Snow blower question

[torch]

Next question. Do you folks fill the bucket as a counter weight? This blower is a heavy pig.

No.

The tractor is only carrying the blower during tranport anyway. When in use the blower is self-supporting.

 

[nbryan]

No.

The tractor is only carrying the blower during transport anyway. When in use the blower is self-supporting.

What about when you need to raise the blower to assist maneuvering? That's precisely when the front tires need added traction if possible, especially in snowy conditions. Shut down completely the blower first? Nah.

You never raise the blower during operation? I do. All the time, but mines a front mount. The principal remains the same. If you're within the safe operating range of the PTO shaft to tractor and implement angle there's no problem raising and lowering while engaged and working.

And it's mostly being raised to maneuver a bit before lowering to the ground to keep working the snow. Hell, I even hit super-high snow banks with it raised fully under full power to top them before carrying on on the ground.
And I'll give another example of needing front weight to help maneuver while the rear PTO is working:
My 60" rotary mower is regularly getting raised while spinning. And a post hole auger. Same.

My first thought after reading OP's post was there's "suitcase" weights that hang on the tractor's front frame that would stay out of the way, leaving the loader available for snow work instead of carrying gravel or whatever for ballast. Good luck if the gravel piles are frozen.

 

[torch]

You never raise the blower during operation? I do. All the time, but mines a front mount.

I have both a front mount and a 3ph mount. The "handling" is decidedly different!

Turning the front mount in deep(ish) snow is less effective due to the exaggerated rudder effect. The steering wheels are trapped between the "rudder" (ie: blower sidewalls) and the rear wheels. Lifting the front mount puts considerably more weight on the steering axle while reducing the rudder effect somewhat. Still hard to make tight turns but at least it turns somewhat once the blower is lifted a bit.

Compared to the 3ph mount: The steering axle has a lot more leverage against the rudder effect, since the blower is now on the other side of the rear wheels. Lifting the blower does reduce the rudder effect as weight is transferred to the rear axle, but lightens the front axle so there's less benefit than one might otherwise expect.

But: that's my tractor (B7100) and blowers. Different machines and combinations may vary.

 

[WI_Hedgehog]

You could put a plow on the front? It leave the FEL on? Suitcase weights? Having a front plow I put weight out back, so for a rear blower front weight makes sense.

I plan on putting a rear blade on to blow and scrape at the same time, but I'm on concrete, and blades are spendy too. Anyone have a heavy-duty 60" used?

 

[Bearcatrp]

Got my optional shoes for the blower today. Heavy beefy suckers. $280 bucks. Hoping it helps with keeping it from digging into my class II driveway.

 

[Bearcatrp]

You could put a plow on the front? It leave the FEL on? Suitcase weights? Having a front plow I put weight out back, so for a rear blower front weight makes sense.

I plan on putting a rear blade on to blow and scrape at the same time, but I'm on concrete, and blades are spendy too. Anyone have a heavy-duty 60" used?

I got lucky getting a rear 6 foot 3 point blade for $200 bucks. I see on craigslist folks are asking $500 and up for rear blades. Just keep looking on craigslist and facebook market place for a good deal.

 

[bobnic]

I got lucky getting a rear 6 foot 3 point blade for $200 bucks. I see on craigslist folks are asking $500 and up for rear blades. Just keep looking on craigslist and facebook market place for a good deal.

A 6 ft blade is asking a lot out of a BX1880.

 

[Bearcatrp]

Handles it fine. Have it reversed so am not digging into my class II driveway, adjusted with top link to where its almost straight up but just enough curve to not dig in. 45 degree angle. Plows snow great. Have my larger R4's on for winter duties. But now having a 3 point snow blower, the rear blade will only be used on light snow fall.

 

[JonM]

Next question. The coupler that goes on the PTO shaft. Are gorilla hands required? Have tried many times without luck. So I pull back that coupler then lift the blower slowly to get it to seat in. Coming off is ok though.

it does take some effort. things you can do to make it easier is frequent pto shaft maintence. take it off the implement take the covers off clean it i side the shaft and the oitaide as well grease it up. i pit grease o all of it then wipe it off. you dont want a bunch of build up. reassemble with covers on. they are a pain but they are necessary.

keeping both couplers on each end and the pto shafts on tractor and implement clean and lubricated makes everything easier.

to connect i pull the retainer ring back and slide it enough so the detent is held by the pto shaft. then you can just muscle it on rest of they way till it clicks in place

 

[mcbobhall]

If you can't twist around to work backwards with a standard 3pt blower, I would recommend against it. There are 3pt blowers that face forward, so they follow the tractor path forward. They are less common, and usually cost a lot more. But, you don't have to look back all the time except to set up the start of a run. The best option is a front mounted blower, but then that gets complicated if there is no standard design for your model. That said, I believe most of the BX series does have a front mounted blower system. I use one on my BX25 and would never go back to a rear running 3pt version. I had one before with a different tractor, and it kept hurting my neck.... The front blower is one of the reasons I bought the BX25 in the first place.

I've run a BX2680 with a BX2822A 55" commercial blower up-front for four winters now in SW Montana. We have a 1/4-mi. gravel driveway plus another 1/4-mi. of gravel roads on our property. All winter I clear almost 2 miles of ATV and e-bike trails across frozen pastures and farm fields. There's a Land Pride RB0560 blade hanging on the 3-point for touch-up, esp. on our paved turnaround. Nothing beats facing forward as you work and we get drifts that would stop a much bigger tractor without a front blower.