3pt snowblowers

[PHS79]

Thanks for the replys so far! Our drive is all concrete-18' wide, and roughly 240' long, that leads into the front of the shop which is 50' wideX65' long, along side the shop we do a path roughly 20' wideX 80' long, then in front of the house garage is 30 wideX40 long. So its a little over 10,000 sq ft that we plow just at our house, not to mention if we get over 12" then I usually get alot of other people calling me to plow them out as well. We live in west centeral Wisconsin and usually get around 60" of snow a year, I live on a county hwy so at times there are 3-5' snow banks from the county trucks. And neighbors are not an issue, we have some good size fields between us!

The drive use to get cleared with a Bobcat S250 equiped with either a 8' plow or 7' 1.25 yd bucket. I kept the 7' bucket for the front of the L3600 and I figured that a 72" or so blower would be great on the rear. And being that the tractor has a full cab, having a hyd chute on the blower will be a must have.

I found a 72" blower on craigslist tonight, it has the hyd chute, and according to the owner it was hardly used and looks basically brand new, but I don't know what brand it is. He is asking $1900, I am going to take a look at it tomorrow so we will see...

 

[bc realtor]

Have a look at the Lorenz blowers if you hate thosebig piles at the end of the driveway or if you have any thoughts of seeing lots of gravel. Whatever you get you will probably lov it:thumbsup:

 

[scesnick]

Well, I am a self proclaimed expert at snow blowing.. lol. We got 22 ft. of snow last year and my driveway is 2.5 miles long ( yep 2.5 miles) I have a 64" Ber Vac blower that I used on my little Yanmar 2000. Sold the little tractor and got a Kubota MX5100 and now the 64" blower is a bit small but functional.
I second the Provonost brand but boy, they are expensive.
The hydraulic chute would be handy but not really necessary and a manual chute is a good way to keep the cost down. I think I would rather put the hydro chute money into a dual auger.
Along with my driveway I help my elderly neighbor with her driveway ( using here tractor and blower) and hers is a chain drive. had alot of issues with the chain breaking and/or needing adjusted. There is something about changing a broken masterlink in the dark during a blizzard at 10 degrees that makes me cuss like a sailor !!!

My Ber-Vac is shaft drive and therefore no masterlink issues. Not sure which new models are shaft drive, if any at all.
The only other thing I can think of is the four blade fans seem to throw the snow alot better than the three blade models.

Buying a snowblower is like any other attachment you buy, it all depends on what you want to spend. But, there are quality units out there to be had for a fair price.


BTW- I find it interesting that Wisconsin gets 60" on average a year but I am WAY more south and we get an average of 120" although this past winter we got 265" !! I guess the elevation plays a large part. We are at 3,000 ft.

 

[JDGreenGrass]

edit:....This post is for Rob-D

I would say less than $2500.

Here's this....I was looking at buying a 54" Frontier for $2,000. Then I inquired about the price for a 64" and the Deere dealer quoted $2100. So I jumped in.

I bet you could offer a Deere dealer $2300 and get the 74".

 

[sweettractors]

Ken,
I don't see that listed on your site, only the 50" and 60".

Thanks,
Rob

No, we are in Ky and don't stock anything over a 60 inch, however, we drop ship from the Buhler warehouse Clarksville, IN on the larger sizes. I just called them and the warehouse did not order any 72 inch this year. They have 15 84 inch that should be arriving any day. So I can only ship 50-60- and 84 inch. Ken Sweet

 

[Rob-D]

No, we are in Ky and don't stock anything over a 60 inch, however, we drop ship from the Buhler warehouse Clarksville, IN on the larger sizes. I just called them and the warehouse did not order any 72 inch this year. They have 15 84 inch that should be arriving any day. So I can only ship 50-60- and 84 inch. Ken Sweet

Thanks Ken but I'm not sure my 3320 can run an 84" blower.
Best,
Rob

 

[sweettractors]

Thanks Ken but I'm not sure my 3320 can run an 84" blower.
Best,
Rob

The specs for rear blowers are as follows: 50 inch takes 15 to 30 HP. 60 inch takes 20-40 HP. 74 inch takes 40-70 HP and the 84 takes 60 to 90 HP. Ken Sweet

 

[flyingcow]

scesnick----I agree, fans that have 4 blades seem to really process the snow easier and farther than the 3 blade units.

 

[PHS79]

I went and looked at the blower that was listed on craigslist. It is a Gruetts unit, I couldn't find much info on the web about them but I did find a implement dealer that went by the same name so I called them. It turns out that they make snowblowers, although they no longer make anything under 84", they said that about 7 years ago they quit making the smaller units but they still do make larger units for tractors 70-250hp. But the parts are still avalible for the 72" that I looked at. They also said that brand new it sold for 1700, and now it should be worth roughly 1200.

Then I desided to call the Kubota dealer to see what they had to offer. They sell Meteor snowblowers, for a 75" with hyd chute the price is $2800. I also called a friend who is a salesman at the JD dealer, he was out of the office but is suppossed to work up some numbers call me.

 

[JDGreenGrass]

I went and looked at the blower that was listed on craigslist. It is a Gruetts unit, I couldn't find much info on the web about them but I did find a implement dealer that went by the same name so I called them. It turns out that they make snowblowers, although they no longer make anything under 84", they said that about 7 years ago they quit making the smaller units but they still do make larger units for tractors 70-250hp. But the parts are still avalible for the 72" that I looked at. They also said that brand new it sold for 1700, and now it should be worth roughly 1200.

Then I desided to call the Kubota dealer to see what they had to offer. They sell Meteor snowblowers, for a 75" with hyd chute the price is $2800. I also called a friend who is a salesman at the JD dealer, he was out of the office but is suppossed to work up some numbers call me.

Just a guess but, I think the Deere will come in slightly less than the $2800 you have been quoted.