[AT] Snow Blower

[Will Powell]

I was thinking about a rear blower but after reading this thread I'm skeptical... What are my options? 

My driveway is a little over 300 feet. 

I have a WD with the snap coupler blade, that does ok but the chains have really scratched my driveway up. I'm on a hill so I need the chains. 

My D17 with trip loader has a 3pt backhoe on the back so there's plenty of weight, but no chains... It was great until I paved my driveway... Now it goes nowhere. 

I was thinking about buying a blower and trying to mount it on front. I have seen one that was mounted on a WD wide front. With a blower I won't have the need to push a heavy load so I won't spin the wheels. Have also seen a front conversion on a Cub. 

Or, do I just buy a large walk behind blower? 

Or maybe I need some chains on my D17, but then I still could scratch up the driveway... 

Regards, 

Will 



----- Original Message ----- 
From: tmehrkam at sbcglobal.net 
To: "Antique tractor email discussion group" <at at lists.antique-tractor.com> 
Sent: Monday, August 16, 2010 9:28:12 AM 
Subject: Re: [AT] Snow Blower 

Being snowless in Texas I have been following this thread out of curiosity. 

My first impression of the machine is that it would be a royal pain in the neck. Glad to see that common sense still works, 

--- On Mon, 8/16/10, Mike Sloane <mikesloane at verizon.net> wrote: 

From: Mike Sloane <mikesloane at verizon.net> 
Subject: Re: [AT] Snow Blower 
To: "Antique tractor email discussion group" <at at lists.antique-tractor.com> 
Date: Monday, August 16, 2010, 5:50 AM 

When I was in the tractor and implement selling business, you could 
generally go by the weight and price when comparing similar items. 

That being said, I never sold a new three-point snow blower. The reason 
was that there were so many barely used ones available if someone really 
wanted one. And there lay the problem: Almost anyone who has ever used a 
rear mounted snow blower decided to sell it immediately afterward. There 
are many reasons for folks being unhappy with them, but the first one is 
that they are literally a pain in the neck to use - after a very short 
time, you find yourself in pain from having to twist yourself around to 
operate the machine. The second problem is operating in reverse - older 
tractors have only one speed in reverse, and even modern tractors have 
maybe two speeds (too fast and too slow). I guess if you have a hydro 
you might be OK, but a snow blower needs to be fed into the snow just 
right. And, of course, a snow blower does just that: blows snow. If you 
happen to have the wind shift, you wind up being dumped on, and if you 
have a cab, the whole back of the cab gets instantly blanketed and has 
to be cleaned off. Then, there are the usual problems with all snow 
blowers - clogging with wet snow, jams from the machine "finding" hidden 
objects (rocks, children's toys, hunks of fallen trees, etc.), shooting 
small objects long distances into cars/trucks/houses, etc. The only 
advantage of a three point mounted snow blower is that it adds a fair 
amount of weight to the back of the tractor for traction when pushing 
snow with a front blade/bucket. 

If you are still determined to try a three point blower, I suspect you 
would be better off either borrowing one from a disgruntled neighbor or 
buying a good used one, rather than investing good money in a new Asian 
manufactured one. You can generally find a good used blower for under 
$1000. Put a "wanted" ad in your local "Penny Saver" magazine or 
newspaper, and you will have a dozen responses the next day. 

Mike 

On 8/15/2010 7:26 PM, Dick Day wrote: 
> I just received the 2010 Northern Tools catalog. As I said in a previous 
> post concerning Harbor Freight, I normally do not buy big-ticket items from 
> Northern or HF. 
> 
> However... in the new Northern catalog, a 3-pt snowblower did catch my eye. 
> It's a Canadian product from a company called Braber... 
> 
> http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200435197_200435197?cm_ven=natural&cm_cat=netconcepts&cm_pla=Yahoo&cm_ite=braber%2Bsnowblower 
> 
> $1399 for a 72" blower is mighty tempting. It lacks the bells and whistles 
> on the more expensive units. The cheapest I've ever seen new around here 
> (Nebraska) has been around $4800. 
> 
> Ever heard of Braber? Thoughts? 
> 
> Thanks, 
> 
> Dick Day 
> 
> _______________________________________________ 
> AT mailing list 
> http://www.antique-tractor.com/mailman/listinfo/at 
> 
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