CJONE
Veteran Member
I have found a nice looking Mckee and will use it mainly to open roads and blow banks back. Is it a good unit? durable? CJ
Mckee 720 snowblower experiences
- Thread starter CJONE
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art
Super Member
I would hope it would be a gear box with oil? If it is a bevel gear drive to the augers they are not available or have been as the company is out of business.
Karl2
Gold Member
It's an industrial unit, don't bother unless you plan on using an independent engine to power it otherwise it requires at least 75 hp PTO power to work properly.
I expected it to require a little more HP because of the double auger but 75 for a 7' blower? I only have about 35 PTO HP. My neighbor has one on a 35 hp gas tractor and it did not have enough HP to effectivly run it. It ran it but not for blowing back banks and such but it is also a gear tractor so he did not have much control over speed. I was hoping a 50 hp tractor with a hydrostat would do it. Any experiences would be nice. CJ
GMC65
New member
I run a 7 foot 720 Mckee with 50 pto hp, i can run out of power as well, put then im running a gear tractor that is limited to just over 2 mph in Reverse, only a problem on the first pass. I find that the blower shoots the snow fairly effectively. It is a oil filled gear box which i hope will run for years.
Karl2
Gold Member
It's a twin-screw 7' high-capacity unit (notice the huge impeller). Power requirements are due to the high volume and weight of the snow the blower can ingest within a given time frame, and is designed to be most efficient at high RPM. That said, tt can work with less HP but you have to be very cautious not to overwhelm your engine in wet or icy snow. In powdery snow this can work magic for you even on a CUT's 540 rpm PTO. One important precaution is to use proper grade PTO shear bolts because the shear bolts used on the blower are far more resistant than those used on smaller units and won't necessarily snap under a load that could damage a CUT engine if the PTO pin doesn't give. Using weaker pins on the blower is a PITA as they will often snap for no other apparent reason because the load of the moving parts alone is near their breaking point. With the PTO pin being your only concern you'll get fast at replacing it pretty quickly. Won't break that often anyway.
doxford jim
Veteran Member
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I can bog down - overload the 55 hp engine on my tractor with just the single auger modified 73" Allied Farm King blower I have and use. Double auger etc. will add to the engine load and as others have said, caution should be used to get the most out of your unit.
Thx
Thx
Karl2
Gold Member
It may be "only" 7' but it has stacked screws and an impeller the same size as a much wider unit, which gives it an impressive capacity (typically rated at above 1,000 tons/hour when operated in ideal power config). The power requirement is due to the unit's high-volume capacity, it can ingest enough snow within a second to overwhelm all but the most powerful of CUT's (the few that have over 50HP PTO output). That said, as long as it's not for commercial or industrial applications you can use the unit with a 35HP PTO as long as certain basic precautions are taken: slow speed, multiple passes both horizontal and vertical (when required) and a reasonably well stocked supply of PTO shear bolts because the shear pins used on industrial blowers are very sturdy and may outlast the PTO pin.
cabover4us
Silver Member
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- Back in Salem, New York
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- 1987 john deere 855 sold and bought a YT235 Yanmar, love this tractor
Just saw a 520 McKee on craigslist....was wondering if my 855 would tow the line, after reading all these posts I'm doubting it..
I wanted a bigger print, but this site isn't all that hot.
Hi ... I have a 720 and can tell you that it's one heck of a machine. Mine is behind a Case 930 which is a bit big for it but plenty of power with the 1030 engine. I just got through blowing out our big yard here, then went up to the neighbor's and blew them out also, all in jig time.
The 720 is a dual auger machine, mine has a 1 to 1 right angle gearbox and you want to make sure there's either 80/90 or HiTran in it, also that the auger drive chain is good and fairly snug. I made a hardwood slack adjuster block soaked in oil for a week, works great.
Mine had damage when I got it, for really cheap money. Some idiot had run a fence post in, bent the top auger shaft BAD. I simply cut through part way, straightened it and welded it up with the wirefeed. There is a straight up-and-down steel part on the left side of the intake opening, mine was bent and worn badly so cut that out and put in new 1/4" steel plate. I also mounted a small hydraulic motor, small chain sprocket on that, with a #50 chain going around the base of the spout. I welded several 'teeth' on the spout, enough to catch and move the spout, some guides also so the chain stays in place.
I was going to trade it for a bigger model McKee but don't think I will now. I have the thing as I want it, it works perfect, fast and the snow flies almost a hundred feet at full throttle. I painted it also, looks like new. I don't think I'd take $1500 for it, I've never had a better snow machine.
We're in central Minnesota, so we can get serious snow, but not every year... some years none at all.
If you now own your machine, fix it up and use it. If you're contemplating buying one ... go for it.
Thanks,
80warren
greetings all
i have a mckee 720 on my 40 hp tractor.
i moved it to the front of my tractor, cause i got tired of always looking over my shoulder and straining my neck.
i find that the rule of thumb 5 hp for every foot of snowblower is pretty close.
i could use more hp, but as long as i don't over do it, it does fine.
i always keep the tractor in 1st gear, this gear with the the engine running fairly fast is a good combo.
i clear a mile long drive way, and we live in a snow melt.
any way that is my experience.
mike
i have a mckee 720 on my 40 hp tractor.
i moved it to the front of my tractor, cause i got tired of always looking over my shoulder and straining my neck.
i find that the rule of thumb 5 hp for every foot of snowblower is pretty close.
i could use more hp, but as long as i don't over do it, it does fine.
i always keep the tractor in 1st gear, this gear with the the engine running fairly fast is a good combo.
i clear a mile long drive way, and we live in a snow melt.
any way that is my experience.
mike
Yea' I know it's a little harder to use a blower backward but there are a couple of good reasons why it works out the best: First, the plow on the back gives you much more traction. Sooner or later you're going to get into a situation where you can't move, stuck and out of business. That weight on the back makes getting around a lot easier. Also, your front end may not be able to stand that kind of weight, the 720 is no toy, it's heavy. I use two parabolic mirrors in my cab, I can see behind me just fine for most work and it also makes for safer travel down a road where there's traffic.
If you can get by with it on the front ... go for it but sooner or later there's going to be problems. I'm not sure if I'd want a 720 on the front of my 100 hp 930 Case.... All in all though, the snowblower is the way to go, forget about these plows that throw up big banks, the perfect place for snow to come piling in in the next storm and then almost impossible to plow again. I don't like banks or snow piles anywhere around the yard or the road. I tell the pickup plow guys to stay out, don't need it and don't want it. In lesser snow places the truck plows are fine, but not where we are some years.
Have a good one...
80warren
Dave M7040
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For those with bad necks don't forget inverted blowers, the kind that you pull behind the tractor. They offer a number of solutions to the problems with front blowers. They put the weight on the rear wheels so traction is improved, you often have many more gears available on older tractors when going forward compared to backing up. Driving through the snow before it gets blown is not as hard as it seems.
Dave M7040
Dave M7040
If you're talkin' piddle-snow, like maybe a foot or so then driving thru' it first might be fine. You won't get by with that here in central Minnesota, where drifts can exceed four feet. Some years we don't get any snow at all, then again we can get 91 inches, as in the winter of '51. At that point you'd best have a good blower on a big tractor with plenty of pep, rear mounted and in LO reverse, slipping the clutch until you punch a hole thru'. Once you have a hole, it's just a matter of what you can peel off the edges until you have the road cleared as wide as you want. Like I mentioned, I have two parabolic mirrors in the cab and can see behind just fine. Only when very near buildings and such do I have to turn a little and look. Last year I got a little too close to the neighbor's barn, broke off his corner board trim. He replaced 'em, was very glad that we got the snow out of there.
Cheers,
80warren and that's my age.
Cheers,
80warren and that's my age.
SOOO, here is the report after rebuilding the mount, fan, fan housing, straightening the auger fins and servicing the unit. I also installed grease fittings in all the end plates for the bearings. The unit runs smooth and the gearbox is in good shape but I would like to know the manufacturer of the unit if anybody knows. The blower will throw snow about 50 feet or so but it throws it about 30+ feet in the air with the deflector fully open. The power requirements of the blower is not bad at all, I can move through 32" of snow that has been there all season in low range. My tractor at 38 pto hp does a very good job, everybody had me believing that I would have stalling problems and that is not the case, in fact I have not stalled it once. I could if I wanted to but it is very easy to keep in the sweet spot on the tach. I can move through 10" of fresh snow wide open in medium range with no problem and that is fairly fast with my tractor. Guessing 5-6 mph. I also cut through a couple of 5-7' snow banks [why I purchased the unit] and it did very well, seemed to have no problem with the frozen compacted snow. So all in all I think this unit will be perfect for what I want. I just need to get a hydraulic turn built up, the one that was on it was a joke. CJ
There's an old saying ... if it works, don't fix it, so if your rig works as good as you say than don't worry about who built it. Odd that there isn't a tag on it somewhere that would tell... If not, then I guess you'll have to go online and search and hunt until you see one like it. Even if bigger or smaller it will look the same, have the same configuartion so not hard to tell.
Meanwhile, you're in the snow blowing business, the main thing is to keep unwante things out of the machine, a fence post or an old tire can really raise cain with things ... as the former owner of mine found out the hard way. Never go into somebody's place without knowing for SURE there aren't items under the snow. Most snow plows can deal with junk but a blower .... nope.
80warren
Meanwhile, you're in the snow blowing business, the main thing is to keep unwante things out of the machine, a fence post or an old tire can really raise cain with things ... as the former owner of mine found out the hard way. Never go into somebody's place without knowing for SURE there aren't items under the snow. Most snow plows can deal with junk but a blower .... nope.
80warren
