thinking of buying a 3 point snow thrower
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Your B7800 would probably handle a 60" 3 pt blower just fine. I have a 54" Meteor 3 pt blower on my B7500 that has worked perfectly for 13 winters. I did convert the chute rotation from manual to electric 4 years ago.
Check out woodmaxx. They are local to me and make heavy duty implements.
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With a blower on the front you don't NEED a loader to move snow. As long as you're not on gravel, I'd go front mount. The thought of backing up everywhere turned around just makes my back hurt.
My father has his b7200 with loader and he struggles with it after the second or third snow, then I come by with the blower and give him an extra couple feet.
My father has his b7200 with loader and he struggles with it after the second or third snow, then I come by with the blower and give him an extra couple feet.
Iv'e had a rear blower for several winters and it has been fun. A few things that I can tell you from my experience.
First of all, it isn't necessary to be turned completely around to see where you're headed. Seeing one side or the other does the trick.
It is nice to toss the snow far away from the areas that need cleaned. No pushing snow banks back for multiple snows.
I clear a couple parking lots at our church. The FEL with added wings works better than the blower. The lots are larger than the throwing distance of the blower. Unless the snow is extremely fluffy, throwing it part of the distance and then re-throwing it doesn't work well. After the first throw it becomes denser.
For driveways and residential parking areas, the blower handles everything well. A front-mounted blower would be nicer for that. With the larger lots I couldn't give up the FEL.
I did electric chute controls and wouldn't want to be without the ability to direct the chute from the cab.
First of all, it isn't necessary to be turned completely around to see where you're headed. Seeing one side or the other does the trick.
It is nice to toss the snow far away from the areas that need cleaned. No pushing snow banks back for multiple snows.
I clear a couple parking lots at our church. The FEL with added wings works better than the blower. The lots are larger than the throwing distance of the blower. Unless the snow is extremely fluffy, throwing it part of the distance and then re-throwing it doesn't work well. After the first throw it becomes denser.
For driveways and residential parking areas, the blower handles everything well. A front-mounted blower would be nicer for that. With the larger lots I couldn't give up the FEL.
I did electric chute controls and wouldn't want to be without the ability to direct the chute from the cab.
torch
Well-known member
Equipment
B7100HSD, B2789, B2550, B4672, 48" cultivator, homemade FEL and Cab
I have the Kubota B2789 3ph blower. It is 51" wide and a touch over 400lbs. Kubota recommends it for tractors from 13 to 26 hp at the PTO, so you could probably get the next size up. It is excellent quality -- thick steel on all components -- twice as thick compared to my front mount blower -- tight tolerances, smooth running. Also, far cheaper than a front mount! The tub is taller and the augers bigger than the front mount for my tractor too.
This past winter was my first season using a rear-mount blower. Previously I have run a JD garden tractor with front mount, and this Kubota with a front mount. (If you want to know why I didn't use the front mount this year, see this thread.
My only complaint about the blower iteslf is that the structure mounting the chute rotation is too good -- it is encompassing, making it difficult to clean out after use. Any snow or moisture left behind in there can freeze overnight, jamming the chute rotation. Usually a few strategically placed smacks with a hand gets it unstuck, but a couple of times a propane torch was required.
I am not clearing a church parking lot, but I do have a large parking area, sufficient for about 20 cars, and it all needs to go in one corner. So I blow the snow about 150' from the other end, meaning a lot of blowing stuff that already landed in the middle. Yes, the throwing process does make the snow denser, but while my old green garden tractor struggled with the task, for the Kubota it was not a problem. I try not to let the snow get deeper than 6" before I get out there; the HST makes it real easy to adjust the travel speed when the engine starts loading down, and in real heavy wet snow, I take reduce the width of each pass.
I also have a FEL. I used it for 3 things. As the driveway is gravel, I have the blower shoes set to keep it up out of the dirt. Consequently, I used the bucket to scrape the concrete in front of the garage and the asphalt at the main road. If I had the front mount blower on, a rear blade would have sufficed for that task.
I also used a bucket full of snow as a ballast box a few times in some unusual circumstances. Let me set the stage: The first snow hit hard and heavy this past year. The frost was not yet in the ground. I have turf tires. My neighbour relies on his ATV mounted plow. We both live on lakefront property so everything around here is on a slope.
He soon ran out of room, so I volunteered to come push his banks back with the blower. Not a problem backing in and relocating them 40' -- until I tried to pull forward for the next pass. The turf tires started spinning in the loose stuff left by the aforementioned gravel drive shoe setting instead of climbing out of the hole I had just dug. 4wd didn't help. Locking the rear diff didn't help. I pulled the tractor out using the bucket curl (er, well, UNcurl) function with gentle forward pedal applied. (2nd use of FEL). Before the next pass, I grabbed a big bucket of snow from the bank as a counter balance, and that gave me the needed traction -- no further problems. (3rd use of FEL).
Looking backwards for a couple of hours IS a pain in the neck. Literally. To be fair, it did get easier as I got used to it over the winter, but the process required about 1/2 a bottle of extra-strength Tylonol. But chim is correct that you don't need to be fully turned around. I sit somewhat sidesaddle to the starboard side. I found it the most comfortable -- er let me rephrase that: -- the least uncomfortable -- position for operating the HST pedals. Also, my left eye requires a very thick eyeglass lens, so I have a huge blindspot to my left. I'm better to take the darn things off if I have to twist to the left side. I found a spinner knob on the wheel made steering a lot easier when in that position. And remote chute controls are, IMHO, a "must-have" if you have a cab.
My advise to you is practice driving your tractor in reverse at low speed for a session before making any decisions.
This past winter was my first season using a rear-mount blower. Previously I have run a JD garden tractor with front mount, and this Kubota with a front mount. (If you want to know why I didn't use the front mount this year, see this thread.
My only complaint about the blower iteslf is that the structure mounting the chute rotation is too good -- it is encompassing, making it difficult to clean out after use. Any snow or moisture left behind in there can freeze overnight, jamming the chute rotation. Usually a few strategically placed smacks with a hand gets it unstuck, but a couple of times a propane torch was required.
I am not clearing a church parking lot, but I do have a large parking area, sufficient for about 20 cars, and it all needs to go in one corner. So I blow the snow about 150' from the other end, meaning a lot of blowing stuff that already landed in the middle. Yes, the throwing process does make the snow denser, but while my old green garden tractor struggled with the task, for the Kubota it was not a problem. I try not to let the snow get deeper than 6" before I get out there; the HST makes it real easy to adjust the travel speed when the engine starts loading down, and in real heavy wet snow, I take reduce the width of each pass.
I also have a FEL. I used it for 3 things. As the driveway is gravel, I have the blower shoes set to keep it up out of the dirt. Consequently, I used the bucket to scrape the concrete in front of the garage and the asphalt at the main road. If I had the front mount blower on, a rear blade would have sufficed for that task.
I also used a bucket full of snow as a ballast box a few times in some unusual circumstances. Let me set the stage: The first snow hit hard and heavy this past year. The frost was not yet in the ground. I have turf tires. My neighbour relies on his ATV mounted plow. We both live on lakefront property so everything around here is on a slope.
He soon ran out of room, so I volunteered to come push his banks back with the blower. Not a problem backing in and relocating them 40' -- until I tried to pull forward for the next pass. The turf tires started spinning in the loose stuff left by the aforementioned gravel drive shoe setting instead of climbing out of the hole I had just dug. 4wd didn't help. Locking the rear diff didn't help. I pulled the tractor out using the bucket curl (er, well, UNcurl) function with gentle forward pedal applied. (2nd use of FEL). Before the next pass, I grabbed a big bucket of snow from the bank as a counter balance, and that gave me the needed traction -- no further problems. (3rd use of FEL).
Looking backwards for a couple of hours IS a pain in the neck. Literally. To be fair, it did get easier as I got used to it over the winter, but the process required about 1/2 a bottle of extra-strength Tylonol. But chim is correct that you don't need to be fully turned around. I sit somewhat sidesaddle to the starboard side. I found it the most comfortable -- er let me rephrase that: -- the least uncomfortable -- position for operating the HST pedals. Also, my left eye requires a very thick eyeglass lens, so I have a huge blindspot to my left. I'm better to take the darn things off if I have to twist to the left side. I found a spinner knob on the wheel made steering a lot easier when in that position. And remote chute controls are, IMHO, a "must-have" if you have a cab.
My advise to you is practice driving your tractor in reverse at low speed for a session before making any decisions.
I have been using a 3 point blower for several years. On the bx, it is quite easy to sit sideways. I used to have a front blower on my lawn tractor which worked well most of the time. Last couple of years, the blower didn't see much use. Loader was faster. I do long sidewalks and with the front mount, if I had to back up, it was impossible to do so in a straight line. Don't know why, but it always pulled the rear to the side.
The blower is a 50" Farm King made by Allied. We have a 60" at the office which gets very little love and sits outside all summer. 14 years old and is as good as new, just faded paint.
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The blower is a 50" Farm King made by Allied. We have a 60" at the office which gets very little love and sits outside all summer. 14 years old and is as good as new, just faded paint.
Sent from my SM-G930R4 using Tapatalk
I'11 second what Torch said about the rear mount being built better than the front in general, cheaper and more interchangeable etc. His Allied / Farm King brand is also sold as Buhler. Loftness is another good snow blower brand.
That said, if you aren't blowing anything that will tax the lighter front mount, you might go with a front mount and back blade. I've never run that combo myself, but I've heard good things and it looks like a nice combo as well.
That said, if you aren't blowing anything that will tax the lighter front mount, you might go with a front mount and back blade. I've never run that combo myself, but I've heard good things and it looks like a nice combo as well.
Over a 12 year period I've used two different 64" 3 point snow blowers on my B7800.
The first one was a Puma-64 (64" wide made by Pronovost) and I used it for 8 years.
When I initially got the Puma one problem I had was the snow blower's drive shaft universal joints would go beyond their travel limits when I snow blew down too steep a slope. A very bad vibration would shake the tractor from the universal joints pivoting too far beyond their travel limits.
I modified the snow blower by adding 6 inch long attachment sections for the lower arms of the B7800 3 point to attach, which increased the distance between the snow blower and the tractor and also reducing the drive shaft angle from the tractor to the snow blower. This increased distance also required the drive shaft to be modified and made longer. This snow blower modification eliminated the drive shaft universal joint problem I previously had.
4 years ago my snow blow area increased to include 3 parking areas that require snow to be re-blown because of added distance to deposit snow.
I felt a snow blower with a larger impeller diameter would be more efficient in that snow throwing distance requirement and so replaced my Puma-64 (with 20" diameter impeller) with a Frontier 64" (with 24" diameter impeller).
The larger diameter impeller worked much better with increased throwing distance. Also because of the larger diameter impeller, the gear box of the Frontier snow blower is more closely aligned to the PTO driveshaft on the B7800, as a result no modification was required on the Frontier snow blower as was done on the Puma snow blower.
My Frontier SB1164 (John Deere) snow blower is made by RAD, who also makes or made 3 point blowers for Blizzard and Kubota and maybe some others.
The Blizzards and Kubota 3 point snow blowers I've seen are exactly the same as my Frontier snow blower except for color.
I'd recommend these RAD manufactured 3 point snow blowers.
A few years ago Puma-64 increased their impeller diameter from 20" to 22" but even though I think Puma is a very good snow blower, I would still recommend a 3 point snow blower with at least a 24" diameter impeller.
In regards to snow blowing by backing up..
I agree with "chim" in that it is not difficult.
I'm 66 and I sit sought of sideways in my seat (right side) with my heel on the reverse pedal, and my right arm slung over the back of the seat, with-in ease reach of the manual crank to rotate the snow blower's chute.
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Thanks everybody for the responces. I'm not totally sold on the back one. But I was looking at the 64" sbt 064 by everything attachments. One huge advantage with this one for me would be that the chute rotates 360 degrees. I have a very hard spot . my front walkway is about ten feet wide and goes down an ally between my garage and my house. If I use a snow blower and crank the chute all the way to the left, the snow hits my garage. If I crank It all the way to the right it hits my house. So with a snow blower that rotates a full 360 degrees I could send the snow back towards me. Just missing me, and keep on going towards the front door till it was all clean. new unit is 2,610.00
For 31 years I used a 60 inch Ford 3 point blower on the back of my L2250 gear tractor. Had a after market cab on it. Drive is 1300+ feet road to garage with parking area big enough for 15 cars in front of house. First time 450 feet is gravel. Did a good job. I got older and more adverse to being out in the cold, working a gear rig became tedious. Ordered a 2601 recently and have not decided what snow route I'll take. Maybe a hydraulic plow on the QA frt loader this time. Going backwards does get tiring.
It appears the SBT 064 has a 20" diameter impeller which is the same diameter impeller as my Puma-64 had.
It's very possible you could encounter the same issue with the SBT 064 and your B7800 as I did with my Puma-64 and B7800 tractor.
In an earlier post on the thread, I mentioned having to modified my Puma-64 snow blower because of very bad vibration issues when snow blowing down slopes.
Here is picture showing how I increased the distance between my Puma 64 snow blower and B7800 tractor so that the driveshaft's angle of alignment was decreased between my Puma-064 and B7800 tractor.
Prior to this modification the drive shaft had a steeper alignment angle. This drive shaft alignment angle would increase even more as I snow blew down slopes and the drive shaft's universal joints would eventually go beyond their travel limits. A very bad vibration would shake the tractor from the universal joints pivoting too far beyond their travel limits. During these tractor shaking vibration moments, I was very concerned about breaking the drive shaft or universal joint which could cause even more damage or injury, from a broken driveshaft failing around at 540 RPM.
With my current 3 point snow blower, the impeller is 24" diameter and because of the larger diameter impeller, the aliment angle of the drive shaft between the snow blower and my B7800 is much less. Snow blowing down slopes is no longer a vibration issue.
If you decide to go with a 3 point snow blower for your B7800 tractor, I recommend it have at least a 24" diameter impeller.
The chute rotation of 210 degrees on my current snow blower, will almost cause snow the be blown on my cab when turned to either the extreme right or left.
Do you think 210 degree chute rotation would be enough for your snow blowing situation ?
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torch
Well-known member
Equipment
B7100HSD, B2789, B2550, B4672, 48" cultivator, homemade FEL and Cab
A 20" impeller can be closer to the ground than a 24", but I wonder if it necessarily follows that all brands of 20" impeller blowers have the input shaft at the same height above ground, or at the same distance from the tractor's PTO? Just as you mounted the blower further away to ease the angle, Manufacturer B may design his input shaft to be a bit further back than Manufacturer A did. Or may have the tub sitting higher off the ground.
Perhaps it would be useful to provide the angle of your shaft as the rig sits on level ground, and an estimate of the "wrong" angle you encountered. Then prospective purchasers could do their own trigonometry to suit the particular tractor and blower combination they are considering?
beaterboss
Member
Lifetime Member
Equipment
L3901, LA525-FEL, BMLX-3164 3pt Blower, 72" Coteck Sno Pusher, 60" Box Blade
I have used both types of blowers, front and rear. My own personal preference is with the rear blower. I need my loader for snow removal, as well as the blower. Also, it has been my experience that the rear Blower operating on the 540 RPM-PTO will not tax the engine as much. On the 2200 RPM PTO for the front mount blowers, in the past, they would throw the snow further, but not as much at one time. With the 24" Impellers now available on the newer rear mounts, throwing distance has been increased quite a bit. With a rear mount, you can pretty much just plow that thing through banks and wet heavy snow a great deal easier that the front mounts. It pretty much just narrows down to what you like, what you need to do, and snow types. I have a BLMX 3164 Kubota Blower on the rear of my L2501, and I am very satisfied with the build quality and performance of the unit.
Yes I agree about determining the degree angle of the drive shaft would be a more useful way to determine what will work or not. Unfortunately I sold the Puma 64 snow blower about 4 years ago and did not measure the driveshaft angle.
It's regrettable the snow blower manufacturer did not foresee the limitation I discovered with my Puma 64 with it's 20" diameter impeller.
However a few years ago the impeller diameter on the Puma 64 was increased from 20" to 22".