i like looking around forums for ideas and homemade builds so i figured i throw this out there to return the favor maybe this will be use full to someone else. i have seen that others have talked about the idea and some have built snowblowers powered by small single or v twin engines however no has attempted to power one with a car power plant this machine is powered by a 145hp 2006 pontiac pursuit 2.2l ecotec with a 5 speed transmission and is self governed (maintains engine speed irregardless of load) with a electronic governor kit by GAC corp (governors of america corp) the transmission used in forth gear at about 2400 engine rpm which intern runs the snowblower at about 710 rpm throws snow about 30-40 ft and about 20 ft up this of course depends on the wind and angle of discharge chute. The whole snowblower is standalone meaning there is no wires or hose to hook up to the skid steer it can be installed as easily as a bucket or forks and is controlled via a tv sized remote control in the cab the whole snowblower weighs about 1675 pounds ready to go and is about 6 ft long from attachment plate to front 7 ft wide it also as redundant on machine controls in case the remote system fails and a snowblower rpm indicator and idiot lights for temp and oil press and a fuel gauge (not a very good one) This project took about 2 seasons to get all the kinks sorted out. The biggest issue was engine throttle management it simply needs a governor because the peak torque needs to be constantly maintained As well the governor control board hates the heat of the engine and when the control board itself reaches +40 c it caused the governor to rev the engine wide open so if anyone uses these governors DO NOT MOUNT THEM IN THE ENGINE COMPARTMENT and use them within the specifed Hz frequency rating as they use a magnetic pick up sensor on the fly wheel and too high of a Hz will lead them to over rev! With out a governor even with that much horsepower it bogs down if engine rpm is set to required speed and then used under load. This being said however using a wifi obd2 code reader and my tablet i could watch live data will using the snowblower and can say that the engine under no load snowblower turning at 710 rpm (Set maintained speed) needs 34% throttle and when the snowblower will no longer keep up with incoming snow (starts to push) its at about 50% throttle it which varies up or down a few percent depending on snow conditions. I created a simple warning system to alert the operator when they are approaching maximum snow blowing capacity which is set when the engine reaches 45% throttle using a proximity switch on the governor linkage which turns on small red trailer led marker light facing the operator (can be seen in the photos) The snow chute can be turned about 200 degrees with the remote via atv winch with a chain sprocket and can be manually adjusted if the motor fails by pulling the cable release knob on the winch then adjusting the chute by hand the locking the knob back in to hold the chute in place. The up down chute tilt is only manually adjustable by two knobs because didn't need it to be electric . Building this has shown me one thing clearly that this diameter of snowblower can not be ran well with a 20 or even 40 hp v twin at minimal you would need 70 hp the current engine is overkill but those v twin truck snowblowers are wildly under powered. and for any one wondering how it operates as far as weight is concerned our 2007 l175 new holland low flow hydraulics has a maximum loader capacity of 2000lbs and this machine dose not make the skid steer tip forward at all it is no different then moving a round bale as it turns on concrete just the same and just like round bale you cant drive like a cowboy but the machine is not over loaded at all and sighting lines are quite good as it also has front mounted led flood lights.
Self powered 72" skid steer snow blower
- Thread starter mrnobdy
- Start date
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texasranger556
Platinum Member
Neat project! 2400 RPM is pretty low for an engine like that, I bet you're not getting more than 40-50 HP. Is the governor limiting the max throttle? I'd think engine load would reach 100% load before it would bog down, but can't say for sure.
In the write up i said it was only using 34% throttle at pre set rpm around 2400 rpm engine speed and 710 rpm snow blower speed with no load (so not being used) and when blowing snow at full capacity (when the snowblower starts to push snow rather than blow it) its using only 50% throttle as i have never observed it to use 100 % throttle , my guess is it would break a shear pin long before that. This is all based on live readable data from the ecu that is observed through a wifi obd2 scanner and my tablet in the skid steer while operating and as far as the low rpm goes that is the factory set rpm at highway speed at a 100 kph or about 65 mph in 5 th gear these engines are designed to hold this rpm all day its where their power band is if you have a 4 cylinder car and you travel down the highway at lawful speed observe the rpm even automatics run usually something in the 2200 to 2800 rpm range. A diesel power train would be neat a friend of mine is thinking of building one with a volkswagon tdi but i not a big fan of those engines if we had Japanese diesel cars here i would use one of those. however this gas engine is good on fuel and the 5 gal tank last about 3 to 4 cleanings we have a half mile long drive and decent sized yard plus it starts easy in the cold.
