Blowing very wet snow with loader mount blower

[grsthegreat]

Over the last 2 months, Ive had alot of PM's about my opinion about the hydraulic loader mounted snowblower i have. Since we have had a light winter i haven't had much opportunity to use it, cept to blow some dry snow.

We had a shift in our weather pattern that turned my nice dry, powdery snow into a wet sloppy mess in one day. Temps of 39F turned the sheaded now into a sticky mess.

In the past, i had to use the FEL to break up this slop, then turn around to blow it out of the way. One of the main reasons i went with a loader mounted blower was to try and solve this time consuming issue. It took between 1 to 1-1/2 hours to clear the isle ways after snow sheds from the barn, plus another hour or so at the carriage barn and between 45-60 minutes for the side of my shop.

All the backing up was playing havoc on my neck.

Though these piles are smaller than some of my previous piles in the past, the time savings were amazing. The shop side took 5-1/2 minutes.
The carriage barn took a little over 8 minutes.

The horse barn was harder to time, as the wife and i messed about with filming it. But the opposite side (which shed last and was not filmed) took 12 minutes to clear.

There are 3 things that accounted for the time savings as far as i can determine.

1. No shear bolts to replace. The bypass simply stops the rotations till i bump the blower to clear it. No more digging out the plow when it clogs with wet snow.

2. No turning around to clear a path.

3. No limits to the height i can raise the blower to break up taller mounds.


heres a short clip of 1/2 of one side of the barn. This area also had a pile of hard snow i plowed there a few days earlier.


Hope you enjoy...and go play in the snow

 

[Thomas]

I do like the setup,most of all the heater in the cab...thanks for sharing.

 

[ihuntbear]

what did you use for a motor to turn impeller

 

[Jerry/MT]

I do like the setup,most of all the heater in the cab...thanks for sharing.

That seems to work slick! A front mounted hydrauliclly powered blower is really the way to go but the cost is kind a scary.

 

[grsthegreat]

Its all hydraulic powered from a pto pump and rear hydrulic tank. It was pretty spendy though, but my neck thanks me.

 

[Rockgod]

That's some heavy wet snow! Interesting video.

Thanks for posting. :thumbsup:

 

[4shorts]

Wow that snow keeps stalling the impeller How much more banging on the system to clear it before you break something? I'd like to see it in light snow but I wouldn't continue to use it in that wet stuff. I know my rear mounted blower would go through wet snow like butter. What is your rear PTO rpm ? Seems odd that it would stall that impeller.

 

[crazyal]

I like the idea of no shear pins, never understood why they don't make a slip clutch version for the pto driven blowers. But I've only broken a couple last year until the ground froze and none this year (yet). It's hard to tell how wet that snow is, I've never had snow wet enough to stall or clog my blower but, like I said, it's hard to try guess how your snow compares to what I've had.

It's an interesting option. If I remember correctly it's not cheap but if you need to remove piles of snow it clearly is a great option.

 

[srs]

Wow that snow keeps stalling the impeller How much more banging on the system to clear it before you break something? I'd like to see it in light snow but I wouldn't continue to use it in that wet stuff. I know my rear mounted blower would go through wet snow like butter. What is your rear PTO rpm ? Seems odd that it would stall that impeller.

The specs for the DK45SE cab tractor shows 36 hp at the PTO running 540 rpms. I love the set up that GRSTHEGREAT has but I too thought the front blower would tear right through those drifts.

 

[5030]

Wow that snow keeps stalling the impeller How much more banging on the system to clear it before you break something? I'd like to see it in light snow but I wouldn't continue to use it in that wet stuff. I know my rear mounted blower would go through wet snow like butter. What is your rear PTO rpm ? Seems odd that it would stall that impeller.

I thought the same thing watching the video. It's a nice setup and I looked at them too, but I'm glad at this point I have a rear mount. Typically I'm doing the road, almost 3/4 mile to the pavement and it drifts, sometimes 4 feet. I need serious balls for serious snow.

I put the blower on the M105 and in 4wd in mid range backing up, I can completely cover the blower with drifts and it keeps on slinging snow at least 75 feet to the side. It's a Lucknow 84" by the way. I can make 'er blow smoke for sure. It eats every bit of the 95 PTO horsepower in wet heavy snow..... Light dry powder is a 100+ foot throw as fast as I care to back up....:laughing:

No neck problems, I have a swivel air ride seat and rear view mirrors.

I wonder if it's going on bypass at too low a pressure. That hydraulic motor (I believe that manufacturer uses Char-Lynn motors) should be turning that impeller/rotor with more authority.

That's not much snow. More than average but I've seen 10 foot drifts here before.

 

[Cantoo]

I only watched half of the video, I couldn't stand to see that orange suffer anymore. Your ground speed is way too high for the conditions. Take a smaller bite, drive slower and let the blower do it's job. But first, take this video to your dealer and ask his opinion. I know the snow is wet but I don't think it should stall out that quickly. My orange is only 35 hp and I have a 7' rear blower so I'm used to going slow but that was painful to watch.

 

[grsthegreat]

Well, i tried it real slow and moderate speed, it seemed to clog faster at the slower speed.

When blowing dry snow, it doesnt clog at all. In later blowings i found that all i had to do is tilt it to clear most of the snow without banging it.

However its 3/16 steel there, so it wont hurt to bang it.

On the other side of the barn, i started blowing off the top half of the snow first, then atacked the lower half. This made it clog alot less also.

This is a learning process for me. Till today i dah only used it 2 times in dry snow.

 

[ericher69]

I would be pissed off having spent all that $$ for a loader mounted hydraulic blower to have it stall out every 2 seconds!

Even when it isn't stalled it barely lobs the snow. 10 feet

I'm used to 35+ feet with wet heavy snow and 60+ with powder and that is with 21 PTO HP

 

[dawzie]

It sounds like the tractor isn't running at 540 pto rpm. Could be the presure releif on the auger motor is set to low also. I have a Bobcat 8' blower on my T-300 and it would walk right through that stuff, slowly, but none stop.

 

[grsthegreat]

Its running at 540. But did bog down in the wet snow. Like i said, this was really wet stuff. In the past my pto powered blower would clog up on the stuff and not blow it at all.

i have posted a video of it blowing dry snow between 30-35 feet.

 

[hanson1999]

what is the pressure relief valve set at??

i'd go nuts real fast if they plug that easy.

otherwise you might need a motor with more torque.

That thing should eat that snow up

 

[arsenix2001]

Man, I do have to say I was alittle unimpressed . Although my blower luck sucks! Haha. I would be interested with the relief valve setting as well. Good luck with it.

 

[mjncad]

How many GPM's is your hydraulic power pack outputting to the blower motor?

 

[5030]

If I'm not mistaken, I believe GRS has the supplied auxillary pump and tank for the blower that's supposed to be sized appropriately for it.

Could be wrong though.

Again, I almost purchased one and much earlier this year, I pm'd GRS about where he got his attachments and procured a catalog myself. I considered the 'Power Pack' option too. That way, the hydtaulics to power an attachment are independent of the tractor hydraulics, no chance of cross contamination of fluid and the pack can be used for anything hydraulically powered, not just their attachments.

I did buy a couple non powered attachments including a front mount QA Plate hay spear. Everything I purchased is of very high quality both in finish and execution.

The company that built his blower sells direct to the end user instead of through a retail outlet

I don't care for the lack of torque in the impeller drive, something isn't set right. The input auger's sole responsibility is to chew through snow pack, break it up and move it toward the fan, not quit turning.

I didn't really observe the tractor engine being loaded down with hydraulic pressure head in the video, something that you should hear and the operator should feel..... something is fishy...

 

[ericher69]

To the OP;

Around 1:04 and again at 1:14 the auger stalls but the fan keeps on blowing snow??

How is this set up? 2 different motors/circuits?

If so maybe you could turn the pressure up on auger?

Painful