snowblower build

[ohiojeff]

Hello all. I have a Smyth six foot snowblower designed to operate on a 3pt. hitch and 54o rpm PTO. I want to rework it so it is self powered with a 30 HP Kohler engine. I am also going to fabricate a frame with casters that will attatch to the front of my Jeep. Obviously I will need to reduce the speed by way of an intermediate shaft with the appropriate sized sheave or sprockets. The blower now has the splined shaft that I will need to adapt to . Where is a good source to get such adapter and what is it called? Thanks P.s. Has anyone else done such a conversioin? I know they are commercially available but I dont have $7500 to spend on one.

 

[Stonehaller]

You could use a short PTO drive shaft to couple the blower shaft to another bearing support shaft that has your spocket. You can get PTO shaft yokes for spline shafts and keyed round shafts. That may end up being too long for what you want.

Another option, would be to bore out a sprocket so you could weld in a spline shaft coupler such as this: 16302206 1-3/8 X 6 Spline Joints

Check out Farm Equipment, Mower Parts, Tractor Parts, Garden Supplies | Agri Supply and For Life Out Here | Tractor Supply Co. for other tractor PTO parts or check out your local tractor dealers to see if you can find something.

Good luck and welcome to TBN.

 

[ericher69]

Hello all. I have a Smyth six foot snowblower designed to operate on a 3pt. hitch and 54o rpm PTO. I want to rework it so it is self powered with a 30 HP Kohler engine. I am also going to fabricate a frame with casters that will attatch to the front of my Jeep. Obviously I will need to reduce the speed by way of an intermediate shaft with the appropriate sized sheave or sprockets. The blower now has the splined shaft that I will need to adapt to . Where is a good source to get such adapter and what is it called? Thanks P.s. Has anyone else done such a conversioin? I know they are commercially available but I dont have $7500 to spend on one.

Try Tractor Supply they usually have a variety of different adapters that would fit the bill; although you may need to modify them.

I really don't believe that you will be happy with the performance of this setup for a few reasons;

1. Your 5hp/ft of blower with is traditionally accepted as sufficient but having said that with reduction and parasitic losses could be on the low side.

2. A 30hp Kohler will Guzzle the gas. A diesel twin may be a better choice

3. It may be way too heavy for the front of your jeep (balljoint, bearing failure etc etc)

If you decide to go ahead make sure to post progress of your build

Thanks

Sent from my iPhone 5s 64Gb using TractorByNet

 

[ohiojeff]

thanks , i will look at TSP. I should have stated also that I do not intend to travel down the road with the snowblower IN fact it will not be suspended by the Jeep. it will be in constant contact with the road ( driveway ) . Check out Sno Vac on the web. What I am doing will be essentially the same concept. thanks, jeff

 

[PILOON]

I once used a 13 hp to drive a 4 ft blower. Used a 3" drive sprocket to turn an 8" blower sprocket.
The setup worked just fine, in fact overpowered, so 6' with 30hp would probably be fine.
At worst possibly 9 or 10 inch driven would do the trick.
You will absolutely need a tension set up as chains do stretch.
By my math, wanting 500 rpm at blower using the 13 hp is how I arrived at 10 and 3 ins and in fact I was probably turning the blower at 700 rpm or so. My biggest challenge was to keep the engine from digesting cold snow so some creative baffling was in order.

 

[Scooby074]

Here is a guy that basically did the same thing. Used a VW motor though and it was attached to a tractor. Check out his channel for other vids

 

[Scooby074]

 

[Scooby074]

Another one. Might be a better example.

 

[ohiojeff]

I once used a 13 hp to drive a 4 ft blower. Used a 3" drive sprocket to turn an 8" blower sprocket.
The setup worked just fine, in fact overpowered, so 6' with 30hp would probably be fine.
At worst possibly 9 or 10 inch driven would do the trick.
You will absolutely need a tension set up as chains do stretch.
By my math, wanting 500 rpm at blower using the 13 hp is how I arrived at 10 and 3 ins and in fact I was probably turning the blower at 700 rpm or so. My biggest challenge was to keep the engine from digesting cold snow so some creative baffling was in order.

Thanks for the input. So I'm wondering would belt drive be better than chain since as you said the chain would tend to stretch? Also I take it that your setup had just two sprockets, one on the engine and one on the blower. That may have accounted for the higher RPMs at the blower.? The one I saw on the web had on intermediate shaft that I'm guessing served as a speed reducer. It had a belt from the engine to the intermediate shaft and then a chain from the intermediate to the drive on the blower itself. Is the "tensioner" you suggested simply a means to take up slack in the chain? thanks again, jeff

 

[PILOON]

Sure you could use an intermediate shaft but then you'd have 2 chains and 4 sprockets plus bearings and shafts and some structure.
Also add 2 adjusters.
You are blowing snow which is frozen water and when wet belts will want to slip.(and no matter how you build, snow will fly)
When I rigged my setup I mounted the motor on top of my blower with shaft sprocket lined up with the blower input shaft.
When the PTO shaft removed my blower had a short keyed shaft sticking out ready to accept the large driven sprocket.
I venture to say that all blowers will have a similar short keyed shaft setup as that is how the PTO shaft has to couple.
Brief shopping and you will find that any diam shaft combined with diam sprocket is available in different chain sizes.
Your driven sprocket can in fact be almost as large as the blower impeller and still clear.

As a tensioner you need a 3rd idler small sprocket on a pivot that you add pressure or tension to the slack side of the chain.
I think the chain generally used is # 40 but could be wrong..
Naturally the idler needs to run on bearings and a method devised to adjust.(hinged with longish screw)

I am sure belts could do the job but you'd probably need double or triple belts to handle the HP.

 

[ohiojeff]

OK PILOON, point well taken . the intermediate shaft idea was simply what I saw on the SnoVac site. simple is better for sure so if I don't need a third shaft then so much the better. I appreciate your comments . thanks!

Sure you could use an intermediate shaft but then you'd have 2 chains and 4 sprockets plus bearings and shafts and some structure.
Also add 2 adjusters.
You are blowing snow which is frozen water and when wet belts will want to slip.(and no matter how you build, snow will fly)
When I rigged my setup I mounted the motor on top of my blower with shaft sprocket lined up with the blower input shaft.
When the PTO shaft removed my blower had a short keyed shaft sticking out ready to accept the large driven sprocket.
I venture to say that all blowers will have a similar short keyed shaft setup as that is how the PTO shaft has to couple.
Brief shopping and you will find that any diam shaft combined with diam sprocket is available in different chain sizes.
Your driven sprocket can in fact be almost as large as the blower impeller and still clear.

As a tensioner you need a 3rd idler small sprocket on a pivot that you add pressure or tension to the slack side of the chain.
I think the chain generally used is # 40 but could be wrong..
Naturally the idler needs to run on bearings and a method devised to adjust.(hinged with longish screw)

I am sure belts could do the job but you'd probably need double or triple belts to handle the HP.

 

[jimgerken]

Stick with chains. Yes its a pain when they stretch, but belts will slip when they get snow on them. They are warm, the snow turns to water, and they won't transmit as much power when wet. To minimize the chain stretch, use a good grade of motorcycle "O" ring chain, in 520 or 530 size. I believe it runs fine on #50 sprocket. "O" ring chain is a wise investment, compared to #50.

 

[ohiojeff]

I once used a 13 hp to drive a 4 ft blower. Used a 3" drive sprocket to turn an 8" blower sprocket.
The setup worked just fine, in fact overpowered, so 6' with 30hp would probably be fine.
At worst possibly 9 or 10 inch driven would do the trick.
You will absolutely need a tension set up as chains do stretch.
By my math, wanting 500 rpm at blower using the 13 hp is how I arrived at 10 and 3 ins and in fact I was probably turning the blower at 700 rpm or so. My biggest challenge was to keep the engine from digesting cold snow so some creative baffling was in order.

PILOON, I did some calculations . The engine I am considering is rated at 3600RPM. In order to get to the 540 RPM neighborhood I would need a 2.5" drive sprocket and a 16" driven sprocket. does this sound plausible to you?

 

[PILOON]

Quick guess that you have the sizes correct. The 16 sounds a tad big as I'd doubt that you have the clearance for it. Simple, it would need to be smaller than the blower 'fan' otherwise you will be scraping pavement.
I'd simply go about 2" dia less than the blower fan and live with that.
As I recall my old setup blew the snow 'clean across the yard', like 2-3X what it did compared to the PTO @500rpm ( so obviously I was faster than with PTO.)
Now to compare, my tractor is rated at about 20hp which is why I guessed that I needed at least 13 hp.
Since I now always blow using my PTO on my 750 speed (like 5 yrs) I can suggest that over speeding a blower won't harm it, only perform better.
Mind you a lot depends on the blower I guess.
Mine has a 3 blade 16" fan which in itself not great so by adding RPMs I compensate.
If your blower is 4 bladed and 24" fan then you'd better stay at 500rpm.
Have fun!

 

[ohiojeff]

Quick guess that you have the sizes correct. The 16 sounds a tad big as I'd doubt that you have the clearance for it. Simple, it would need to be smaller than the blower 'fan' otherwise you will be scraping pavement.
I'd simply go about 2" dia less than the blower fan and live with that.
As I recall my old setup blew the snow 'clean across the yard', like 2-3X what it did compared to the PTO @500rpm ( so obviously I was faster than with PTO.)
Now to compare, my tractor is rated at about 20hp which is why I guessed that I needed at least 13 hp.
Since I now always blow using my PTO on my 750 speed (like 5 yrs) I can suggest that over speeding a blower won't harm it, only perform better.
Mind you a lot depends on the blower I guess.
Mine has a 3 blade 16" fan which in itself not great so by adding RPMs I compensate.
If your blower is 4 bladed and 24" fan then you'd better stay at 500rpm.
Have fun!

Ok, got it . thanks for the help!

 

[2458n]

I was at TU now UT, For the blizzard in the late 70's. Plowed malls for days. May you have such a winter in your life.

 

[ohiojeff]

Ha! I remember the Blizzard of '78 well. Toledo had similar weather last winter. set record for snowfall and temps. it was a real old fashion winter. I am currently about 550 miles northwest of Toledo on the south shore of Lake Superior. Just yesterday we were up in the Keweenaw where they had 348 inches of snow this past winter. now that's some snow!

 

[ohiojeff]

Hey PILOON, another question. What about a clutch? do you think I should have an electric clutch included in design or even a manual clutch of some type?
BTW, my blower does have the four bladed fan so I guess I should try to get into the 540 RPM range.

 

[PILOON]

On the setup I made there was no clutch and I really wanted one.
Starting while spinning the blower was a hassle as all that weight would not allow RPMs to build up, granted the engine was a one cylinder so the compression was high on that one cylinder.
YES a clutch would be ideal but pricy from my checking around and might even need to be custom made.
A plain sprocket can be simply attached to the shaft while a clutch would want some outside support mechanism.
For the cost of the sprocket why not just try and see how it goes? A lot would depend on the starter's power.