Adding Hydraulic Deflection on Snowblower

[torch]

I angle my chute for maximum distance, to get it all as far away from the roads and trails as possible.

I strive for that -- usually. But there are two places where I need to deflect downwards in a precise line until I get past a building and can raise the deflector to toss the accumulation far afield again.

 

[DeepWoods]

For me, being able to deflect the chute is needed as I am always fighting the wind off the lake and I have better control of where the snow lands.

 

[thirdroc17]

Nice setup, and well done. Guess I’m just a dinosaur. I angle my chute for maximum distance, to get it all as far away from the roads and trails as possible. I’m good with that.

Same here, UNTIL we put a roof over the walk between the house and garage. Really didn't want to blast the snow against the bottom of the roof, so, had to make an upgrade. For the 5 years before that, the deflector was never changed.
Different situations, different needs, different solutions.

 

[BadAndy]

Well hunting ended early, took a six point buck on opening day. So now I can update some final pictures and video of my hydraulic chute deflection. I'm real happy with the way things turned out. Although it ended up costing me around $400 to get everything built and installed. I took time to drill and tap a hole in the pins holding the cylinder in place some I could add a grease zerk to keep it lubricated. Probably didn't need it but what the heck, it didn't cost me anything and I will never give it another thought about wearing it out. I also cut a rubber gasket to put between the chute and brackets so as to not rub any paint off either, so hopefully I won't get any rust between the parts. View attachment 50614

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I had to take the front guard off, as I almost found out the hard way that if I lift the blower all the way up, if I rotated the chute, the hydraulic fitting would have been torn off as they would have hit the guard. I'm sure Kubotas OEM chute deflection would not have had this problem, but using off the shelf parts changed the overall size and dimensions of the finished project. It only took the removable of four bolts to remove the guard, and it is easier to open the bonnet now. Here is a short video of it working.

So now that this project is done I will be adding a LED light bar to the front of the cab, and removing the original fixtures and relocating them on the back of the cab so I get a better view in the dark. I will have to do more fabricating of some brackets to install the light bar. I am waiting for Amazon to deliver them next week so it won't be long before I get started on that. Stay tuned, I'll start a new post with pictures as I proceed with it.

Excellent and less than 1/2 the price of OEM.

 

[Midwest Orange Buy]

Decided to add hydraulic chute deflection to my snowblower. Starting out with wood patterns, and now that all of the geometry and dimensions are correct, I will proceed with the final metal version. I purchased a cylinder from Northern Tool which has a one inch longer stroke than the OEM Kubota version. Once everything has been tested, I will be able to measure for hoses. I plan on using my third function to control the deflection. I haven't had to use the snowblower yet this season, but it is already installed and ready to go. Hopefully I will complete this project before the blower is needed. View attachment 49640 View attachment 49642

Hey DeepWoods, great build. I am about to do a similar build on my machine. Struggling to find a reasonably sized hydraulic cylinder though. I agree, yours might be overkill, but they are hard to find at all. At least in my search. What are the specs on yours? Length, stroke, bore, etc. I know the factory kit uses a 5" stroke, but I was going to get a 6" because I have not seen a 5". I just ordered a 6" from WEN, and its massive WEN TR2006 2500 PSI Tie Rod Hydraulic Cylinder with 2 in. Bore and 6 i — WEN Products . Going to try and find something smaller.

 

[PHPaul]

Hey DeepWoods, great build. I am about to do a similar build on my machine. Struggling to find a reasonably sized hydraulic cylinder though. I agree, yours might be overkill, but they are hard to find at all. At least in my search. What are the specs on yours? Length, stroke, bore, etc. I know the factory kit uses a 5" stroke, but I was going to get a 6" because I have not seen a 5". I just ordered a 6" from WEN, and its massive WEN TR2006 2500 PSI Tie Rod Hydraulic Cylinder with 2 in. Bore and 6 i — WEN Products . Going to try and find something smaller.

Surplus Center is your friend. I did exactly that on mine.

 

[mcmxi]

I bought a used Land Pride SB1574 snow blower a few years ago that I found on Craigslist and fortunately it came with hydraulic chute rotation and deflection. The chute deflector cylinder isn't huge, but it sure is expensive based on Messick's listed price. It's a Monarch 810-125C with description CYL 2X4X1.12 ROD DBL ACTING Complete assembly.

Land Pride #810-125C CYL 2X4X1.12 ROD

CYL 2X4X1.12 ROD

www.messicks.com

Land Pride PR1048 Hydraulic Cylinder (810-125C) Monarch

Shop online for OEM Hydraulic Cylinder (810-125C) Monarch parts that fit your Land Pride PR1048, search all our OEM Parts or call at 888-458-2682

shop.kubotausa.com

 

[DustyRusty]

It is the same cylinder that Kubota used for years to raise and lower the snowblowers on the earlier BX tractors. I picked up a used plow during the summer that had the same cylinder, then removed the cylinder and sold the plow as a manual plow. The only thing that I am considering adding to the chute is hose restrictors so the hood doesn't move quite as fast as in the first video.

 

[chim]

I used an electric actuator on the blower I had. IIRC it had a 6" stroke? No matter, it was easy to make the dimensions of the connection points match the travel of the actuator.

 

[mcmxi]

It is the same cylinder that Kubota used for years to raise and lower the snowblowers on the earlier BX tractors. I picked up a used plow during the summer that had the same cylinder, then removed the cylinder and sold the plow as a manual plow. The only thing that I am considering adding to the chute is hose restrictors so the hood doesn't move quite as fast as in the first video.

There seem to be plenty of "cheap" alternatives to that 810-125C, but given how little work it does on my snow blower I doubt that I'll ever need to replace it. It might need to be overhauled at some point I suppose.

You can see in this photo that it's not a very long cylinder at all, which isn't surprising given the 4 inches of travel and 2" diameter. Compare the "fin" on the chute in this photo to the one posted by the OP.

 

[DeepWoods]

Hey DeepWoods, great build. I am about to do a similar build on my machine. Struggling to find a reasonably sized hydraulic cylinder though. I agree, yours might be overkill, but they are hard to find at all. At least in my search. What are the specs on yours? Length, stroke, bore, etc. I know the factory kit uses a 5" stroke, but I was going to get a 6" because I have not seen a 5". I just ordered a 6" from WEN, and its massive WEN TR2006 2500 PSI Tie Rod Hydraulic Cylinder with 2 in. Bore and 6 i — WEN Products . Going to try and find something smaller.

The cylinder has a 6” stroke, can’t remember the other specs. Just a word of caution, make sure you make and mount the brackets to use the full stroke of the cylinder. In other words, you don’t want the slots in the deflector to run out of travel before the cylinder bottoms out on the stroke in both directions, otherwise you will bend or destroy the chute as you won’t be able to “feel” when you have reached the end of the slots. Hopefully I have described the issue correctly.

 

[TheOldHokie]

The cylinder has a 6” stroke, can’t remember the other specs. Just a word of caution, make sure you make and mount the brackets to use the full stroke of the cylinder. In other words, you don’t want the slots in the deflector to run out of travel before the cylinder bottoms out on the stroke in both directions, otherwise you will bend or destroy the chute as you won’t be able to “feel” when you have reached the end of the slots. Hopefully I have described the issue correctly.

This should be plenty big enough.

1 bore x 4 stroke swivel eye hydraulic cylinder, welded swivel eye double acting cylinder | Prince Hydraulics

1" bore x 4" stroke the Prince Hydraulics series Wolverine Swivel Eye hydraulic cylinder 3000 PSI. Heavy-duty hydraulic equipment, 1-year warranty, free ground Continental US shipping. Prince Manufacturing cylinders manufactured with high quality raw materials Precision finished ST52.3 steel...

www.magisterhyd.com

Dan

 

[mcmxi]

This should be plenty big enough.

1 bore x 4 stroke swivel eye hydraulic cylinder, welded swivel eye double acting cylinder | Prince Hydraulics

1" bore x 4" stroke the Prince Hydraulics series Wolverine Swivel Eye hydraulic cylinder 3000 PSI. Heavy-duty hydraulic equipment, 1-year warranty, free ground Continental US shipping. Prince Manufacturing cylinders manufactured with high quality raw materials Precision finished ST52.3 steel...

www.magisterhyd.com

Dan

That would be the bees knees replacement for my snow blower but I'd have to modify the brackets on the chute to accommodate the swivels at both ends. The clevis style seems to be more common on snow blowers.

The 810-125C has an extended length of around 18 in. and a retracted length around 14 in., so that's another variable for any of us looking for a replacement. If adding one along with brackets it's all rather trivial, but often more of challenge if looking for a replacement.

 

[TheOldHokie]

That would be the bees knees replacement for my snow blower but I'd have to modify the brackets on the chute to accommodate the swivels at both ends. The clevis style seems to be more common on snow blowers.

Isnt this the Fsbrication and Cu a yomizatiom forum

Dan

 

[mcmxi]

Isnt this the Fsbrication and Cu a yomizatiom forum

Dan

Yep, you're absolutely right ... it's definitely the "Cu a yomizatiom forum"!

It would be simple enough to modify the mounting brackets on the chute, and if I ever need to replace the cylinder on mine I would be just fine making any necessary changes. I prefer the swivel ends to be honest, and that cylinder is a good size for such a task. The cylinder that Land Pride/Kubota uses seems to be overkill.

That said, this appears to be a "direct" replacement for the cylinder on my snow blower, and at $90 probably worth trying.

https://www.agrisupply.com/grizzly-hydraulic-cylinder/p/88440/

 

[DustyRusty]

Most likely Kubota is using that same cylinder for multiple products and it is also most likely to be quite inexpensive to produce since they are buying them in the thousands of units at a time. The economy of scale, where a dedicated cylinder for just the hood deflector would be likely more expensive and add to the inventory storage unnecessarily.

 

[TheOldHokie]

Yep, you're absolutely right ... it's definitely the "Cu a yomizatiom forum"!

It would be simple enough to modify the mounting brackets on the chute, and if I ever need to replace the cylinder on mine I would be just fine making any necessary changes. I prefer the swivel ends to be honest, and that cylinder is a good size for such a task. The cylinder that Land Pride/Kubota uses seems to be overkill.

That said, this appears to be a "direct" replacement for the cylinder on my snow blower, and at $90 probably worth trying.

https://www.agrisupply.com/grizzly-hydraulic-cylinder/p/88440/

I would probsbly just bolt the eyes to the existing brackets with an ordinary cap screw and tube spacer - aka poorman's shoulder bolt.

Dan

 

[Victor Machine Works]

Very nice fab job! I went with a 12v linear actuator for my deflector (definitely awesome in windy conditions) but a little slow, if I ever decide to upgrade, I'll be using this build as a reference, thanks!