I did! I had just logged on to update the thread, so I'm glad you asked.
I picked up the 84" blower and 84" snow pusher Wednesday afternoon, got them attached Wednesday evening, and got to test them out last night with 3" of the wettest, heaviest snow we typically receive around here. Definitely heavy enough that it would've been a chore to wing over with the 8' FEL plow even though it was only 3" deep.
My first impression - very impressed. The WIFO cleared that snow load easily throwing the snow 20-25', and honestly the Mahindra handled the 84" blower with ease. I was able to run in L4 which equates to 3.27 MPH at rated RPM (2300). I typically plow in M1 or M2 at about 1500 RPM, so the speed ends up being about the same. My road is hazardous enough that I don't have any desire to travel faster than that anyways, so no complaints there.
Power-wise, I didn't have any problems. I set the engine speed at 2300/540 PTO RPM and chugged right along without issue using about 2/3 throttle. I encountered a few drifts of deeper snow and the engine would bog slightly to 2100-2200 RPM, then chew through the snow and rise back to its set speed. If I added throttle with the foot pedal when it bogged I could maintain 2300/540 RPM. Never had the need to use 100% throttle. Knowing this, I feel like the tractor/blower combo could handle at least another 1-2" of wet, heavy snow while traveling at the fastest speed that I care to use. So, I don't believe I have anything to complain about. I'm looking forward to trying it out in deeper, lighter snow for comparison.
Efficiency-wise, for this storm I was actually able to clear everything faster than I had previously been able to using the 8' FEL plow. Granted, compared to the plow, the 7' snow pusher made short work of the short, tight areas I use it for. But, for the long stretch of the road, I found the blower to be far superior to the plow.
With the plow, I would make one full-width pass with an angled blade, then two more passes at about half-width to completely clear the road. Then, as previously mentioned, I would swap the plow for the bucket and work diagonally down the road pushing the banks over the edge. With the blower, I was able to make a full pass down and a full pass back up, then the road was completely cleared and the snow was 20' over the edge. Win/win in my opinion.
I'm very much looking forward to using it in a storm of larger snowfall to see how it compares to the plow. But, as of right now I don't have any complaints about it, in fact I wish I had purchased one years ago. I've attached a few pre/post-storm pictures of the setup. I was too focused and excited while I was using it to stop for pictures.
So, thanks to everybody for the advice! Mikester (pg. 8) can get bent as far as I'm concerned, but most everyone else posted helpful content and I'm appreciative. I'll try to keep the thread updated once I try the blower out in some deeper snow.
