Snowblower Meteor 3pt snowblowers..?

[AKfish]

Anybody own or use one of these snowblowers? Pros and cons?

Thanks.

AKfish

 

[rimshot]

I have a 60" wide unit and have been using it for the last year. We have had lots of snow and the blower has performed very well. It seems to be well designed and dependable.

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[Spudland_Dave]

IMO...FWIW, my personal thoughts & experiences.....'Round these parts, the Meteor is considered to be a "budget" machine....if at all possible, I'd shop Pronovost or Blizzard....bar none (well, except Karl2's Super Blower but thats ni a different league) the Pronovost/Blizzard machines are the best, and IMO worth every penny more then the Meteor...Things I've seen with Meteors..
-Busted Gearboxes...The gearboxes they are are essentially "Minimum" to meet HP Specs rated..
-Unbalanced Fans
-Thinner Gauge Steel
-Not the best rotation setups around
-Optional Skid Shoes (My Blizzard came with em standard and so does the Pronovost)

I'm sure I'll get flamed for this post, but I'm telling you MY Personal preference. Go shop around...take a look at em in person and if you can get the brands side by side, you'll see what I mean. Quality & Workmanship on my Blizzard (and the Pronovost) are second to none.

 

[Tig]

I looked at a used Meteor. It seemed to be holding up well. I had issues with the salesman that killed that deal.

 

[jimmyj]

You should probably read this thread. Seems there were some with bad gearboxes.

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/...3959-unbelieveable-small-rant-snowblower.html

 

[AKfish]

You should probably read this thread. Seems there were some with bad gearboxes.

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/...3959-unbelieveable-small-rant-snowblower.html

Thanks for the feedback... and the "heads up"!

AKfish

 

[canoetrpr]

My 68" Meteor has been great. I've hit lots of things with it and broken several shear bolts and no troubles at all.

If I was purchasing again, would checkout the Provonost to see what the price difference was. If it is substantial, I don't think I'd hesitate to get a Meteor again for my homeowner type use.

I would definitely check into that gearbox thing thought particularly on the smaller ones.

 

[garydc]

I have an older 60" meteor I bought used it's about 8 years old broken shear bolts occasionally no other trouble's,but I've seen the post on the bad gear boxes. If you were looking for a walk behind check this out. possible a little heavy on gas but should throw snow. Gary

 

[jimb1724]

Anybody own or use one of these snowblowers? Pros and cons?

Thanks.

AKfish

i have a 54" puma and used my son's tractor and blower last night to do his driveway while he's away. he has a 48" meteor....

the meteor (2yrs old) is not even close compared to the puma..... both were used in last nights 13"+ storm here in nh.... the meteor is on a larger (hp) machine and was bogging down. almost as much snow comes out of the side of the shute than out of the deflector, it does not throw as far, the unit is not as tall as the puma, and the shute deflector rotation handle

 

[AKfish]

I have an older 60" meteor I bought used it's about 8 years old broken shear bolts occasionally no other trouble's,but I've seen the post on the bad gear boxes. If you were looking for a walk behind check this out. possible a little heavy on gas but should throw snow. Gary

Sweet... LOL! 'Spose he's got a 1" hitch pin in there for the shear bolt..?

AKfish

 

[jimb1724]

Anybody own or use one of these snowblowers? Pros and cons?

Thanks.

AKfish

i have a 54" puma and used my son's tractor and blower last night to do his driveway while he's away. he has a 48" meteor....

the meteor (2yrs old) is not even close compared to the puma..... both were used in last nights 13"+ storm here in nh.... the meteor is on a larger (hp) machine and was bogging down. almost as much snow comes out of the side of the shute than out of the deflector, it does not throw as far, the unit is not as tall as the puma, and the shute deflector rotation handle is a hollow tube with a few bends that sits very low and hits the top link and it also uses a cable to turn the shute which tends to bind up and freeze.

i would highly recommend the puma over the meteor. it's worth a few more dollars.

 

[Spudland_Dave]

i would highly recommend the puma over the meteor. it's worth a few more dollars.

And I'd highly reccomend the Blizzard over the Puma...They are pretty much side by side with ONE single exception...Fan Diameter.... My Blizzard B74 has a 24" Fan and the Puma 74 had a 22" fan (Puma 72 has 20" Fan)...Fan Diameter determines how far it chucks snow....and after seeing a 24" Fan in action (FIL's Pre-Puma era Pronovost with a 24" Fan) I was sold on the 24"

I dunno about the new Pronovost blowers, but I know my Blizzard came out of the box "iMatch Ready"...

 

[Patches]

I've got a 74 inch Blizzard on my 3054 and love it. I originally thought it might be a little too big for the tractor, rated 40 to 65 HP, while the tractor is 28, but no problems. I do use low range 2nd or 3rd in the road plow windrows, but other than that, high range 1st works well. The unit is well built, with a 24inch, 4 blade fan and an 18 inch auger fashioned from 1/4 inch steel. I'm really glad I didn't go any smaller

Sorry for the overrun Spudland, didn't see your post prior to my starting;I'm a 1 finger typer

 

[ByronBob]

I bought a 51" model a few years ago with no issues. I hope the unit I have lasts a long time.

I've been using the daylights out of it this winter and it's been good to me.

 

[rimshot]

You should probably read this thread. Seems there were some with bad gearboxes.

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/...3959-unbelieveable-small-rant-snowblower.html

=============

Great story linked by jimmyj. I don't know whether it's fair to blacklist the whole liine of Meteor blowers. According to Jimmj's thread provided above I'm not sure the problem is really that widepread. The original poster above had a failure of gearbox's that has occurred in certaiin other units. The common thread between these units seems to be failure of a gear box in a certain batch of the 60" unit. And to the company's apparent credit, Martin/meteor has acknowleged the problem. The last post by the OP in that thread indicated Martin/Meteor may have made some repairation but he has not posted back yet.

As I mentioned previously, I have a Meteor 60" and it has about 120 hours on it with out any failure other than a sheared auger pin when I hit a submerged oak tree limb. I don't blame the OP for this thread if he chooses another brand for at least the time being. I am trying to learn just what might distinguish a 60"defective gear box with a 60" unit and a satisfactory unit. It appears as though the defective gear boxes were made in China as opposed to better ones w/o problem made in Italy.

rim

 

[canoetrpr]

I'd be interested to know what the price difference is between a Meteor and an equivalent Puma or Blizzard.

Anybody recall from when they priced these things out?

I paid $1800 CDN back when I got my 68" Meteor. I don't think that I even priced anything else out because Meteor is all the dealers around here carried.

Like I said, it performs like a champ and although I am sure there are higher quality blowers, I'm not sure I could justify the additional costs for my use. Depends really on what the additional cost is though.

 

[Spudland_Dave]

I'd be interested to know what the price difference is between a Meteor and an equivalent Puma or Blizzard.

Anybody recall from when they priced these things out?

I can tell you I paid $2800.00 for my Blizzard after alot of arm twisting, etc... I actually picked it up still strapped on the shipping pallet and I did all the "Dealer Prep"...I also did the Hydraulic rotation myself using the Manual Rotation Kit provided by Blizzard.

This year wasnt "Blower pricing friendly" for us...between the US/Canadian exchange rate being almost 1:1 at the time all these orders were booked, etc...and the price of steel was thru the roof...not 2 years ago they were MUCH cheaper.

My Rotation setup (Hadnt gotten the hoses made yet)

A Noteworthy thing to mention....Part of the reason for my "good pricing" is Blizzard is building the new Kubota 3pt Blowers, and from all the pictures I've seen, they're doing the Deere ones too (Last years B74 was not iMatch ready...the Kubota unit is literally identical to the B74 except for the chute being a hair different... I think the Deere blower is spot on 1:1 of the Blizzard except for paint)...How I got my Blizzard for 2800 was I could have pre-ordered a Kubota one for 2800....the Kubota one was priced WAY better from the get go...$2800 was a no messing around, order & Pay for it now and we'll call you when she hits the ground here, I just didnt want an orange blower...

 

[rimshot]

I'd be interested to know what the price difference is between a Meteor and an equivalent Puma or Blizzard.

Anybody recall from when they priced these things out?

I paid $1800 CDN back when I got my 68" Meteor. I don't think that I even priced anything else out because Meteor is all the dealers around here carried.

Like I said, it performs like a champ and although I am sure there are higher quality blowers, I'm not sure I could justify the additional costs for my use. Depends really on what the additional cost is though.

========

I paid $1500 for my new 60" meteor a year ago.

rim

 

[jimmyj]

Just to clarify, I don't think the link i posted says do not buy a meteor, more like just be aware there were a few bad ones. Because of that I do not know if I would buy used (I don't have enough technical skill to really know a good used anything from a bad one). If I was on a budget I would look at the meteor and discuss the issue with the dealer. It would be a good test to see how up on things (or honest) the dealer is.

They always call me the "salesman's nightmare" because I like to do my best to check stuff out before I buy. A good salesman shows up really fast as does a liar when you have some backup info.

Good luck, let us know what you get.

 

[woodyt]

Hi everyone I'm new here and I'm glad to see this Meteor post. I just bought one the other day and have used it only twice but am very happy with it so far. Mine is the SB68, with hydraulic chute. I hope I don't get any problems like some others have. I replaced a Agro Trend 60" and served me well , but needed a little larger one so I got this Meteor @ an auction. I didn't get a manual but I think one of the members here is going to send me a copy. By the way I blew some snow today that was over 30" with no problem. Tim