B2782B front mount blower noise

[bumperm]

Kanook,

If you wouldn't mind, please look at your impeller blade tip to housing clearance, is it like mine, standing in front of blower, max clearance at 1 o'clock and minimum at 9??

Thanks for the heads up . . . um, I may not have checked just absolutely *everything* on the driveline, and after your experience I'm "inspired"! Since that 1/4" bolt has a nyloc nut, it should not have come loose unless, as you suggested, it was not there in the first place or had a regular nut on it.

You are dang lucky that's a relatively short driveline and somewhat constrained by metal things - could'a been a lot worse.

Just checked mine (a sort of out of sight, out of mind place due to the guard) bolt was there and tight - 3/8 X 3/8 set screw AWOL. The new one will get Loctited.

I'm not unhappy with the inherent quality of the blower. Assembly, not so good. Don't know if it's fair to blame it on the dealer. It is part of their job to check all the nuts and bolts on the tractor, to include stuff they don't assemble at dealer level? I know they sure didn't on mine . . . in fact, a number of large fasteners on the hoe sub-frame were not nearly tight enough. At the 50 hour (which I did) I checked over everything I could think of that the dealer might have had a hand it.

bumper

 

[Kanook]

Will check the clearances tomorrow once I get a fire built in the wood stove in the building that houses my machinery. I agree that the dealer in this case is likely not at fault as I believe items like loose set screw etc are due to a faulty quality factory assembly and these blowers I think are built by a company that builds for Kubota and others.

 

[ericher69]

Note that there should be two (2) of those set screws attaching the small sprocket to the shaft. As you know they locate the sprocket laterally on the shaft, but sprocket rotation, relative to the shaft, is prevented with a Woodruff key. My two set screws were both out of the sprocket and neatly placed in a 1/2" blind hole on the mount frame. I know it wasn't worked on, so when the departed the sprocket they found their way there. They are locktited now. I've made some improvements on my blower, lining the chute with 1/8" thick UHMW PE to improve throw distance and help reduce chute clogging with slushy snow. That works well. I wanted to line the impeller housing too, but since that requires a longer piece of UHMW, I'm thinking a better way may be to line the paddles with the same material. But my paddle to chute clearance varies, with the widest gap at the top, just past the chute opening of about 1/2 inch, then decreasing to only 1/8" as the paddle reaches the bottom of the chute at about the 270 degree point (when the snow would start departing the paddle). In other words, my impeller is not centered in the housing - - is this the same as others? One fix would be to mount each paddle liner with a slot so it could slide out to meet the larger gap, then be pushed back in as it rides around the impeller housing. It would thus act as a seal around the whole housing, increasing efficiency and throw distance while preventing build up on the impeller blades. I'm convinced that this would not bind or freeze up with snow, as the UHMW is slick and snow tends not to stick on it. It is also **** for stout and abrassion resistant (my skid liners are made from it), so while the paddle liners would be slung out through centrifugal force, they will be forced back in as the clearance in the housing decreases (I hope). Bad news, is I can't figure out any way to accurately drill the 1/4" mounting holes near the inboard part of the paddle without removing the impeller. Not a major task I guess, but I'd prefer to avoid it. Thoughts?

you can't drill it through the chute opening if you take the chute off? If not I was contemplating hole sawing a hole in the impeller housing to do this to mine. Just mig back together after.

Interesting that you decided to add to this thread today..I was just thinking about adding my experiences today with this blower...I can only say that I am not impressed with the reliability and assembly of this snow blower.While out clearing snow at 4am today , the drive shaft separated from the blower at the blower end. It thrashed about and created quite a light show of sparks in the dark of that time of day. The 1/4"NC x 2 1/2" hex bolt either fell out or was never there and the set screw holding the 1/4 x 1/4 x 1 1/4 key had come loose and the key fell out (never found it). Fortunately there does not appear to be any damage at the tractor end of things and I was able to McGuiver a short term fix to complete clearing the driveways I keep cleared of snow. I would strongly suggest that anybody with this blower (B2782B) check the driveshaft connection to the blower and make sure that the 1/4 inch hex bolt item 19 on page 28 of owners manual is secure and tight and also that the allen socket screw item 17 is snug and is securing the key item 7 or it could fall out as mine did. Needless to say, I feel extremely fortunate that that 2500 RPM shaft coming detached as it did did not damage anything at the tractor end as far as I can determine. I intend to have a serious talk with my dealer when I visit there tomorrow. As Bumperm mentioned, the set screws securing the small gear (item 5) needs to be inspected as well...mine were not there (see previous post). Not impressed with this new blower...

Funny you bring this up as the EXACT same thing happened to me about 2 weeks ago. Mad Sent from my iPhone 5s 64Gb using TractorByNet

 

[Kanook]

you can't drill it through the chute opening if you take the chute off? If not I was contemplating hole sawing a hole in the impeller housing to do this to mine. Just mig back together after.

Funny you bring this up as the EXACT same thing happened to me about 2 weeks ago. Mad Sent from my iPhone 5s 64Gb using TractorByNet

Did you report the failure to your dealer? I think Kubota could have a safety issue with these blowers..When my shaft disaenaged, it tore up the metal shield really good. If it had been daylight when it failed I would have taken a lot longer to notice. The light show of sparks drew my attention to the event...not the noise. Hate to think what the out come would be if the flailing u-joint at the end of the shaft had jammed up.

 

[ericher69]

Did you report the failure to your dealer? I think Kubota could have a safety issue with these blowers..When my shaft disaenaged, it tore up the metal shield really good. If it had been daylight when it failed I would have taken a lot longer to notice. The light show of sparks drew my attention to the event...not the noise. Hate to think what the out come would be if the flailing u-joint at the end of the shaft had jammed up.

No blower/tractor out of warranty.

May call to let them know.

Sent from my iPhone 5s 64Gb using TractorByNet

 

[Kanook]

No blower/tractor out of warranty.

May call to let them know.

Sent from my iPhone 5s 64Gb using TractorByNet

I would appreciate you letting them know. The manufacturer should be made aware and the numerous owners out there should at least be advised to inspect for loose or missing parts....Thanks for the response.

 

[Kanook]

Kanook,

If you wouldn't mind, please look at your impeller blade tip to housing clearance, is it like mine, standing in front of blower, max clearance at 1 o'clock and minimum at 9??

Thanks for the heads up . . . um, I may not have checked just absolutely *everything* on the driveline, and after your experience I'm "inspired"! Since that 1/4" bolt has a nyloc nut, it should not have come loose unless, as you suggested, it was not there in the first place or had a regular nut on it.

You are dang lucky that's a relatively short driveline and somewhat constrained by metal things - could'a been a lot worse.

Just checked mine (a sort of out of sight, out of mind place due to the guard) bolt was there and tight - 3/8 X 3/8 set screw AWOL. The new one will get Loctited.

I'm not unhappy with the inherent quality of the blower. Assembly, not so good. Don't know if it's fair to blame it on the dealer. It is part of their job to check all the nuts and bolts on the tractor, to include stuff they don't assemble at dealer level? I know they sure didn't on mine . . . in fact, a number of large fasteners on the hoe sub-frame were not nearly tight enough. At the 50 hour (which I did) I checked over everything I could think of that the dealer might have had a hand it.

bumper

Bumper....roughly 1/4in clearance at both 1 and 9 o'clock.