59 Snowblower on a 3720 w/ gravel driveway

[doxford jim]

I also made larger skids/runners for my snow blower. The new ones are about 4" wide and 12" long and do help to stop the blower from digging in. Looking at the picture you can see that the left skid was broken at the upturn of the runner. I just welded the two new larger skids onto the old runners. It has made a big improvement and I can still throw gravel and rocks if I don't watch what I am doing. I now check the adjustment each time before I start blowing.

 

[bigtiller]

My blower is only 54" but if I float it on the gravel part of the drive I have the same problem as you. So I just hold it up about 2 inches. I also watch how deep the front tires are getting to judge how high the blade actually is. It works for me and it doesn't ride up on wind packed snow nearly as easy.

 

[pmsmechanic]

Thanks kennyd but a search on their site and it doesn't look like they make them for the 59" blower. The largest deere blower I see on there is the 47" blower.

Interesting idea though, making larger skids would be easier than a pipe or wheels and might be a first attempt at making things better.

If it fits on a 47 it will fit on a 59 as they are identical except for the width.

 

[jgayman]

Thanks kennyd but a search on their site and it doesn't look like they make them for the 59" blower. The largest deere blower I see on there is the 47" blower.

Interesting idea though, making larger skids would be easier than a pipe or wheels and might be a first attempt at making things better.

They make them to fit the 59". I originally found out about these from an article by a guy who bought them for his JD 59" blower. He posted photos but I cannot find the article at the moment. Don't worry too much about their "fit" chart. It is not very complete. Simply measure your bolt spacing and order accordingly. That's what I did for my 54" and they work perfectly. The photos below are of my JD 54" blower.

I clear some paved and gravel driveways in the neighborhood. The scribe mark helps me quickly adjust the height for each. I also added large stainless steel fender washers which help to hold the shoes adjustment.

 

[kennyd]

Glad you replied JG :thumbsup:

 

[gbowling]

Thanks, I'll check into those shoes. Here are some snowy pics of my rig that several people requested. I can raise it up a bit and manage, but it's not as good as I would like. Probably have to wait till summer at this point to do anything, but want to do something to improve it. Although the shoes would be easy enough to put on in the winter.

 

[beenthere]

Doesn't look like a hard-to-fix problem by having some larger shoes. Doubt they would compromise the task of blowing away snow on a gravel drive.

Curious about what you have for chains shown on the tires. Look like they would be chains for paved drive, and not so great for gravel. Just wondering..

 

[gbowling]

beenthere, those are rubber chains from rubberchains.com. I used to park the tractor in the garage and didn't want to trash the floor with regular chains.

They work reasonably well, not as good as regular chains, but better than no chains. With the 4x4 I could probably get by without chains but a little assist is nice.

 

[sunnyside360]

beenthere, those are rubber chains from rubberchains.com. I used to park the tractor in the garage and didn't want to trash the floor with regular chains.

They work reasonably well, not as good as regular chains, but better than no chains. With the 4x4 I could probably get by without chains but a little assist is nice.

Have to agree with the rubber tire chains. I had them on the rear tires of my previous John Deere X485 with snow blower and they worked great. Used it for 6 years and the rubber chains showed practically no wear at all when I traded for the 3720 cab tractor with 59 blower like yours but without any chains. My 3720 doesn't really need chains with 4 wheel drive and liquid ballast in the rear tires.

The larger skid shoes mentioned above is a good idea for gravel driveways.

 

[PILOON]

Add me to the oversized skids.
I have been running on 3" X 10" homemade skids until my base is established for some 8 years now.
Once the base is well established I remove them completely and let the blade scrape everything.

Heck my winter drive is nicer than the summer as frost pushes many odd spots and the winter base fills in the dips.