BX Front Mount Snowblower!

the_g · Jan 8, 2002

Finally! We "got snow"! My first chance to try out my new toy had arrived. After reading several posts about the problems that people have had with snowblowers, both front and rear mounted I was getting a little nervous about how mine was going to work. I had 12" of the fresh white stuff on my lawn when I awoke on monday morning so it was time to find out for myself. WOW! That's all I can say is WOW! This thing is an absolute "Snow Eatin Machine"! Cleaned my yard up in know time at all. I also went back at it last night when I got home as we had gained another 2" during the day. It didn't seem to make much of a difference, 12" or 2", the blower seems to work great with both. The only problem I have now is that I hope we don't get any warm weather soon because it will look like my property was spared of any snow at all and I'll have to start mowing instead. I cleared the front, both sides and the back of the house too! You could drive a tractor trailer around the house easily right now! I just couldn't stop I was having so much fun. As soon as we get a storm that I can work on during the daylight hours I'll take some "action" shots to post. The only problem I found was that if I lifted the blower too much in the air while it was running I could here some strange noises coming from the area of the front mount. I suspect it was the front PTO shaft rubbing on some Ice or packed snow in that area. I haven't had alot of time to investigate that yet but other then that I'm extremely pleased and would recommend a front mount blower for anyone with a BX.

Thomas · Jan 8, 2002

That was a good storm for you to try out the blower..12" for the first time.

In time you will learn some short cuts..such as..less extra turns..blowing around objects etc..
than the fun really begins..so have fun an enjoy.

Egon · Jan 8, 2002

Have you conidered blowing it all back and then redoing it?

Egon

the_g · Jan 8, 2002

Hmmmmmmmmmm! I know what I'm doing after work today! Thanks for the idea!

texblonigan · Jan 8, 2002

Sounds like too much fun. Did you opt for the electric chute rotater? Are you using any chains? All I can say is that I am jealous!

BPD239 · Jan 8, 2002

I have heard that noise while using my snowblower for the first time. I think it might be from the drive shaft cover mounted on the snow blower. On mine it is painted black and appears to vibrate. I was able to move it easily by hand and think that because it is not attached firmly on the bottom it may be rattling when in use.
BPD239

Anonymous Poster · Jan 8, 2002

Mine has made the same noise before and tightening up the two long quarter inch bolts on the black chain cover/pto shield took care of that. Note, I would recommend after a few hours operation removing the cover and checking the set screws on the chain drive spockets. I discovered mine were quite loose the last time I was inspecting the drive chain for tension.

huckflynn · Jan 8, 2002

No doubt about it -- the BX with snowblower is a great combination. Someone asked about chains. I don't know about you -- but I thought I'd try things without chains this year. I've got turf tires and I'm on a hill. It wasn't a marvelous plan. FWD doesn't do much good when things get icy. The chains are now on and life is good.

Have fun! And congrats on your new toy!

Huck

the_g · Jan 8, 2002

No Chains, I have the Bar tires, 10 gallons of windshield washer fluid in each and a Woods RB60 60" rear scraper blade on the back. My driveway is quite steep and it didn't seem to matter if I was blowing up the hill or down, I had no traction problems at all. I'll have to check the driveshaft cover and the set screws because they are talking about another possible snow storm this weekend. "Bring it on"! hahahahahahaha

Mike
New Hampshire

huckflynn · Jan 9, 2002

The wind was whipping things up around here and put an icy glaze on the driveway. I had no problem doing the initial pass without chains but 8 hours later, I did a pass to get rid of drifted snow. When I hit the glaze on the way up the driveway the little tractor that could suddenly couldn't. I started sliding backwards on the ice and it was disconcerting. I slid off the driveway and onto the grass. I turned around on the grass and headed back down the hill.

My tires are loaded with a calcium mix -- but no amount of weight or tread design would have helped on that ice. I put the chains on and attacked that same section and my BX was once again the little tractor that could.

The trip on the ice made me think a 3pt sand spreader would be a worthwhile investment. I heard Herd has a good one that would fit the BX. Anyone know a ballpark price on one of those babies? My dealer tends to overprice things unless I tell him what I should be able to buy it for./w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif TBN has been very useful in keeping him in line.

B_Childress · Jan 9, 2002

I have the Herd 3pt sander and so far it has worked great. I've got it set up on a new B2710 with R4 loaded tires and a 63" front mount snow blower. I looked at fertilizer type spreaders but they looked cheap. The Herd is all steel with a heavy duty steel agitator & really well built.

I've got a 325 foot very steep hill to get to the top of the driveway. The Herd sander has been great. Sure beats sligging sand by hand! I got best results setting the rear PTO to about 300-350RPM and drive along with transmission in medium range. This throws a perfect 12' spread & I don't run out of sand before I get the hill done. You want/need to keep the PTO rpms down a bit or the agitator will beat the hell out of the box as it emptys. They even caution about this in the manual.
Barnett

texblonigan · Jan 10, 2002

Huck, did you put rear chains on only?

texblonigan · Jan 10, 2002

How much did you pay for the sander? Does anybody have a link to a website for Herd?

huckflynn · Jan 10, 2002

Just the rear. And that's what I used all last year and never had a problem. I can stop, start and turn anywhere on the hill.

B_Childress · Jan 13, 2002

I think it was $1200 installed and ready to go. I bought it together with the B2710, FEL, 63" front mount blower.
Barnett

Anonymous Poster · Jan 14, 2002

We had a 10hp track-driven walk-behind snow blower that did a great job - and was a little oversized - at our last house. The first winter in our new house (1999-2000) we used a plowing service. He did a decent job, but showed up at 10am when it stopped snowing before daybreak. Overbooked, I guess.

The Kubota snowblower for the BX has been incredible. We had the most snow in about ten years last winter. The blower didn't miss a beat, or break a bolt, all winter.

Using a blower, there's no problem with snowpiles creeping into your driveway. The only problem I had was not shooting snow onto our woodpile - about sixty feet off the end of the driveway. When I finished the driveway and looked it over, I was amazed to see snow markings 12-15' up on the trees along the drive!

I WOULD prefer a better method for oiling the chain. Maybe a permanent tube, with vented cap, placed in the top oiler hole. Fill the tube to the top, replace the cap, and let the self-oiling take place due to vibration during operation.

...Rich S.

Junkman · Feb 21, 2004

I found this old post and thought that I would revive it by asking if others could post their experiences with the BX snow blower so far for this season. Just think, winter is almost over, the sun is out more during the day, the days are getting longer, and we have all that seat time to look forward to as soon as the grass starts to grow.

kevinj · Feb 21, 2004

I run mine into the shop today for an oil change and see that I have put about fifteen hours on the snow blower this winter. The little bx1500 runs the blower very well and the blower seems to be well made. Time will tell !!

BPD239 · Feb 21, 2004

Junkman,
I have the front mounted snowblower on my BX23....I wouldn't be without it. I have never had any problems with the blower, and it has taken care of everything from 2 inches of wet snow/slush to 16 inches of snow. Regular snow will fly about 50 feet.

What I may do in the future though is add a set of wings on the side of the blower. I had a Wheelhorse snowthrower (single stage blower) that had the wings that pulled in an extra 4 or 5 inches of snow. It kept the tractor from running over the snow and packing it down with the front tires.

The Kubota snowblower is much heavier than the Wheelhorse blower, but doesn't take long to put on. The blower itself goes on in minutes, after you have the loader off and the front quickmount attached. The nice thing about using the Kubota is that it had down pressure on the front. If you have a paved driveway, and have to drive your car on the snow, the down pressure is nice to scrape up the packed down snow.

Bottom line...it is worth the money.

tomnky · Feb 21, 2004

Bite the Bullet Paul and buy one /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
I am just like you as I to drool for month over something before I take the plunge /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif