Pronovost Puma 80"

[sbrown7257]

Hello!
I Have a 2022 Massey Ferguson 2860M and am just purchasing a Pronovost Puma 80" Snow blower. Has anyone had any direct experience with the Puma 80" snow blower. What are your overall thoughts of the build quality, design and ease of use. My only concern with the puma is the design of the skid shoes as to me they don't seem like they are designed the best way. Why wouldn't puma stick to the design of the hardy and commercial grade style skids. I would be interested in seeing pics, links or any other info you have on the PUMA 80". I am hoping my tractor handles it fine and hoping it was worth the upgrade!

 

[oosik]

Good Morning - sbrown7257 and welcome to TBN. Pronovost is recognized as one of the better brands of snow throwers..

There will be several factors affecting the use of your new tractor and blower.

Where do you live and how much snow do you normally get. Does the snow come in great blizzards or spread out over time. What type of area will you be clearing. Long driveway - gravel or paved driveway - steep hills or flat terrain. Your yard or a mailbox area. Is your tractor 4WD. Will you be putting chains on the wheels. What type of snow do you normally get - dry/fluffy or wet/heavy.

All things being equal - that Pronovost will do about as good a job as you could expect from any snow thrower.

A snow thrower will be slower that a front blade or rear blade. It will put the snow EXACTLY where you want it. Long hours of use can tend to stress the neck and shoulders - make them stiff and sore.

I used a 3-point snow thrower for 27 years. Finally - I got old enough where the entire operation was more pain than pleasure. I went to a much larger tractor and HD rear blade. Now everything goes FORWARD and I can go like the wind.

 

[TractorTYMe]

Rear facing? Pronovost DOES NOT make junk. So I think it will be good for you. I use my front blade until I have a proper icy surface before I use the snowblower, don't need an inaccurate gravel shotgun LOL.

 

[chim]

Hello!
I Have a 2022 Massey Ferguson 2860M and am just purchasing a Pronovost Puma 80" Snow blower. Has anyone had any direct experience with the Puma 80" snow blower. What are your overall thoughts of the build quality, design and ease of use. My only concern with the puma is the design of the skid shoes as to me they don't seem like they are designed the best way. Why wouldn't puma stick to the design of the hardy and commercial grade style skids. I would be interested in seeing pics, links or any other info you have on the PUMA 80". I am hoping my tractor handles it fine and hoping it was worth the upgrade!

Ran a 64" version of the Puma on a Kubota L3200 for a few years. Made some skids of 1/2" flatbar. It was fun on driveways, but not good on open spaces. One handy thing is that the few parts I needed were commonly used equipment parts that are stocked a a good farm/hardware store nearby.

I do a few parking lots and it wouldn't blow snow far enough to get it off the lot in one shot. Each time the snow was blown, it became harder to blow again. Switched to an 8' blade on an L4240 and it's a lot better.

 

[leonz]

Hello!
I Have a 2022 Massey Ferguson 2860M and am just purchasing a Pronovost Puma 80" Snow blower. Has anyone had any direct experience with the Puma 80" snow blower. What are your overall thoughts of the build quality, design and ease of use. My only concern with the puma is the design of the skid shoes as to me they don't seem like they are designed the best way. Why wouldn't puma stick to the design of the hardy and commercial grade style skids. I would be interested in seeing pics, links or any other info you have on the PUMA 80". I am hoping my tractor handles it fine and hoping it was worth the upgrade!

The Pronovost family has made farm equipment for many years and it is of very high quality.

1. How you operate your tractor is very important as the maintaining the required engine speed for power take off to operate at 540 RPM is as important as the travel speed in reverse.

Taking half cuts after the first full width cut will let you operate with lesser loading on the power take off and provide the highest amount of torque to the paddle fan/impeller to spin it at the 540RPM plus fan speed.

The slower you travel in deep snow pack the faster the snow will be cleared and the farther it will be cast away from where you are clearing it and it will reduce any chance of plugging.

The puma rear mounted skid shoes are adjustable to allow you to control the height of the lower cutting edge.

The open augers ribbon end scrapes close to the side weldment of the Puma snow blower and it would break off the bolt heads or break shear pins if you mounted adjustable skid shoes from the www.snowblowerskids.com folks.
The side weldment with its heavy steel skid weldment at the bottom will last for a very long time.
As long as you pay attention to the conditions you have and adjust the top link to prevent it from digging in the
dirt it will work very well.

Adding pneumatic swivel casters using angle iron is the only thing I would do if I felt it was digging too much as the pneumatic swivel casters would reduce it as long as they are low enough to carry the snow blower on the pavement or dirt.

The thing I would do this fall is invest in a gallon of Fluid Film and a Lambs wool paint mitt and coat everything that will contact snow with at least 3 coats of Fluid Film before the snow comes to be ready for the season. I would coat the chute, spout, impeller and the impeller housing with at least 5 coats of Fluid Film to make them really slick and it will double the casting distance of the Pronovost Puma you have.

I wish the Pronovost family would make a single stage snow throwers with 13-15 inch snow blower rotors with an auger ribbon that has a 15 degree angle flighting and 4 center paddles as they would sell many more snow throwers every year.

 

[Dakota_male]

The Pronovost family has made farm equipment for many years and it is of very high quality.

1. How you operate your tractor is very important as the maintaining the required engine speed for power take off to operate at 540 RPM is as important as the travel speed in reverse.

Taking half cuts after the first full width cut will let you operate with lesser loading on the power take off and provide the highest amount of torque to the paddle fan/impeller to spin it at the 540RPM plus fan speed.

The slower you travel in deep snow pack the faster the snow will be cleared and the farther it will be cast away from where you are clearing it and it will reduce any chance of plugging.

The puma rear mounted skid shoes are adjustable to allow you to control the height of the lower cutting edge.

The open augers ribbon end scrapes close to the side weldment of the Puma snow blower and it would break off the bolt heads or break shear pins if you mounted adjustable skid shoes from the www.snowblowerskids.com folks.
The side weldment with its heavy steel skid weldment at the bottom will last for a very long time.
As long as you pay attention to the conditions you have and adjust the top link to prevent it from digging in the
dirt it will work very well.

Adding pneumatic swivel casters using angle iron is the only thing I would do if I felt it was digging too much as the pneumatic swivel casters would reduce it as long as they are low enough to carry the snow blower on the pavement or dirt.

The thing I would do this fall is invest in a gallon of Fluid Film and a Lambs wool paint mitt and coat everything that will contact snow with at least 3 coats of Fluid Film before the snow comes to be ready for the season. I would coat the chute, spout, impeller and the impeller housing with at least 5 coats of Fluid Film to make them really slick and it will double the casting distance of the Pronovost Puma you have.

I wish the Pronovost family would make a single stage snow throwers with 13-15 inch snow blower rotors with an auger ribbon that has a 15 degree angle flighting and 4 center paddles as they would sell many more snow throwers every year.

I have the Massey 2850 with a 72” Puma blower and I installed skids 1/2“ flat bar 4x12” long and a hydra top link for tilting the blower while on soft gravel driveways. Added a electric actuator to tilt the Shute outlet and it came hydraulic motor to rotate the Shute. Your Fluid Film recommended would also be good idea to do inside your tractor rear fenders-as I find snow/salt hides out in there too.I find.

 

[Beaver Cove Deere]

I put a 74” front mounted run off a PTO hydro power pack thru hell.
Ended up beefing it up some after a nasty few jobs and put a AR500 cutting edge on it but it wasn’t junk by a long shot.

 

[BoylermanCT]

I started with a Puma 64 and then moved up to a 72. Very happy with both of them. I plow a 1/4 mile asphalt driveway so the skids are set all the way up and the blower it pitched forward slightly.