LX2963 snowblower issues

[Cannonball]

Not really happy with my new LX2963 blower. It pushes snow 2-3 feet in front of the blower no matter if you are going slow or fast and piles up in the middle. The augers move the snow ride to side in the middle but it seems like only forward motion and pushing a pile of snow will push snow back to the fan. The pile of snow will overflow the sides of the blower even when taking a half cut making it impossible to actually remove snow from the driveway without taking multiple unneeded passes. My 30 year old Kubota blower worked better & faster
In deep snow I could use 2nd range on hydro now with the new blower even in low range creeping as slow as I can go with the LX2601 snow piles up over flows the blower with a 4" light to medium moisture snowfall
Any thoughts or suggestions what I can do or how I can be happy with my new snow blower ? I've never been so disappointed and everytime I use it my disappointment gets worse. Local dealer says they never had complaints before so I must be crazy to expect s snow blower to blow snow when all mine does is push it like a box plow. Thanks in advance for any input !

 

[DustyRusty]

It might have been manufactured with the wrong parts. To me, it sounds like it is running counter to the correct direction. Suggest that you observe it running while it is stationary and not trying to "ingest" snow. Also, check for broken shear bolts. Something is wrong, but it is difficult to diagnose without being hands-on.

 

[S-G-R]

Post a picture of you auger. Sounds like one side isn't positioned correctly and its pushing instead of pulling.

 

[animals45]

I've seen the horizontal augars on walk behind snow blowers on backwards from the factory several times I see no reason that a PTO blower could have the same issue
animals45

 

[GreensvilleJay]

this should be the drawing, check the auger's out, bet they're swapped if the blower does blow snow.post a picture from the front so we can see.

 

[animals45]

Unfortunatly if a augar is on wronr it's not 10 minuite fix . but I reckon from what the OP said it sould be under warrenty ?
animals45

 

[nbryan]

Not really happy with my new LX2963 blower. It pushes snow 2-3 feet in front of the blower no matter if you are going slow or fast and piles up in the middle. The augers move the snow ride to side in the middle but it seems like only forward motion and pushing a pile of snow will push snow back to the fan. The pile of snow will overflow the sides of the blower even when taking a half cut making it impossible to actually remove snow from the driveway without taking multiple unneeded passes. My 30 year old Kubota blower worked better & faster
In deep snow I could use 2nd range on hydro now with the new blower even in low range creeping as slow as I can go with the LX2601 snow piles up over flows the blower with a 4" light to medium moisture snowfall
Any thoughts or suggestions what I can do or how I can be happy with my new snow blower ? I've never been so disappointed and everytime I use it my disappointment gets worse. Local dealer says they never had complaints before so I must be crazy to expect s snow blower to blow snow when all mine does is push it like a box plow. Thanks in advance for any input !

Make sure the augers lead edges are opposite each other. I've replaced an auger shear bolt but put the lead edges lined up with each other instead of 180 degrees apart, and the snow piling up issue was more or less as you describe.

 

[Cannonball]

Sheer bolts in Auger's and Fan are good. Augers are rotating correctly driving snow to center by fan. Augers are clocked 180 degrees apart. When running everything is rotating in the right direction. I can't post video Im trying to convert it so I can, this is a video clip in 4" snow. Best I could do with one hand in a cast. I'm running in low range barely moving I can walk faster and PTO/Engine RPM is maxed. Snow is medium granular and moist but ive been doing this same driveway 35 years with an older 50" Kubota front mount blower on aB8200 never had issues like this and it was faster and better in deeper snow too with less HP. I thought I was upgrading and getting a better unit. What I feel is the only way with a 10" gap between the augers for the fan to feed is to scoop n push a pile in the center between augers into the fan, by this time its pushing snow 2' or more in front of the blower spilling out the sides. ill post the video later if I can or a link to it. all videos of other users I have watched have people blasting thru faster and sometimes they too have spill over on the sides too. pretty poor design im thinking at this point and I can't believe im the only one with these issues

Snow Blower issues New Kubota

www.youtube.com

 

[nbryan]

Sheer bolts in Auger's and Fan are good. Augers are rotating correctly driving snow to center by fan. Augers are clocked 180 degrees apart. When running everything is rotating in the right direction. I can't post video Im trying to convert it so I can, this is a video clip in 4" snow. Best I could do with one hand in a cast. I'm running in low range barely moving I can walk faster and PTO/Engine RPM is maxed. Snow is medium granular and moist but ive been doing this same driveway 35 years with an older 50" Kubota front mount blower on aB8200 never had issues like this and it was faster and better in deeper snow too with less HP. I thought I was upgrading and getting a better unit. What I feel is the only way with a 10" gap between the augers for the fan to feed is to scoop n push a pile in the center between augers into the fan, by this time its pushing snow 2' or more in front of the blower spilling out the sides. ill post the video later if I can or a link to it. all videos of other users I have watched have people blasting thru faster and sometimes they too have spill over on the sides too. pretty poor design im thinking at this point and I can't believe im the only one with these issues

Snow Blower issues New Kubota

www.youtube.com

I also see this once or twice a year when I'm snowblowing wet snow, B2782B 63".

Two things I notice:

- if the ground hasn't frozen solid yet the snow releases easily in those pesky sheets your vid shows piling up in front and they glide along the ground being pushed by the bottom edge of the blower in wet conditions.

- If the wet snow does this, usually during my first few early snows of the late fall/winter where I live in SE Manitoba, I've begun to just use the front end loader and box scraper to clear it to a few piles off the driveway if it's less than 4 inches or so. Often just melts anyway. If it snows again and finally gets colder, the blower has zero issues anymore all winter with that piling in front problem. Full-depth snowbanks shear off and cast 30+ feet NO side leaks. It's a snow eating beast.

Yes, I have this happen. In snow just like you showed in vid (btw good job with vid and posting it) which by now, knowing the blower can bung up like that occasionally and infuriatingly, I just use the loader/scraper now until real winter sets in. Or spring melts it.

 

[GreensvilleJay]

I didn't see an 'LX2601' at the cdn website,so maybe a USA only model tractor ?? In any event, is there a speed control for the front ( mid ??) PTO ? I know some rear PTOs are 540/700 ? Since everything is spinning the right way,maxxed out RPM, I'd expect the snow to be flung out, fast and far,far away.
Hopefully those with your tractor/blower combination will report in......with THE answer.

 

[nbryan]

Sheer bolts in Auger's and Fan are good. Augers are rotating correctly driving snow to center by fan. Augers are clocked 180 degrees apart. When running everything is rotating in the right direction. I can't post video Im trying to convert it so I can, this is a video clip in 4" snow. Best I could do with one hand in a cast. I'm running in low range barely moving I can walk faster and PTO/Engine RPM is maxed. Snow is medium granular and moist but ive been doing this same driveway 35 years with an older 50" Kubota front mount blower on aB8200 never had issues like this and it was faster and better in deeper snow too with less HP. I thought I was upgrading and getting a better unit. What I feel is the only way with a 10" gap between the augers for the fan to feed is to scoop n push a pile in the center between augers into the fan, by this time its pushing snow 2' or more in front of the blower spilling out the sides. ill post the video later if I can or a link to it. all videos of other users I have watched have people blasting thru faster and sometimes they too have spill over on the sides too. pretty poor design im thinking at this point and I can't believe im the only one with these issues

Snow Blower issues New Kubota

www.youtube.com

Looked again at the video, didn't get a good look but it appears that the right side of the blower wasn't having the same snow pileup like the left side was. If so, are you sure the left side auger is turning?
I sometimes put a heavy enough item on the driver's seat to keep the seat safety switch from turning off the tractor and get out to look at the blower in action at idle. I also squirt a bit of chain oil in the chain reduction box while out there and chain turning.

 

[animals45]

Is the blower level or tilted back some ? Do you have teh loader function in float mode ?
animals45

 

[Cannonball]

Both augers are turning no chain to oil on this model if you have a chain your blower drives auger from the side with no 10" gap in the middle in front of the fan so your auger feeds the fan
On my model there are two augers with drive gearbox in middle leaving s 10" gap in augers in the middle.
pto speed on mid mount is I believe 2800 rpm on the LX2601 it's s new model with more torque than last year Model

im
Thinking I need to replace this blower with a medium duty full auger model I live in Wisconsin on Lake Michigan and 70% of our snow is wet but in the previous 35 years never had trouble with my old side chain driven Kubota blower , it's the only thing I can come up with
I could turn off the PTO and use it like a box scraper because that's how it works with it on too
So disappointed with upgrading
If I can't blow 4" of snow it's not going to handle 10"+ when we get a blast either

 

[Cannonball]

Is the blower level or tilted back some ? Do you have teh loader function in float mode ?
animals45

I can float or use down pressure with no difference and have used both mount locations to give it the most forward angle it still
Pushes snow piles wet or dry piling it up before blowing a few weeks ago it was 5 below and snow was dry like sugar and still won't feed into fan unless it likes up in front enough to push it into fan
The augers will not feed it into the fan only pulls snow to center

 

[animals45]

SO you say it has 2 augars ? is tht one horizontal & the one that actually does the throwing ? Or do you have 2 horizontal augars running the full width of the blower ? My blower has the 2 horizontals ones & its hit or miss if it's going to blow or push snow . Ive tried everything , slowing down , speeding up , changing the angle , raising , lowering ... you get the idea . Right now I own this one & will have to make due with what I have . We're having a winter like we used to have in the Northern Sierras .
animals45

 

[Cannonball]

SO you say it has 2 augars ? is tht one horizontal & the one that actually does the throwing ? Or do you have 2 horizontal augars running the full width of the blower ? My blower has the 2 horizontals ones & its hit or miss if it's going to blow or push snow . Ive tried everything , slowing down , speeding up , changing the angle , raising , lowering ... you get the idea . Right now I own this one & will have to make due with what I have . We're having a winter like we used to have in the Northern Sierras .
animals45

Two augers one right side to center and one left side to center gearbox in middle driven by shaft thru center of fan "blower" because the gear box in center design it leaves a gap in the middle of about 10" with nothing but forward motion to push and pile snow into the blower fan. Terrible design but I'm told I am the only person with this issue

 

[nbryan]

Both augers are turning no chain to oil on this model if you have a chain your blower drives auger from the side with no 10" gap in the middle in front of the fan so your auger feeds the fan
On my model there are two augers with drive gearbox in middle leaving s 10" gap in augers in the middle.
pto speed on mid mount is I believe 2800 rpm on the LX2601 it's s new model with more torque than last year Model

I have a chain but am referring to the reduction gearbox where the PTO shaft connects to the rear of the blower.
My B2782B blower looks exactly like yours from the front, with the worm gear in the middle. And yes you may want to reconsider this design if your snow conditions are consistently near freezing.

I beg to differ on the heavier snowfall

>
"If I can't blow 4" of snow it's not going to handle 10"+ when we get a blast either"
>

As I mentioned, I find that heavier snowfalls with the usual subsequent drop in temperatures pretty much stops that pushing/piling up behavior. You'll see, if you get a good dump before spring melt.

 

[animals45]

Your pic shows the design of probably 80-90 % of snowblosers I've seen . I own 3 with that design that work fine until we get a load of Sierra Cement ( snow that has more water content then snow content ). I try to wait till the snow has a chance to cystalize , my 50 year old Bolens with a single stage blower will blow that stuff rather nicely .
animals45

 

[GreensvilleJay]

It'd be nice to have a video of it ,seeing the 'front end'... Maybe have some 'volunteer' take video while you're running it.
All my snowblowers for the past 35 years are similar design so it's hard to understand what exactly is causing the problem.

 

[nbryan]

It'd be nice to have a video of it ,seeing the 'front end'... Maybe have some 'volunteer' take video while you're running it.
All my snowblowers for the past 35 years are similar design so it's hard to understand what exactly is causing the problem.

i had the same thought - be nice to see this issue in action.