Right end of snowblower leans down

[MuttCat]

Merry Christmas!

We got about 4 inches or so overnight, beautiful outside. But got me thinking about my BX and 54" snowblower, both bought new this spring. I'm a new Kubota guy so bear with me....

Managed to get everything mounted up and running. All works well, but the snowblower when not sitting on the skids hangs lower on the right side. Well the chute and weight are likely a factor, but it's kind of a pain not having it level. Can this be adjusted out or is this just the way things are? And as well as I'm here...does it matter which outer fitting the hoses from the quick hitch go too? Right now when I push the control up, the blower goes down, and pushing down the blower goes up. If I switch the two hoses around will this make up, up, and down, down? My obsessive side is coming out...

Many thanks for any help.

 

[85Hokie]

On your first question......

check all your tires just in case.....sometimes a low tire will throw the tractor out of level!

Also - the arm on the right (3 point arm) can be adjusted via a turnbuckle - look at attachment.

As for the plumbing - switch the hoses.

 

[JeffL]

Can I assume because you are describing a separate control valve you have a front mount blower? If so I have never seen a front mount that did not pickup with a slight twist. I always assume it was due to the weights of the different ends of the blower and the location of the hyd cylinder lift point. Never bothered me because it was only a inch or two over 4 feet. I can see where as the pivots wear the lean would grow on the older mounts like mine. What is your mounting system? Maybe you can square it up for an improvement. How much is it leaning from skid to skid? Jeff

 

[Redlands]

Should be able to switch the hoses around and get it to work up and down as is comfortable to your thinking process.



P.S. Is it a rear mount or front mount unit. That will help others answer your leaning question. Brand and Model number of blower not bad info to provide also

 

[JeffL]

Re-read your post and see you have a quick mount, that might have some adjustment. On the older units we have a float position just beyond the down detent. You want to plumb so moving the lever to lower the blower is just before the float position. So lever positions are. Bock toward me is up, one notch forward is cylinder locked in position, one forward is power down, will lift the front wheels off ground, and second notch forward is float where both ends of cylinder is open to hyd return. Jeff

 

[MuttCat]

The snowblower is on the front. Thing is my driveway is stone and has a pretty good crown. I try to avoid picking up stone so I need to keep the blower up a bit. So the right side when it is at the right height leaves the left end up too high. It's not much, but not efficient. And up/down, I though switching the hose would do it but wanted to check with you folks...I guess there's no risk of damage?

 

[sagor]

On my BX, with front 50" blower, I find the blower will lean one way or the other depending on the angle of the tractor as much as the ground level. My driveway is very uneven and I have to watch the bottom of the skids on both sides, to make sure I'm not digging into the gravel, especially along the edges where the base is not too well packed down yet.
Also, the force of dynamics plays a bit, when blowing snow, the rotation of the blower and the friction of the snow on the housing may in fact play a small part in how the housing tilts to one side or the other if not flat on the ground. But, I've seen my blower tilt the other way a bit even when blowing, if I raise it off the ground an inch or two. Uneven ground plays a part in that scenario....
All in all, the housing may tilt an inch or two at the ends, no more than that when raised up a bit. Once you get a good base packed down, you can put the blower right down on the snow and not worry about it any more...
As for FEL lever controlling the blower, I use the same direction as the FEL itself. Raising the stick (knob) lowers it, and past detent, the blower is in float position. Pull lever downwards to lift the blower off the ground, just like raising the FEL.

 

[MuttCat]

I just came in from clearing the drive. I'm getting the hang of it, I guess it's a matter of experience. My drive is a roller coaster, flat only in front of the garage doors. I don't have a FEL, but apparently the control is hooked up for one in that it works as you describe.

I'm adjusting. Thanks to all for the comments.

 

[lordulrich]

Don't know about the lean mine leans but not enough to bug me. On the lever I'd not switch it, as pushing past the detent gives you a float position, which really is the best position to operate in my opinion. For not picking up rock make sure your skid shoes are set down as far as you can. I pick up a little rock early in the year but once everything gets nice and froze not much moves. The reality is my blade (I run a blade on the 3 point all winter, partly for ballast, part for clearing areas that throwing snow is not a good idea, partly for scraping ice) but the blade throws WAY more rock than the blower.

 

[MuttCat]

The shoes, or skids, are all the way down. But in some places I need to lift up off the ground, such as having the right side barely in contact. That leaves the left side a little too high, higher than I would like. But like the Borg said, I'm assimilating.

I did not switch the lines. And I'm not sure what float means. If I push the handle/lever up, the blower goes down. If I push more, the front end of the machine starts to lift off the ground. There's a detent? I don't have a fel and I've no experience with one.

 

[sheepfarmer]

The detent is reached by pushing the control valve past the point at which it lifts the tractor. The trick is to have the blower or the fel close to the ground and cram the lever forward quickly. You can feel it go past a little bump. Then the blower will go up and down to follow the ground. There also is a detent to the right if you have hydraulic chute control.

 

[lordulrich]

Yep, float basically opens the hydraulic lines so the weight of the equipment is the only down force. This will let the blower (or loader or other implement) ride with the ground and not lift the tractor off the ground.

 

[MuttCat]

Aha! When I first used this thing I shoved the control way up and apparently into the detent position...thought I broke something and didn't do that again. So, that will float the thing...I'll give it a try next snow event. Thanks for the guidance, I had no idea.

Hardly any snow here, but colder than a witch's tit as they say.

And happy New Year all.

 

[tcrote5516]

You can adjust the left/right height a bit by adjusting the top two clamps where the hitch mounts to the front of the tractors frame. The aluminum mounts have an angled cut so the tighter you make them the higher that side will be.

 

[MuttCat]

That's a thought, I see what you mean. If I loosen the left T bolt a bit it should make the left side drop a hair. The manual says to keep both those things tight, but even then the hitch basically hangs off the tractor.

 

[MuttCat]

Daddy likes the float position.

Gave it try yesterday on some light snow...this will be very handy. A sincere thank you to all for the operator lesson.

JDS