Novice Snowblowing questions

JCA · Jan 4, 2005

I'm a displaced southerner, living in Maine, pushing a B2650 front-mount snowblower with a B7510. This is what I bought the tractor for: blowing snow. Bought it last spring; I'm just now getting used to it. I've reported some of my earlier troubled here already.

Today I went out and tried to blow a bunch of wet, heavy stuff. It's in the high 30s today and it's melting. Not much of it on the ground; maybe 2 inches, less in spots. Thought I'd get it off before it melts completely and turns to ice.

I succeeded in blowing snow (4' wide) about halfway up my 800' driveway. I wasn't really throwing the snow; more dropping it. Went about three feet; not far enough to clear the driveway, but one more pass and I would have had it off the edge. NO big deal.

Then the trouble started. The chute clogged. So I shut the blower off, got a stick, and cleared it out. Started back up again. No snow came out; just clogged right back up again. Checked the shear pins; everything is sound, nothing seems to be broken. Engine is running at full speed. Got off, cleared it out again, started it up--nothing. Clogged right up again. Same thing, two more times.

So what's the moral of this story? Is my snowblower just incapable of blowing this kind of stuff? Is it just me, or does this happen to everybody? Are snowblowers only for the somewhat fluffy stuff? Is my snowblower broken in some way that's not obvious? Or is my tractor just not powerful enough?

Please help out a hapless 40-year-old southern boy who's far from home (and expects to stay there for a long time).

/forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

Jim

Bob_Skurka · Jan 4, 2005

I'm guessing you have an auger and a fan. The auger is the horizontal shaft that scoops the snow into the blower, the fan is what actually throws the snow out the chute. Did you check to make sure the fan is turning? It sounds like the fan is not operating if the snow is simply jamming up at the chute.

Junkman · Jan 4, 2005

What you are trying to move isn't snow, but more like a snow slurry.... mostly melted crystals. When you try to push this through the blower, it warms even more and becomes heavier. I suggest that you pour some hot water down the chute to clear out the mush and get rid of it before it freezes solid. In the future, when you are using the snow blower, make sure that it is when the temperatures are low enough to keep the snow in the frozen state. It is also important to keep the snowblower moving internal parts that contact snow well sprayed with a cooking oil spray. This will keep the snow from adhering to the painted surfaces. Also given the fact that you have the same snowblower as Boustany, who has had shear pin problems, I suggest that you check to be sure that you have the proper shear pins in your machine before you run into problems. Welcome to the North of North America. See these two posts for more information...
Post 1
Post 2

JCA · Jan 4, 2005

Bob:
You've described my setup perfectly: an auger and a fan. But I checked all the shear pins; everything's spinning.

Junkman:
So what do you use to push the wet stuff around? Do you have a blade for conditions like this, or what?

Jim

Killer_B · Jan 4, 2005

JCA,

Welcome to the great white north. When it's "high 30's and melting" just wait a while and let Mother Nature dissolve it for you. No snow blower is going to chuck a pile of slushy very far.

BTW: Where I grew up in northern Michigan, we called "high 30's" bad ice fishing weather. It will soon pass.

Junkman · Jan 4, 2005

( Junkman:
So what do you use to push the wet stuff around? Do you have a blade for conditions like this, or what?

Jim

)

As the infamous Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia said....... G-d put it there, let G-d take it away. If you don't know who Mayor LaGuardia was, that is another indication of your youthfulness and your Southern roots.... /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif Learn more about the Mayor here.......

Bob_K · Jan 4, 2005

Jim
Did you pull the shear pins out to make sure they are still in one piece. Sometimes when broke they will still spin the fan, But under load they stop. Kind of hard to see from the driver seat. Just try pulling your fan shear pin out to make sure it still in one peace.
Bob

Junkman · Jan 4, 2005

Bob...... not to disagree, but as a point of information, when a shear bolt breaks on most snowblowers, the head of the bolt and the retaining nut both fall off and the only thing left is the broken piece on the inside shaft that needs to be removed. While it is possible that this broken piece will give some resistance to movement of the fan, I doubt that it would be sufficient to keep you from moving the fan by hand. On some of the Kubota tractor snowblowers, the fan drive shaft uses a unique type of shear bolt set up that has the bolt holding two flat pieces of steel together. With this design, it is a physical impossibility for the shear bolt to break and not have the two halves fall to the ground. Without pulling up the parts manual for his particular snowblower, I am not certain which design is being used in this application.

JCA · Jan 4, 2005

Bob,

I'm using a loose-fitting shear bolt, so I'm sure it would fall out if it broke. Wouldn't hurt to give it a pull, though, would it?

Junkman, et al. This long driveway/private road of mine tends to ice over and become impassible. Did it yesterday after some freezing rain. The guy driving the sand truck came down forward instead of backward and nearly killed himself. Nothing you can do about freezing rain (except put down sand), but I've been living here long enough to know that the more snow you remove from the driveway, the less ice you end up with. Even a southern boy has figured that out. That's one way I convinced the wife to let me buy the tractor; told her I could do a better job of managing the snow than the guy we pay too much money to do it for us. Now I've got to deliver on that promise.

/forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

Jim

Junkman · Jan 4, 2005

( ................... told her I could do a better job of managing the snow than the guy we pay too much money to do it for us. Now I've got to deliver on that promise.

/forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

Jim )

If you are going to become a true Maniac, then I suggest that you also invest in a snow plow blade for the slush removal part of the job. Snow removal is just like servicing the tractor. You need the correct tool to do certain aspects of the job. I have a truck mounted snowplow and I purchased a snowblower for my Kubota this summer. I have found that both are required for complete snow removal on my long driveway unless I risk doing damage to the lawn. I plow the snow to the sides and then I blow the windrows of snow onto the lawn so there is no buildup along the edges. I used to plow the snow far enough back that no matter how much snow we got during the winter, there was no choking of the width of the road by the snow mounds. That was before the lawn was planted. Now, if I were to try that, I would dig up the lawn and have to do a lot of repair work in the spring. If you want to remove snow like a professional, you need professional tools to do it. The snowblower is only one half of those tools. A snowplow blade is the other half, either truck or tractor mounted. If you were not in such a heavy snow area, less might be enough, but that is for you to decide. I only offer my opinion and there is no way that I can be correct with this opinion for every instance or circumstance. These are personal decisions that one must make. I only can give you my experience and my solutions for similar problems.

JCA · Jan 4, 2005

Thanks, Junkman.

Jim

ZackaryMac · Jan 4, 2005

JCA
If it makes you feel better, I don't believe anyone on this forum has a snowblower capable of throwing wet snow. Just the same as when it wants to stick to your shovel when doing it by hand, it also wants to stick to the chute of the 'blower, plugging it up, as you've noticed. Save yourself the agony and don't bother using the snowblower when it's that wet.
I've adapted a ATV snowplow to the front of my 2wd B6100 and it works rather well, and that's with unloaded turf tires on it, mind you I have a 4' snowblower hanging off the back for weight. When the snow is dry/deep enough, I use the blower. With a lighter snowfall, the plow is faster anyway.

Welcome to the snow belt. And let the wife know you have to purchase one more item to properly and efficiently remove snow....a snowplow. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

hwp · Jan 5, 2005

JCA
I'm a bit more optomistic that most of the others that have resonded. I use my snowblower no matter how wet the snow is - the last time I used it a couple of weeks ago we were having a thaw and I pumped more water than anything else. I think there are two things to think of. The first is to make sure that there are no restrictions in the discharge chute. The second is that you are running the impeller at high enough rpms. You want a discharge celocity of about 5000 feet/min. The impeller on my snowblower is 20 in. in diameter and I run it at 1000 rpm which gives me a discharge velocity of about 5200 feet/min. Wet snow won't be thrown as far as dry snow, but you should be able to throw it at least 20 feet. As others have said, cooking oil, car wax or WD40 on the inside surface of the discharge chute will help keep it from plugging. The other thing I wonder about in your case is if the impeller is turning under load. Does your machine have a separate shear pin for the impeller? If so, is it broken? If you turn the impeller by hand, your pto drive shaft should rotate if the pto is in neutral but not if the pto is engaged (with the engine not running of course). /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

lmiller · Jan 11, 2005

JCA One other thing to look at, is the deflector on the top of the chute most or all the way up? With dry snow you can tip it down successfully, with wet it could cause the chute to pack up as you describe.

Another thing that helps is to snow blow first thing in the AM, then go have a nice piece of hot apple pie with cheddar for breakfast /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

Lou

sandyc · Jan 11, 2005

JCA:
A couple of thoughts about blowing wet snow. Keep your rpms up and forward speed down. Also, PAM or a similiar anti-stick cooking spray might help.

I have a BX 2200 and use both a plow and a blower.I use the blade prior to the ground freezing or if there are just a few inches of snow. In the two years I have used my blower I have yet to plug my blower more than once or twice.

By high rpms I run the engine at approx 2500 rpms.

JJT · Jan 11, 2005

"If it makes you feel better, I don't believe anyone on this forum has a snowblower capable of throwing wet snow."

WRONG. I have a Canadian built 78" Agrotrend that will blow slush or dry snow, it doesn't care. I've run the thing through 8' snow banks and I've run it through 18" of very wet snow, it just keeps going.

This is winter 6 or 7 with the blower and the Kubota L3710. If the snow is light or not too deep I'll run 10% below PTO speed, if its wet and heavy or deep, I'll run it at PTO speed.

I do my 800' driveway and my neighbor's 100' drive and have never sheared a pin or broken the chain.

7 years old and the second stage will still pick up a penny. I plowed with a truck and a tractor for 15+ years, after having the blower, I'll never go back to a plow.

#1 tips, don't fight mother nature, never blow into the wind, unless you enjoy eating and wearing lots of snow.

Suess · Jan 11, 2005

I had similar to what you discribe happen to me last week with a B2750 blower. The roll pin in the bottom sproket had fallen out but there was enuff drag between the sproket and the shaft to still turn the blower with no load but would stop when snow got into it pluging the chute.I put a peice of wire throught the roll pin and wound it tight. Hopfully it won't fall out again. I have blowen alot of watery slush with a ariens 48" on a GT 17 with out issue. Have not yet had the oppertunity with the kubota. I think It should work if nothing is broken and at full throttle. Good luck

WayneW · Jan 15, 2005

Had a similar thing happen to my blower on a b7610. The shear bolt broke on the fan. Both ends of the bolt stayed.

One way to verify that all is linked together. With the tractor turned off and pto disengaged, spin the auger with your hand. The fan should spin. Spin the fan by hand & both sides of the auger should spin. (this verifies that all 3 shear bolts are ok)
The mid pto driveshaft should also spin. This verifies that the chain is ok.

If all that is ok, then you need wd40 or Pam on the chute. I forgot to do this once and the chute backed up so much I broke the fan shear bolt. (the stuff was closer to rain than snow) When it's that thick, like others have said go very slow. Use Pam. Watch for backups that will bust a shear pin. OR, use a plow. (I plan on getting one next year for my quick-attach mount for such slush storms.) Litterally 2 min to change from blower to plow (I hear)

-good luck