[Sags]

I have an old craftsman GT that I fixed and put a 46" snowblower attachment on.

Everything is working well, except for the fact I have basically no steering whatsoever when the blower is lowered.

My driveway is gravel and all curves, once I drop the auger on the snowblower the steering on the tractor does nothing, the whole machine will just track wherever the snowblower is pointed, only when I lift the snowblower do I get any steering control back.

I can get some chains for the front tires, other than that does anyone have any ideas for making the steering actually work somewhat?

 

[JB_4x4]

Mushrooms on the bottom of the plow to lift it an inch or so above the road surface, which might save the gravel too?

Before you go to all that expense, chains or skids, try putting an extra 100# of weight on the back and see if that improves the steering.

 

[Nouveau Redneck]

Mushrooms on the bottom of the plow to lift it an inch or so above the road surface, which might save the gravel too?

Before you go to all that expense, chains or skids, try putting an extra 100# of weight on the back and see if that improves the steering.

If it steers fine with the blower raised, then extra weight on the back won't help the problem. Lowering the blower takes some of the weight off of the front and you should need less weight on the rear to counterbalance it with the blower down than when it is up.

Does the blower have skid shoes on the bottom? If not, it should and you need to add them. If it does, try adjusting them to hold the cutting edge of the blower a little higher.

What is the lifting mechanism for the blower on that model? If it is easy to do, like with a foot pedal or via hydraulic or electric lift, try lifting it just an inch or two when you need to turn.

 

[Alien5044]

Agree about the skids. I'd try to find round ones to help with steering. If skids are missing or not keeping the edge (and auger blades) slightly off the drive surface, they will be the force that steers instead of the front tires. Also, on paved surfaces you may be wearing the edge scraper, and the edges of the auger blades by them contacting the surface fairly hard if they are influencing the direction of travel.

 

[Lance Skene]

add a couple lift assist springs... many blowers have them as OEM equipment and what they do is keep some of the blowers weight on the tractor frame

 

[Dave55]

I am with Lance on this one.
If you want to add weight to help with this problem, the weight needs to be on the front of the tractor.

 

[Renster of N.H.]

Hello Sags,

I checked your previous posts and unless I'm mistaken, you acqired the blower this past fall, and then sourced and overhauled a tractor to install it on.

Can you possibly take two good pics of the entire tractor with blower installed - from the side - one with blower up and one with it down.
Then two more of the same from the front.
Something isn't quite adding up with your steering issue and a good visual might reveal what it is

Renster

 

[tracktortag]

Our rear engine/transmission Gravelys tend to have a mind of their own and continue straight ahead when attempting some turns while pushing our 300 lb. 44 inch blowers. When this happens, we simply slightly lift our blowers just enough to transfer enough blower weight onto the front tires so that they gain traction, and our tractors can turn. We then drop our blowers once we are going straight again. This is a commonly known trick among Gravely rider owners. You may want to try it.

 

[ZTT42]

From diagrams of that snow blower, it appears to have a lift mechanism integral to the blower mounting. That design is either lifted up in travel position or dropped to float on the ground with no adjustment. That means you are basically pushing around dead weight. The hinge point is just in front of the tractor's front axle. If (when) the blower's cutter bar or skids push against something like the snowpack or driveway it will relieve the stress by pushing up on your tractor front end. Voila - no steering.
Solutions:

• IF there is an adjustment that controls how far the blower drops when "down", set it so it is barely on the ground.
• add springs that just allow the blower to bounce along, if possible - like Lance suggests.
• add lots of weight to the front end of the tractor.
• lift the cutter bar off the ground by extending the skids downward. Wider skids might be needed on gravel.
• replace the front tires with snowblower-type treads. X-tracs or snow hogs.
• add wheel weights, fill rear tires, but don't hang weights way off the back of the tractor that would tend to lift the front.

Good luck with your project
p.s. If this blower lift mechanism was designed by the same engineers that did their front scoop...I'm so sorry!

 

[4Get GTO]

My ST 10 Sears has a block on the lift lever that will only allow the blower to go only so low thus keeping weight on the axle for this very reason.

 

[Vigo]

Lots of people saying the same (correct) basoc thing but what Lance said i think comes closest to pointing out an importsnt distinction between ‘lift’ and ‘weight transfer’. You may not need to actually ‘lift’ the blower, but you should definitely transfer more of its weight back to the tractor. If it weighs 200lbs, it doesnt need to push on the ground with 200lbs of force when lowered. If you get a set of springs that pulls up by 150lbs, you dont ‘lift’ the blower but you DO put 150lbs back on he front tires.

Actually lifting the snowblower is easier to implement, but over the long run with all the lifting and lowering it will be a lot more finicky of a solution than to spend the time up front figuring out a lift assist spring setup. My .02

 

[Lance Skene]

Lift springs were factory equipment on many brands such as this Ford LGT.... and that was a big heavy blower but with those factory equipped springs you could lift it easily with just a couple fingers so most of its weight was actually applied to the front tires.