Mk Martin snowblower hydraulic deflector

[newkiotiguy]

I couldn't bring myself to pay $550 for the hydraulic deflector from the dealer last year when I purchased the blower. After one winter clearing the driveway at our place, that seems to always be windy, I had had enough of that. Bought a 2 inch bore 6 inch stroke hydraulic cylinder from tractor supply. 2 90 degree fittings, 2 half inch to 3/8 reducers, 2 3/8 flow restrictors, 2 8 foot 3/8 hydraulic hoses, and 2 pioneer fittings. I've got a little over $200 into this and will be money well spent once the snow starts flying again.

 

[RjCorazza]

Sweet! Did you fabricate the deflector?
I added rotate and deflect to my blower years ago, and wouldn't be without it.

 

[oosik]

I had a manually operated discharge chute on my six foot snow thrower. It was not really that hard to manually move the chute. I can't remember that I ever changed the deflector.

I have a mile long driveway. 20 to 25 foot high pines line both sided. Get a good snow - those little pines were overloaded with snow and leaning into the driveway. Just waiting for a passerby so they could dump their load.

I aimed the discharge chute - forward and to the right. Knock the snow off these trees - 20 to 30 feet ahead of me - the tractor - the snow thrower.

Yes - it did fill the air with falling snow. However - far better than having tree, after tree, after tree dump directly on me.

Now that I think about those days with the blower - a surprising fact comes to light. Isn't it unusual that the optimum speed for blowing snow was also the optimum speed to put me and the tractor directly under all these trees. Mother Natures joke and sense of humor.

 

[zzvyb6]

I bought an electric actuator off of ebay for $19. Its 24V but runs the deflector just fine. All I had to do is run a wire. Used with my JD F935 and also my 1435 front mowers. But, snowblower takes way too long. I view it as a complete waste of time. I got a used 60" rotary broom and can wipe snow off my driveway as fast as it will move. Even thru 12" drifts. Plus, no more in your face flyback. Driveway is 800' and the motor is barely warm when I'm done. Plus the driveway is completely wiped clean. No more vehicle tracks or ice patches.
Before all of this , I used a 7-1/2' Western plow on my JD1070. Worked ok, but everybody on the road expected me do do the whole street. Plus the time & effort to hook it up in the middle of a snow storm was a PITA.

 

[newkiotiguy]

I bought an electric actuator off of ebay for $19. Its 24V but runs the deflector just fine. All I had to do is run a wire. Used with my JD F935 and also my 1435 front mowers. But, snowblower takes way too long. I view it as a complete waste of time. I got a used 60" rotary broom and can wipe snow off my driveway as fast as it will move. Even thru 12" drifts. Plus, no more in your face flyback. Driveway is 800' and the motor is barely warm when I'm done. Plus the driveway is completely wiped clean. No more vehicle tracks or ice patches.
Before all of this , I used a 7-1/2' Western plow on my JD1070. Worked ok, but everybody on the road expected me do do the whole street. Plus the time & effort to hook it up in the middle of a snow storm was a PITA.

With spruce trees on one side and the woods on the other of most of my 650' driveway, i don't have any option but to blow it into the woods.

 

[newkiotiguy]

Sweet! Did you fabricate the deflector?
I added rotate and deflect to my blower years ago, and wouldn't be without it.

The deflector is the one that came with it. The pins on the hydraulic cylinder are the same size as what came on the blower.

 

[zzvyb6]

With spruce trees on one side and the woods on the other of most of my 650' driveway, i don't have any option but to blow it into the woods.

I have spruce trees along the driveway, too. The broom can toss it 30' off the pavement without harming the trees because it sweeps it sideways, not elevating it like a blower does. And it doesn't create a berm like a plow does. Distance depends on rpm you choose to run the pto at. Not related to ground speed. This was about 3/4" of ice from a sleet storm. ALL gone. My plow & my blower would not have cleared it.

 

[Farmer495]

I couldn't bring myself to pay $550 for the hydraulic deflector from the dealer last year when I purchased the blower. After one winter clearing the driveway at our place, that seems to always be windy, I had had enough of that. Bought a 2 inch bore 6 inch stroke hydraulic cylinder from tractor supply. 2 90 degree fittings, 2 half inch to 3/8 reducers, 2 3/8 flow restrictors, 2 8 foot 3/8 hydraulic hoses, and 2 pioneer fittings. I've got a little over $200 into this and will be money well spent once the snow starts flying again.

I did the same thing, the MK Martin deflector is built the same manual or hydraulic. I used a regular 8" implement cylinder.

 

[msb1766]

Good job, the hydro chute deflector is a must.
If the hoses seem to be straining ot twisted, I got a set of 90 degree live swivels, make a big difference.
Got them From here:

JIC 6M x SAE 6M Live Swivel 90 Elbow Super Swivels 9SS4MO6XMJ6ZV | No Brand Name | Brands | www.surpluscenter.com

 

[bigtiller]

I have spruce trees along the driveway, too. The broom can toss it 30' off the pavement without harming the trees because it sweeps it sideways, not elevating it like a blower does. And it doesn't create a berm like a plow does. Distance depends on rpm you choose to run the pto at. Not related to ground speed. This was about 3/4" of ice from a sleet storm. ALL gone. My plow & my blower would not have cleared it.

What do you have powering that broom?

 

[zzvyb6]

JD1435. Same platform as this machine. I don't have a cab. No need for one. My broom has a rubber lip on the top which acts as a deflector.

 

[DarkBlack]

I couldn't bring myself to pay $550 for the hydraulic deflector from the dealer last year when I purchased the blower. After one winter clearing the driveway at our place, that seems to always be windy, I had had enough of that. Bought a 2 inch bore 6 inch stroke hydraulic cylinder from tractor supply. 2 90 degree fittings, 2 half inch to 3/8 reducers, 2 3/8 flow restrictors, 2 8 foot 3/8 hydraulic hoses, and 2 pioneer fittings. I've got a little over $200 into this and will be money well spent once the snow starts flying again.

What are you controlling it with?
Are you going to power the rotate function of the chute as well?

 

[newkiotiguy]

I ordered the blower with the hydraulic chute because I knew I wanted that and it was coming in the winter. Needed it usable right away. My tractor came with 2 remotes in the back. I added Multiplier from summit to use a 3rd. I have one set for my hydraulic top link and can switch between the rotation and deflector from the other remote by pushing the button

 

[TractorTYMe]

I did this last year with Amazon components on my 68'' MK Martin, I also added a dual remote setup on my tractor too as a necessity.

 

[bdhsfz6]

I couldn't bring myself to pay $550 for the hydraulic deflector from the dealer last year when I purchased the blower. After one winter clearing the driveway at our place, that seems to always be windy, I had had enough of that. Bought a 2 inch bore 6 inch stroke hydraulic cylinder from tractor supply. 2 90 degree fittings, 2 half inch to 3/8 reducers, 2 3/8 flow restrictors, 2 8 foot 3/8 hydraulic hoses, and 2 pioneer fittings. I've got a little over $200 into this and will be money well spent once the snow starts flying again.

Nice build!

I was in the same boat 10 years ago when I bought my Woods SS74 blower. They wanted $675 for the hyd. chute rotator and deflector package. I had an open station tractor at the time and it wasn't a big deal to reach back and work the chute manually, so I passed.

Fast forward a few years when I bought a cabbed tractor. Working the chute now meant getting on and off the tractor. I began to wish I had spent the money when I originally bought the blower. I searched but found the hyd. chute was no longer available for the SS74.

I searched a bit more and found this Woodmax combo chute and rotator kit for $475:

It wasn't much work to modify it to fit the Woods SS74. A piece of 6" channel iron and a few odd parts were all that was necessary.

Adding the deflector cylinder to the chute was the hardest part. I had to cut off the existing brackets and re-weld them in a different location:

The project took around 8 hours and IMO, it was time & money well spent. I can blow snow from the cab in a T shirt without having to put my Carhart's on to get out and make adjustments.

Life is good again!

 

[dirtrider124911]

I couldn't bring myself to pay $550 for the hydraulic deflector from the dealer last year when I purchased the blower. After one winter clearing the driveway at our place, that seems to always be windy, I had had enough of that. Bought a 2 inch bore 6 inch stroke hydraulic cylinder from tractor supply. 2 90 degree fittings, 2 half inch to 3/8 reducers, 2 3/8 flow restrictors, 2 8 foot 3/8 hydraulic hoses, and 2 pioneer fittings. I've got a little over $200 into this and will be money well spent once the snow starts flying again.

I'm looking to copy your setup. This is great! With the 3/8" hose and the flow restrictor, how is the speed on the deflector? Would you go more flow to speed it up or is it perfect? Do you happen to have a video of the setup in action?

 

[bdhsfz6]

I'm looking to copy your setup. This is great! With the 3/8" hose and the flow restrictor, how is the speed on of the deflector? Would you go more flow to speed it up or is it perfect? Do you happen to have a video of the setup in action?

Sorry, no video available. I haven't needed the blower for the last 2 seasons due to lack of snow. Early predictions are, I won't need it this year either.

I started with .045 restrictors but the action was too fast, so I replaced them with .030's. With those, it takes around 5 seconds to turn the chute 270 degrees. It takes about 2 seconds for the deflector to fully articulate. This will vary from tractor to tractor though due to variations in flow rate.

In both cases, I'm cautious to not hit the stops for fear of stripping the sheet metal gear on the chute or bending the cylinder mounting tabs on the deflector. I need a crossover relief valve with a lower set pressure to prevent this but so far, I haven't found one. I tried to find the valve used on the Woods kit but the part is no longer available. The Woods SS74 is so old now, "for parts" units are showing up and I may have luck finding one.

 

[dirtrider124911]

Sorry, no video available. I haven't needed the blower for the last 2 seasons due to lack of snow. Early predictions are, I won't need it this year either.

I started with .045 restrictors but the action was too fast, so I replaced them with .030's. With those, it takes around 5 seconds to turn the chute 270 degrees. It takes about 2 seconds for the deflector to fully articulate. This will vary from tractor to tractor though due to variations in flow rate.

In both cases, I'm cautious to not hit the stops for fear of stripping the sheet metal gear on the chute or bending the cylinder mounting tabs on the deflector. I need a crossover relief valve with a lower set pressure to prevent this but so far, I haven't found one. I tried to find the valve used on the Woods kit but the part is no longer available. The Woods SS74 is so old now, "for parts" units are showing up and I may have luck finding one.

Thank you for the reply. My apologies for any confusion, I'm interested in newkiotiguy setup as I have the MK Martin Pull type as well.