SW48 Snowblower project

[125a]

Started building this in early November, 'finished' 12/16.

Major components courtesy of Craigslist and Surplus Center. Most of the metalwork is salvage, including a retired Soloflex exercise machine.
Auxiliary motor is an air-cooled Onan JC.
Have a few 'dry-run' quicktime clips, but they don't want to upload?
Suggestions?

 

[125a]

A few more photos.

 

[pixie]

That's really cool

Did it take a long time to build ? What was the hardest part ?

I can't wait for you to get snow

 

[125a]

Thanks Pixie.

I hauled the blower home 11/2/11, then started fabricating 11/6.
The deadline was this past Friday, as I had a very good offer to transport the rig to western Maine within a very narrow time frame (12/21-12/22).
So quite a few long days followed by late nights.
The hardest part was being patient so as to make best use of all the random chunks of steel on hand, and taking the time to make each section as simple as possible, and serviceable in the field.
And waiting for the right blower to come along.
This unit is front mounted, so it has a reduction box for the higher speed of the mid-mount PTO of the original tractor. That goes well with the rated hp and rpm of the Onan. And the quick hitch socket is almost a perfect match for the lift frame on the SW.
So it was almost like all of the components were intended to go together.

The drive ratios may still need adjustment.

I hope it works as well as I think it will.

 

[snowbird]

Looks like good engineering.
It appears you might have a way to change the shute direction on the
snowblower from the cab. I've found that's pretty handy to avoid a white-out on the windshield. One of my snowblowers uses a hydraulic cylinder and the other uses an electric motor.

 

[Snowcat Pat]

Looks like you've got some good power to the blower. Diesel?

I'm learning to use a 85 inch Hanson mounted on a '81 Ford F250 new to me this season. Works as expected but the Onan 24HP gas engine to the blower is seriously underpowered. I find that the high speed of the blower fan isn't really needed so I dropped the size of the primary drive pulley, better but still not enough torque. considering driving it directly from the trucks 400ci motor. Either way its still much better than the DMC3700AC I'd been using.

What pitch is that final chain drive?

Nice work there, not an easy project.

-Pat

 

[125a]

Snowbird,
The chute rotation is cable driven with a small hydraulic motor. The hydraulic feed is from the original blade angle spool. I didn't have time to power the chute deflector.

Snowcat Pat,
The motor is a gasoline inline 4. These were common to the 12 and 15kw Onan gensets. Should be around 20hp @1800, 42@2700 or thereabouts. This one came with a Rockford snap clutch.

Chain pitch is 60. Seemed appropriate as that is what drives the auger.

What is the fan diameter and suggested rpm on your Hanson?



Thanks all, for the compliments.

Now if I can figure out how to post a video...

 

[Snowcat Pat]

Thanks for the reply, 125a. The 84 inch Hanson has a 18 inch fan that was to turn at about 1400 RPM, with a 2.56-1 belt reduction to put the blower motor at about 3600 RPM. The motor is a Linamar LX990, same as the Onan P224G. The auger is 14 inches with a 10-1 reduction.

First couple of runs I think it was running somewhat faster as the governed throttle was set to max. It threw the snow a great distance, impressive but much farther than needed, and slow going as it would the drop RPM's too much if I tried to overfeed the unit.

So I changed the pulleys to get 2.86-1 and slowed the motor to 3000 RPM, then put a tach in the cab to get a better idea of whats happening.

So now the optimum speed under load seems to be with the motor at 2000 RPM for a fan speed of about 700. Still not enough torque but much quieter and tamer, doesn't do so much damage to the fan when launching rocks, also half the gas consumption. The Linamar seems to have all of its torque at about 1800. If I let it speed up to about 2500 for a fan speed of 870 that's all the farther it ever needs to throw but the forward progress is slowed quite a bit. So now I know the optimum/minimum fan speed but I want more torque for more travel speed.

Doesn't seem to matter much what the air temp is it moves snow about the same rate.

What is the width of your blower?
Is your blower designed for a PTO speed of 1000 or 540 RPM?
I like your quick connect metal work, slick.
Any other specs you would like to divulge would be great.
-Pat

 

[Snowcat Pat]

Thanks for the reply, 125a. The 84 inch Hanson has a 18 inch fan that was to turn at about 1400 RPM, with a 2.56-1 belt reduction to put the blower motor at about 3600 RPM. The motor is a Linamar LX990, same as the Onan P224G. The auger is 14 inches driven by the fan with a 10-1 reduction.

First couple of runs I think it was running somewhat faster than 3600 as the governed throttle was set to max. It threw the snow a great distance, impressive but much farther than needed, and slow going as it would the drop RPM's too much if I tried to overfeed the unit.

So I changed the pulleys to get 2.86-1 and slowed the motor to 3000, then put a tach in the cab to get a better idea of whats happening.

So now the optimum speed under load seems to be with the motor at 2000 for a fan speed of about 700. Still not enough torque but much quieter and tamer, doesn't do so much damage to the fan when launching rocks, also half the gas consumption. The Linamar seems to have all of its torque at about 1800. If I let it speed up to about 2500 for a fan speed of 870 that's all the farther it ever needs to throw but the forward progress is slowed quite a bit. So now I know the optimum/minimum fan speed but I want more torque for more travel speed.

Doesn't seem to matter much what the air temp is it moves snow about the same rate.

What is the width of your blower?
Is your blower designed for a PTO speed of 1000 or 540 RPM?
I like your quick connect metal work, slick.
Any other specs you would like to divulge would be great.

BTW the chute rotation is provided by a little 12 volt ATV winch and cable setup, and I could not do without it as the wind will put the snow right back on the road.

-Pat

Admin, I can barely use the forum as it loses my posts and makes me log in many times just to post a reply which is why I don't post much anymore. I have two posts here because I tried to edit the first one, can you please fix this? I have cookies enabled.

 

[125a]

S-Pat,
The blower is a Kubota L2174a, 62", with a 23" fan. The fan seems to be quite a bit larger than most, which I suspect is a plus.
This unit was set up to run off the mid PTO on a 3430, and Kubota says that turns at 2k, which seems a bit odd. The reduction drive is 2.95 by eyeball and chalk marks.
Output shaft on the Rockford is 1-7/16, 60 pitch chain drive to the right angle gearbox. This is 1-1/4x1-1/4, rated for 32hp continuous at 1800rpm.

Line shaft is 1-1/4 common steel stock on 4 pillow blocks.

Shaft to 1-3/8x6 spline adapter courtesy of Surplus Center.

PTO driveshaft was lengthened about 5 inches.

Drive cog turns on 1-1/8 shaft on pillow blocks.

Blue cover is half of an old domestic water pressure tank.

Chute rotator is generic hydraulic motor from Surplus Center, weld on hub and sheaves (welded together) are from Tractor Supply.

Idler tensioner support and drive side curved bumpers are Soloflex parts, as is the front PTO guard.

Snap clutch is engaged with 1" bore hydraulic cylinder, controlled by an old Prince log splitter valve run in series after the main control spool. Large threaded rod above that cylinder serves as adjustable stop for lever throw.

I will probably change the 4 sprockets around after I run it in the snow, if for no other reason than to make life easier on the chains.

The auxiliary motor platform is part of a retired Lincoln SAM400 welder.
Fuel supply for the auxiliary is teed into the supply line for the Bombardier motor on a quarter turn ball valve, fed by a Facet electric pump.

The support plate for the blower drive gear is the motor/pump mount from and old air compressor.
I think that covers it?

Let it snow...

 

[red ram]

i load truck whit a 300 hp tractor and the optimum impeler rpm is 560 we tride faster and the auger trow it back out so dont over rev it we did a lot of testing now we have a 1000 reduction box to 540 and we run it at 1150 it is great do you have a double chain to drive it it a single will take a beating or streeeeeetch a lot my 2 cents

 

[125a]

Red Ram,
What is the diameter on your fan? (And auger, for that matter).
Thanks for the insight on the chain. Until I figure out the best drive ratios, I'm using a single, for reasons of cost and availability.

 

[red ram]

fan is 34 x 14 and bottom auger 26 top is 13 104 wide i load a tri axle on avrege in 1.5 min if snow is avalible we bought a zuid berg front mount last year pto is ran right of the crank

 

[125a]

Finally got around to the Youtube account thing.

'Dry' run of SW48 blower project.

Unfortunately, the auxiliary motor had no oil pressure the second time I ran it. Forensics will have to wait until later this summer...