48 replies to this topic

[hammerdwn20]

That sounds better, I just opened the link and read the specs.

There seem to be lots of old Bolens blowers around, at least here. Is it worth it to convert one?
And from answers here, it seems they are available in drives in both directions.

Dan

Single stage blowers are common. Dual stage not so much and from what I hear they seem to be too heavy for our little garden tractors.
These bercomacs have a great reputation and it's still heavy but I was able to pick it up off the back of my pickup by myself.

[AA Hayes]

Single stage blowers are common. Dual stage not so much and from what I hear they seem to be too heavy for our little garden tractors.
These bercomacs have a great reputation and it's still heavy but I was able to pick it up off the back of my pickup by myself.

They two stage blowers for the large frames are very heavy. The one I have on my ht20 comes in at around 500lbs. But it will blow straight through anything it meets.

[hammerdwn20]

 

Gearbox showed up today. the hollow bore will slide right over the input shaft of the blower. If the driveshaft angles dont work out ill just slide a jackshaft through it and use a chain drive to the input of the blower. that could also allow me to fine tune the impeller speed by changing out sprockets.

 

I have to be back at work for 2am or id be in the garage tonight figuring this out. I really need to learn to start projects for winter in the summer. 

[DL-North]

That box looks perfect, keep the pics coming.

 

As for the larger Bolens model snowblower, yes, I got one this fall, it's a monster.  

It's in nice condition, probably got it cheap because it's so large.

Not sure what I'll do with it, originally got it for my Iseki 152, but now ??

 

Dan

[hammerdwn20]

Tonight I got the pulley off the input shaft of the blower and mocked it up. The plan is to put a few tacks in the blower bracket to check hood to chute clearance then work on the driveline to make sure everything is functional. After I know it will work I'll make a permanent blower lift bracket.

[hammerdwn20]

[hammerdwn20]

 

Lift bracket tacked on to check lift and driveshaft clearances

 

 

Blower lifted up to full height

 

 

Front view of full height

[AA Hayes]

You have got some surprising lift height on that blower. How did you accomplish that height?
Looking good!

[hammerdwn20]

I think thats about normal for bolens blowers.??? My single stage went up about that high. I jacked the front axle up with my bottle jack  and maxed the jack out before the blower left the ground. I had about 4 1/2" to the bottom of the tire at that point.  Im confident i have plenty of travel above and below the horizon to handle my driveway

[AA Hayes]

My 2 stage only gets about 5" of clearance when lifted up totally. I am thinking it is the push rods the previous owner had build for it, I believe there are around 25 inches from centre to centre on the Clevis pins.

[hammerdwn20]

My 2 stage only gets about 5" of clearance when lifted up totally. I am thinking it is the push rods the previous owner had build for it, I believe there are around 25 inches from centre to centre on the Clevis pins.

i measured mine today and im at 25 3/4"  This is turned in from where it was set for the single stage blower so it was probably around 26" originally

[hammerdwn20]

 

 

Here are the gearbox mounting plates I made up tonight.

 

 

gearbox on the input shaft of the blower. It will be held on by two 3/8" bolts on either side

 

I also cut and drilled two pieces of 3/8" thick 2x3" flat stock for mounting the lift arms to the blower housing once I cut the tack welds off.  That will make the lift arms removeable for storage and  keep the blower unmodified in case i ever wanted to sell it

[Husky]

I hope that height agrees with your driveline. If you have too steep of an angle on your universal it will present issues even with a slip shaft universal setup. I love the pictures. I did a mod to get a RAD blower hooked up to my DGT 1700 so this post is very interesting.

[DL-North]

That's looking real good. A question, how are you aligning the box with the input shaft?

It should be close if not better with that key. Can you lock the box onto the shaft before tightening the box?

A lovejoy between them might have been good.

Dan

[hammerdwn20]

Box is just slid over the input shaft of the blower. I clamped the angle to the sides of the blower and drilled the mounting holes with it in place. I'm not sure about holding the key in place yet. Maybe just put a full length key in and a plug at the open bore of the gearbox to hold it in?

I got a rough calculation of 33* for the u joint angle at the gearbox if I remember correctly. I was going to just try it out and see if it had any binding by hand first then run it and check for vibration. I'm not well versed in u joint angles and if they need to cancel each other out.
I can still add a chain drive and a jackshaft if I need to but I was hoping to keep with simple
Opinions?