Snowblower advice

Looking into getting a snowblower, hopefully just to leave in the shed 9 years out of 10, but haven't run one for 20 years since grandpa had one and to be honest, don't remember the brand, do remember needing a rear wiper on the 4620.

Looking for advice from someone who has had or run several diffrent kinds.

I am looking at having it on the back of a JD 4440, running 175hp or better. Powershift tranny which I think will be better as seems like reverse gears are slower than a quad.

I like to go fast, looking at opening roads, what do I need to get??

I have seen 2 stages that look decent, but had one guy tell me most are only for 60-80 hp tractors and like to shear shear bolts when pushed at all

There are some really agressive looking single stage blowers that look mean and have 2 spouts, but are well over 10,000 new, which is way over what I want to spend, and I haven't seen any used ones.

Also, would 1000rpm be better than 540, or do they just make a change in the gearbox so the blower turns the same regardless?

Plan B would be to put one on a skidloader, but pretty sure that would be a joke for roads, anyone use one? Probably have to be a high flow machine to do anything?

Thanks

hi-I have a very good 8 ft case/international 2 stage snow blower with hyd shute --call me -lee 410-398-6610--------

I run a skid steer with a blower, after snow storms clearing off sidewalks and bridges and it works great. I don't think it would work for opening roadways. - way to small.
I used to run stand alone big blowers but never a rear mount. I'm no help there.
I could give you some pointers about shear pins in those machines.

They won't run fast! By their nature, they are slow! If you go fast, you're going to be digging around in the snow to replace shear pins.

Google Pronovost... They've got some 2 stages that will make the Deere wimper.
As far as I'm concerned they're the best blower on the market.
They'll also make you wimper when you write the cheque.

Rod

If you want to move snow fast on the open roads you need a tapered front blade that will blow the snow off the right side.

http://www.hankstruckpictures.com/pix/trucks/ryan_pedone/2006/sep10/town-of-litchfield-oshkosh1.jpg

..
Pronovost blowers

why is that what ever direction you go with a snow blower you are allways going into the wind??
down the drive and back the snow is in your face.

I have been running a 2 stage buhler out fit for last several years and does okay. It runs about 3 mile of county road to get mail carrier vehicle to town to star t route. hyd spout change is must also ones that have the spout enclosed and longer are rare but work way better in still being able to se when blowing, I have enclosed mine and lengthend 4ft what a difference it makes. otherwise back window first catch and it freezes over and you don't see squat. i usually runiing at 4.30 or 5am in the dark which always makes thing worse. Speed is out of question with the blower and it take power my 4450 snorts in tough hard wet stuff. I may in future go to big v plow blADe on tractor but been getting by and speed usually just gets you in trouble. our county graders do greta job and usuALLY ARE COMING THRU MID MORNIGN BUT THE MAIl VEHICLE HAS TO BE AT POST OFFICE BY SEVEN. advantage of the blower over the vplow is it is way over the fence into field versus few feet from being pushed some days by time I get back it can be alreay closin in. Makes for some fun times. Watch the rocks. these run in 4-5000.00 dollar range. make sure it has blower!!!!!!!!!

My friend blows his airport runway (paved-3000' long X 60' wide) and adjacent taxiways with a big Buhler. Powers it with a New Holland TV 140. Mounts the blower on one end and loader or blade on the other.

because hell is freezing over?

Most two stage blowers suffer from too much auger feed, too fast of travel speed due to a too fast reverse gear. And not enough flow capacity on the fan.
It doesn't take very much snow have blower augers pushing a 5ft drift because the blower can't keep up.
Running a blower at 1000rpm instead of 540 is going to soak up ALOT of HP but it's also going to move ALOT of snow. Don't worry about blowing the fan up as the centrifugal force is a minor issue here.
You may want to reduce the size of the auger drive sprocket. As they will be spinning twice as fast as required and wasting HP.

Actually... most 2-stage blowers suffer from too small an opening in the transition into the spout and running it faster won't correct that. Mabey if it had a side opening drum...
We're talking 10K blowers here if you want something to move snow fast and put up with that kind of power.

Rod

I have a 8' McKee snowblower that I run on our 4440 Deere. Reverse A1 A2 works GREAT. I have cut throgh drifts as deep as the blower is tall, A1, and it will handle it. (gotta have the motor wound up pretty good) My blower has 2 augers, one fan, and does a GREAT job. if the snow is to much for one pass....make two passes...Dont know about reverse speeds in a powershift....never drove one of those

Hey B and D, I run a 540 rpm 96" two auger blower with a 100 Hp tractor. With two 5/16 grade 8 shearbolts it also suffers from broken shearbolts. Very annoying, happens with little warning leaving a snow-packed machine to clear.Do you think running it at 1000 rpm would help avoid this problem? Thanks

Yes, no and maybe.
You would have to try it. At least the fan will have a better chance of keeping up with the augers. The blower might start to dance if the augers are out of balance. Slowing them down via a smaller driver would help.
She will soak up the HP however.
Just one 3/8" shearbolt on mine and with 55HP it takes a chunk or ice or a tree branch to break it.
It's 7-1/2' wide, single 20" auger, 8" deep blower that's 28"dia.
Tip speed would be 45mph at 540rpm, 83mph at 1000rpm.