first bobcat snowblower experience

[dsb5610]

Yesterday my Toolcat almost met its match. The neighbor's lane was drifted shut. One stretch was waist deep but that never been a problem in the past. It was above freezing so the snow was extremely wet. I couldn't push the blower unless I lifted it a foot or so and even then sometimes I could only get 5-10' before I would start spinning. I don't carry any ballast and the lane is a slight uphill. Once I started spinning I would back up and take out the foot or so slush then lift the blower to push further in. Once the first pass was done I was able to take a foot or two at a time to open it up. Took almost an hour to do what normally takes me 10 minutes.

I know if I had some ballast and/or chains it would have been better. If this type of snow was the norm I would. Also the R4s are not ideal for traction in snow.

dsb

 

[Spudgunner]

theoshin,

You should have the dealer double check the blower has the correct motor. I can run through 5 inches of medium density snow at a pretty good clip. Your setup should 'blow' right past mine.

dsb

Do you know which fan motor you have? There should be a tag on the back of the motor with a part number in the form xxx-yyyy-zz. Knowing this might help in the comparison.

 

[dsb5610]

The number on mine is 105-1159-006. Not sure if that will help theoshin since mine is a low flow unit.

dsb

 

[Spudgunner]

Ok, the Lo/Hi-Flow testing is complete. The setup: 7" of snow that fell yesterday when it was in the mid to high 20's. Temp. at time of removal: about 35. I was on level ground with a 100' windrow of this stuff. I started on it with hi-flow, did about 30', stopped, and kicked hi-flow off (via the rocker switch). Then I did another 30'. There was a big difference in casting distance. Relatively speaking, low-flow cast it about 1/3 to 1/2 the distance that hi-flow cast it. I'm horrible at estimating absolute distances with the blower but I'll guess hi-flow was chucking it 20-25'. I tried to keep all other variables the same (speed, same pressure on the hyd pedal, etc...).

Hope this helps. It was interesting to find out what hi-flow did, exactly-more-or-less.

Edited to add: While I did keep hyd pedal/speed the same between tests, I did so gingerly...which greatly aided casting distance with this mush.

 

[theoshin]

Ok, the Lo/Hi-Flow testing is complete. The setup: 7" of snow that fell yesterday when it was in the mid to high 20's. Temp. at time of removal: about 35. I was on level ground with a 100' windrow of this stuff. I started on it with hi-flow, did about 30', stopped, and kicked hi-flow off (via the rocker switch). Then I did another 30'. There was a big difference in casting distance. Relatively speaking, low-flow cast it about 1/3 to 1/2 the distance that hi-flow cast it. I'm horrible at estimating absolute distances with the blower but I'll guess hi-flow was chucking it 20-25'. I tried to keep all other variables the same (speed, same pressure on the hyd pedal, etc...).

Hope this helps. It was interesting to find out what hi-flow did, exactly-more-or-less.

Edited to add: While I did keep hyd pedal/speed the same between tests, I did so gingerly...which greatly aided casting distance with this mush.

thx for the update.

did turning on high flow force you to slow down signficantly compared to low flow? also in high flow are you limited by the amount of snow the blower can handle or by the hp of the machine - meaning if you go faster does snow pile up in front or do you loose rpms? how fast could you go in high flow? with mine in 5 inches of medium denisty i can go around 6mph in low flow and 2-3mph tops in high flow. in low flow i am limited by the blower - meaning the snow piles up but i never loose rpms and in high flow i am limited by rpm/torque/hp. in high flow i can never get the blower full before the engine looses power. high flow kicks the snow 3x as far but really handicaps my speed. i already had the motors switched once as the wrong set was ordered originally - i will look into it and possibly switching out for a high flow sb200 72inch via bobcat. maybe the 240 is too big???

 

[kdennan]

I'm still using a loaner (standard flow, SB200_72") till my high-flow arrives.
I know that my dealer said that the motor makes a huge difference in the performance, so he set me up with a 9.6 motor.

 

[lawnproslawncare]

Let us know how the difference in motors help.
I'm ready to get a toolcat, but not till i know exactly how to set this thing up. I'm thinking a expandable rear plow will be the perfect ballast?