushy snow.
My augers are chain driven from sprockets towards the outer side of the blower. I don't have a mid mount gear box and shaft in the middle. It's a wide open and a clear path from the augers to the impeller in the center. I had never had a reason to think about that til now.
Regards,
David

 

[bird dogger]

Ouch...6" of the slop is a problem, a heavy problem....

Even for the Orange Snow Blowing Pope Mobile!!

 

[NHSleddog]

Turbocharging the fan will help with the wet stuff too. Watch this guy on youtube, he shows wet slushy snow with and without the modification.

https://youtu.be/-XLOCtrAYZc

You can see a bunch of others that have done it as well.

 

[Orange1forme]

Turbocharging the fan will help with the wet stuff too. Watch this guy on youtube, he shows wet slushy snow with and without the modification.

https://youtu.be/-XLOCtrAYZc

You can see a bunch of others that have done it as well.

I agree that this would help blow/throw the snow. I have had issues with it plugging the chute and I contributed that to the guard and angle of the deflector being mid position or lower. I have now removed the guard.

My issue is getting it TO the fan.
I am pondering the addition of something to the augers to break up the snow to maybe keep it from sliding and at the same time keep it from adhering to the snowblower. Just in the thought process now.

Another thing that I find odd is the many right angles and dead spots in this blower. Who the heck designs these things, someone with no operational experience?
To me rounded areas, even 45°, where sides/top/bottom meets would be better than a 90°. As mentioned the middle auger shaft connection makes for a snow accumulating spot.

 

[bird dogger]

My issue is getting it TO the fan.
I am pondering the addition of something to the augers to break up the snow to maybe keep it from sliding and at the same time keep it from adhering to the snowblower. Just in the thought process now.

Here's an idea to ponder. My Lorenz is made in the way you're planning or thinking about. Instead of spiral auger/s mounted and rotating there are offset metal paddles angled to pull the snow to the center. Those individual paddles really chop, bust up, and break up hard packed snow or most anything that gets in front of it. Instead of scraping snow to pull it to the center the angled paddles will bust the snow into small chunks and move it to the center. It really does a fantastic job in that regard.

You might modify your augers like your thinking, with something similar. Or you could think about fabricating two new augers to take their place. Just an idea an food for thought. Here's a pic I found and cropped to show the business end. If you'd like something better I'd happily take something better for you.


Regards,
David

 

[dirtmovr]

Similar problem here. Saturday morning I woke up to 5" of heavy, but not slushy, snow. Great for snowball making but that's about it. I had no luck using my blower - the fan would get packed tight with the snow. I know it's working correctly because when I'd clean most of the snow out from the fan and engage the blower it would spit out the remnants through the chute.

My tractor is kept in a somewhat heated garage (50-degrees) so maybe the warm metal interacted with the not cold snow, it was right around freezing when I went out, to help it stick together. I should have taken pictures but there was a lot of snow stuck to the augers when I would stop.

I thought that I was traveling slow enough but maybe not. I did slow my pace down on one of my tries but it just seemed to take longer to pack up the fan.

At one point I cleaned the fan and sprayed with PAM but that had no effect.

Thankfully, I have a rear blade, which helped, but that was even a challenge. It would build up, rolling over and over and over - again, I should have taken pictures/video.

We've gotten a snowfall like this every season for the last few years and it's been very frustrating. Otherwise, the unit works great. I'll go around and see if any of the neighbors need help just so I can keep using the machine and blowing the white stuff great distances. Unfortunately, this time, I was embarrassed in front of my neighbors who were able to chew through it with their little walk-behind units while I had this big hunk of orange metal hanging from the front of my tractor - unused. Normally, knowing how wet it was I would wait until the next day when it was "dried" and wouldn't have any problems but I didn't have that option, unfortunately.

So, no real knowledge given here, apologies, but I'm glad I found this thread since I've been having the same confused thoughts. I will certainly follow this thread and report back if I can contribute any actual useful information.

 

[RCW]

Even for the Orange Snow Blowing Pope Mobile!!

HA! I'd forgotten about that!

Thanks for the laugh!