Snow Attachments Used Snow Blower questions

[Gryantaylor]

I've been looking to add a snow blower to my Kubota B7100 for about a year now. I recently found the ad below, I've included all the information I have which isn't much (yet).

Background:
I found an ad locally for "THIS IS A FORD BRAND TWO STAGE SNOW BLOWER FOR MOST TRACTORS WITH PTO, THREE POINT HITCH AND AT LEAST 20HP"
Called yesterday to ask for more details. The blower is ~4' wide, 1.5 to 2 tall and about 10 years old. The owner has a gravel driveway and said he used it very little because it would throw the gravel around. He wasn't sure of the model number, or exact age. Ironically, its buried in the snow and there are no pictures at this time. Hopefully, he can dig it out over the weekend and I can go see it next week.

Questions:
I've never heard of "ford snow blowers" does anybody know about them, Good, bad, or weak points?

Is their anything specific I should look for before I buy it?

 

[PILOON]

Since you have a 4' loader I gather your tractor is 4' wide.
I think you would prefer a 5' blower as you will find that the slopped over snow will be compacted by the tires resulting in a bowl shapped driveway.

It does acumolate to the point that you no longer have a flat drive but rather a wide luge run.
I know as I have had both widths of blowers on the same tractor.
I run a 5' on a 20hp without any problems.(even with 12" snowfalls!)

 

[Gryantaylor]

Since you have a 4' loader I gather your tractor is 4' wide.
I think you would prefer a 5' blower as you will find that the slopped over snow will be compacted by the tires resulting in a bowl shapped driveway.

It does acumolate to the point that you no longer have a flat drive but rather a wide luge run.
I know as I have had both widths of blowers on the same tractor.
I run a 5' on a 20hp without any problems.(even with 12" snowfalls!)

Thanks for the input. The tractor is actually about 38-40" wide. The bucket is wider then the tires, but your correct a 4' blower might be cutting it a little tight. I'll have to take a close look at that tonight with a tape measure. I was thinking the ~4' was a better fit from a power standpoint I've only got 16 gross hp (spec's) and at 6500 ft that 16 Hp quickly turns into 13 or 14. Factor in that its an HST and "well used condition" I'd be supprised if I've got 10 HP at the pto. I suppose if I go slow enough I could power anything but I'd like to move at a reasonable speed.

Is anyone blowing with a 7100 (or similar)? How well does it work?

 

[Tig]

I have a 50" Buhler blower on a B7100 hydra, 13 PTO HP
Tractor stance with Ag tires is 43" wide. I just bought it this year so I do not have much experience. I do slow down a bit, in drifts. It takes two passes and about 1/2 hour to clear a 600m lane. With more experience and hardpacked base I should be able to do it quicker on average. 48" should work just as well.
Any chance you can get your tractor over there to test drive the blower?

 

[charlz]

I have a Kubota 51" that came with my B7100. The original owner used it in snow country for over 25 years, I got it from the second owner. I have used it a couple of times and it does like to relocate gravel Don't really get enough snow to use it all the time. I prefer a back blade for the low amounts of snow we get. The biggest complaint the second owner had was the b7100 is gear, high reverse is a little too high and low reverse is way too low. Since you have HST I think that 48 - 51 inches would be a great match for your tractor.

Charles

 

[Gryantaylor]

Thanks for everyone input, it sounds like I'm one the right track with regards to the size of blower I'm looking at, which is good to know. Does anyone know about "ford model" blowers in general (sorry I don't have a model number), how far can I expect it to throw the snow, known problems? If the current owner "relocated" a lot of gravel should I expect it to be damaged? will the damage be obvous?

Tig, the blower is located about 2 hours from me. Your suggestion "try it out" is a good one. I'd have to trailer my machine over to the seller but that's not the end of the world. I'll see if the seller would be ok with it.

 

[PeterT]

If you find a 4ft. model to be a bit to narrow you could always add a couple of 6" wings to the sides. to pull the snow in. I have done this on my 5ft. model to make it a 6ft. with no problems,


Good luck
PeterT

 

[ToadHill]

It's not uncommon for the blower to throw a bit of gravel, and it usually only takes the paint off. Check to make sure that the drive chain doesn't have too much play in it and look to see if the impeller has any damage. I'm not familiar with Ford blowers but I don't think Ford has made any equipment under the ford name in at least 15 or more years. The seller may mean that it was built to fit a ford.

 

[DWW68]

I have a 60" ford snow blower. It is a model 715. I believe that it is about 25 years old. So far it is the only ford snow blower that I have seen. The problem with it is that the impeller is direct drive by the pto. This means that it only spins at 450 rpm. I believe that most impellers spin around 1000 + or -rpm. With having a slower impeller speed the snow will not go as far. My blower will only throw the snow about 10 to 15 feet max.
The snow blower that I have looks very much like the Kubota front mount snowblowers, but is set up for the 3 point hitch.

 

[Ductape]

If it says Ford on it, i'm sure it was made by an outside vendor for Ford tractors before they became Case/NewHolland. You have been given good avice so far, i'd say if the price is right, buy it ! These are not very complicated impliments. Give it a good once over, make sure nothing is broken or overly worn. Things like chain, sprockets, etc. are easily found at a TSC or similar store. Your tractor should run it just fine, especially if you have hydrostatic drive. If you back into heavy stuff........ just creap slow enough so that the motor doesn't bog down. I ran a 54" blower with 15 PTO hp, and my only complaint was, with gear drive i couldn't creap slow enough in the big snowbanks. As said, if you need it to be a bit wider..... some wings to be added to make it bite 54" or even 60" Many blowers came with these from the factory.

 

[Gryantaylor]

Thanks for all the good advice, the sellers seemed pretty sure the blower was a ford I guess the means its either older then 10 years, OR as Toadhill suggests he's used it on a ford tractor. I suppose it also could just be blue and the seller is assuming.

DWW68 Thanks for the info on at least one "ford" blower. I was hoping to move snow more then 10 feet consistently, but even if it only moves it 5 ft it will beat the rear blade I'm using now.

Hopefully, I'll get to go see it over the weekend or early next week. If it痴 in reasonably good shape I'll be sure to post pictures of the new toy. I mean my new absolutely required piece of equipment.

 

[rbargeron]

I've seen another "blue" snowblower - it was a two-stage Ford , can't remember the number - but it was about 4 or 5 feet wide. It seemed to be well made - decent quality. I think many 3ph blowers run the impeller at pto speed - a thru-shaft in the gearbox is a common design, with a side pinion to drive the auger shaft. A 20" fan has a tip velocity of around 50 feet per second at 540 rpm which throws snow pretty well.

 

[charlz]

I believe your b7100hst has the 3 speed pto same as my b7100 gear. The manual for my snowblower says to run it at 'fastest pto speed possible'. your mileage may vary depending on the brand but you have some opportunity to speed it up if it is not throwing as far as you would like.

Charles

 

[Farwell]

On throwing gravel, I have adjustable skid shoes on my walk behind snowblower and keep the blade edge at least 3/4" off of the ground, this way the gravel throwing is cut by 98% and a good bed is set on the driveway surface.

 

[charlz]

On throwing gravel, I have adjustable skid shoes on my walk behind snowblower and keep the blade edge at least 3/4" off of the ground, this way the gravel throwing is cut by 98% and a good bed is set on the driveway surface.

I think some of it depends on what you hope to accomplish. I get a little snow at a time and then some sunny days. I use the back blade more cause it will expose some gravel which helps melt off the rest of the driveway. Adjusting the blower so it doesn't move gravel leaves more snow than I would like. I can see on a paved driveway where the blower would be awesome. The one time we had enough snow to justify the blower one of my neighbors beat me to cleaning off the street so I didn't get a chance to try it on a paved surface.

 

[Gryantaylor]

Well I called yesterday to arrange a time to pick it up, Bad news. After the seller dug it out of the snow bank he found that "someone" had used it and broken a "few peices" I don't know exactly what is broken but he is going to try and get it fixed (hopefully soon). Prhaps I'll be able to look at it and pick it up next weekend depending on how the repairs go.

It look like I'm gonna have to weather this next storm without the blower. They're calling for 8 to 20 inches over the next 24 hours. The snow hasn't even started and I've cleared 3' drifts twice this moring. I really wish I was able to get the blower yesterday.

As far as throwing distance, yes I have a 2 speed PTO if I run it at the higher speed the max distance ought to increase quite a bit. if I ever get my hands on one I'll be sure to let you know how it works out.

 

[Kendrick]

I have a 74? blower for a 72" wide tractor and wish i had a wider model. get the widest possible for your hp. as for gravel my drive is about 1500" all gravel. I have ajustable skids on my blower and they do well except the ammount of downforce lets them rut the ground. I am thinking of making them about 4" wide or so to see if that helps keep them from rutting. the only time i have gotten gravel so far is when i backdraged my fel a lil to hard and scraped some up with the snow. then wen i ran over the snow piles it went shootin

 

[JerryK]

I welded two 12"X12" 1/2" thick plates under the original skids that came with my JRW. I also have a couple 4" angle skids I put on the outside corners the first few weeks of the season, to cut down on the corner of the blower cuting into the ground on uneven ground [clearing down the side of the road in front of my house that has gravel piled up from the county road crew during the summer]. I take them off when the shoulder gets froze up. I keep the banks of snow cut back on the road, so the road commission doesn't have to throw it back by my mailbox with their big wing plow, which tends to just about destroy mailboxs from the force of the flying snow. The foot square plates really work great, but cost lots of $.........

 

[rambler]

Width: My BiL's 7100 geared tractor without live pto matches up well to a 4' blower, I'd not want any bigger blower on it. If you have hydro, maybe. Without live pto, keep it small.

Blue blower: Ford labeled some. In later years a company called 'Snow Machines' made some good blue & white snow blowers that many Ford dealers sold. I have one of those, 7' model, on my farm.

Gravel: Angle of the top link is the biggest thing to this. Most blowers have skid plates or runners to skid on the snow, you angle the blower more or less agressive with the top link, and it will leave a couple inches of snow, or try to dig to China for you. Little adjustment goes a long way.

Distance & pto speed: No, no! Run the blower at it's rated speed, no more. Most are designed for 540 pto speed, run it at that. Faster only rips things to pieces, and really doesn't help distance very much. Now, some blowers were designed to run at 1000 rpm, then it's fine. But don't rev up a slow one to fast speeds. It doesn't work out.

A worn blower is one that has too much space between the blades of the fan & the collar around the fan. If there is a lot of space here, the snow will slip through & it won't blow enough away fast enough. Any other wear & tear should be fairly obvious type stuff.

--->Paul

 

[Gryantaylor]

Well a week later then expected but Saturday I picked up the snow blower I was asking questions about. It is a ford mode 715 ~ 50 inches wide. I got home about 7:00 pm Saturday and got it up and running by 9:00 no major problems. Sunday morning we had high winds and about 14" of snow. The blower worked great all day. I moved drifts that were easily 3 times higher then the blower. The comments about the 2 speed pto also worked great. When turning at ~540 it will move very large volumes of snow ~12 to 15 feet. at the 750 (I think) speed the I don't have the power to move as much snow but it easily throws it 30 feet (more if its down wind). Overall my neighbors and I were extremely impressed with it's performance. my little old 16 horse tractor & blower was clearing roads faster then my neighbors L series using the bucket and rear blade.

Unfortunately, Sunday may have proven too much for it. After about 12 hours of blowing the connection between the drive shaft and the impeller broke. It appears the previous owner had welded the impeller bracket to the drive shaft and the weld let go. The forecast is calling for more snow all week and more next week, so I think I'm going to weld it back together and keep going. Long term however, I'd like to fix it right. Does anyone know where I might be able to find parts for an old 715 ford snow blower.

Thanks again for everyone great advice.

Ryan