3PH Snowblowers - pros and cons

[coolnick73]

I bought a used 3pt blower a few years back and like others, I usually use my pickup's plow for the majority of the time. Other than messing around with broken shear pins, my blower works well for the bigger snows. One caveat if you have an open station, a few windy sessions of snow blowing may have you eyeing a cabbed tractor!

 

[RoyJackson]

...a few windy sessions of snow blowing may have you eyeing a cabbed tractor!

Which is exactly why I traded off a very nice, paid for, Deere 4400 for a 4520 with a Curtis Cab.

 

[coolnick73]

Has anyone used both a geared transmission and a hydrostatic one for blowing snow? My tractor is geared and I feel like I have to do quite a bit of clutch slipping while I am blowing snow. I'm in the market for a new tractor and am waffling between a shuttle transmission or hydrostatic.

 

[aczlan]

Has anyone used both a geared transmission and a hydrostatic one for blowing snow? My tractor is geared and I feel like I have to do quite a bit of clutch slipping while I am blowing snow. I'm in the market for a new tractor and am waffling between a shuttle transmission or hydrostatic.

I have used a shuttle (L3830) with a blower and in deep snow, I would rather have a hydrostatic transmission like our smaller tractors have.
The only place I would prefer a shuttle is doing a lot of ground engaging work.

Aaron Z

 

[oldpilgrim]

Has anyone used both a geared transmission and a hydrostatic one for blowing snow? My tractor is geared and I feel like I have to do quite a bit of clutch slipping while I am blowing snow. I'm in the market for a new tractor and am waffling between a shuttle transmission or hydrostatic.

I have spent many years using a gear for snow removal. Working that clutch would cramp up my thigh after every use. The hst is a billion times easier on my leg, not to mention more efficient. Clutch up to drive fwd, clutch down to dump,clutch up to back up, clutch down to stop, clutch up to start the cycle again. Add to that the shifting each time the clutch goes down. Multiply by a few hundred times per storm.

Not for me any more.

 

[paulfun9]

Today I drove down and around town and paid close attention to all the drives. It seems to me the guys who plowed have dirt/gravel and rocks turned up and all over the place but those drives I did with the blower have very little to none mixed in with the snow. I would have liked to have a camera so I could show the difference between the two.

 

[paulfun9]

Has anyone used both a geared transmission and a hydrostatic one for blowing snow? My tractor is geared and I feel like I have to do quite a bit of clutch slipping while I am blowing snow. I'm in the market for a new tractor and am waffling between a shuttle transmission or hydrostatic.

I use both! I prefer gear but You really want a wide choice of gears or a lot of power

 

[jenkinsph]

Today I drove down and around town and paid close attention to all the drives. It seems to me the guys who plowed have dirt/gravel and rocks turned up and all over the place but those drives I did with the blower have very little to none mixed in with the snow. I would have liked to have a camera so I could show the difference between the two.

Some guys just make a big mess out of everything. It can be difficult to do even if you are familiar with the driveway and edging, if not it can be a train wreck to repair the damage after the snow is gone. If you can push enough space without messing up the edge that can save lots of work in the spring. Blowing carefully I agree can be a better alternative and in heavy accumulations you don't run out of room.

 

[jenkinsph]

Today I drove down and around town and paid close attention to all the drives. It seems to me the guys who plowed have dirt/gravel and rocks turned up and all over the place but those drives I did with the blower have very little to none mixed in with the snow. I would have liked to have a camera so I could show the difference between the two.

Some guys just make a big mess out of everything. It can be difficult to do even if you are familiar with the driveway and edging, if not it can be a train wreck to repair the damage after the snow is gone. If you can push enough space without messing up the edge that can save lots of work in the spring. Blowing carefully I agree can be a better alternative and in heavy accumulations you don't run out of room.

 

[fishhead]

Today I drove down and around town and paid close attention to all the drives. It seems to me the guys who plowed have dirt/gravel and rocks turned up and all over the place but those drives I did with the blower have very little to none mixed in with the snow. I would have liked to have a camera so I could show the difference between the two.

I think that some of the contractors who have switched to blowing have used that improved product as a marketing and pricing advantage. Here is an example:

Welcome to S&D Snowblowing - S&D SnowblowingS&D Snowblowing

 

[Piston]

I swung by the Kubota dealership yesterday to pick up some hydraulic fluid, and they had a nice cabbed M7060 out front with an 82" Normand inverted blower. It sure looked like a nice setup! I was talking to the salesman asking about the tractor/blower combo and if he knew of many commercial guys using them. He said that one local company who has 5 tractor/blowers and uses them in condo associations, did a time comparison between the tractor, and two skid steers with blowers. The tractor/blower did the same amount of work as TWO skid steer blowers (as well as two operators of course) in the same amount of time, basically twice as efficient and only one operator.

The salesman was telling me that a different company switched from M7040's to L6060's because they wanted the HST, he also mentioned the L6060 was about as small as you could go hp wise and still be very efficient in larger storms.

These inverted blowers really fascinate me!

 

[Piston]

I swung by the Kubota dealership yesterday to pick up some hydraulic fluid, and they had a nice cabbed M7060 out front with an 82" Normand inverted blower. It sure looked like a nice setup! I was talking to the salesman asking about the tractor/blower combo and if he knew of many commercial guys using them. He said that one local company who has 5 tractor/blowers and uses them in condo associations, did a time comparison between the tractor, and two skid steers with blowers. The tractor/blower did the same amount of work as TWO skid steer blowers (as well as two operators of course) in the same amount of time, basically twice as efficient and only one operator.

The salesman was telling me that a different company switched from M7040's to L6060's because they wanted the HST, he also mentioned the L6060 was about as small as you could go hp wise and still be very efficient in larger storms.

These inverted blowers really fascinate me!

 

[PILOON]

Well up here we have had 3 days of above 0 days and nights after a 4-5" event.
\Perfect snowball snow!
My tractor is about 3000lbs and the tires simply compacted the snow so a pull type blower would have been useless.
While I could blow it was basically all gathering and not feeding the fan, fortunately I have a front mounted plow and that proved the best weapon.
Had I had a pull blower I would have nothing but compacted clumps of snow tracks. Shucks even my car simply compacted the snow.

Tomorrow I have no choice but to sand the drive or put on my skates as we are going down to -8 Cecilius.

With both the blower and front plow I would end up pushing about a 6 ft wide by 7-8ft compacted carpet of snow and when shoved off to the side it retained the exact curved shape of my plow blade.
Perfect snow for making snow men!

 

[Ed of all trades]

For me with a subcompact and a gravel drive that drifts at times I think a blade on the front (I already have) and a small blower on the rear would be best. I would plow everything I could and blow the top off of what I can't push and then push the bottom. That way I am not trying to blow the gravel out of my driveway. That is my thought anyway. Never had a blower but after that last storm I am thinking about it. Ed

 

[paulfun9]

For me with a subcompact and a gravel drive that drifts at times I think a blade on the front (I already have) and a small blower on the rear would be best. I would plow everything I could and blow the top off of what I can't push and then push the bottom. That way I am not trying to blow the gravel out of my driveway. That is my thought anyway. Never had a blower but after that last storm I am thinking about it. Ed

If you set the angle of the blower right and you have taken the time to grade the driveway before winter comes picking up rocks with the blower wont be a concern. As I have said previously I actually move more driveway stone with a plow than I do with the blower.
Years ago when I still used the plow I thought the same thing about having a blower just for the drifts. Finally got one and ended up finding the blower worked better all around and I no longer bother with mounting the plow unless I am going to do a huge parking lot where the blower wont be able to blow the snow far enough away to not have to move it twice.

 

[Fallon]

Here in Colorado the temp fluctuates to wildly to guarantee a frozen base. I fling a bit of dirt & rock with the plow & blower no matter what on my or neighbors drives.

With the temp bouncing all over, stuff often turns to mud (bad) or re-freezes into rutted mud ice (worse). I need more rock on my drive, but have similar issues on neighbors drives with plenty of rock.

We got a foot & a half early this week, up to 4' drifts. My 3,500lbs of tractor plowed pretty much all of it fine now that I have front chains. Was cool plowing uphill watching the snow come over the top of the blade & hearing the engine straining & loosing RPMs in medium range. No more traction issues here. I did have to blow some stuff, but that was mostly windrows I created with the plow that were just to dense to plow further.

I prefer the plow most of the time, but am glad I've got the heavy blower on back for traction & backup when I find something I can't plow.

 

[Ed of all trades]

If you set the angle of the blower right and you have taken the time to grade the driveway before winter comes picking up rocks with the blower wont be a concern. As I have said previously I actually move more driveway stone with a plow than I do with the blower.
Years ago when I still used the plow I thought the same thing about having a blower just for the drifts. Finally got one and ended up finding the blower worked better all around and I no longer bother with mounting the plow unless I am going to do a huge parking lot where the blower wont be able to blow the snow far enough away to not have to move it twice.

The worst part of my drive that drifts the most it also a steep hill that washes a bit each time it rains so having it graded just right is not an option. It is also just a right away that belongs to someone else. That is one reason I think I would have to plow after I blew the bulk of the drifts. But I do hope you are right, thanks for the tip. Ed

 

[fishhead]

Well up here we have had 3 days of above 0 days and nights after a 4-5" event.
\Perfect snowball snow!
My tractor is about 3000lbs and the tires simply compacted the snow so a pull type blower would have been useless.
While I could blow it was basically all gathering and not feeding the fan, fortunately I have a front mounted plow and that proved the best weapon.
Had I had a pull blower I would have nothing but compacted clumps of snow tracks. Shucks even my car simply compacted the snow.

Tomorrow I have no choice but to sand the drive or put on my skates as we are going down to -8 Cecilius.

With both the blower and front plow I would end up pushing about a 6 ft wide by 7-8ft compacted carpet of snow and when shoved off to the side it retained the exact curved shape of my plow blade.
Perfect snow for making snow men!

we just had a similar event and i was away so it was driven on a bunch- the blower does have an issue scraping the ice a car tire makes but the the tracks from the tractor are not as continuous so they just break up and get fed in, Piloon why didn't your augur break up the snow and feed the fan?

 

[jenkinsph]

we just had a similar event and i was away so it was driven on a bunch- the blower does have an issue scraping the ice a car tire makes but the the tracks from the tractor are not as continuous so they just break up and get fed in, Piloon why didn't your augur break up the snow and feed the fan?

Correct me if I am wrong but it would seem that even if an inverted blower did not pick up all of the tracked down snow it would still get 90% of it. The drive should be cleared enough for most vehicles to use as is. If you wanted to get all of it the remainder would be an easy job for a front or rear blade to deal with.

 

[fishhead]

Correct me if I am wrong but it would seem that even if an inverted blower did not pick up all of the tracked down snow it would still get 90% of it. The drive should be cleared enough for most vehicles to use as is. If you wanted to get all of it the remainder would be an easy job for a front or rear blade to deal with.

It definitely removes most of the snow, the issue then is not so much getting thru as trying to limit ice formation. We have had a fair amount of high moisture content snow and warmish temps this year and if I can scrape the drive down and get some pavement showing the little sun we get helps melt it off the steep sections of my drive.Right now my drive is 98% clear and dry . If there is more snow/ice left than i want i just drive down hill scraping with the cutting edge of the FEL and back up blowing the scrapings -seems to work pretty well.

when i can blow during a snow or when its dry snow, the process is super fast though, down and back at 6-7 mph and the drive is done, parking areas take a wee bit longer though. i think playing with the cutting edge might help the scraping process.