Snow Pull behind snowblower

carlhwv · Dec 15, 2016

Fishhead is right on target. We live on top of the mountain near Camp David. At this elevation and position related to the Atlantic Winter can be a real mixed bag. Our record in the past 10 year was 145". Usually we get about 80" in 2-8" shots. Sometimes it just a pain in the butt 2" showers that you just have to get off before it freezes. One year we had two back to back slams of multi foot dumps and did have a bit of wind on the lane but was only bad for about 100 feet. That one took 10 hours to dig but it's the exception not the norm.

From what I have gathered from reading and watching is that most of the time my neighbor will have the lane done before I even get suited up. His biggest issue will be getting up out of the hole he is in but with the weight on the rear I'm guessing he will do fine. I'm looking forward to seeing this machine work.

I was really skeptical before posting but now I have faith he made a good decision. And in the odd year...it's happened three times in 10 years....where we get a big dump I know I can get us out with the loader on 7040. The 84" bucket is slow but makes a big hole in to snow. Looking forward to the white stuff falling.

fishhead · Dec 15, 2016

Wow that had to be some nasty stuff to be unable to drive through a foot of it, Did you have chains on?

I just found it interesting that the B26 weighed as much as it did 4000 plus with backhoe on 3000 without - I guess i was just trying to point out that it is probably more capable than we would give it credit for thinking of the rest of the b series (i used to own a 3030)

Fallon said:
I was plowing & blowing with it until I sold it. It ran off with my plow. I'm trying to sell the 60" blower as it doesnt fit my 72" track L4060. I started out with the plow & could plow a foot & a half with 2' drifts in good conditions. Then we got under a foot of nasty wet slush. I couldnt drive through it, much less plow. Ended up getting the blower after that. I still plowed 90% of the time, but flipped a 180 to blow drifts that were to big.

My L3200 was about 3,500lbs with loader, loaded R4s + the 600-700lbs for the bower. Adding front chains increased my capacity by about 25% & allowed steering when plowing. You cant fit rear chains with R4s unless you get wheel spacers. Gonna see how the L4060 goes before getting chains

fishhead · Dec 15, 2016

2-8 inch storms will be be right in the sweet spot

One good thing about him "coming out of the hole is though he will use up some potential PTO power by driving up hill
he won't be trying to push or drag snow up hill. And i guess if the hill is no too long it would not be a huge deal to attack it by backing into it then driving forward while blowing.

I do think he is going to want front chains for control- the other thing i just thought of is that when we had an unpaved drive i had 4 link ladder chains and they worked fine, those same chains did not work well on the same drive when it was paved
I think that is because the surface (snow/ice plus road) is softer with and unpaved because you end up leaving a snow ice cover and the dirt is not as firm. Anyway what would happen is that on pavement the longer gaps between cross chains allowed slipping and then the cross chain caused a bump so you had a bad ride and bad traction, i switched to a 2 link and both improved greatly. If he has 4 link he can just add cross chains to get to a 2

What blower did he get or is he leaning toward?

carlhwv said:
Fishhead is right on target. We live on top of the mountain near Camp David. At this elevation and position related to the Atlantic Winter can be a real mixed bag. Our record in the past 10 year was 145". Usually we get about 80" in 2-8" shots. Sometimes it just a pain in the butt 2" showers that you just have to get off before it freezes. One year we had two back to back slams of multi foot dumps and did have a bit of wind on the lane but was only bad for about 100 feet. That one took 10 hours to dig but it's the exception not the norm.

From what I have gathered from reading and watching is that most of the time my neighbor will have the lane done before I even get suited up. His biggest issue will be getting up out of the hole he is in but with the weight on the rear I'm guessing he will do fine. I'm looking forward to seeing this machine work.

I was really skeptical before posting but now I have faith he made a good decision. And in the odd year...it's happened three times in 10 years....where we get a big dump I know I can get us out with the loader on 7040. The 84" bucket is slow but makes a big hole in to snow. Looking forward to the white stuff falling.

fishhead · Dec 15, 2016

oh,
and nice location BTW

carlhwv · Dec 15, 2016

I'm not sure which brand he got...should be coming this week. I'm sure I'll get invited down to check it out when it arrives. I mentioned he might want front chains. He has a cross member every two links. Guess we will see how it plays out.

airbiscuit · Dec 15, 2016

Post pics when you have them. Good to see neighbors working together for a common task.

carlhwv · Dec 15, 2016

This is how I'm set up

This is Ed's rig after it was delivered. I'll take one when the blower gets here and more action photos.

PILOON · Dec 15, 2016

For satisfactory pull blower you want your tractor heavy enough that the tires are always in contact with the drive surface.
If U simply compact the snow you will have problems.
If it weren't for cost, a front mount would be the best for long drives.
The pull blowers are best for suburbs where drives are 100ft apart guys generally drive 80-100 hp tractors and spend less than 5 mins per drive.

kco · Dec 15, 2016

PILOON said:
For satisfactory pull blower you want your tractor heavy enough that the tires are always in contact with the drive surface.
If U simply compact the snow you will have problems.
If it weren't for cost, a front mount would be the best for long drives.
The pull blowers are best for suburbs where drives are 100ft apart guys generally drive 80-100 hp tractors and spend less than 5 mins per drive.

An advantage of a pull-type over a front-mount and rear mount push-type is you can drag snow away from garages instead of pushing toward it, which is no doubt why commercial suburb operators like the pull-type. I have a 30' x 100' paved area in front of the garage that must be cleared like that. I hand push the snow 5' from the building while the tractor is warming, then use the blower to do the rest. With a front mount or standard rear blower I would have to hand-push the snow out 25'. The situation is similar at two neighbours' I frequently clear, except I don't hand-push the snow away from the buildings first.

Another advantage is you travel away from the blown snow instead of through it. It is significant if you have an open station tractor(like me). However, I would prefer a pull-type even if I had a cab for the reason mentioned above.

I don't find an issue with packing or driving over the snow before the blower gets it. It is no different than using rear blades that are more common than blowers in my area. My DK35 is fairly heavy for its HP. It is likely close to 6,000 pounds with the loaded tires and loader. I also have chains front and back. The photos in my link in post #12

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/...cknow-snowblower-post4063330.html#post4063330

of this thread shows the tires were not always (ever?) in contact with the ground. As stated in that post, drifting is not an issue.

Pull-types don't make sense for everyone but I am certain it is the most effective tool for my conditions.