3 Pt. Hitch Leaf Blower

[Rich D]

There has to be a 3 Pt. Hitch leaf blower out there somewhere. One that is PTO driven and mounts on a "cat. 1" 3 Pt. Hitch. I've come to think that the only way to get one is to build it myself, but I prefer to purchase such a beast if one exists. Anybody out there know of such a thing?

 

[Anonymous Poster]

I finished making a 3 pt leaf blower for my B2400 a couple of weeks ago. It is impressive how much air it will put out! I made a variable size nozzle for the discharge. With the nozzle full open it takes most of the 18 PTO HP to drive it.

A friend gave me a basket-case industrial blower. I had to weld new metal to replace what was rusted through on the entire outer diameter of the blower housing. I also had to replace half the metal on the sides (cheeks). The rotor was in good condition. After all the new metal, two primer and two finish coats of paint it looks like new.

The blower needs to turn at 2500 to 3000 RPM for the best output. To gear up from 540 RPM, I used two jack shafts. The first one is 1/38" dia. The PTO attaches to this. There is a 12" dia pulley that drives a 4" dia pulley on the 2nd shaft which is 1 1/8". Also on the 2nd shaft is a 6" dia pulley that drives a 3 1/4" pulley on the blower shaft (diameters are approximate). All these are two V-belt type pulleys. This results in a blower speed of 3100 RPM at a PTO speed of 540. The blower actually works well at a slower engine speed of 2000 RPM which is only 2400 RPM at the blower.

I made the frame from c-channel and angle iron to connect the blower, jack shafts and 3 point hitch mounts.

At a future time I will make some additional pieces so it can be converted between a blower and a vacuum intake and discharge into a trailer.

I would be happy to post some photos, but as an unregistered user I am not allowed to. I the past I have been able to point you to Mike's tractor page to see the projects I have made, but this project is not posted there.

Andy

 

[Anonymous Poster]

There are several manufacturers that make 3 point hitch debris blowers. These include: Goossen (www.goossen.com/), Giant-Vac (www.giant-vac.com/), AgriMetal (www.agrimetal.com/), and Buffalo Turbine (www.buffaloturbine.com/). These are primarily intended for commercial or grounds-care operators. Steiner (www.steinerturf.com) and Ventrac (www.venturepro.com) both offer front mounted blowers for their articulated tractors.

 

[scruffy]

Andy, why not register? It don't hurt! )
You to Jack!

<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1>Edited by scruffy on 9/22/00 10:10 PM.</FONT></P>

 

[Anonymous Poster]

I am not interested in registering for several reasons including, I do not want another password, I already have more than 15 passwords.

After looking at "Who's Online" several times it seems that the unregistered users outnumber the registered users 3 to 1. Why not make things easier for the majority? What is the danger of unregistered users posting pictures or having a default setting to view posts set on "flat" instead of the cumbersome default setup currently in use? If things were easier it might even attact more users.

Andy

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Jack In IL.
Thanks for the recommendations, but Geez Louise! I wont pay $4650.00 for a leaf blower! I'm tempted to buy a Billy Goat Debris Blower (5Hp) and mount it to my 3 pt. hitch. I did find a local guy that modified an industrial blower for his tractor, but it is a real messy contraption. I will just continue to look for an inexpensive design. I will only use this thing once a year.
Thanks.

 

[scruffy]

Andy, you don't need to remember another password! It can be set up to remember for you. I too have a ton of passwords to remember, but on like kinds (not work systems) I use one password...one username (if possible). I know, I know, security. Well it works for me! Work construes a password for every aspect that you want to get too, so it does get to be a hassel. Soon, TractorByNet will be the one site most frequently visited, so make it easy on yourself!

 

[dullpain]

RichD - The commercial blowers are high priced. Saw a big one the other day on a JD at a Georgia State Hospital. It was doing a great job.

I have been thinking about building one of those thngs for some time. I have a small blower that came off of a Welding Fume Vent apparatus that should work well. Just got to find the time to engineer and build it. Sounds like the unregistered user had the homemade thing down pat. It's a shame he won't register and share photos with us. His idea and construction seems to be very close to what I have formulated in my mind.

If I build it I will post pictures and details for all.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

I would be happy to share the pictures with you. I can think of no good reason why an unregistered user should not be able to post them, can you? I think Muhammad is going to make some changes to allow this kind of posting.

If you are planning on making a blower, you need to start with the right kind. You need a radial blade blower. This type has an impeller with usually 6 or 8 blades that extend radially out from the hub to the edge of the impeller. It may or may not have a backing plate that attaches all the blades together. This type of blower will produce the high static pressures necessary. The two other common types of blowers ore backward incline and forward recurve. Both of these have many blades out at the circumference of the wheel. They will not produce the necessary static pressure to move leaves around. The radial blower will process material such as leaves and has enough suction to be used as a vacuum.

I have been giving my new blower a workout this fall. It puts out so much air that it moves huge amounts of leaves quickly. It takes me about 15 min to do what used to take 2 to 3 hours with a 5 HP push leaf blower. I have cleared my yard 3 times and two other neighbors yards as well. I am sure I will be clearing more yards this weekend.

Andy

 

[dullpain]

Andy

Pictures would be great. Radial Fan - could that be construed as a Centrifugal Fan? thanks
larry

 

[WillingtonPizza]

What a way to make a lot of money, I am sure with the amount of compact tractors being bought today by do it yourselfers and people with large lots and not much time to take care of them someone could make a lot of money. I have an 8 hp giant vac push blower, there new design, it works extremly well. I would gladly by the exact same model for a 3 ph with no motor, even pay the same price. This can't be that hard with all the computer drafting out there.

 

[scruffy]

Why not investigate the possibility of pulling the motor, adding a splined sleave (set with woodruff key/bolt?) first, PTO shaft, and 3pt hookup (recommend tempory setup until you see if works to specifications) and give it a try?
If done with care, you should not damage the unit, at least until you decide if it will work or not.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

If you take a blower that is designed to operate at 3600 RPM and operate it at 540 RPM it will not work very well at all. The result would be very little flow and very little static pressure. It would be like the engine mounted blower running at idle. A gearbox or belts and pulleys to increase the PTO speed would be necessary to get good performance.

Andy

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Larry, I will post pictures as soon as I am allowed to.

I guess you could call a radial blade impeller a centrifical fan. If you look inside any leaf blower they all use the radial blade design. The reason I mentioned the different types is because of the idea of using the blower from the welding fume apparatus. Often exhaust vent devices use the other types of blowers because they are quieter. These other types will not work well for a leaf blower.

If you do make a PTO blower I would suggest starting with a blower much larger than the type found on a 5 to 8 HP push blower. Since a PTO usually has much more power available than 5 or 8 HP, why not use it on a larger blower. The larger blower moves much more air and because of this, many more leaves quickly. What used to take 2 to 3 hours with my 5 HP push blower takes about 15 min. with the PTO blower. It is also a lot more fun. I have to be carefull, since two times now, I have blown my wife's flowers near the mailbox right out of the ground, root ball and all. The blower puts out so much air that I typically have the adjustable discharge nozzle I made for it half closed. I also usually run it at only 2000 tractor RPM (PTO speed is at 2600 tractor RPM).

I have been clearing the neighbors yards for them since mine is done so quickly. The guy up the street has a 5HP blower that he mounted a trailer hitch on and tows it behind his garden tractor. After seeing my 3 pt blower he went out and priced them.

Andy

 

[gmason]

Has anyone found this attachment yet? Under $1000
gary

 

[tanuke01]

You may have gotten a reply, I have a Trac-Vac grass catcher.
it's attached to my JD4300. Price was about $2000. You can check them out at www.trac-vac.com/ They have 2 diffent models.

 

[BrierPatch]

The cheapest and most effective solution I have come up with so far, is to pull a 8hp gas Little Wonder push leaf blower behind my tractor on the 3pt. The good thing is, it blows the same direction as the mower deck. I run the mower deck at the same time so I can get up close to things and the mower deck blows it out a little then the leaf blower will send it 15-20 feet depending on conditions.

I found an old used 8hp Little wonder push leaf blower in excellent condition for $500. Went to my local Tractor Supply and got a 3pth draw bar and some U-bolts. You want a leaf blower with a front swivel wheel. One of the things I do alot when bloweing leaves is backing up so I am always blowing in one direction.

I had an old used Trac-Vac pull behind leaf vac. It worked good, but for my property it was a lot of trips to dump it and would get clogged with sticks quite often. I even ordered a new one at one point for something like $3700 (like 7 years ago) and I couldn't stomach the cost and cancelled it the next day. I have the benefit of being able to just blow my leaves into the woods so I don't really need to collect them. So my first attempt at using a push leaf blower was a $350 5hp Coleman Cyclone from HomeDepot. It worked good, but was just a little too small and flimsy to be behind my tractor. It had a very small front swivel wheel and would bend easily if it pushed into a tree root or similar obstacle, but I still used it for a couple of years until I got the bigger Little Wonder.

I went form taking a day or two with the Trac-Vac, to 6-8 hrs with the Coleman, and now 2-3 hrs with the Little Wonder.

You just have to remember to be very careful when backing up. The tractor doesn't even know it's back there and will bend/mash it up easily before you know it. I intend to make a more rigid frame/dolly for it, just haven't got around to it yet.

Here is quick video of it running.

 

[Dwellonroof]

I purchased this used from a golf course.