Rear Inverted Snowblowers 2019

[airbiscuit]

I'm trying to picture a guy who goes by Hillbilly wearing an orange suit or orange shoes.

 

[Hilbilly]

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

Says the guy with an orange tractor, with an orange bucket and orange wheels, lol. I looked at your video again and think it would look ever nicer with an orange blower. :stirthepot:

I'm trying to picture a guy who goes by Hillbilly wearing an orange suit or orange shoes.

That's a great idea. I'm going go into the big city tomorrow to get me an orange outfit to go with the tractor.:rotfl:

 

[shooterdon]

Hilbilly,
Great to see FK stepping up and addressing your issues. After reading your posts I have been even more careful with mine but so far so good. Not enough snow threw it to work it very hard yet.

 

[Hilbilly]

Hilbilly,
Great to see FK stepping up and addressing your issues. After reading your posts I have been even more careful with mine but so far so good. Not enough snow threw it to work it very hard yet.

I certainly wouldn't baby my blower. If there are any issues with it I would like to discover them while the blower has warranty. I don't mean go out and find a gravel pile to run through but run it at 540 PTO rpm and use it to it's full potential. To me that means go as fast as the blower can handle, given the snow conditions. Don't go faster than you're comfortable with but don't hesitate to work the blower hard. My old Meteor has been worked to it's full potential pretty much since I bought it used 11 years ago. The reason it is always worked hard is because it doesn't get used until the snow banks are closing off the driveway and I have to use the blower to open it up. That snow has been pushed into the banks many times by then and is always well compacted by the time the blower hits it. I want to get the blowing done as fast as possible, since it is all done looking over my shoulder, so I work that blower as hard as I can. It still works just fine. Over the years I've only replaced the bearings twice, with the last time being last week. Both times were because I ran into some gravel or dirt that I wasn't expecting. The cost to replace the bearings was about $60. I've also recently straightened out the auger, which got bent a few times during my early ownership and finding some very large rocks with it. I now make sure I remove all large rocks from the driveway every fall.

Hope you get some more snow to play with.

 

[BoylermanCT]

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.

OrangeMuscle, that's what happens when you buy a new blower! I picked up mine 2 years ago, and it hasn't seen more than 6 inches at a time. Really hoping for 12" or more to test it out!

 

[LouNY]

Well you guys with the new blowers and equipment are whats keeping the snow away,
all I can say is good work keep it up. I am enjoying the amount of snow this winter not the amount of mud though.
I would like to see it freeze up and then just stay that way till spring warmup and thaw.:laughing:

 

[Reb954]

If you guys that are missing snow need a release you are welcome to come to my place. I was out of town last week, came home to about 2 feet of heavy snow last night. Figured I would spend an hour or two tonight cleaning it up but I would be glad to let you do it.

 

[Hilbilly]

The selling dealer for my FK blower got back to me today and said that FK is not making any snow blowers until next year, as they are now making summer related equipment. So if I am dead set on getting a replacement orange one I would have to wait until they start making blowers again but would have to stop using this one until then. This is what FK told him. So I agreed to accept a charcoal grey blower instead of an orange one. Worst case scenario is I paint the new one orange if the grey really bothers me (which I doubt will happen). Now I wait to see how and when they will get the new one to me and where I return the orange one.

I'm pleased that Farm King stepped up and offered a replacement blower but wish I could have had the same color. In any case I think they did the right thing and appreciate that. I'm glad to see they stand behind their products and look after their customers. This could have been a real nightmare to deal with. So here's a :thumbsup: to Farm King.

Hoping and expecting that the new blower does not have any of the issues this one has. Once I receive the replacement, I will post a pic and a review.

 

[airbiscuit]

Will you put a collar on your new one for safety's sake?

 

[Hilbilly]

I think I'll take the collar off the old one before it goes back and keep it just in case. I would hope that the new one works properly, as supplied, and will run it that way, at least until it is out of warranty. I'm hoping that the one I got was just the one bad one that slipped through. I hope the new arrives in time for me to at least give a run through some snow before it's all gone.

 

[Hilbilly]

Well the new replacement blower finally arrived! I think the guy that delivered it must have driven over every dusty side road he could find before getting here. The whole thing was covered in dust and the auger drive chain was packed with dust that clung to the chain grease. Not a great idea. The dealer said he ran the blower at his place and said it was working properly. After cleaning it up and greasing the gears I ran the blower to see if there were any issues and it appears there is. Here is a video of the blower at idle speed. It appears the collar on the end of the fan shaft was not welded to the fan properly, causing the driveshaft to wobble.

What do you guys think?
Farm King PT842 Inverted Snowblower - YouTube

 

[airbiscuit]

I can't exactly tell from the video. Could be movement as a function of the coupler?

 

[leonz]

That blower is defective!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The impeller is not running true and that is causing the entire driveline to wobble out of round.
You can see in the video that the orbit of the impeller is defective.
That means the impeller shaft is orbiting out of round by a few degrees from center.
There is no way you can fix this yourself unless you have access to a machine shop as the impeller
shaft is not running true since it appears to be binding at one point.

 

[Dave M7040]

You are not buying a Swiss watch but rather a low cost blower.

The shaft is connected to the fan by a flex coupler looking like a double wide chain. See attached photo

At the back of the blower, the fan shaft is supported by two bearings bolted to a welded structure making up the open gear box.

This is not a real gearbox which has line bored bearing races to ensure true rotation of the shafts.

The flex coupling is not intended to support the fan but turn it which is is doing.

If the fan does not vibrate at full pto speed, I do not think there is anything to worry about.

Dave M7040

 

[leonz]

Hello and good evening Dave 7040,

A magnetic base dial indicator will show the dealer what is wrong and where simply spinning it by hand.

This was the same trouble he had with the original unit from what I remember of the gentleman's initial snow blower trouble during last years snow season.

If worse comes to worse he should ask them to take it back and ask them to send it to a machine shop to fix the out of round condition that is the cause of the wobble and noise.

I candidly think the entire driven shaft is not straight as you can see the shaft bind slightly all the way to the rear bearings.

 

[airbiscuit]

Checking it with a magnetic base dial indicator is excellent advice.

 

[Hilbilly]

Wow, 2 opposing opinions; one says it's horrible and the other says no big deal. I tend to side with the opinion that this is not acceptable. With this not being concentric it will be out of balance and surely will affect the longevity of all the bearings. By the way, I wouldn't call a $7,000 snowblower a low cost one. Maybe not the most expensive but it is new and should be properly constructed.

The first blower kind of self destructed within the first 100 feet or so of use. The fan assembly slid forward and caused the fan blades to hit the housing, which caused 2 blades to get badly bent and the other 2 to rub against the housing. Plus the gears weren't properly shimmed.

Looking at it closer it looks to be a poorly installed sprocket hub on the end of the fan shaft. Tomorrow I will take off the protective top plate and use a dial indicator to see where the problem lies. Sure not impressed with the quality of these blowers.

 

[leonz]

Wow, 2 opposing opinions; one says it's horrible and the other says no big deal. I tend to side with the opinion that this is not acceptable. With this not being concentric it will be out of balance and surely will affect the longevity of all the bearings. By the way, I wouldn't call a $7,000 snowblower a low cost one. Maybe not the most expensive but it is new and should be properly constructed.

The first blower kind of self destructed within the first 100 feet or so of use. The fan assembly slid forward and caused the fan blades to hit the housing, which caused 2 blades to get badly bent and the other 2 to rub against the housing. Plus the gears weren't properly shimmed.

Looking at it closer it looks to be a poorly installed sprocket hub on the end of the fan shaft. Tomorrow I will take off the protective top plate and use a dial indicator to see where the problem lies. Sure not impressed with the quality of these blowers.

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Hello Hillbilly;

I am glad to hear that you have a magnetic base dial indicator in your tool box, is it a Starrett??
You should not need much tension at all when you set the ball on the shaft and spin it by hand.

I look forward to seeing the video of the dial indicator at work showing the wobble.

I would start at the rear with the first open section of shaft between the rear bearing and the one in front of it.


The propeller shaft from the underslung carrier bearing is fine right up to the chain coupler where the trouble starts.

It would be advisable to disconnect the chain coupler to spin the impeller by hand to find the complete wobble.

 

[Dave M7040]

When evaluating the movement of the shafts, think of the basic design. The fan is supported by two pillow blocks bolted to a weldment. The precision of this design is limited!

The shaft on the pto side of the fan is supported on only one pillow block and then uses the chain coupling to the fan to hold it up.

The fan shaft is not bent it is just not perfectly in line axially or radially with the shaft on the pto side. It. is the job of the coupling to deal with this condition

If it was part of an electric motor and pump setup running 1,750 or 3,600 rpm then the design would have to be different and the alignment of pump and motor would require skill to accomplish.

This unit runs at most 600 rpm. Take 10 brand new blowers from the assembly line and it would be amazing if even one did not act like the two this forum member has now or previously.

Avoiding this condition means buying a more expensive unit with an enclosed cast iron gear box.

The open gear design has served owners for decades but is not found in commercial grade equipment for a reason.

Dave M7040

 

[Reb954]

I have to agree with Dave.

Bearings using an eccentric locking collar have runout built into them which is why they aren't used on things that require precision, no vibration or that run high speed. You can use an indicator to check how much runout there is but it wouldn't surprise me the manufacturer will say that runout is within their design limits.

Also, the input shaft may run truer when a load is put on it. I can't see the input shaft bearing in the video but I would imagine they used a self aligning bearing, probably a pillow block with an eccentric locking collar, that will self align once a load is put on it. Keep in mind that self aligning doesn't mean it will run perfectly true, it just means it will run true enough for the intended use.