How many hp ? (3 part question)

[ve9aa]

After this weeks wicked wet snowstorm, and the umpteenth time I've wrecked my plow (and actually unable to move snow like I'd like to)
I am once again considering a blower of some kind for the 92 Dodge shadow with a strong 2.2L FI engine.  I am finding my Kubota may not be suited to blowing snow.


My questions are: (and I'd appreciate even reasonable guesses, as I have no idea myself)

What kind of hp can I "rob" from the fan belt of a 2.2L Dodge engine ? 2, 5, 10, more ?

What kind of hp does a farm tractor size PTO driven snowblower NEED to run well ...in wet snow?

What speed does my blower need to run at ?

(I've seen the #'s 540 and 1000 tossed around, but would it be safe to run the blower @, say 1500rpm, or more, or would it work at say 100-200rpm...........I have a 100:1 , 90º HD gear reduction head @ work I can have but speed would be reduced big time.,


Big time thanks !

[Peter Knowles]

As a fellow who has also cobbled up his share of snow removal equipment, I respect and understand your enthusiasem.
However it also means I know from first hand experience,.....
You're bloody well daft!

You will never be able to move enough power to drive a blower as wide as a car with a v belt and even if you could,...

You need a way to lift and lower the blower
You need a way to engage and disengage the drive

Even as a challange, it's just too far fetched.

In terms of specs, a tractor PTO runs at 540 RPM
A blower might work adequitely at say 300 RPM, I wouldn't run it much faster than 540.

At 100:1 your PTO will run at about 30 RPM
If you sped up the input with crazy belt pully ratios you might triple that.
But then the input on your gearhead would be spinning at 9000 RPM!

In terms of actual HP for the blower, I have a Kubota B21 with a 54" blower.
It's well matched but I bet about 15 of the 21 HP are going to the blower when I'm really throwing the stuff.


I seem to remember there are some discussions about snowblowers on the old forum at...
http://www.maritimerovers.org/cgi-bin/discus/discus.cgi

I did push snow out our 100' driveway in Montreal with a wooden plow on the front of a Mini wagon.


Pete

[spy]

"Daft" yes, but so enthusiastic!  You gotta admire him.

[ve9aa]

re: HP #'s........RATS!   

Still, I want to try it  (or something)....or change the design on my plow, or something.  I am OK until I get into really DEEP snow (like over about 9-10") or very wet snow.  I can move about 5" of wet stuff, but over that I either :
(A) Get stuck........which bites.....LOL...I may as well be outside pushing the shovel or small snowblower, as that was part of the reason to use a car.
or
(B) Wreck my homebrew plow. (it's quite light duty)


So I am left with a few options:
Buy a purpose built snowplow,. like a Fisher plow, etc. and try to get it fitted to a car !

Redesign the plow to maybe a "V" design so it's not as hard to push through maybe (??) <thoughts on that?>

(C) Buy a Defender 90 and put a plow in the sucka !

[spy]

"C", of course, but a Series would do.   


As the commercial says, "You know you waaannnnt it!"

[Justrovin]

If your thinking of buying a Fisher 7' for the car, why not go to the wreckers or pick up a cheap 4x4 in the bargain hunter. No more getting stuck and you get what you "need"

[Peter Knowles]

Con is right on, a beat up pickup that can't get inspected is not worth too much, add a beat up plow and you're still under a grand.

Pete

[spy]

The dedicated beater/plough is a great suggestion.  Sure beats cutting up a car you might want to market someday.

BTW, did any of the pics of those SIII's you asked for get through?

[ve9aa]

Steve,
Yes, I got those SIII pix, thanks...... (sorry, thought I'd replied, but I just looked and I hadn't  )

I am not worried about butchering the old Dodge Shadow, as it's junk anyways, and will never be back on the road without a TON of work.
It's a $100 car. LOL

[ve9aa]

Just bringing this to the top after a big-ish snowstorm here the other day.  Saw lots of locals snowblowing with their tractors and having a grand old time.  (I live in farm country)

Sure would be terrible to have to look out over your shoulder when snowblowing all the time though.

I did find one super short video on youtube which showed a Suzuki sidekick with a small 6foot (?) wide blower on the front of it, but not long enough video to get a good look at how it was powered. Presumably a separate 10-20hp engine?

Found this other one in which the auger is moving really really slow, but the impeller is singing. (like in the 1000's of RPMs I am sure)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7g01tX4WZhI

[Peter Knowles]

Blowing in reverse is no sweat with power steering and hydrostatic transmission.

[ve9aa]

Sweet rig !  My large Lawn tractor is a Kubota diesel with power steering and hydrostatic transmission. TG-1860
Unfortunately, it does not have a PTO, nor driveshaft to power any implements.  There is one snowblower that will fit it, but I understand
it's not great according to the local dealer.

I placed a bid on a tractor similar to yours last year, but lost out.  Would've been great for plowing up here.  Bought a 45" cut, 13hp dual wheeled walk-behind snowblower instead.

My eventual plan is to get the Series II rigged up with something for snow removal. . . .if I don't sell it first. 

[Brutus]

The blower mounted on the Ford is likely a Hanson unit. They are powered by a separate pony motor (4 cylinder air cooled about 40 hp). They  are not very powerful and very very slow, plus you need a full-ton truck to deal with the load on the front end. Not a great design. Imagine your walk behind being twice as wide as it is with the same motor and you're in the same league as those truck-mount units.

The Suzuki is a guy in Québec, it uses the original 1.6 Sidekick motor to drive the blower (the front driveshaft is not hooked up to the front diff, it goes out directly to the front of the car to the blower, rear driveshaft is removed) and it has a Suzuki swift motor in the back that apparently moves the truck around. I've seen the video a few times and some guys on quebec4x4 posted information about his setup, very backyard engineered but it seems to work very well.

There are hydraulically driven truck-mounted units out there, but they look pretty complex and are a massive conversion, the hydraulics necessary to run a 60 hp blower continuously mean that you have a 60 hp power pack in the box of the truck, huge reservoirs, etc.

My current "fleet" that I use to keep a 1 km "road" and relatively large yard/farm/parking area clear is a full-size Jeep Wagoneer with a 7.5 foot plow, and a 40 hp Case 400B gas powered tractor with a 6 foot V pull behind blower, with bar chains. The blower is reversible so I can turn it around and set it up as rear-facing but I use it as a drag behind mostly. We have had 12-16 inches of snow a few times, with 2-3 foot drifts at some points down the drive and there has been nothing the plow truck could not take care of. You just need to use momentum (not crazy fast, 10-15 km/h is a lot of energy) and be smart about how you move snow around. Plus, a blade is so much faster! I can plow the road and drive in about 25 minutes, it's 2 hours with the tractor, and the neighbour, with his 100 hp 4wd 100K $ John Deere, does it in about an hour. 

[ve9aa]

OMG ! Found another vid of it. . . .It's rear steer and all!   This has got to be the coolest snowblower I have ever seen.
If I only had a couple thousand $$, I'd put one on the front of a Series Landy. . . . 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rZmOkibH6Q

[ve9aa]

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