[CRS16HP]

I'm thinking of cutting off the front end of ski's ( X-country are the thinnest ) and mounting them on the bottom of my 46" snow blower bottom rails. I have a gravel ( item #4 actually ) drive that the snow blower rails dig into before the ground becomes good and frozen/icy. I'm thinking it will make a big improvement in how the bottom rails float across the drive. Anyone do this or have an ideas. Getting ready for the the winter onslaught. Ralph

 

[JayC]

Don't bother. The blower is too heavy for little skis to help.

I made skis for my blower out of a piece of angle iron. The bearing surface is 9" x 2". They look pretty cool, and probably helped a little, but my blower still dove right down into the gravel drive when it was mooshy. You're best bet in my experience is to suspend the blower in the air leaving an inch or two of snow until the drive freezes. I don't think there is any way that you can let it ride on the ground, regardless of what you mount it on. If you think that's bad, you should see the skids on my 6' 700 pound 3pt blower - talk about useless.

I suppose you could try making really big skis, like 3ft long...

JayC

 

[A1CNC]

I look forward to seeing what you end up doing. I have a Gt3000 also and am looking for a snowblower for the front of mine.

How does yours work with wet slushy snow?

 

[Dan Facette]

if they want to climb snow too much,,,you will have issues of blower climbing and rising !!

 

[simple simon]

I know the feeling.

You gravel in the summer and blow it away in the winter.

I have a drag i made, Ply wood with angle iron on the bottom. that flatten's the snow down till it freezes. Then the blower does not blow the gravel away.
Freezing here is -25c

S.S.

 

[CRS16HP]

I tried floating the blower in the up position, but the weight transfer lightens the rear end too much and I loose traction very easily. Maybe once I get a set of wheel weights it will help with that maneuver.

I had the machine out during the pre-Halloween 16" heavy snow storm and it blew the snow easily. The 23hp Kohler is very powerful, and with a 16" impeller, it will blow anything in its way...the lighter the snow the further is sends it.

Dan, interesting thought. As I think about it I have to agree. I'm not sure at this point there is a solution....back to the drawing board.

 

[Alan Lloys]

In my experience the best bet is to put on some wheels.
I tried bigger metal skid shoes and it really did not make any improvement for me.
Last year I welded two brackets to the back of the blower and put on 10" wheels from Harbor Freight. That worked really well except when trying to turn.

Next week I will actually improve that design using 8" pneumatic caster wheels. That way the tractor can actually turn without having to lift up the blower.

In my case the blower is a 250lbs 47" blower on the Legacy. However a few years ago I had a GT5000 with the 42" blower. On that one I always used wheel weights and then kept the blower hanging without it touching the ground.
The wheels seem to work a lot better so I can let it follow the ground a little better over the uneven bits.

I expect to post my wheel setup here on MTF late next week. I think I will have around $ 45 into my setup.

 

[engine2quarters]

Dan...don't listen to those others. Nobody listened to Edison, did they? WE make things work!

Try a bit wider 'ski', regular snow width, or even a water ski width and have it under the blower itself, not so much on the outside. And leave an inch of snow on the driveway. Better yet, let the driveway freeze or run over the first snowfall several times with the auto and pack it down.

I've used 'skis', kids snow skis actually, to retrieve broken down tractors and snowblowers . Put the machine on the skis, backwards, and pull it home. Sure beats pulling a froze up blower with wheel chains backwards up a hill on a cold day. Tractors require 2 sets of skis.

Half the fun is making the item. Second half is when it works and you leave others scratching their heads in disbelief. Thrd half is when someone asks you to make them a set.

 

[suburban16]

I really like the idea of using casters to keep the blower off the driveway. That to me is some good thinking.