An Idea I had after last years snow blowing problems.

[Newbie tractor guy]

I bought This tractor used. But In great shape.. But Last years Snow blower use, wore out the wear bar on the bottom and the skid shoes.. I thought wow I hope they are cheap but alas no. So I put this on for this year. And so far here in NW Montana no real snow. But now that it is coming this week.. I lubed this up.. it barely touches the wear bar on Bottom. The bolt heads are counter sunk. And the gauge wheels so far rotate.. I hope it works What do you all think? I came up with this when I put a wheel on my lil 30" blower..

Kubota B3000 and Snow blower B2782

https://imgur.com/2aqvcmm

https://imgur.com/nMAUdU1

 

[ruffdog]

Let us know how it works out for you. It looks like the blower is tilted back. Is it just the picture?

 

[Newbie tractor guy]

It is the picture angle The wheels are right about even with the new poly wear bar on bottom

 

[alexinPA]

I did this a few years ago, works very good. There're some pictures I put should be somewhere...

 

[Newbie tractor guy]

Yes Please as I am not sold on this as the end all.. I was thinking the same guage wheels the mower deck has but that is even more than the skids and the new poly wear bar

 

[leonz]

How far are you from the coal mines?

You may want to change the wheels to skids by purchasing a
set of snow blower skids sized for your specific snowblower from
www.snowblowerskids.com

As this is your first season with this snowblower and mule you should
invest in a couple of aerosol cans of Fluid Film to coat the impeller paddles
and the impeller housing and the chute and spout and you will be able to
double your casting distance.

 

[ruffdog]

Kubota skids:

Kubota | ARMORskids®

 

[Newbie tractor guy]

How far are you from the coal mines?

You may want to change the wheels to skids by purchasing a
set of snow blower skids sized for your specific snowblower from
www.snowblowerskids.com

As this is your first season with this snowblower and mule you should
invest in a couple of aerosol cans of Fluid Film to coat the impeller paddles
and the impeller housing and the chute and spout and you will be able to
double your casting distance.

This is my Second year with this Blower. And the skids wore out in one winter. and the price from kubota was outlandish. I ordered a poly snow plow blank and cut it to fit and counter sunk the bolts.. Then I pondered welding metal to what was left of the skids Doable indeed but alas When My Huskie 36" blower needed new shoes.. I saw the wheeled ones and said that will last longer. So this is what I have done for about 15.00 and the 89 bucks for the plow blade to replace the bottom wear bar. And Fluid film is already my favorite thing.. Been that since the 2000's with my old boss plow and 460 ford F250 And I have no idea where the nearest coal mine is I am in NW Montana

 

[grsthegreat]

If the skids only lasted 1 season, something is very wrong. I have carbide skid shoes on my blower and plow. 10 years of hard use, no visible wear

 

[Cycledude]

How far are you from the coal mines?

You may want to change the wheels to skids by purchasing a
set of snow blower skids sized for your specific snowblower from
www.snowblowerskids.com

As this is your first season with this snowblower and mule you should
invest in a couple of aerosol cans of Fluid Film to coat the impeller paddles
and the impeller housing and the chute and spout and you will be able to
double your casting distance.

Thanks for the link ! Looks like they might make shoes to fit my 72” Meteor snowblower, so I looked up dealer locations and there’s a dealer about 70 miles from me, so I called them this morning and the guy said we have exactly what you need in stock and he would set a pair aside for me to pick up this afternoon. Well I drove up there and found out they didn’t have the correct skids to fit my blower, he said it takes a very long time to get anything from that outfit but he would check into it and call me back, well so far he hasn’t called me back.
I believe these are the correct skids to fit my 72” Meteor blower.
Meteor | ARMORskids®

 

[leonz]

Thanks for the link ! Looks like they might make shoes to fit my 72” Meteor snowblower, so I looked up dealer locations and there’s a dealer about 70 miles from me, so I called them this morning and the guy said we have exactly what you need in stock and he would set a pair aside for me to pick up this afternoon. Well I drove up there and found out they didn’t have the correct skids to fit my blower, he said it takes a very long time to get anything from that outfit but he would check into it and call me back, well so far he hasn’t called me back.
I believe these are the correct skids to fit my 72” Meteor blower.
Meteor | ARMORskids®

Hello Cycledude, you will get them faster if you order from them directly, I had mine in 5 days for my walk behind snow mule.

 

[leonz]

This is my Second year with this Blower. And the skids wore out in one winter. and the price from kubota was outlandish. I ordered a poly snow plow blank and cut it to fit and counter sunk the bolts.. Then I pondered welding metal to what was left of the skids Doable indeed but alas When My Huskie 36" blower needed new shoes.. I saw the wheeled ones and said that will last longer. So this is what I have done for about 15.00 and the 89 bucks for the plow blade to replace the bottom wear bar. And Fluid film is already my favorite thing.. Been that since the 2000's with my old boss plow and 460 ford F250 And I have no idea where the nearest coal mine is I am in NW Montana

Decker, Roundup, Hardin, Glendive, Powder River Basin.

 

[Newbie tractor guy]

hh Well those are mostly eastern MT I am near canadian border and much closer to idaho

 

[civilian]

Hopefully those wheels are located under the auger shaft centerline. That way, they will follow the contour of the drive, bumps, grass etc. if they are in front of, or behind the centerline, they will make those bumps worse over time. How I know this, is my 2 trailer jacks are located behind the auger housing. They dig into the bump going in, and the bump grows longer with the wheels going over the bump. The wheels on the side of the housing will dig into the adjacent snow if that is a problem. Keep us posted on your feelings of them after some use. Jon

 

[fishhead]

Newbie,
Are you in Flathead or lincoln?

 

[Newbie tractor guy]

Actually Lake

 

[Newbie tractor guy]

So an Update after a few inches of snow and drifts.. I noticed they disliked < the wheels that is> the side to side that often happens during snow throwin'. I also noted some deformation allowing wobble. note attached photo.. So the 160.00 a pair skids are on the beast.. I may take a trip to tractor supply and look for a better idea and parts to do it.. The poly wear bar on bottom of the thrower is not wearing at all but that was 3 days of destroying the gauge wheel invention..

https://imgur.com/YRehz3f

 

[Cycledude]

Hello Cycledude, you will get them faster if you order from them directly, I had mine in 5 days for my walk behind snow mule.

Ordered a set of skids from www.snowblowerskids.com today , $209.98 plus $24.99 shipping hopefully they will ship the correct skids and spacers to fit my 72” Meteor snow blower. So far Not much snow in my area this year so they might not even get used this winter.

 

[CalG]

For front mount blowers,(and blades) I can't say enough good about fitting a set of counter balance SPRINGS to "lighten the foot print" when in Float hydraulic mode.
The fluid transfer through the system acts as a damper and shoes and grade bars will still dig in on abrupt hits, But off setting a couple hundred pounds out of 300# sure reduces wear on the ground rubbing parts.

 

[oosik]

grsthegreat - my exact thoughts also. What in the world is the OP doing that will wear out the skids and wear bar in one season.

Something isn't right. OR maybe he is blowing 100 miles of asphalt roadway - EVERY day. OR the skids and wear bar were both REAL crap.

I never had skids on my 3-point blower. After 18 years of use - the paint was FINALLY worn off the wear bar - all the way across. Otherwise - no visible/measurable thinning of the wear bar.

I have a mile long gravel driveway.