# Snow Blower for skid steer... any good?



## bkaczinski

I recently purchased a JD 320 skid steer. Was thinking about putting a snow blower on it for doing residential driveways. I have 25 drives in a community to do. Was thinging that the plow on our trucks would be a bit of a pain in the butt. All the garage doors face the road. Has anyone used a blower on a skid steer?


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## edgeair

Skidsteer blowers for resi are the cats meow. 

HAVING SAID THAT....

There are a few issues that should be addressed before you pick up the first blower you see. 

1. Is your machine high flow? (not necessary to run a blower, but highly recommended).
2. Match the blower to the skid (VERY IMPORTANT)
3. Does your skid have the right switches to control the secondary functions
4. Look for a blower with thicker end plates (thicker steel all around) as a skid blower can see a bit more abuse than a 3pth tractor blower (down pressure)
5. What type of surfaces are these driveways (you can do a number in a hurry on interlock or stamped colored crete - down pressure)
6. Im sure there are more things to consider, but after a 16 hour snow event that came after a 12 hour one the day before with one hour of sleep in between, thats all I can think of right now lol

We use a Bobcat S250 HF 2 Speed (great feature for doing snow) with a SBX240 Bobcat High Flow blower. We do about 80 driveways with it on a typical snow day. We could do a lot more if it wern't for the fact they are spread out all over town. 

If I could have the ultimate machine for resi's it would be a skid steer, with a blower, with suspension, an air ride seat, cupholders, spinning wheel hub caps, LED underbody lighting, a pair of 12" subs..... 

but since I don't believe they make those, I'll take my S250.

Even a standard flow blower matched to your skid would be miles better than a plow (assuming your driveways are reasonably close together). Our customers love our blower, and we always seem to gain a few each year simply because we DONT use a plow.


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## bkaczinski

Thanks for the info. My machine is not high flow and all the drives are blacktop. One other question was how do the blowers perform in smaller storms.... 3" - 5" ?


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## Brian Young

Ive only seen a blower in action with skid steers a few times and I thought wake me up when its over. They all were very slow. In all fairness one was snow blowing 4 foot banks back at Baltimore with us last year and the other two were doing sidewalks with about 4 inches of snow. The skid steer's were older and I don't know if they had high flow. Would high flow make a huge difference in the speed which you can run it?


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## edgeair

Our trigger is 2" so no problems there, ours works well in all types of snow - even slush. Blacktop shouldn't be a problem, no worse than a plow as long as you don't tilt the blower too far forward.


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## edgeair

Brian Young;1137061 said:


> Ive only seen a blower in action with skid steers a few times and I thought wake me up when its over. They all were very slow. In all fairness one was snow blowing 4 foot banks back at Baltimore with us last year and the other two were doing sidewalks with about 4 inches of snow. The skid steer's were older and I don't know if they had high flow. Would high flow make a huge difference in the speed which you can run it?


There is a large variance in performance with skid steer blowers. A typical standard flow machine will have 12-18 gals per minute of flow at the couplers. Our S250 has 37 gal per minute flow. Over twice as much flow makes a big difference. Its like taking a 50 hp tractor and blowing snow side by side with a 110hp tractor. I have talked with guys that didn't keep the blower around because they were disappointed with its performance.

Our blower performance compares very well to a similar powered tractor (75hp on the S250). I can throw snow 50 - 75 ft, and I blow back my piles regularly with it. It will slow down under load and labour down the engine, but it just keeps pouring the snow out the chute.

A great feature of hydraulic blowers is there are no shear bolts to replace, the flow just bypasses if you get a jam. Great feature for piles.

They are not perfect, but you would be hard pressed to find a better machine for resis.

Ok, maybe a toolcat with a blower....


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## DaySpring Services

Skid's are very slow with a blower, that's why I got rid of mine. They do have their place and uses. I loved mine for clean up or blowing parking spots. I had a high flow machine and blower, actually I still have the blower. Keep in mind my skid was 75hp. The problem is everything on a Skid is hydraulically driven. By the time you the power gets to the blower your only getting around 35-40hp at the blower. Now my new kubota has 85 hp at the pto, the difference shows. Wednesday I blew 24 inches of heavy wet lake effect snow without a problem. It would throw the snow 40 feet easily.


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## fordzilla1155

they are also great for breaking car windows and putting holes in siding.


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## jvm81

Just bought one. 78 inch bobcat. That is going on the S650 bobcat. dealer told me reduction of about 20-30 hp loss of power to the blower. So no I have not used one. Seen them work. Learning curve I am sure but like I said I bought one so I'll wait see what happens.


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## maher871

We have a 95 Bobcat 553 and a 09 Bobcat S100. We have the bobcat snowblower, power angle plow and the 50" bucket that came with them. We do approx. 4000 feet of sidewalks every time it snows. I will take the 50" bucket on the machine any day over the snowblower or plow. The snowblower is way to slow, and yes it has the correct flow rate for the fluid. With the plow, when snow builds up in front of the plow it forces the machine to the opposite of the direction its angled. The only thing with the bucket is you have to dump the bucket off to the side of the lane your clearing.


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## edgeair

DaySpring Services;1137355 said:


> Skid's are very slow with a blower, that's why I got rid of mine. They do have their place and uses. I loved mine for clean up or blowing parking spots. I had a high flow machine and blower, actually I still have the blower. Keep in mind my skid was 75hp. The problem is everything on a Skid is hydraulically driven. By the time you the power gets to the blower your only getting around 35-40hp at the blower. Now my new kubota has 85 hp at the pto, the difference shows. Wednesday I blew 24 inches of heavy wet lake effect snow without a problem. It would throw the snow 40 feet easily.


That seems strange given our experiences. I would put our machine against the tractor (similar hp) any day. Any speed loss when blowing in a straight line due to hydraulic efficiency (inefficiency) is more than made up for by the extra maneuverability you get with the skid.

You stated you have 75 pto hp on your tractor. Well, that is not a direct comparison to your previous skid. Your 75 pto hp tractor is actually close to engine hp of 100 hp (hence the model number) so you are not comparing apples to apples by any means. Your tractor looses a significant amount of hp before it gets to the business end also. You would need to have about a 40 pto hp tractor to be a fair comparison to your previous skid. I doubt then you would be satisfied that the tractor was the better machine. You don't need skads of hp to blow a residential driveway! You need maneuverability, visibility, and controllability.

BTW, off topic, how are you finding the Kubota for reliability? We looked at getting one this year (as they were less money than the green or blue machines) but decided to go green. After talking to guys around here, you can hardly give the things away used, even with low hours, as they have been having all kinds of problems with them (front axle, transmission, electronics, oil leaks, fit and finish etc.). The engines are bullet proof, but it seems the rest of the tractor is second rate and falls apart around the engine. We also looked at the operating weights, and the Kubota didn't even compare to the others (to the tune of a few thousand pounds). That means a lot to me (thinner metal? less reinforcing? More ballast required). That few thousand pounds means a lot less spinning of the tires. Not meaning to cut up your tractor, but just wondering what your experience has been with it.

Back on topic, a standard flow machine that is rated at 75 engine hp is usually around 25 to 30 hydraulic hp, a high flow machine (high flow as in 37 gpm, not 26 like some machines quote) is around 50 hydraulic hp (roughly double). Yes you do have more loss than a PTO no doubt, but you more than make up for it with increased efficiency. Using a tractor, is like that scene in Austin powers where the car is too long for a 3 point turn in that hallway (back and forth, turn wheel, back up, shift, turn wheel, go forward, shift, turn wheel and repeat). We use both so we know. We have a 100hp (PTO) tractor and a 75 hp skid (roughly 50 hydraulic hp). While I can push more snow through my PTO blower going in a straight line, it doesn't blow as far (doesn't matter for resis) as the skid, nor can I maneuver as well with the tractor.

FYI, we are on the edge of that area in Ontario where they got 1.5m (6 feet) of snow over the last 3 days, we got about 3 feet of lake effect and at no point did we need to slow our bobcat down due to not being enough power to blow the snow. The skid steer blower doesn't plug up as much either. We usually meet up with the two machines (tractor and skid) at the end of both routes at a set of condo type driveways (doubles and singles). The skid does about 5 driveways in the same time it takes the tractor to do 2, and the guy on the tractor is more experienced than the guy on the skid, so I don't think its cause he is a slow operator.

You can have a high flow blower and machine, but if its still not the right match for pump size vs. flow rate, it won't work well. Mixing manufacturers doesnt' seem to work well either for some reason. Some manufacturers consider 20 gpm or more high flow. My machine in standard flow mode is 26 gpm, so I don't agree with anything under 30 gpm being called "high flow". Some snowblower manufacturers tried to jump into the skidsteer snowblower market without figuring it out, and their units seem to be having a lot of issues with regards to power.

I actually prefer to blow back our piles in the parking lots with the skid over the tractor also. The tractor tends to spin out before the skid does which is opposite to what you might think but we do it everyday it snows here, I expect our pounds per square inch of tire area is more on the skid. The other advantage is you can raise the blower as high as you want to cut into a pile, tractor you are limited to about 3 feet. I make better time doing my piles with the skid. When you have a solid mass of snow pouring out the chute and its throwing it still a good 30 - 40 feet, I don't think you can really expect much more. I've seen a guy locally that has a truck loading chute on a machine like mine, and he can load trucks faster than a payloader with his blower (some truckers don't like the blower unless they have the heated box).

I'm also surprised that maher871 would choose a bucket over a blower. It takes far more time to dump and cycle a bucket than you would to slowly and steadily move ahead with the blower. Not to mention the blower does a much cleaner job and doesn't leave piles of snow like the bucket does.

There is another operator in our mid sized town that uses an S250 (same machine as mine) with a bucket to do driveways. His driveways are ugly (piles on the lawn, gouged sod, very icy) and already have large visibility obscuring piles, AND it takes him about 10 -20 times longer to do a driveway than it does us with our blower. Funny story that comes to mind, we have a driveway right beside one of his and I was blowing it at the same time he was bucketing his one time last winter. He was part way into it when I arrived, and he actually stopped and watched me as I pulled in and blew out our driveway in the matter of about a minute, I'm pretty sure he was drooling, as I caught him sitting there staring at my machine do this. I waved as I pulled out, and he just turned his head and resumed his bucketing lol.....


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## BlackIrish

Depends how close to the garage door you can get, clean everything and not drive the auger into the expensive garage door. I've never had a blower on a ss to do resi's like yours.
In one area of the city I use tractors with inverted blowers for resi. In another older,denser area I use blower toolcats with backblades to pull the snow from the garage doors, on garages usually in the backyard, and then blow the snow onto the front yards.
I'm sure you'll figure it out.


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## edgeair

BlackIrish;1144590 said:


> Depends how close to the garage door you can get, clean everything and not drive the auger into the expensive garage door. I've never had a blower on a ss to do resi's like yours.
> In one area of the city I use tractors with inverted blowers for resi. In another older,denser area I use blower toolcats with backblades to pull the snow from the garage doors, on garages usually in the backyard, and then blow the snow onto the front yards.
> I'm sure you'll figure it out.


I don't claim to have figured everything out, and am always learning new things. That being said, I have operated tractors for about 20 years doing snow removal, and we have had the skid online now for 3 full winters, this is our 4th. So I do have some experience in this area 

We are able to get reasonably close to the garage doors (as close as you can with any bucket or blade) and not risk any damage. It takes some care on the part of the operator no matter what you are using to get close. As long as you don't rush up to the door pushing too much snow ahead of the blower faster than it can take it, there is a very small amount left behind. Our customers have been made well aware of the fact that we will be leaving a small amount of snow in front of the doors and beside parked vehicles, and they have no problem with that.

Maybe my experiences with ss blower is unique, but I wouldn't trade it for anything. I have used just about every combination available for snow removal, with the exception of the toolcat and backblade - which I would like to try someday. I would choose the ss over just about any other machine for its efficiency and ease of use, as well as the quality of job it does.

Another great thing about the ss blower vs. a 3 pt hitch tractor blower is your cutting angle is fully adjustable on the fly. Nothing is more frustrating going from gravel to a hard packed snow base driveway that someone drove on or hired you later in the season to service and not being able to get it scraped down. I know you can jump out of the cab, clean the snow off your top link and hope its not frozen and try to adjust your angle, only to have to do it again on the next driveway. I like to leave a slight skim behind when I'm doing a driveway so that I don't do any damage to it, but a 2 or 3 inch hard icy crust is too much.


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## Chineau

*Back blade for Toolcat*

So I just checked the Bobcat site and don't find a back blade for the Toolcat can you direct me to any aftermarket manufacteres. This looks like it might be faster what say you Black Irish?tymusic


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## BlackIrish

edgeair all my comments were meant positively.
From what you last posted , you will have no problems. Your customers will like the cleaner job.

Chineau I use Arctic back blades, made in tymusic, they either slide into the receiver or hang off the 3 pth. Has down pressure also so it scrapes nice. There are pics in my album and in my threads.


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## blowerman

I run all standard flow with no problems on driveways. When it comes to blowing back snow banks, I find skiddy's with blowers are a waste of time.
To cure the problem of snow build up in front of garages, on the last pass up a driveway the operator turns and in a scooping motion blows away anything that builds up within a few inches of the door. This is why you need the control kit build into your machine, as we are always moving the shoot & deflector around to direct the snow to exact spots in the yards.


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## Maxamillion67

The other night at work I used the skid steer with a blower on it. I never used one before so I thought I would try it out on some piles of snow that were blocking a walk way. It did a better job then I thought it would do. Yes it would have been faster to move them with a bucket, but with the blower the piles were gone. I would think about buying one if snow plowing was my main job, but the five or six grand for one is to expensive for what I do with my machine.


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## Schuley

we just picked one up this year for our 175 New Holland standard flow. I was nervous about how they would work on a standard flow model. Ours is 72hp I think? I was pleasantly surprised as to how well it worked. I don't think we will be using it 100% of the time though. We get a lot of 1-2" snow falls and the blades are faster on most stuff. I've used it to blow some piles back and also blew a path to a building about 80yds off the road. It worked well, and like someone else stated, there were no piles, it tossed the snow 30' away over a large area. We are forcasted to get 6-10" in a couple days and will probably be using it on our resi's and some small lots we have with limited space for piles. Learning curve for sure, and we're trying to figure out how to best implement it into our route to maximize its usefulness.


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## fyrwood guy

howdy all, i have been researchin' skidsteer snowblowers and just ran into this thread.i have a 1845c which i bought brand new in '86 which i use to load tree length firewood logs onto my firewood processor.it has a foot operated valve on the floor to open and shut the jaws on my multi-teck log grapple. my question is....how well will a erskine es2010 snowblower work on my skid?....and will i need to modify my exsisting hyd system?

the sales rep says i will like it & no mods needed. I WOULD LIKE TO BELEIVE HIM!!!!

but i'm thinkin' i'd like to read what you guy's have to say....before i buy.

i'm going to use it here at my house/business only to keep my woodyard(gravel surface) cleaned up .....and my chainsaw shop too.


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## edgeair

I don't know the particulars of your machine and the blower you are considering, but the main obstacle I ran into until I went with the same make of blower as my machine was that the interface between your machine and blower will likely not match up (ie. the electrical controls). You will need some form of a separate control box that will tell your blower where to divert the hydraulic flow (to turn the chute or deflector).

You need to know the GPM and pressure of your skid and match it EXACTLY to the blower motor flow requirement. That is very important. Don't trust your dealer knows this automatically, confirm this for yourself before you sign the cheque. Most dealers I run into don't even know what they are selling, I have to read them the brochure before they know anything about it - quite sad really.


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## fyrwood guy

thanks for the quick reply edgeair!

i was told the GPM of my machine is 14 [email protected] PSI

here's a link to what i'm thinking of buying

http://www.erskineattachments.com/snow_attachments_catalog/?view=skid_steer_snow_blower&p=4

william

tymusic


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## edgeair

Hi again,

Yes, that model of blower looks like it 'should' work with your machine. Although your machine is a bit on the low end for GPM. The lowest machine I've seen operate was a Toolcat and it was running a 6' blower at 27 GPM. It was adequate for residential driveways, but I wouldn't want to do piles with it. 

Our skid is a Bobcat S250 (80 hp) with 37 GPM and it works very well for even the heavy stuff.

My gut feeling is that if you don't have real heavy snow, you should be ok. But I wouldn't expect it to perform amazingly well to be frank. You just don't have the GPM's to get high performance.


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## Neige

edgeair;1137094 said:


> There is a large variance in performance with skid steer blowers. A typical standard flow machine will have 12-18 gals per minute of flow at the couplers. Our S250 has 37 gal per minute flow. Over twice as much flow makes a big difference. Its like taking a 50 hp tractor and blowing snow side by side with a 110hp tractor. I have talked with guys that didn't keep the blower around because they were disappointed with its performance.
> 
> Are you sure about this, everything I hear is that there is an improved performance but more than 100% I have never heard.
> 
> Our blower performance compares very well to a similar powered tractor (75hp on the S250). I can throw snow 50 - 75 ft, and I blow back my piles regularly with it. It will slow down under load and labour down the engine, but it just keeps pouring the snow out the chute.
> 
> A great feature of hydraulic blowers is there are no shear bolts to replace, the flow just bypasses if you get a jam. Great feature for piles.
> 
> They are not perfect, but you would be hard pressed to find a better machine for resis.
> 
> For a guy with 20 years experience with an ag tractor I am very surprised you find a SS that much better.
> 
> Ok, maybe a toolcat with a blower....





edgeair;1144578 said:


> That seems strange given our experiences. I would put our machine against the tractor (similar hp) any day. Any speed loss when blowing in a straight line due to hydraulic efficiency (inefficiency) is more than made up for by the extra maneuverability you get with the skid.
> 
> When blowing resi drives I am not sure where the maneuverability becomes such a big deal, most drives are pretty straight forward.
> 
> You stated you have 75 pto hp on your tractor. Well, that is not a direct comparison to your previous skid. Your 75 pto hp tractor is actually close to engine hp of 100 hp (hence the model number) so you are not comparing apples to apples by any means.
> 
> That is a very unfair statement for a fact a Kubota M7040 is 71 HP engine and 64 PTO, and I believe your S250 is 75HP. The Kubota M8540 comes in at 85.5 HP engine and 76 HP PTO
> 
> Your tractor looses a significant amount of hp before it gets to the business end also. You would need to have about a 40 pto hp tractor to be a fair comparison to your previous skid. I doubt then you would be satisfied that the tractor was the better machine. You don't need skads of hp to blow a residential driveway! You need maneuverability, visibility, and controllability.
> 
> I think I just proved that in all fairness a 71 HP Kubota compares to a 75 HP Skid steer.
> I also find that you have a full 360 visibility with an ag tractor, that is not the case with a SS. I find the ag tractor very easy to control and extremely comfortable, I guess that for maneuverability the SS is better but not sure its really needed on resi drives.
> 
> BTW, off topic, how are you finding the Kubota for reliability? We looked at getting one this year (as they were less money than the green or blue machines) but decided to go green. After talking to guys around here, you can hardly give the things away used, even with low hours, as they have been having all kinds of problems with them (front axle, transmission, electronics, oil leaks, fit and finish etc.).
> 
> I have owned Kubota's for over 25 years now, presently own 14 of them and never, over all this time have I had any of the issues you have mentioned. My only beef is that the earlier models the cabs rusted out and the paint fades. But as far as reliability I can honestly say they have been very very good for us.
> 
> The engines are bullet proof, but it seems the rest of the tractor is second rate and falls apart around the engine. We also looked at the operating weights, and the Kubota didn't even compare to the others (to the tune of a few thousand pounds). That means a lot to me (thinner metal? less reinforcing? More ballast required). That few thousand pounds means a lot less spinning of the tires. Not meaning to cut up your tractor, but just wondering what your experience has been with it.
> 
> Back on topic, a standard flow machine that is rated at 75 engine hp is usually around 25 to 30 hydraulic hp, a high flow machine (high flow as in 37 gpm, not 26 like some machines quote) is around 50 hydraulic hp (roughly double). Yes you do have more loss than a PTO no doubt, but you more than make up for it with increased efficiency. Using a tractor, is like that scene in Austin powers where the car is too long for a 3 point turn in that hallway (back and forth, turn wheel, back up, shift, turn wheel, go forward, shift, turn wheel and repeat). We use both so we know. We have a 100hp (PTO) tractor and a 75 hp skid (roughly 50 hydraulic hp). While I can push more snow through my PTO blower going in a straight line, it doesn't blow as far (doesn't matter for resis) as the skid, nor can I maneuver as well with the tractor.
> 
> I am sorry but I really don't get it with all this maneuvering on a resi drive. Are you saying you drive in forward and then turn around near the garage and drive out forward to the street. If that is the case then yes there is no way I could do that with an ag tractor safely.
> 
> FYI, we are on the edge of that area in Ontario where they got 1.5m (6 feet) of snow over the last 3 days, we got about 3 feet of lake effect and at no point did we need to slow our bobcat down due to not being enough power to blow the snow. The skid steer blower doesn't plug up as much either. We usually meet up with the two machines (tractor and skid) at the end of both routes at a set of condo type driveways (doubles and singles). The skid does about 5 driveways in the same time it takes the tractor to do 2, and the guy on the tractor is more experienced than the guy on the skid, so I don't think its cause he is a slow operator.
> 
> I would love to see a video of your skid doing drives, I have tried a toolcat, and also a skid steer, and never have I been able to out blow an ag tractor. With those amounts of snow I am truly amazed you are blowing away the ag tractor.
> 
> You can have a high flow blower and machine, but if its still not the right match for pump size vs. flow rate, it won't work well. Mixing manufacturers doesnt' seem to work well either for some reason. Some manufacturers consider 20 gpm or more high flow. My machine in standard flow mode is 26 gpm, so I don't agree with anything under 30 gpm being called "high flow". Some snowblower manufacturers tried to jump into the skidsteer snowblower market without figuring it out, and their units seem to be having a lot of issues with regards to power.
> 
> I actually prefer to blow back our piles in the parking lots with the skid over the tractor also. The tractor tends to spin out before the skid does which is opposite to what you might think but we do it everyday it snows here, I expect our pounds per square inch of tire area is more on the skid.
> 
> I have a question is the ag tractor that you have been making all these comparisons a 4 wheel drive? I will tell anyone that if you are trying to blow back banks don't go at it with the full width of the blower, we usually only use around 1/3 the blower width.
> 
> The other advantage is you can raise the blower as high as you want to cut into a pile, tractor you are limited to about 3 feet. I make better time doing my piles with the skid. When you have a solid mass of snow pouring out the chute and its throwing it still a good 30 - 40 feet, I don't think you can really expect much more. I've seen a guy locally that has a truck loading chute on a machine like mine, and he can load trucks faster than a payloader with his blower (some truckers don't like the blower unless they have the heated box).
> 
> I'm also surprised that maher871 would choose a bucket over a blower. It takes far more time to dump and cycle a bucket than you would to slowly and steadily move ahead with the blower. Not to mention the blower does a much cleaner job and doesn't leave piles of snow like the bucket does.
> 
> There is another operator in our mid sized town that uses an S250 (same machine as mine) with a bucket to do driveways. His driveways are ugly (piles on the lawn, gouged sod, very icy) and already have large visibility obscuring piles, AND it takes him about 10 -20 times longer to do a driveway than it does us with our blower. Funny story that comes to mind, we have a driveway right beside one of his and I was blowing it at the same time he was bucketing his one time last winter. He was part way into it when I arrived, and he actually stopped and watched me as I pulled in and blew out our driveway in the matter of about a minute, I'm pretty sure he was drooling, as I caught him sitting there staring at my machine do this. I waved as I pulled out, and he just turned his head and resumed his bucketing lol.....


It took me a while to come back with an answer. I think it was important because I really felt that you were under stating what an ag tractor can do. We both have a right to our opinions and that's all I am doing, is stating my experience with an ag tractor.


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## edgeair

Neige;1317327 said:


> It took me a while to come back with an answer. I think it was important because I really felt that you were under stating what an ag tractor can do. We both have a right to our opinions and that's all I am doing, is stating my experience with an ag tractor. Lastly I would have a 86 inch blower on the ag tractor compared to your 72 inch blower, thats 14 inches more with every pass, that should improve the efficiency of the ag tractor.


I guess it all comes down to what works for ones applications. As I said, we have both the ag tractor and the skid. Each machine has its benefits, and its preferred application. There is no such thing as "one machine suits all".

As far as the visibility argument, you do not have 360 degree vis from an ag tractor, and you have to crank yourself around 1/2 the time you are blowing snow (not just turn your head). While we could split hairs over what has the better vis (yes, some skids have horrible vis, but so do some tractors), the fact with a skid is the blower is in FRONT. That advantage when maneuvering around parked cars, turnarounds, boulevards, RV parking etc etc is unsurpassed. I would estimate that we would not be able to do about 15 - 20% of our driveways if we did not have the skid. The tractor just couldn't do them. Another 40% of our driveways are done faster with the skid. The rest, are as you say, straight in and out. I have seen your tractor video in the past, and it is very impressive. However, looking at the driveways you are doing, yes that is the machine for the job. If you pulled into over 1/2 of the driveways we do, I know for a fact I could pull out of there much faster than you could with your machine. Some of them you simply wouldn't be able to do.

Yes, my blower may be 14" narrower, but the cycle time is much faster with a skid. You can't move back and forth as many times per minute with a tractor. Some driveways you will end up doing the same number of passes anyways due to dimensions. If I were doing solely driveways with this machine, I could put a larger blower on it which would be the same as yours or larger. However then I loose my maneuverability advantage over what I have now.

Im quite sure about the flow of 37 GPM on my machine. A standard machine has less than 20. That is 100% more flow. The PSI on my machine is also much higher than others. A recent posters machine was rated 14 GPM @2000 psi. I'm 37 GPM at 3300 psi. I'm not bragging about that, I'm just analyzing the facts. That is a huge difference in hydraulic hp. There is a formula to figure out hydraulic hp, but I don't have access to that now. Suffice it to say, my machine has almost 3X the GPM, but when you factor in the 1300 psi increase in system pressure, that has a further effect on the outcome. I traded another skid on the one I have now for that very reason. And I am very happy with the resulting performance. I imagine if I put a blower on my previous machine, I may have the same opinion as you do on skid steer blowers.

In comparing the tractor hp to a skid, one has to look at hydraulic horsepower, not engine hp. That is why a 40 pto hp tractor is what you would compare to when assessing against a skid.

Why do you really need to have that much power anyway for a resi drive? You only need to blow it 20 ft generally, any more than that you just tick off the neighbour. A skid or toolcat has plenty of power to take care of that - so why do you say that you didn't get the performance you wanted from them in the past? I prefer to use the skid over the tractor when it comes to piles, even though the tractor is 100hp vs my skids roughly 50 hydraulic hp. You can control the feed rate much better, you don't have the shearpins to replace if you hit something, you can raise the blower 12 feet in the air if you want, etc.... I can shove more snow out the chute of the tractor, but only if it doesn't spin out (yes it is 4wd and has a loader with a 1500 lb pusher helping the traction) or doesn't pop a pin. I only usually take a couple feet of a bank at a time with either.

The Orange tractor I was talking about was one of the previous posters 100 hp that was being compared to a standard flow skid steer. I agree with that, no comparison, and that was the nature of a number of my comments - you must compare apples to apples, and I feel strongly that if you are going to use a skid steer blower for commercial use, you need a high flow machine and blower.

I'm glad you have not had reliability issues with the Orange. Around here its all you hear about. My dad owned one for 6 months, put 100 hours on it and traded it back in because in that time he had to have the transmission reworked (slipping), engine seals redone (coolant leak), A/C system rebuilt and electrical problems which were still not fixed at trade in. The Kubota dealer here (a relatively large dealer) wouldn't sell us one for a 'commercial' application (his words) due to the problems they have had with them over the years. All this and not to mention the fact that a similar hp New Holland or John Deere weigh 2-3000 lbs more tells you a lot also.

If you have had good luck with Orange, by all means, you should stay with them because they work for you. I'm just saying what I have seen and been told around here.

The OP's question (last year) was related to 25 driveways in a community and wondering if a skid with a blower would work any better than a plow truck. My comments were related to that question generally. In his case, I'm quite sure the skid would be the better option. Now whether an Orange tractor with an expensive pull blower would do those driveways any faster remains to be seen, but that wasn't the original question.


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## Neige

edgeair;1317374 said:


> I guess it all comes down to what works for ones applications. As I said, we have both the ag tractor and the skid. Each machine has its benefits, and its preferred application. There is no such thing as "one machine suits all".
> 
> Agree
> 
> As far as the visibility argument, you do not have 360 degree vis from an ag tractor, and you have to crank yourself around 1/2 the time you are blowing snow (not just turn your head).
> 
> watch this vid and tell me where he does not have 360 degree visibility? I agree you do need to turn yourself to look backwards 1/2 the time.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> While we could split hairs over what has the better vis (yes, some skids have horrible vis, but so do some tractors), the fact with a skid is the blower is in FRONT. That advantage when maneuvering around parked cars, turnarounds, boulevards, RV parking etc etc is unsurpassed.
> 
> I am not splitting hairs, its a fact you have 360 visibility in an ag tractor and that is not nearly the case in a skid steer. I will post a pic of the SS, yes driving forward you can see well but try looking beyond 180 degrees, I don't think so.
> 
> I would estimate that we would not be able to do about 15 - 20% of our driveways if we did not have the skid. The tractor just couldn't do them. Another 40% of our driveways are done faster with the skid. The rest, are as you say, straight in and out. I have seen your tractor video in the past, and it is very impressive. However, looking at the driveways you are doing, yes that is the machine for the job. If you pulled into over 1/2 of the driveways we do, I know for a fact I could pull out of there much faster than you could with your machine. Some of them you simply wouldn't be able to do.
> 
> Since I have no idea what your drives look like, I cannot comment. I can say that in my market I have yet to have a single drive that cannot be done by ag tractor. Maybe you can post some pics of these drives and then I could concede you are correct.
> 
> Yes, my blower may be 14" narrower, but the cycle time is much faster with a skid. You can't move back and forth as many times per minute with a tractor. Some driveways you will end up doing the same number of passes anyways due to dimensions. If I were doing solely driveways with this machine, I could put a larger blower on it which would be the same as yours or larger. However then I loose my maneuverability advantage over what I have now.
> 
> Ok the SS can switch from forward to reverse quicker, that's what a savings of 2 seconds a shift. AG tractors today can be shifted on the fly, so its very quick. If you check out the vid I posted its quick and seamless, and comfortable. I am still at a loss about your maneuverability as long as the blower fits the tractor will follow.
> 
> Im quite sure about the flow of 37 GPM on my machine. A standard machine has less than 20. That is 100% more flow. The PSI on my machine is also much higher than others. A recent posters machine was rated 14 GPM @2000 psi. I'm 37 GPM at 3300 psi. I'm not bragging about that, I'm just analyzing the facts. That is a huge difference in hydraulic hp. There is a formula to figure out hydraulic hp, but I don't have access to that now. Suffice it to say, my machine has almost 3X the GPM, but when you factor in the 1300 psi increase in system pressure, that has a further effect on the outcome. I traded another skid on the one I have now for that very reason. And I am very happy with the resulting performance. I imagine if I put a blower on my previous machine, I may have the same opinion as you do on skid steer blowers.
> 
> In comparing the tractor hp to a skid, one has to look at hydraulic horsepower, not engine hp. That is why a 40 pto hp tractor is what you would compare to when assessing against a skid.
> 
> I disagree, it is only fair to compare engine HP to engine HP, you cannot fault an ag tractor, because a SS uses more power to generate less PTO HP.
> 
> Why do you really need to have that much power anyway for a resi drive? You only need to blow it 20 ft generally, any more than that you just tick off the neighbour. A skid or toolcat has plenty of power to take care of that - so why do you say that you didn't get the performance you wanted from them in the past? I prefer to use the skid over the tractor when it comes to piles, even though the tractor is 100hp vs my skids roughly 50 hydraulic hp. You can control the feed rate much better, you don't have the shearpins to replace if you hit something, you can raise the blower 12 feet in the air if you want, etc.... I can shove more snow out the chute of the tractor, but only if it doesn't spin out (yes it is 4wd and has a loader with a 1500 lb pusher helping the traction) or doesn't pop a pin. I only usually take a couple feet of a bank at a time with either.
> 
> I really don't know where to go with this one, I am just amazing you would want to blow snow with a 50HP SS over a 100 HP tractor. It is a very rare occasion when I break a shear pin, and I really don't see the need to raise the blower 12 feet into the air.
> 
> The Orange tractor I was talking about was one of the previous posters 100 hp that was being compared to a standard flow skid steer. I agree with that, no comparison, and that was the nature of a number of my comments - you must compare apples to apples, and I feel strongly that if you are going to use a skid steer blower for commercial use, you need a high flow machine and blower.
> 
> I'm glad you have not had reliability issues with the Orange. Around here its all you hear about. My dad owned one for 6 months, put 100 hours on it and traded it back in because in that time he had to have the transmission reworked (slipping), engine seals redone (coolant leak), A/C system rebuilt and electrical problems which were still not fixed at trade in. The Kubota dealer here (a relatively large dealer) wouldn't sell us one for a 'commercial' application (his words) due to the problems they have had with them over the years. All this and not to mention the fact that a similar hp New Holland or John Deere weigh 2-3000 lbs more tells you a lot also.
> 
> Was this a new machine your father bought? If not, then its really not fair to make such a comment. If it was a new machine, those are serious problems, with so many different components. That would be a lot to go wrong with a new tractor in its first 100 hrs.
> 
> If you have had good luck with Orange, by all means, you should stay with them because they work for you. I'm just saying what I have seen and been told around here.
> 
> The OP's question (last year) was related to 25 driveways in a community and wondering if a skid with a blower would work any better than a plow truck. My comments were related to that question generally. In his case, I'm quite sure the skid would be the better option. Now whether an Orange tractor with an expensive pull blower would do those driveways any faster remains to be seen, but that wasn't the original question.


Once again we agree, the OP did ask about a skid blower. You answered him and all was ok. But then you answered on the subject of the ag tractor, and all the problems you have had, and how much better a skidder is. I would have gladly minded my own business, but I felt you were giving the Ag tractor a bum rap. I don't post all that often, but I will call someone out when I think they are being bias or making wrong statements. I did not come on here to change your mind, but I will question what anyone posts when my experience is different. Only in this way can an open forum like this be beneficial to everyone.


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## SNOWLORD

Hey fyrwood guy how do you like your cord king?


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## edgeair

Neige;1317541 said:


> Once again we agree, the OP did ask about a skid blower. You answered him and all was ok. But then you answered on the subject of the ag tractor, and all the problems you have had, and how much better a skidder is.
> 
> *I have never said a skid is "much better", what I said was that for my application a skid is the best machine. *
> 
> I would have gladly minded my own business, but I felt you were giving the Ag tractor a bum rap.
> 
> *I don't think I gave the Ag tractor a bum rap. I have them in my fleet, and I have used them for over 20 years both commercially and privately. The OP didn't ask whether he should buy a tractor, he wanted to know if his skid would do the job over a plow truck - and I think we can both agree that it would be a better machine for the job. Someone else brought in the ag tractor issue, and I was simply then comparing my experience with how the skid has worked for us vs. an ag tractor in the applicable role.*
> 
> I don't post all that often, but I will call someone out when I think they are being bias or making wrong statements. I did not come on here to change your mind, but I will question what anyone posts when my experience is different. Only in this way can an open forum like this be beneficial to everyone.
> 
> *Indeed. I have had different experiences than others - including yourself - who seem to think a skid cannot run a blower. That is simply not true, and that was the intent behind my posts to the OP. When set up properly, a skid is a very good machine to use for doing residential drives. *


The Kubota my dad got rid of was brand new. It also had issues with running rough in the cold and the common rail system was quite noisy. I'm not sure why it was that way, but according to the dealer, they don't sell one of those tractors that they don't see back on warranty, usually multiple times. Good thing is that it is covered by warranty, but when you need a tractor to move snow, you need a tractor to move snow.

The tractor we added to our fleet last winter was a brand new Deere with powershift transmission. I am well aware of the 'almost' seamless shifting capabilities of a newer tractor, but it still doesn't allow you to maneuver the same way as a skid.

Personally I prefer to let the tractor do the big stuff - the wide open spaces - and use the skid to clean up and do the resis. It doesn't always work out that way, but thats what I like.

I find the sightlines are better in a skid, despite the higher position you sit in in the tractor. The bars in the cab corners don't block any more than those of an ag tractor, and looking out the back is little different than looking out over the hood of the tractor. I think to say that one is better than the other is splitting hairs.

Having said that, I did consider a pull type blower such as yours. However for our operation, we would have to go back and do 15 - 20 % of the drives with either a skid or a walk behind, or drop those customers (not an option as they are the premium contracts we have).

I think it is safe to say that our business models are different, so what works for you, will not work for me. That doesn't make my experiences with our skid any less credible.

If I can think of it this coming winter, I will get a vid of our machine in operation. Then maybe you can satisfy some of your doubts.


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## fyrwood guy

SNOWLORD;1317688 said:


> Hey fyrwood guy how do you like your cord king?


bought brand new in '86....."I LOVE IT"


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## DaySpring Services

I'm with Neige 100% on the tractors over skids. Like I stated I ran a 75hp skid with a high flow blower. Production was very slow. Yes it would throw snow 40-50 feet, as long as you weren't going too fast. I hear more and more people having the same complaint about skid blowers. Maybe it's just that fact that in Buffalo we get heavy, wet lake effect snow, and lots of it. It's nothing for us to go to bed at 11-12 and wake up at 3 with at least a foot on the ground.Like I said they do have their place. 

I would love to line up a high flow skid with blower against a tractor with inverted blower. I dont think it would be much of a competition. I'm alot more comfortable operating my tractor then my skid. Skids tend to slide alot more in the snow from my experience.

Finally to answer your question about why you need so much hp with a tractor. It's not so much the driveway but the end of the driveway where the municipal plows pile that heavy crap.


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## gvm

*Check out the Fab S.Houle Section*

Check under the industry equipment forums section in Fabrication S.Houle. You may find what you are looking for.


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## Neige

gvm;1318128 said:


> Check under the industry equipment forums section in Fabrication S.Houle. You may find what you are looking for.


I did not know that SHoule made a skid steer hydraulic blower. When did they come out with that?


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