Rear Inverted Snowblowers 2019

[airbiscuit]

Here's a short video of it in action.

Beautiful country and impressive snow banks. Looks like you have that blower working like it should.

 

[Hilbilly]

It' been raining all day and I had to go to town and I start down the driveway only to find out that the snow that got missed during the plowing and blowing events so far, has turned to slop and I am having difficulty making it through the slop in 4WD, on the flats and even on the downhill slope. I would have turned around but I had to pick up my grandsons from the basketball games and had no choice but to go. I feared I would not make it back up the driveway and it was touch and go in a few places but in the end I made it back to the house. I figured I better get the rear blade on the tractor and scrape this stuff off to the side but then I realized that was the old way. Maybe I should try the inverted blower on this stuff. By the time I got the tractor rigged up with the inverted blower the temps had dropped and the slop was starting to freeze.

I dropped the inverted blower and started down the driveway (in 2WD) in Mid range and the blower impressed me. It was blowing freezing snow, that looked more like chunks of ice than snow, at least 30' maybe more and the chunks were bouncing off the crust on the snow at the sides of the driveway. It was an awesome sight in the dark with the cab lights all turned on. I would travel at 6kmh to 11kmh depending on how much snow the blower was engaging. I could hear it load up and then would slow down a bit. On the way back up I used 4WD and ran at around 6kmh to 8kmh. There seemed to be deeper snow on that side. I'm certain an inverted blower is going to make things a lot easier for me and hope this one will hold up. I am not impressed with the build quality of this blower compared to my old one. All the important parts are just a little thinner or not braced as well. I have about 2 hours on the new blower and have had some serious issues with it and now found one of the auger supports has bent. I have probably put 20 hours on my old blower since getting the new one and it is still working flawlessly, with no damage. At some point I may take some side by side pics of the old blower and the new one to show the differences. But for now I will enjoy the fact that I can drive forward and the blower is doing everything I need it too.

 

[shooterdon]

Over the weekend I had two 5-6" snow events, so not much of a workout for the FK. It sure is nice being able to drive forward!

By this time last year, I had large banks of snow. None this year.

I am glad I added the SSQA adapter plate so I could mount the rear blade on the front. The downside of the pull blower is not being able to get close to things to clear snow. I use the blade to back blade about 4-6 feet and then blow the snow out. A bit of a pain to have to turn the tractor around but a minor inconvenience.

I expected using the blower would be slower than the plow truck I used last year and it is. Using the plow truck took about 40-45 minutes when I did not get it stuck. The plow mount was jury rigged when I got it and sat low to the ground. It was easy to get hung up in the snow banks and then needed to shovel it out and pull the truck out. That would happen every second or third time. With the tractor and blower, I have not gotten stuck once. it takes about an hour to clear so a good trade off for an old man. I have loaded and oversize turfs on the tractor and traction has been good. I thought I might need studs on the rears and chains on the front but so far so good.

So far, I have not needed to adjust the angle of the discharge chute. I was going to add a linear actuator but I doubt it is worth the cost and effort.

It is a pain to clean snow that accumulates on it, and clean out the auger before parking it, but that would be the case with any blower.

I am very pleased with the inverted FK. There may be better blowers, but for $4k is serves my needs well and offers advantages over the $7K front blower (no subframe to deal with, and I can use the FEL). I clear about 8000 sq ft of open area and 300 yards of gravel drive. Our snowfall is 120-140" per year. It just works.

 

[Hilbilly]

So far this year I have been bouncing back and forth between using the inverted and the rear facing blowers. I'm getting faster at switching them over. Part of the reason for the constant change over is due to the fact that I didn't get the inverted blower until late in the season and by then I already had high banks on both sides of the driveway. Plus I need to adjust my thought process to allow for the inverted blower. Example being: I used the rear facing blower to knock back the high banks on the sides of the driveway. That is how I've always done it and thought that was my only option. However, later I came up with a better approach (which only works if the snow has not been exposed to rain and become compacted) and that was to use the front plow, with the inverted blower in combination. I took the plow and pulled the banks back onto the driveway and with the blower running behind me, the snow was blown away permanently, in one pass. Next year will be different because I will use the inverted blower for all the driveway clearing.

 

[Hilbilly]

shooterdon,

Does your Farm King blower sound like the this video when it's running? I'm not sure if that is normal for these open gears or not. All my other implements with gear boxes have the oil bath ones.

 

[jcummins]

Why wouldn't they use a closed gearbox for something like this?

 

[airbiscuit]

That looks funky to me. Maybe that's the way open gears are supposed to be, but I've only seen them on ground driven corn planters.

I keep noticing differences between my old meteor and the new inverted. It sits back further on my 3pt which I like because the angle from the PTO is more shallow.

 

[metalbender]

Found out sometime after I bought my Farm King, it also has open gears. Was a bit ticked at first, then read that the gears are much easier to replace in case of trouble. I use constant velocity joint grease on mine. Third year, light use, so far ok.

 

[shooterdon]

shooterdon,

Does your Farm King blower sound like the this video when it's running? I'm not sure if that is normal for these open gears or not. All my other implements with gear boxes have the oil bath ones.

I have not run it at full rpm while standing next to it and I have a cab so am not noticing excessive noise. There seems to a lot of slop in yours and I will need to check mine. I need to pull out the manual. Looks like those gears need greasing an a regular basis.

 

[jpm]

I'm glad I bought my meteor instead of a different one . I am finding clearing the drive is faster due to not having to push back the banks

 

[Hilbilly]

Before I bought this one I did a Google search for Farm King blower reviews and all the ones I found reported good results. One YouTube video with a Farm King blower had comments questioning the open gears. The owner said he had his blower for quite a while and no issues. So I figured it wouldn't be an issue.

I also have a cab and can't hear the blower running unless I'm outside. Maybe this is normal but I'm gun shy after the initial problems with this blower and want to make sure it is normal or have it fixed when the other repairs are made.

 

[Hilbilly]

shooterdon; sent you a PM.

 

[OrangeMuscle]

Unbelievable, worst winter of all time in terms of no snow. Can't believe it. It snowed around Thanksgiving, then we had one nice 5 inch storm that I missed because I had to go to Florida. I was so upset I missed that one. Even worse, when I went to Florida it was freezing. It was 40 degrees with a 40 mph wind.

The next 10 days look quiet, which brings us to March. So depressing to have a snowless winter. The brand new inverter blower only got used twice so far. Not to start a mess, but this is the shift of the new climate. The winter snow industry in the Northeast is in dire straits. No snow on the slopes, and the snow mobile trails are not white.

 

[shooterdon]

OM, we are down on snow as well. Have only needed to use the new FarmKing blower a half dozen times but I really to like it over the plow truck I used last year.

I figured the blower was "free" with the money I got for the beater plow truck; then add in plates and insurance every year; and the $400-800 a year it was costing me in maintenance. I would get the truck stuck about every third time I used it trying to push the mounds of snow up. No problems with the tractor.

 

[leonz]

We still have plenty of winter left and we have time for a wet snow March storm or two yet.

 

[Hilbilly]

It sucks to hear you guys with new blowers aren't getting snow. I can relate to how you feel. I got a new cab tractor and a new inverted blower this year, so I'm happy when the forecast calls for snow. However if we don't get snow for a few days I begin to go into tractor / snowblower withdrawals.:laughing:

We've had a very unusual winter. Had one event that dropped 4 feet of snow in 24 hrs, then rain for over a week and now snow again. Blew 6" of wet stuff yesterday and today it's -10C and snowing again.

I'm sure liking the inverted blower, just wish mine wasn't a lemon. In any case Farm King has offered to replace this one with a new one. Still waiting to see when they can get an orange one to me. All they have in stock is a grey one. I may end up breaking down and taking the grey one but would much prefer orange.

 

[airbiscuit]

That's pretty good on Farm King's part.

 

[Hilbilly]

That's pretty good on Farm King's part.

I agree. The only possible pitfall I can see coming up, is shipping costs. I already paid to have this one shipped to a drop center over an hour from here and obviously don't want to pay for shipping the new one or returning this one. I have no problem with loading this one up and taking it back to the drop center and picking up another one from there, even though that will probably cost 4 hrs of my time , including the loading and unloading, plus $40 worth of fuel.

This could have gone a lot worse and turned into a real hassle, if they tried to go by the letter of the warranty. I think there are 2 reasons they have been so cooperative. One being that the dealer I bought from was on top of this, pushing for a satisfactory solution and 2) this was a severe issue that happened within the first hundred feet of operation. Obviously there was a serious flaw with this particular blower, for that to happen. I think it was just an assembly issue. Maybe it was the last one put together on the Friday of a long weekend and the guys were in a hurry to get out of the plant, lol.

 

[airbiscuit]

I hope they use it as a lesson for the assembly crew. I also like your fix (the collar). I wouldn't be afraid your old one as a steeply discounted "refurbished model"

 

[OrangeMuscle]

Hilbilly, happy to hear they are giving you a new unit. I like the gray color. Mine is gray and it looks good. If it were orange it would be too much orange. Like wearing an orange suit with gray shoes, or wearing an orange suit with orange shoes. Too much