Have 2002 Kioti DK50C need bigger tractor for snow removal

[groundcover]

Obviously you need one of theses !

 

[TractorTYMe]

Would a 3point rear facing snowblower be a more attractive way perhaps, or get a front SSQA snowblower with a PTO powerpack? This way you could use FEL to snowblow really tall berms but in layers?

 

[Beaver Cove Deere]

My inverted rear 84" Normand will outperform my prior 72" Pronovost Puma front mounted blower with the PTO hydro powerpack in every single possible northeast snow condition hands down. Not even a contest.
FWIW I started clearing snow over 40 years ago for utility companies, town and state governments then privately. I will never put a plow on my personal pick up truck. Been there and done that.

 

[leonz]

I'm with everyone saying a snowblower is the only way for all the same reasons. So what about a front mount blower? Either frame mounted or on the loader arms? And there's the rear pull-type blower but I don't know how big your tractor is - if it's big enough for one of those for the depth of snow you're typically getting there.

If you go front mount then you can run a blade on the rear for smaller snow-falls.

For the amount you'll spend "upgrading" to a larger tractor you should be able to get a front blower setup. (not to mention you can off-set that cost by selling the rear blower you have.)

E.

He has a KIOTI DK50C in which the C designation I will assume for now is for a tractor cab.
Hi mule has a manual transmission with creeper gearing for reverse.
The creeper gearing is a huge plus where he can set the throttle and shift into reverse and sit
side saddle in the seat and look over the snow blower or outboard rear view mirrors or cameras
mounted in the cab at the corner of the rear window to watch the work as he advances in reverse.



The problems he has right now are simply too much snow and an inverted snow blower would not work due to
The heavy ice buildup in the compacted snow.


1. the mule he has underpowered for the snowblower and the snow fall totals he has
2. he has no liquid ballast in the rear tires
3. he has no wheel weights mounted in the rear wheels
4. he has no ice chains on his tires
5. the DK50C does not have a mid point PTO that would allow him to use a 6 foot wide
snow blower that would fit within his mules estimated rear PTO power

A farm tractor loader mounted snow blower is powered with a hydraulic power pack would
cost more than the mule he owns and cost more than aquilline snow and ice chains for all
four wheels and loading the rear wheels with liquid ballast.

A farm tractor loader mounted snow blower would not be able break up the snow and ice pack he has
AND Any attempt to do this would damage the loader arms as these loaders are not ment for digging
out compacted snow and ice let alone dirt ONLY loose materials.

I would not feel comfortable even suggesting one of the Erskine front mounted PTO snow blowers due to
the 3 inch loss of ground clearance and the mounting frame would have to be custom made for the front
of the tractor and I am not sure the front end of the engine cradle could support the weight.

The double acting hydraulic hose pairs are zip tied to the frame all the way back to the rear of the frame and
the end user would be responsible for purchasing the hoses and quick connect fittings for the specific tractors
length as the machine would need 8-10 extra feet of hose for each hose to reach the hydraulic hose couplers
mounted on the specific tractor.

The snow blower hoist function is managed with a dual cantilever/dual hydraulic cylinder system with the
cylinder barrels mounted at the top and the cylinder rod eyes mounted at the bottom on the lower frame.
The dual hoist cylinders 4 oil ports are cross connected with Tee connections.
I do not know if they use hydraulic cylinders with stop tubes to protect the stuffing boxes of the hydraulic
cylinders to reduce the chance of the cylinder rods bending.
The hydraulic hoses used on the hoist cylinders are a No. 4 hose(1/4") that are Tee'd into the No. 8(1/2") hoses
coming from the rear ports using 4-8-8 Tee fittings plumbed into the right cylinder.
The hydraulic tee fittings appear to be 1/4" male National Pipe Thread to mount in the cylinder barrels (1/4") female NPT thread and No. 6 JIC(Joint Industrial Council) hydraulic hose (3/8") 35 degree tapered thread to a JIC 35 degree tapered thread (Joint Industrial Council) No 8. (1/2") hydraulic hose


The design of the Erskine front mounted snowblower would not work well due to the chute clogging from
heavy wet snows.

The Honda people had the same issue with thier snow blowers due to the deflector plate that was installed in the
base of thier chutes and after years of complaints about the clogging and many owners simply removing them they
eliminated the deflector plate at the base of the chute.

Here is a link to a video for the Pronovost TRC model rotating drum snow blowers.

http://pronovost.qc.ca/en/snowblowers/pronovost/pronovost-group-1/P-720trctabVideo

This Pronovost TRC model 2 stage snow blower is mounted on a European made low profile tractor with 4 wheel drive


I am sorry if I have bored everyone to tears.
=========================================================================================
I forgot to add that we have a TBN member that uploaded a video of him using his tractor and pronovost TRC snow blower a while back.

 

[IndyIan]

I guess like 120+hp 2wd tractor with some chains and a big dual auger blower on the back or mounted up front would be faster and you never move banks.
For now, do you have a HD box blade? I have a flimsy 7' rear blade I use for fresh snow but if I need to move banks back or rip ice, the 1000lb box blade hasn't failed yet. Its rigid so when I back a corner of the box blade into the bank it starts busting hard snow and ice right at that point, and just curls it up and back. Also I'm on a hill so I use gravity as well and push down hill. I don't use the loader to bust banks as digging with a corner is a no-no, but the box blade and 3pth don't care.

 

[CobyRupert]

My inverted rear 84" Normand will outperform my prior 72" Pronovost Puma front mounted blower with the PTO hydro powerpack in every single possible northeast snow condition hands down. Not even a contest.
FWIW I started clearing snow over 40 years ago for utility companies, town and state governments then privately. I will never put a plow on my personal pick up truck. Been there and done that.

90% of snow events where I’m at in the East are storms less than 12”. I assume these storms would be easily handled by most rear pull (inverted) blowers and the tractor pulling them.

…but how deep of a storm can you drive through pulling the blower? Don’t they get those huge powder events out in the Sierras?

 

[Sierraau]

Obviously you need one of theses !
View attachment 779977

Ironically, I HAD one of those. An older version that I thought I got a good deal on, but it ended up that the fan belts that it used were worn, and there were no replacements ANYWHERE, they were an odd size that no one had, So I sold it to a collector. I think it was an 1952 International.

 

[Sierraau]

He has a KIOTI DK50C in which the C designation I will assume for now is for a tractor cab.
Hi mule has a manual transmission with creeper gearing for reverse.
The creeper gearing is a huge plus where he can set the throttle and shift into reverse and sit
side saddle in the seat and look over the snow blower or outboard rear view mirrors or cameras
mounted in the cab at the corner of the rear window to watch the work as he advances in reverse.



The problems he has right now are simply too much snow and an inverted snow blower would not work due to
The heavy ice buildup in the compacted snow.


1. the mule he has underpowered for the snowblower and the snow fall totals he has
2. he has no liquid ballast in the rear tires
3. he has no wheel weights mounted in the rear wheels
4. he has no ice chains on his tires
5. the DK50C does not have a mid point PTO that would allow him to use a 6 foot wide
snow blower that would fit within his mules estimated rear PTO power

A farm tractor loader mounted snow blower is powered with a hydraulic power pack would
cost more than the mule he owns and cost more than aquilline snow and ice chains for all
four wheels and loading the rear wheels with liquid ballast.

A farm tractor loader mounted snow blower would not be able break up the snow and ice pack he has
AND Any attempt to do this would damage the loader arms as these loaders are not ment for digging
out compacted snow and ice let alone dirt ONLY loose materials.

I would not feel comfortable even suggesting one of the Erskine front mounted PTO snow blowers due to
the 3 inch loss of ground clearance and the mounting frame would have to be custom made for the front
of the tractor and I am not sure the front end of the engine cradle could support the weight.

The double acting hydraulic hose pairs are zip tied to the frame all the way back to the rear of the frame and
the end user would be responsible for purchasing the hoses and quick connect fittings for the specific tractors
length as the machine would need 8-10 extra feet of hose for each hose to reach the hydraulic hose couplers
mounted on the specific tractor.

The snow blower hoist function is managed with a dual cantilever/dual hydraulic cylinder system with the
cylinder barrels mounted at the top and the cylinder rod eyes mounted at the bottom on the lower frame.
The dual hoist cylinders 4 oil ports are cross connected with Tee connections.
I do not know if they use hydraulic cylinders with stop tubes to protect the stuffing boxes of the hydraulic
cylinders to reduce the chance of the cylinder rods bending.
The hydraulic hoses used on the hoist cylinders are a No. 4 hose(1/4") that are Tee'd into the No. 8(1/2") hoses
coming from the rear ports using 4-8-8 Tee fittings plumbed into the right cylinder.
The hydraulic tee fittings appear to be 1/4" male National Pipe Thread to mount in the cylinder barrels (1/4") female NPT thread and No. 6 JIC(Joint Industrial Council) hydraulic hose (3/8") 35 degree tapered thread to a JIC 35 degree tapered thread (Joint Industrial Council) No 8. (1/2") hydraulic hose


The design of the Erskine front mounted snowblower would not work well due to the chute clogging from
heavy wet snows.

The Honda people had the same issue with thier snow blowers due to the deflector plate that was installed in the
base of thier chutes and after years of complaints about the clogging and many owners simply removing them they
eliminated the deflector plate at the base of the chute.

Here is a link to a video for the Pronovost TRC model rotating drum snow blowers.

http://pronovost.qc.ca/en/snowblowers/pronovost/pronovost-group-1/P-720trctabVideo

This Pronovost TRC model 2 stage snow blower is mounted on a European made low profile tractor with 4 wheel drive


I am sorry if I have bored everyone to tears.
=========================================================================================
I forgot to add that we have a TBN member that uploaded a video of him using his tractor and pronovost TRC snow blower a while back.

Actually, I do have a full set of tire chains on it. And honestly, i haven't had any real issues with the blower- it works just fine, but it is so slow. Now that being said, I cannot push the blower into a full bank of 4' high snow and have it blow- unless I had it in super low granny gear, and then maybe it would work- but honestly, I have never attempted that as I think I know what would happen. Fortunately Ice pack isn't a real problem here. It's 15F out today, and tomorrow it will be 40F, when it is cold, it is only cold during or right after the storm and then it warms up into the 40's- so it may go from "ice pack" to mashed potatoes in 24 hours. I don't even attempt to snow blow the mashed potatoes unless I want to spend a bunch of time digging out the plugged chute.

 

[Sierraau]

90% of snow events where I’m at in the East are storms less than 12”. I assume these storms would be easily handled by most rear pull (inverted) blowers and the tractor pulling them.

…but how deep of a storm can you drive through pulling the blower? Don’t they get those huge powder events out in the Sierras?

It's not uncommon to have storms that dump 4' at a time. In 1951, about 15 miles from me it snowed over 65' for the season. I was here in 1982 when, in my subdivision, the snow banks were over 15' tall.

 

[Sierraau]

67yrs old and you talking about spending maybe another 20-30k for a machine that's really only needed a few times a year? Pay someone to remove the snow.

Nobody wants to drive out to our acreage to do it.... its far enough from everyone's route that no one is interested, that is why we are doing it.