I have a Cat 277B with standard flow hyd. Any brand better than the other? Is there a certain design I should look for? Certain place i should buy from? I don't know anything about snow blowers....lol
The Erskine/quick attach.com blower is good, well thought out. I don't think they are built as HD as they should be. Depending on your application, and since you dont have high flow I would assume this is light use type attachment the Erskine model would be just fine.
Hi,I have a 763 high flow and was thinking of putting a snow blower attachment on it -or a plow . Which would you guys recommend and which brand? I do alot of drive ways that are pretty long and narrow-and lined with shrubs on both sides of it. I cant get my truck down there and I am tired of using a snow blower- I have never used snow blower attachtment before- is their speed adjustable (how far they throw the snow) or is it just one speed? I also do a couple of parking lots . I live in NY on Long Island. We get snow during the winter - last winter we had alot- so I figure I better get prepared sooner than later. Any help or suggestions would be great. Thanks..Chris
The distance they throw is regulated by a spout at the end of the discharge chute. With a machine as old as the 763 you would need the additional attachment handle to run all the functions. If your machine is newer and has the attachment switchs on the machines handles, it is plug and play which is very nice. There are some applications where nothing else will work but a blower, but anytime you can push it instead it will be faster. Blowing is a slower process. However if my option was a small walk behind blower, no doubt I would get the attachment. Sometimes you can find them used. I would go to Quickattach.com (which is also Erskine) and check out their products. I think for this type application they are better than Loftess. The heavy commercial type I think Buhler is the way to go.
My machine has joy sticks at the end of the handles- I do not have foot controls, are these the switches you are talking about? I will look into all of your choices. Thank you for your help.Chris
While you can regulate the rate of discharge with the throttle, your risk of clogging the chute increases dramatically. Any good blower with have a remote adjustable chute to direct the snow. If your hedges are too high to put it where you want, you could get a truck loading chute which will let you place the snow up and over the hedge. This option will only work with a high flow machine.
Thanks Steve- I think if my machine can handle it I will look into the longer shoot- My machine is a high flow, I just have to get the specs on how much it flows. Thanks again. Chris
If you have electro/hydraulic switches on your control handles than you are likely plug and play which will save you from getting the add on control handle which is awkward. Your machine makes around 30 gpm, which will run it just fine. Although the truck loading chute would like a bit more. Hopefully you don't need that. Its another 1200 dollars. I have the Quick Attach model 2400XL with the truck loading chute. I push 41 gpm and I would not want any less when running the chute.
Thanks for the info- what do you think of a plow for the front of the bobcat? I can fit a 7 footer down all of the drives I do- They are more economical , the reason I ask is with a snow blower I will be sending the snow over the hedges and into the adjacent driveways. The houses here are pretty close together. I dont need an angry mob chasing me down if I blow snow on their drive ways. One of my neighbors brought up that concern. Also I have ott tracks on the machine the ones from solid deal how are they in the snow? Thanks for all of your help and advise. Chris
Personally if you can do it with blade that would be faster. The issue can be is where to put the snow once you have a couple feet on the ground. I have never run OTT in the Winter but I would think it would be hard on your improved surfaces.
if you have some extra time, find one that needs a little cosmetic work (new skid shoes, dent repairs, etc). They are very expensive new and if I were ever to buy new like that would make me feel guilty about altering it. Once you've found one, check it over. GREASE GREASE GREASE! Salt just kills these units. I've always reinforced the side plates and also added roller wheels to the front and rear of the skid shoes. This greatly increases the life of the unit. Its also easy to make you own control box if you're not pre-wired. Its just a series of rocker switches with a power supply (usually 12v). Make a box and make your own wiring set-up if needed.
Do the standard flow snoblowers work well enough in deep snow, say 3 foot or should I only look for a high flow?
What's most important is that the hydraulic motor on the blower is properly selected to match the hydraulic flow capability of the skid. Lower skid flow equates to lower available horsepower, which results in slower forward movement, other things being the same. For instance, Bobcat offers several different hydraulic motor packages for the same blower, depending on which skid the blower is to be used on. A blower intended for high flow will result in poor performance when used on a skid with only low flow. In addition, the terms high and low flow are not consistently well defined and vary between skids. A properly selected hydraulic match will result in the fan speed being kept up where it should be, consistent with the horsepower available from the skid. What can generally be said, assuming properly matched systems, is that lower flow (i.e. lower HP) systems have to proceed at a slower forward pace that higher flow (i.e. higher HP) systems in order to achieve satisfactory performance.
EXCELLENT ! ... VERY Well Put !!! .... there is virtually no structural integrity difference between a so called "Hi-flow" or "Standard-flow " blowers, in all brands, other than when the size of the blower (width & fan diam) is increased ...my Buhler blower is specifically designed as a Commercial blower, you can see quite a diff. in strength compaired to their 3pt pto driven tractor version or the Farm King models...... it just means that you require a machine with a higher gpm aux flow as well as more engine Hp to benifit from it. 2 Years ago I took my machine to a fuel injection shop ..... had the shop dial in my fuel pump ... they gave me an estimated 15-20% more Hp ... it made a HUGE difference to all my Hi-flow attachments ... they don't stall out as much anymore because the engine will maintain it's rpm better and not reducing the gpm flow rate either...... BUT I am also the ONLY one to operate my Iron .....cheers
Thanks for the explaination.
Third Post.
Bottom line is a high flow unit is going to move move snow more quickly. Just an FYI for you guys, Erskine and Quick Attach are both made by the same company under different labels. They are also OEM contractors for skid steer manufacturers, quality units. I have the high flow model under the Erskine label, I've been very happy with it. When operating, pay close attention to the pitch of the howl from the blower fan. After operating a while, you should be able to anticipate when the chute will clog to keep your production up without having to stop to clear the chute.