Snow Equipment Owning/Operating Buhler snow blower fan replacement

[Rustywreck]

Good day all,
I have a 60" Buhler snowblower with a three blade fan. I am attempting to replace the fan with a four blade.
It seemed like a straight-forward job: remove the one bolt, pull it off the shaft and put the new fan on. I was able to get the bolt out easily, but the fan will not come out of the shroud in which it turns. There is a small lip which it gets hung up on which prevents the fan from coming completely off the shaft.
I've tried rotating the fan in various positions, but I always have the same result.
Has anyone removed the fan from one of these blowers and have any suggestions?
Thanks for your help.

 

[rswyan]

I haven't and so can offer you no insights on it ... but I have a 60" Buhler with a three blade fan myself, so I'd really appreciate it if you post again with whatever you come up as the solution ...

 

[JerryK]

I have a 78" JRW, and I have had the fan out several times even without removing the big auger. With your Buhler, you might just have to remove the bolts holding the gearbox in place and move the gearbox [ fan shaft ] forward some to give you enough room to tilt out the fan. When you take the fan off, or replace it... notice that there are usually washers put between the fan and the end of the threaded gearbox shaft. They may be real rusty and stuck inside the fan, but I bet they are there. These washers are there to adjust the clearance of the fan from the flat metal behind it and kind of semi-center the fan in the housing/keep it from rubbing. Good luck...... Jerry

 

[paulfun9]

If its a little out of round at an edge you can always use a file or something to smooth it enough to get past it.

 

[doxford jim]

Try disconnecting the chain drive and then turn the auger to suit. It worked for me. I had e heck of a time to get the fan to move initially, but once moved and properly lubricated it was much easier the next time.
Where are you getting the four bladed fan from - Allied Buhler ? If so how much are they charging if you don't mind me asking.

 

[rswyan]

Where are you getting the four bladed fan from - Allied Buhler ? If so how much are they charging if you don't mind me asking.

Yes ... and for anyone who has replaced their 3-blade fan with a 4-blade, a report on the difference in performance.

 

[jnrkirk]

Good day all, I have a 60" Buhler snowblower with a three blade fan. I am attempting to replace the fan with a four blade. It seemed like a straight-forward job: remove the one bolt, pull it off the shaft and put the new fan on. I was able to get the bolt out easily, but the fan will not come out of the shroud in which it turns. There is a small lip which it gets hung up on which prevents the fan from coming completely off the shaft. I've tried rotating the fan in various positions, but I always have the same result. Has anyone removed the fan from one of these blowers and have any suggestions? Thanks for your help.

How big is the fan diameter? Mine is 18 inches and a three blade. I am in the process of changing the fan diameter to 24 inches and making it a four blade.

 

[pmsmechanic]

This is hijacking the tread a bit but I would like to see where the four blade blower comes from.

I was given a IHC 80 snowblower. The blower was completely wrecked and no longer available from IHC. Even though it was nla the price was $700. So I built my own. I took a 2' square piece of 3/8ths steel and had a machine shop cut a hole in the center for a browning hub. I cut four pieces of 6" channel iron for the blades. Weighed them so they were equal in weight. I also weighed all the braces and welding rod I used so that the blower would be balanced. Because I had used a browning taper lock hub the local tire shop could put it on their machine and balance it for me. I needed to add one ounce of weight to adjust the balance.

The blower shaft was also worn so I took the gear box apart and welded and filed the shaft smooth. I installed new seals and oil and the gear box was good to go again.

I sold the IHC 80 because I didn't have a tractor to run it and used the money to buy a front mount snowblower for my 4410.

 

[Rustywreck]

So far I haven't had a chance to work on with it further - stinkin' job. I looked at it regarding removing the gearbox, and that method would more or less require disassembling the entire snow blower.
I don't know what the diameter of the fan is. The four blade fan was an option on blower I have, but mine came with a three blade. It is a factory replacement part.
Hopefully it will be a couple months before I can give a report on the difference between the two fans, but I certainly will. After last winter I'm not excited to see another snowflake.
It was a fairly expensive part, $250.

 

[tz18da 50cs]

I just did a fan replacement on my new holland front snow blower, It was a big job as the augers, gearbox had to be removed. Pretty much just had the box and parts out in my garage. It was the only way that the fan would fit out. I also had to remove the reduction gear and bearing(which I damaged removing it since it was almost welded on there) Once I got the assembly off the old fan came off easy but the new fan was a tight fit. I thought it would be a 1/2 hour job but like any job ended up more like 3 hours.(after 3 days of waiting for new bearing to come in)

 

[Amvcane]

To the OP, Rustywreck just curious why you are replacing the 3 blade fan. Not satisfied with the performance? Rotted out and since a 4 blade was an option went with it?
I have a 62" Schulte 3pt with a 22" 3 blade fan. Just picked it up this summer and have not used yet. Wondering what type of performance to expect. I am running it with a Kioti ck35 hst with 26.5 hp at the pto.

 

[doxford jim]

A lot has to do with the clearance between the fan blade tip and the fan housing. Too big a clearance gives a much reduced performance. My experience is confined to the use of my used 73" Allied/Farm King/Buhler blower.

My blower has a three blade fan which I would like to replace if not too expensive (dreaming I know). I can tell you the blower works very well if I use 720 rpm instead of 540 rpm. To improve the clearance issue I would have to line the inside of the fan hosing with material (probably 1/8" thick) as the housing has been repaired previously leaving an excessive clearance. I don't think my blower would be cost effective (1989 vintage) as it has had a few repairs and would need to be professionally restored (professional welder) which is beyond my capabilities. I did fit adjustable replaceable metal tips to the fan, but that is not enough to fix my clearance issue.

I understand that the closer the clearance, the better the results.

Cheers

 

[Jay4200]

A lot has to do with the clearance between the fan blade tip and the fan housing. Too big a clearance gives a much reduced performance.

I don't believe this theory, and would love to see an experiment proving or disproving it. Reason being that any fan/housing space gets packed full of snow almost immediately, so the end result is virtually perfect effective clearances regardless of original dimensions.

 

[Al 2]

Well, I don't care if anyone believes me or not but this is my story. Years ago I had a blower that would work great when going thru a lot of snow but when trying to clear just a few inches , it clogged all the time. Apparently either by poor design or a mistake there was too much space between the impeller and the drum. I just welded heavy flat bar to the end of the blades and as close as possible to the drum . It worked perfect from then on and I didn't even remove the blades to do it.

Al

 

[smfcpacfp]

I am just curious why you are replacing the 3 blade fan with a 4 blade fan. I would think it would make enough difference to justify the expenditure of time and money, and apparently aggravation.

 

[rbargeron]

Centrifugal pumps for water have some things in common with snow blower impellers. It's routine to trim water pump impellers to reduce pressure pulses (vibrations) caused by the vanes passing close by the housing - but the trade-off is that efficiency drops as clearance increases (see attached). But snow blower impellers go enough slower that vibration isn't a concern - so clearance can and should be reduced to limit "slip".

Jay's comment about the housing packing up with snow can be true if the temperature is just right, but often there's enough violence in there (pea gravel, dirt, ice) to keep it scoured out so clearances do count.

On the subject of 3 vs 4 blades, performance depends on fan size, speed, vane shape, clearance, auger delivery pattern and what kind of snow is being pumped. Enough variables for a Federal test project. A flat statement that 4 is better than 3 is a non-starter without nailing down the other factors.

 

[Harvey9]

I don't believe this theory, and would love to see an experiment proving or disproving it. Reason being that any fan/housing space gets packed full of snow almost immediately, so the end result is virtually perfect effective clearances regardless of original dimensions.

If you have a minute go on You Tube and search for this, toro 524 snowblower impeller mod , he modified a walk behind blower by adding a piece of rubber to the impeller blades. Made a big difference in how far he could blow snow. There's other videos there also showing the same thing.

Harvey