First use of 353 snowblower today...

Finally got to try out the 45" two stage blower for the 3000 series today. The snow was very wet/heavy and about 6" deep on my driveway, which is concrete. FWIW, here are a few observations of mine:

1.) Although the snow wasn't real deep, it was still taking in 45" x 6" worth of wet/almost slush stuff. The chute never clogged, the motor never bogged. It just kept tossing the stuff out into the yard.

2.) The hydraulic lift is great. It has me thinking now of making the chute rotate/elevate electically as some others have done on the 2500 series (if someone has done it on the 3k, my apologies for missing your thread).

3.) The skid shoes on the blower are sort of effective. Although the driveway is concrete, it has some large cracks/heaves in it and needs to be replaced. My plan is to design some upgrade shoes and have them built before the blower gets totally beat up. If I find someone willing to make multiple sets, I'll post the info.

4.) The PTO reverse cut off is just plain dumb with a snowblower. Shutting off with a deck or a tiller, I can understand. Of course cost is why the PTO is killed and is not attachment dependent. Honestly, I still can't believe that the blower never clogged, despite the PTO shutting off with a full auger of the wet stuff. Apparently the work around is to relocate the switch so it doesn't make contact. My 3225 has tail lights and will find out if it disables the reverse lights as well. I hope not or something else will need to be done about it...

5.) The blower/quick hitch puts a whole lot of weight out front. My tires are unfilled Super Lugs (23x10.5-12) with 75# wheel weights. That is no where near enough weight. Not even with a full tank of fuel and me (all 230#s). If it weren't for the diff lock, I would have been stuck more than once. On concrete.

With all that said, I'm trying to find a good price on a 413 weight bracket. Will probably end up ordering one from the dealer. I'm hopeful that improve it as others have had similar experiences. I'd like to get a combination that works without chains on the concrete.

Anyone else want to share their 3k series snow setup/experiences?

Oh yeah, almost forgot. Battery Tender Jr. left on all the time except when using the tractor. Even with the temp in the 20s with a 4 year old battery, the tractor immediately fired up... after not being used for a few weeks too!