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I built this snowblower out of an older MTD/Sears that I bought from a friend a few years ago. It was originally only 40" wide, now it is 46" to clear the rear tires. I had to build the chassis myself, I reused as much of the original drive parts that I could, so I would be able to find parts in the future.
As you can see the whole unit stays assembled and drops out together. I can drop the mower and hang the blower in about a half an hour. It takes about another hour to add the lights and trade the handles out and hook up the wiring. I wanted to make it look as if the factory built it so I painted it up Dixon Blue and black. A coworker came up with the name 'POLARBEAR 46' as Dixon names their commercial mowers after bears (ie: Grizzly and Kodiak).
The snowblower uses the same mounting locations as the mower deck. The mower lifting pedal didn't offer enough leverage, and the latch worked backwards for the snow blower, so I reworked that as well. Unbolt he stock pedal and refasten the longer pedal with a normally unlatched lock and now the blower floats without latching, but you can lock it in place by pushing down with your heel, even with snowmobile boots on.
I added electric motors to turn the chute and adjust the spout (a modified window lift arm from a Ford Taurus). The buttons to control these are mounted on the handles, I used some old snowmobile handlebars for these so they are heated as well. I made the wiring harness from low-temp extension cord wire and it all goes back to the battery to a single plug. The headlights are just little driving light assemblies that I mounted on some brackets that bolt to the front of the tractor. The wiring for these go back and plug into the harness that I installed for the headlight for mowing grass. I also added a tail light for blowing snow, but it stays on all year round.
The rear tires are ATV tires mounted on a pair of trailer rims that I drilled holes into and welded pipe fittings into so I could fill them with fluid. There is also three weights bolted to the bottom of the tractor that stay on all year. There is also a small weight box built into the end of the snowblower chassis that acts as a counter-weight to lift the blower easier. I even added wheel weights last year to help with the traction. I didn't want to use chains because I would have to move the tires out more for them to fit
All in all it works fairly well, but the chute need to be larger diameter and taller. The tractor has a single-cylinder Kohler Command 20 and seems to have enough power to run it.
So what do you guys think?
As you can see the whole unit stays assembled and drops out together. I can drop the mower and hang the blower in about a half an hour. It takes about another hour to add the lights and trade the handles out and hook up the wiring. I wanted to make it look as if the factory built it so I painted it up Dixon Blue and black. A coworker came up with the name 'POLARBEAR 46' as Dixon names their commercial mowers after bears (ie: Grizzly and Kodiak).
The snowblower uses the same mounting locations as the mower deck. The mower lifting pedal didn't offer enough leverage, and the latch worked backwards for the snow blower, so I reworked that as well. Unbolt he stock pedal and refasten the longer pedal with a normally unlatched lock and now the blower floats without latching, but you can lock it in place by pushing down with your heel, even with snowmobile boots on.
I added electric motors to turn the chute and adjust the spout (a modified window lift arm from a Ford Taurus). The buttons to control these are mounted on the handles, I used some old snowmobile handlebars for these so they are heated as well. I made the wiring harness from low-temp extension cord wire and it all goes back to the battery to a single plug. The headlights are just little driving light assemblies that I mounted on some brackets that bolt to the front of the tractor. The wiring for these go back and plug into the harness that I installed for the headlight for mowing grass. I also added a tail light for blowing snow, but it stays on all year round.
The rear tires are ATV tires mounted on a pair of trailer rims that I drilled holes into and welded pipe fittings into so I could fill them with fluid. There is also three weights bolted to the bottom of the tractor that stay on all year. There is also a small weight box built into the end of the snowblower chassis that acts as a counter-weight to lift the blower easier. I even added wheel weights last year to help with the traction. I didn't want to use chains because I would have to move the tires out more for them to fit
All in all it works fairly well, but the chute need to be larger diameter and taller. The tractor has a single-cylinder Kohler Command 20 and seems to have enough power to run it.
So what do you guys think?
