HST power needed for 72" blower?

[KenBike]

Run a 84" blower on a L6060 Kubota and it works good even in deep drifts.

 

[bridge4]

have a 64" inch blower on a 30hp pto and I wish I had more power in anything over 8 inches wet. Slow slow slow when I get there.

 

[Little Red Tractor]

This woodmax wants 25 HP min.

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Nice thing about a hydrostatic drive tractor is how easily the over the ground speed is modulated to suit the blower loading.

I might call 35hp a better match depending on snow type. Do you get wind drifted fill? That stuff can be hard and dense.

I would agree that 25 horsepower seems marginal at best for a 72 inch blower. HST will mitigate that a bit as it helps control groundspeed, but a bit more ummmph from a bigger engine would make a better overall combination.

 

[bridge4]

I would agree that 25 horsepower seems marginal at best for a 72 inch blower. HST will mitigate that a bit as it helps control groundspeed, but a bit more ummmph from a bigger engine would make a better overall combination.

also, in a cabbed tractor (where you want to be if blowing snow) your heater is gonna take some horses away too. IMO putting a 72 inch blower on anything under 40-50hp is setting up for failure if you get any sort of snow over a few inches. Maybe I'm wrong, but I've learned you need the power to do what you want, and "just barely" having enough is not actually enough.

The rule of thumb for a cutter is 5hp per foot. I don't think your blower is using any less power than a cutter is. It's most likely using more. So maybe you can squeak by with a 30hp. But as I've said, I have a 64 inch one with 30hp and I wish I had more power every storm over 4-5 inches.---That said, I am doing a parking lot and long, wide driveways where I need to throw it far. If OP just needs it to go two feet off to the side, maybe it could work with lower power just fine.

 

[CalG]

also, in a cabbed tractor (where you want to be if blowing snow) your heater is gonna take some horses away too. IMO putting a 72 inch blower on anything under 40-50hp is setting up for failure if you get any sort of snow over a few inches. Maybe I'm wrong, but I've learned you need the power to do what you want, and "just barely" having enough is not actually enough.

The rule of thumb for a cutter is 5hp per foot. I don't think your blower is using any less power than a cutter is. It's most likely using more. So maybe you can squeak by with a 30hp. But as I've said, I have a 64 inch one with 30hp and I wish I had more power every storm over 4-5 inches.---That said, I am doing a parking lot and long, wide driveways where I need to throw it far. If OP just needs it to go two feet off to the side, maybe it could work with lower power just fine.

The topic of throw distance is a good one.

From my experience, speed is more significant than HP. Though Horse Power does keep the revs up! ;-)

On my little "around the house" front mount blower fitted to the Kubota B7200, I always use the high speed pto drive.

When I hang the 6 foot blower on the Hurlimann,(35hp) Then again, I use the high speed pto. (around 900rpm IIRC)

I like to see that snow gone! Far away gone ;-)

 

[blizzardslayer]

I’ve been running a Shulte 6200 on a Mahindra 3015 for 20 years successfully. Like everyone says, the deeper the snow, the slower you go. My snow type is typically referred to as Sierra cement and if I travel too fast, I will either begin to push snow out ahead of me until there’s enough resistance and I begin to move into it or I begin to lose traction. I have not encountered any issues with not having enough power. I run R1 tires with chains. If my blower ever konks out, I’m probably going to seriously consider one made by Frontier. A neighbor of mine has their 74 Inch, and they’re very happy with it. They also make a 64 inch blower that only weighs a little over 500 pounds and that could be a consideration too. I haven’t looked closely at what other blowers are around in the market since I’m not considering a new one at this point though. Hope that helps.

 

[aesmith]

Thanks. Regarding throw distance, I may be over simplifying but surely that just depends on PTO speed. From my understanding in conditions where my tractor can maintain full RPM, then more power wouldn't improve anything, at that moment.

From several seasons experience I find I hit a number of different limits, with different solutions.

(1) Most common, too much snow for the blower to clear even though it's spinning full speed. Solution, slow down.
(2) Too deep for one pass. Raise blower, run into drift, then pull back out and go in with blower lowered.
(3) Engine labouring. Doesn't happen that often, but the best solution would be more power rather than slowing down.

The other annoyance is where the depth and type of snow means I could run faster, but I don't have another usable gear so still have to plod along slower than necessary.

 

[bridge4]

Thanks. Regarding throw distance, I may be over simplifying but surely that just depends on PTO speed. From my understanding in conditions where my tractor can maintain full RPM, then more power wouldn't improve anything, at that moment.

From several seasons experience I find I hit a number of different limits, with different solutions.

(1) Most common, too much snow for the blower to clear even though it's spinning full speed. Solution, slow down.
(2) Too deep for one pass. Raise blower, run into drift, then pull back out and go in with blower lowered.
(3) Engine labouring. Doesn't happen that often, but the best solution would be more power rather than slowing down.

The other annoyance is where the depth and type of snow means I could run faster, but I don't have another usable gear so still have to plod along slower than necessary.

sounds like you're gonna do it, so do it. Let us know how it goes and any thoughts you have after a few storms.

 

[sandman2234]

I don't do snow...
However, it would seem that the tractor is limited to what it can do by the horsepower it produces. The more the horsepower, the less running into a drift would try to slow down the engine speeds, which keeps the engine speed up, which keeps the snow flying at a good distance.
The rule you are fighting with is simple. TIME IS MONEY! There is no other way to put it. The variables of the drifts, the compactness of the snow, how wet it is, etc are all variables that you have no control over. The only thing we can is how a 72" blower works on a certain machine, and in reality even that is flawed simply because of the differences in snow in different parts of the world or even different regions of any country.
We get snow about once every 10 years and a 19hp tractor (assuming it would pick it up) would blow that snow way off of the roadway! However, the same tractor with the same blower would be ridiculed if it were located in western New York state along the lake where "lake effect" snow comes into play.
However, add in a bunch of money* (*money being converted to horsepower) and you can increase the performance of any snowblower right up to the design max.
My point is, we don't have your budget limitations in mind, only you know that, and horsepower is limited by budgets, so you really are in control of how fast you blow snow.
I DON'T DO SNOW and I don't do it for a good reason. Ask me about that when I go outside in my short sleeve shirt this morning, while most of the USA is wearing a coat and blowing snow!
David from jax

 

[leonz]

Thanks. Regarding throw distance, I may be over simplifying but surely that just depends on PTO speed. From my understanding in conditions where my tractor can maintain full RPM, then more power wouldn't improve anything, at that moment.

From several seasons experience I find I hit a number of different limits, with different solutions.

(1) Most common, too much snow for the blower to clear even though it's spinning full speed. Solution, slow down.
(2) Too deep for one pass. Raise blower, run into drift, then pull back out and go in with blower lowered.
(3) Engine labouring. Doesn't happen that often, but the best solution would be more power rather than slowing down.

The other annoyance is where the depth and type of snow means I could run faster, but I don't have another usable gear so still have to plod along slower than necessary.

Your not over simplifying anything, you need gross horsepower to deliver
continuous high idle torque/wide open throttle to deliver the higher rotation
speed needed for the impeller of a two stage snow blower.

The beauty of a single stage snow blower is the snow thrower has an improved
method of snow discharge because the snow thrower rotor eliminates the need
for the second stage impeller.

This is accomplished this by using a high speed of rotation and a solid cross auger
that pushed the snow forward and to the center where it is ejected at a high rate
of speed exceeding 600 revolutions per minute which creates the high ejection
speed through the chute and spout.

MK Martin would sell many more of their single stage snow blowers if they reduced
the outside diameter size of their single stage snow blower rotors by at least one third
to improve the snow discharge speed through the chute and spout as the current design
is much too large and the designated power take off horsepower for each width of snow
thrower is much too low.

 

[hayden]

To me, the bottom line, assuming time matters when clearing snow, is that 40 PTO HP would be an absolute minimum, and 50 hp would be much better. I have run a 74" blower with 50 hp PTO and it worked well 80% of the time. 20% of the time I really had to slow down, take partial swaths, etc.. I tried running an 84" blower on the same tractor and it was quite unsatisfactory. 80% of the time I was moving at 1 to 1.5 mph, and still struggling to keep the RPM up so the snow would throw far enough. Now I have that 84" blower on a 100 hp PTO and it works much better with the hydraulic relief acting before RPMs even think about dropping.

 

[bridge4]

To me, the bottom line, assuming time matters when clearing snow, is that 40 PTO HP would be an absolute minimum, and 50 hp would be much better. I have run a 74" blower with 50 hp PTO and it worked well 80% of the time. 20% of the time I really had to slow down, take partial swaths, etc.. I tried running an 84" blower on the same tractor and it was quite unsatisfactory. 80% of the time I was moving at 1 to 1.5 mph, and still struggling to keep the RPM up so the snow would throw far enough. Now I have that 84" blower on a 100 hp PTO and it works much better with the hydraulic relief acting before RPMs even think about dropping.

This is the truth right here. You can skimp all you want, but you'll die on your tractor with only half your driveway cleared.

 

[WinterDeere]

I would not recommend a 72" blower and 19hp at the pto. Sure, you could slow way down with an HST, and take smaller bites, but it's going to aggravatingly slow going in all but the lightest snow conditions.

I ran a 64" blower for several years on a 23 hp Deere 855 with 19 hp at the PTO. It did fine in clean powdery snow up to 2 feet deep, but trying to push the thing thru the hard pack of salted ice that the township would always leave at the end of my driveway when then'd plow the road often had me having to lift the blower and take two or more passes in any storm averaging much more than maybe 10 inches. Likewise with heavy wet snow much over a foot deep, you could easily bog the machine if you didn't crawl real slow.

Based on that experience, I'd not want to mess with 72" of blower on only 19 PTO hp, it'd be a source of frustration for me.

For anyone with a machine having much less than 30 HP total, I'd just stick with a 64" blower, which is a very common size, around here.

 

[aesmith]

Thanks again. I'm not convinced 40 or 50HP would be needed on my property, emphasis because I'm not doubting what others find in their different locations.

I'm really saying that because over several years HP has not been the limit I've been hitting most often. With HST I'll have the option of running faster, but until I try I don't know whether that will hit HP or capacity limits first.

The 72" blower is what I have, I wouldn't want anything narrower unless going for a physically smaller tractor, which wouldn't be my preference.

 

[dieselscout80]

also, in a cabbed tractor (where you want to be if blowing snow) your heater is gonna take some horses away too.

I don’t believe a fan for heater is going make any difference in a tractor’s ability to run a snow blower or any other attachment.

That said he will want plenty of HP and a hydrostatic transmission will help with times where the snow is heavy. This is due to infinite speed adjustments.

 

[aesmith]

I won't have a cab, i don't have one at the moment. I am always getting on and off whether snow clearing or doing other jobs.

 

[Torvy]

Not sure which oems you have available. There are quite a few with 35-40 HP. TYM has a T394, a 3515 and a 4215 in those size ranges (PTO HP from 30-36). LS has even more in that size range (they also make CaseIH and NH models in that size).

 

[aesmith]

Not sure which oems you have available. There are quite a few with 35-40 HP. TYM has a T394, a 3515 and a 4215 in those size ranges (PTO HP from 30-36). LS has even more in that size range (they also make CaseIH and NH models in that size).

Thanks everyone. In terms of brand, nearest dealer does Kubota, then we have a Kioti dealer with depots throughout Scotland. Really I'm hoping for something used, ideally Kubota, JD, or other big brand.

 

[aesmith]

By the way in hindsight I should have asked "how much power is needed for HST vs geared?"

But I got my answer anyway, nobody's said I could get away with less than I have already.

 

[Fallon]

By the way in hindsight I should have asked "how much power is needed for HST vs geared?"

But I got my answer anyway, nobody's said I could get away with less than I have already.

Geared will get more power to the ground due gear efficiency. HST is slightly less efficient. But I find the infinitely variable speeds & ease of control completely worth it. Having run geared & HST CUTS as well as bigger geared tractors, I think HST is the way to go for flexible CUT tasks. In a field machine, efficiency wins out over flexibility though