Snow New to me snowblower

[tman1020]

Just picked up a used blower. Paint is rough but seems solid. It is a John Deere made by McKee bros.
I wanted a 6' even though I only have around 20 pto hp. We don't get that much or that many big snows here so on a smaller snow I can cover a wider path. And with the hydrostat I can go as slow as needed. Hopefully my logic is sound.
I'll. Try to post pics as this project progresses. 53221292971__4B26BEAE-E6FE-4CA4-9521-EA5040034343.JPG

 

[tman1020]

Here's a picture of current progress. This will be my first snowblower so anxious to see how it does. This is about halfway through the paint job.

 

[MinnesotaEric]

Looks cool. I need to paint my McKee blower at some point.

 

[tman1020]

Couple pictures. Got everything hooked up except for the hydraulic hoses. TSC only had one of the two I needed.
Also for future reference TSC sells the quick connects that fit into our remotes on the bobcat tractors.

 

[The Deerslayer]

Major improvement from when you got it....nice job

 

[mmancuso13]

Nice job!

 

[shaeff]

Way nicer looking than mine! What did you use to strip it down? I may repaint mine next summer to keep it in good shape, though I'll probably color change to yellow so it matches my machine and is easier to spot at the edge of the road near the mailbox.

Mine's also a 6' McKee:

 

[tman1020]

Way nicer looking than mine! What did you use to strip it down? I may repaint mine next summer to keep it in good shape, though I'll probably color change to yellow so it matches my machine and is easier to spot at the edge of the road near the mailbox.

Mine's also a 6' McKee:

I wire brushed and sandblasted it. What a pain in the but it was I got sand everywhere.

 

[tman1020]

Got to try out the snowblower for the first time. I took a video but can’t seem to post it here. Got about 3 inches of pretty wet snow it worked fantastic moved it as fast as I could drive into it in medium range which is what I usually use for plowing. So far I’m really happy with it. Had to rotate the shoot by hand because I still do not have the second hose for the rotation cylinder but wasn’t too big of a deal at least I got to use it.

 

[shaeff]

I wire brushed and sandblasted it. What a pain in the but it was I got sand everywhere.

Gotcha, I'll probably try a wire wheel on a grinder first, if not, I'll dig out the old sandblaster. Thanks!

Glad to hear it worked as you expected, I just got mine in August, haven't had enough snow to use it yet, we have a dusting-3" forecast for today, but that's not enough to bother with for me.

I'm going to grab a piece of 1.5-2" pipe for my cutting edge, gravel driveway

 

[tman1020]

Gotcha, I'll probably try a wire wheel on a grinder first, if not, I'll dig out the old sandblaster. Thanks!

Glad to hear it worked as you expected, I just got mine in August, haven't had enough snow to use it yet, we have a dusting-3" forecast for today, but that's not enough to bother with for me.

I'm going to grab a piece of 1.5-2" pipe for my cutting edge, gravel driveway

Honestly probably wouldn’t sandblast again. The grinder wire wheel should work well.
I don’t think a piece of pipe will be necessary I was able to adjust my top link to avoid most of the gravel but we really didn’t have much snow on my gravel area to try it out. How much PTO horsepower are you going to be running with yours

 

[shaeff]

Honestly probably wouldn’t sandblast again. The grinder wire wheel should work well. I don’t think a piece of pipe will be necessary I was able to adjust my top link to avoid most of the gravel but we really didn’t have much snow on my gravel area to try it out. How much PTO horsepower are you going to be running with yours

Good to know, I'm a big fan of that combo anyhow. I'll give it a go without the pipe, but if it starts digging, I'll probably go that route. I'm just worried about the elevation changes in my driveway, might dig a bit.

My machine is about 37PTO HP, depending where you look it up. Still runs like a top, and turns a 6' flail mower through fairly thick grass pretty well so I'm not concerned about snow moving. My low gear reverse/ first is very low if need be.