3PH Snowblower at greater than 540 RPM PTO?

[jas67]

I recently purchased a Woods SB60 60" 3PH snow blower.

It worked great in these recent Mid-Atlantic snow storms. I was, however a little disappointed in how far it blows the snow. My 24in/10HP Simplicity walk-behind 2-stage snow blower throws it over twice as far. This was very powdery snow, the kind that snow blowers work very well in. I was running the engine on my B7610 at 2600 RPM, which gives a full 540 RPM at the PTO, and was not bogging the engine down at all.

I have a higher PTO speed available, which, of coarse would give a higher fan speed and throw further, but I didn't try it, because I'm not sure what speed you can safely use these at?

Anyone here running their 3PH blowers on a higher PTO speed?

High speed on the B7610 is 960 RPM, so, that would be 177% of the 540 RPM speed, so I'd probably have to run the engine at a lower speed, which, of course, would be lower HP, but might be find for lower accumulations of snow, or if I go slower.

Of coarse, this might be a good trick for those of you with more powerful engines.

Thanks,
Jay

 

[DHD]

Did you purchase new or used ?

 

[Spudland_Dave]

Not giving you the green light...BUT, when we had the 60" Lucknow blower on the Bolens which had a 3spd PTO, we ran it on mid-range all the time...no issues....even when the snow was light & fluffy we've tried it out on high range PTO, LOL...
Blower is still alive and kicking behind a Kubota L2900 now...and he wishes the Kubota had a multi-speed PTO. My dad actually built a chain drive 33% speed increaser for it, but it kept snapping chains when the going got tough so its back to direct drive...

 

[red4now]

JAs67:

I wouldn't recommend running at the higher RPM speed. Blower was only designed to run at 540. My previous front mount blower had a reduction unit which then took it from the higher speed down to 540 or there abouts. Plus you would lose out on the power in the heavier snow since you have to run it at a lower RPM.

Having had the front mount blower before, even with the gear reducer, it threw the snow really far. I was a little worried with the new rear mounted blower that I just got that I would be losing out on this, but it does the same distance. Makes sense actually since they were both made by the same manufacturer. Not sure if you have the blower I looked at online at Woods, but I think the problem might be in the number of blades in the fan - only 3 on the 60" I looked at vs the 4 blades on the fan that my previous one had as well as this one. I have seen comments in other threads that seem to indicate more blades and a good size fan equals a good distance even at 540 RPM.

 

[jas67]

Did you purchase new or used ?

Used. It does have about a 1/2 gap between the blower blades and housing, so I might consider augmenting these this summer.

 

[jas67]

JAs67:
I looked at online at Woods, but I think the problem might be in the number of blades in the fan - only 3 on the 60" I looked at vs the 4 blades on the fan that my previous one had as well as this one. I have seen comments in other threads that seem to indicate more blades and a good size fan equals a good distance even at 540 RPM.

This one is three blades.

It's still WAY better than the back blade for these big snows.

 

[DHD]

The half inch gap is probably the problem.
Here is an old post about snowblower performance
I thought was pretty interesting.

www.tractorbynet.com/forums/customization/116271-snow-blower-performance.html

 

[JJT]

Used. It does have about a 1/2 gap between the blower blades and housing, so I might consider augmenting these this summer.

That gap is what's hurting your performance. The fan should be able to pick up a nickel.

 

[RoyJackson]

Used. It does have about a 1/2 gap between the blower blades and housing, so I might consider augmenting these this summer.

Bought it just south of Red Lion on Rt 24, didn't you?

 

[jas67]

Bought it just south of Red Lion on Rt 24, didn't you?

No, Leesburg, VA.

J.

 

[pat32rf]

Bought an old beat up 5' blower back when I had my little Bota. Always ran it at the higher PTO speed. Once I bought my bigger JD (with single speed PTO)I seldom used the blower until I did some redesigning and tightened up the cleqarances on the blower fan.

 

[PILOON]

I run a 60" bervac (gear box in center of auger) with about 16" 3 blade fan and always use the mid range PTO (about 800RPM) as I have 3 PTO speeds.
My fan gap is in the 1/4" range. (seriously thinking of closing that down)

Have run it that way for 4 years without any problems at all.

Did once try the 1000ish RPM and that is just too much, shakes and vibrates.

At 500 it is just about like shoveling; eg barely makes it to the side.

 

[HSSC]

My Honda 32" track drive sends the snow 60 plus feet. Three blade fan, 11 HP. That is its only role in life. For the most part, it lives a lonely life, waiting for it's chance to run free. My three point tractor, on the other hand, works many lives/chores. With its 49 horses and snow blower (74"/22" 3 blade fan) it may not send the snow somewhere in a spectacular fashion, but it does do its job. Getting the snow out of the way. Something the plow on my 2.5 ton truck does only to a point.

 

[KubotaSam]

I run my 48" Kubota 222 snowblower on the back of my B7100 on the mid PTO speed. It works much better at this RPM than at the 540. According to Tractordata.com the second speed is 786. I have used it this way for many years with no adverse side affects. At times I have even run it on the high PTO speed.

 

[wedge40]

It sounds like junk.. Sell it to me and I can give up my left handed snow shovels.

How far is it throwing the snow. 10', 30' 60'

Wedge

 

[jas67]

It sounds like junk.. Sell it to me and I can give up my left handed snow shovels.

How far is it throwing the snow. 10', 30' 60'

Wedge

10-15'.

It did the job, but for the larger parking areas, I was re-throwing some of the same snow.

Still much faster than the blade or walk-behind blower for these deep snows.

 

[Dead Horse]

What rpm is the peak torque of your tractor? If it is well below 1600 rpm, then you can go to a higher pto speed and just reduce your rpms, but no lower than your peak torque point. Then use the remaining rpm range available to find optimum performance of the blower.

 

[atgreene]

I run my 8' blower at 750 rpm, but idle the tractor down so the pto is still at 540, but my ground speed can be slower, thus feeding less snow and working easier. When I get into 2-4' stuff I swap back to 540 and put the tractor on the governor.