364 snowblower
 

Now that I'm back in FL waiting for school to start tomorrow, I finally had time to upload these pictures from my camera. I bought this 364 snowblower right around Christmastime, and I finished this project the night before my flight back down here. I was looking for a 450, but I think I like this better. The lift is more straightforward, as is the drive system. Less things to go wrong.


'Finished' is being used rather loosely...I need to make a different length lift link again, as the OEM one lifted it too high and didn't let it touch the ground, and mine only lifts it about 2" off the ground. I also discovered that the float is rusted stuck, and the front of the tractor can be lifted off the ground by lowering the snowblower all the way. I had to make mounts to connect the snowblower to the tractor. The OEM mounts tied in with the 3-point hitch, and since I've never seen them and had no idea what those pieces look like, other than the drawings in the parts diagrams, I just started over and came up with my own. Everything bolts to existing holes in the frame. The resulting pieces mount it solidly to the frame. Oddly enough, the drive pulley that mounts in the QA misaligns the belt by 3/4", so it had to be modified to get the belt to line up.

While we never got any more snow while I was home (funny how that works...buy a snowblower and it never snows again), I did run it a little bit just to make sure the old belt wasn't going to self-destruct. I am amazed how quiet this thing is. It cannot be heard over the tractor, and it doesn't vibrate at all. The belt tensioning (spring-loaded tensioner) on this is MUCH better than the QA-36/42A/B snowthrowers. I may modify my QA-36A to use a similar tensioner. Overall it seems to be an improvement over the single-stage units; the chute rotator is also much better and can't rotate by itself.

This thing is REALLY heavy...about 300#. I would definitely not want this on a tractor that didn't have hydraulic lift and power steering.

I also mounted some new tires on the rear. That is the first set of new rear tires I have ever bought for the 50+ tractors I have owned over the years. I desperately need new front tires, as one is filled with slime and oozing from several holes. Hopefully I can afford some V61s for it when I get a job.

Cool 1872 and snowblower, Matt! :ThumbsUp:

Looks tough Matt, great job making the rear mounts :beer2:

Whats with the ball mounted upside down on the hitch plate?

Jeff (teet)

The upside-down ball was for jacking up the rear of the tractor and swinging it 90 degrees to get it into its former sideways parking place in part of the barn.

sweet, I was thinking along the lines of a jack point, but thought Id ask anyway...good idea :beerchug:

Jeff (teet)

man i wanna see that thing blow some snow. so do you plan on putting a 3pt on the 1872 for a plow since you got the big ags for it or will your put them on one of your other tractors for plow days?

Nice job Matt. :ThumbsUp: Tires look great too, them the ones you got from Santa? Pretty sweet looking on the tractor. Again, I am sure your old man will have a blast using that in the snow, right along with the loader you rigged up. I can only hope my son does these things for me when I get older......to bad your in the sunny South and can't enjoy them! :biggrin2.gif: Actually, its probably more likely that YOU will get snow where you are instead of where your tractors are! :bash2:

Nick-

Only if I build one. I can't afford an SGT 3-point. The tires aren't going to fit under the fenders of anything else I own, so they'll stay on there.

MH-

Yep, those are the tires. Sadly my dad would rather use his Farmall and the walk-behind:confused2.gif" instead of this.

Great setup Matt. Thanks for sharing it with us!