Allow rear snow blower to pivot?

[hube2]

The area that I have to use my blower in has a lot of dips and bumps, hills and valleys.

What I've been thinking is that it would be nice if the blower could automatically pivot to keep it even with the ground rather than level with the tractor to better deal with the uneven ground.

I don't think a hydraulic top link would help much because you would not be able to see the angle of the ground compared to the bottom of the blower through the snow, not to mention that it would need continuous adjustment even if you could tell where it needed to be adjusted to.

So what I was thinking was to allow the blower somehow do this automatically.

I have read some threads about using other types of implements that needed to do this where people have replace the top link with a chain. I'm not sure I like the idea of a chain as it could allow the blower to pivot too far.

Another idea would be to use something like the this bracket between the top link and the blower. Probably not exactly this, just an example I found for a visual. This would be more ridged and allow the blower to pivot but there would be a limit to how far it could pivot.

Has anyone ever tried this with a snow blower?

Does anyone see any issues with doing something like this?

 

[Reb954]

First thought that comes to mind for me is that would be tough on the U-joints. The angle of the snowblower input shaft should be the same as the pto output shaft angle. That way the two U-joints are working together.

 

[chim]

Something like a toplink that had a certain amount of telescoping might work. Perhaps long skids on the SB could help. You can float the blower on the 3 point hitch but it seems like you want it to have some amount of rotation. That is where the telescoping toplink comes in. If allowed too much of that rotation it could dig in.

 

[leonz]

The area that I have to use my blower in has a lot of dips and bumps, hills and valleys.

What I've been thinking is that it would be nice if the blower could automatically pivot to keep it even with the ground rather than level with the tractor to better deal with the uneven ground.

I don't think a hydraulic top link would help much because you would not be able to see the angle of the ground compared to the bottom of the blower through the snow, not to mention that it would need continuous adjustment even if you could tell where it needed to be adjusted to.

So what I was thinking was to allow the blower somehow do this automatically.

I have read some threads about using other types of implements that needed to do this where people have replace the top link with a chain. I'm not sure I like the idea of a chain as it could allow the blower to pivot too far.

Another idea would be to use something like the this bracket View attachment 681318 between the top link and the blower. Probably not exactly this, just an example I found for a visual. This would be more ridged and allow the blower to pivot but there would be a limit to how far it could pivot.

Has anyone ever tried this with a snow blower?

Does anyone see any issues with doing something like this?

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It will be harder on the universal joints and the bearings if you do this. If your lower links can be extended that is the better way to to this.
It would be better if you just had longer skis made (the length of the side weldment plates) and just left the three point hitch in float to follow the ground.

Trying to obtain a finite adjustment for an implement that is made to be dumb, numb and stupid to do one job of snow clearing is a mistake.

You do not need a GPS unit to control the snow blower, you need to set the skid height and be done with it.

Just have longer skids made and your unit will be able to follow the ground better and avoid digging in.

Your going to wear out the cutting edge that much sooner and suck up stones and rocks if you try something like this and you defeat the bottom edge of the snow blower.

 

[hube2]

Thanks for the input and the issues that this would cause.

The reason that I was even thinking about it is because I am having a hard time when the ground rises significantly behind me which causes the blower to dig in rather than lift up the hill and I was thinking that if it could tilt a little that this would help it to move up rather than dig in. As it is now I have to continuously lift and lower the blower to back up these hills

PTO joints were mentioned and the amount of tilt would need to be limited. A telescoping top link that allowed only 1 or 2 inches off level would allow enough tilt. But they don't make anything like this.

I also thought of a problem myself. This is a crude drawing of the blower
When pushing this snow as high as the blower would likely force the blower to tilt backwards because the force is applied to the bottom 1/3 of the blower box and the snow would push the top back if it was allowed to tilt.

I suppose that this could be solved by having skid shoes that are significantly longer than the blower box.

I agree, I'm not looking for precision, I'm really just looking to make it easier to push it up rises without it digging in and I'm exploring the options.

 

[leonz]

Hello hube2,

Just take the skids you have to a welding shop and have them copied and made 4 inches wide and have 16 inches of the skis thick flat stock on the intake end(front end and make sure the ski is curved on both ends to prevent digging in in either direction making sure the rear end of the ski is only 8 inches longer than the cross auger housing to prevent possibly piercing a rear tire.

Not precise, just dumb, numb, and it works as long as you use fine thread bolts and fine thread nylock nuts and washers to secure it.

 

[ruffdog]

Like other's said....get some good skids:

Snowblower Skids For Sidewalks and Gravel Drives

 

[ruffdog]

If one CV joint is straight and the other one is angled, they will be out of phase. What does this mean? It means your blower impeller will speed up and slow down 2 times for every revolution of the pto shaft. At severe angles, it can really be tough on the drive train.

 

[FrankJG]

Shortening your top link and larger and longer skids can help but like leonz said, a snowblower is quite a simple implement without alot of possible adjustments.

Personally, I even want the snowblower to ride over dips and humps cause it will actually make your frozen snow base layer flatter than the driveway itself.

 

[JJT]

The area that I have to use my blower in has a lot of dips and bumps, hills and valleys.

What I've been thinking is that it would be nice if the blower could automatically pivot to keep it even with the ground rather than level with the tractor to better deal with the uneven ground.

I don't think a hydraulic top link would help much because you would not be able to see the angle of the ground compared to the bottom of the blower through the snow, not to mention that it would need continuous adjustment even if you could tell where it needed to be adjusted to.

So what I was thinking was to allow the blower somehow do this automatically.

I have read some threads about using other types of implements that needed to do this where people have replace the top link with a chain. I'm not sure I like the idea of a chain as it could allow the blower to pivot too far.

Another idea would be to use something like the this bracket View attachment 681318 between the top link and the blower. Probably not exactly this, just an example I found for a visual. This would be more ridged and allow the blower to pivot but there would be a limit to how far it could pivot.

Has anyone ever tried this with a snow blower?

Does anyone see any issues with doing something like this?

I'd live with it for now and fix the driveway in the spring, (cut the hills and fill the valleys).

 

[PILOON]

Hello hube2,

Just take the skids you have to a welding shop and have them copied and made 4 inches wide and have 16 inches of the skis thick flat stock on the intake end(front end and make sure the ski is curved on both ends to prevent digging in in either direction making sure the rear end of the ski is only 8 inches longer than the cross auger housing to prevent possibly piercing a rear tire.

Not precise, just dumb, numb, and it works as long as you use fine thread bolts and fine thread nylock nuts and washers to secure it.

That is what I did.

Oversized double ended skids. (skis)
About 12-13ins long X 2 1/2 wide on a 60 inch blower.
No more gravel raking 4 me!

Now for a pivot it would need to be on a central axis i.e. two 'plates' facing each other with the pivot point as close as possible to the PTO shaft.
It would end up similar to the big snow plow rigs that are on highway plows.
I would suggest too complex for CUT blowers.

BUT
What might work would be vertical slots (like 2") instead of holes (ball ends) on the 2 lift arms that would allow 3-4 inch movement up/down to compensate for uneven road beds.
Having seen graphs of U-joint operating ranges I'd suggest this would work just fine as to U-joints.
Problem might be wear from friction in the slots due to the vertical motions but I'd think that could be worked around.

Or to otherwise describe, replace the ball ends with vertical slots.

 

[Cycledude]

Like other's said....get some good skids:

Snowblower Skids For Sidewalks and Gravel Drives

Thanks for posting that link it was very helpful ! I might be attempting to build some better skid shoes for my 72 inch Meteor rear blower.

 

[hube2]

Thanks all, considering that there were risks I've decided that this was a bad idea.

I doubt I will ever do anything about leveling off the property, I live on the side of a hill and differences in grade come with the territory. I actually already had better skids but I put the OEM skids back on because I could not get them set at the right depth without cutting off the bottom corners of the blower box flange. One of the things I did since my comment was to go out in the cold and take care of that and the blower now rides up the hills much easier without digging in. Much improved but even set as low as I can I leave quite a bit of snow in the dips. I can live with that.

 

[leonz]

I am glad that we were able to help you with this issue. A broken snow blower for the user is a bad snow blower that
cannot do anything other than be a rear dead weight if it is broken.