Truck-mounted snowblower?

[weedingqueen]

Tried a search on this, and came up empty, so hopefully this question hasn't been asked a dozen times this month already....
Any of you here use a truck-mounted snowblower for commercial or residential accounts? (Hanson, or other)
We've been running two Honda commercial walkbehind units with two-stage 38" blowers, 13 hp and 18 hp, for 7 years and they've been great. Unfortunately, they're both on their second motors, Honda's discontinued the line, and when you've sliced through a 2ft plowbank like butter with an 18hp blower, there is no going back to those 8-11hp wanna-be's currently out there...
I'm very intrigued by the truck-mounted, but no one around here has one, and hubby's concerned with visibilty (Dog? what dog?) and repairs (i.e. shear pins, engine issues, etc).
I'm also inspired by the idea of being out of the blowing snow and icy winds at 2AM - heated cab? Oh yeah! I'll still get out and shovel the walks.... :

Any one here have or use one?

Thanks!

[Georges Lawn & Mulch]

Nobody has them because they are not the best equipment for the job. Most pro plowers agree they are best used for wide open areas where you have adequate room to direct the flow of snow. Plows are much faster for residential and commercial jobs. Blowers are best used for deep snows or huge drifts that prove to be a challenge for plows. Even then most powers go to a loader of some type to handle that problem. Another thing to consider is the cost of such a beast, they start around $7,000.00 and go to about $12,000.00 depending on the width and engine size. Check out one of the snow plowing forums for more info on the blowers.

[TRANSMAN]

Did you Google Search ????

Tried a search on this, and came up empty, so hopefully this question hasn't been asked a dozen times this month already....
Any of you here use a truck-mounted snowblower for commercial or residential accounts? (Hanson, or other)
We've been running two Honda commercial walkbehind units with two-stage 38" blowers, 13 hp and 18 hp, for 7 years and they've been great. Unfortunately, they're both on their second motors, Honda's discontinued the line, and when you've sliced through a 2ft plowbank like butter with an 18hp blower, there is no going back to those 8-11hp wanna-be's currently out there...
I'm very intrigued by the truck-mounted, but no one around here has one, and hubby's concerned with visibilty (Dog? what dog?) and repairs (i.e. shear pins, engine issues, etc).
I'm also inspired by the idea of being out of the blowing snow and icy winds at 2AM - heated cab? Oh yeah! I'll still get out and shovel the walks....

Any one here have or use one?

Thanks!

"Truck mounted snowblower"

I just did a quick search and there's more then enough info to get some idea of how they operate and the best applications and other miscellaneous info...




I think George above is correct though that their beast for open areas where you have no neighbors or clearing something such as an airport...

A little garden tractor with a 22 hp briggs will blow the snow into the 5 neighbors yards down the street if the houses are close together....



P.S : I like the comment "My husbands concerned about visibility (Dog, what dog)???" That was pretty funny !!!

Best luck, Tranny..........

[Ric]

Tranny

If you are going to start posting Snow Removal advise, we need to move SF Jack D back to 5th Place in the snow removal competition.

[TRANSMAN]

I cant bump Jack D. if i wanted too...

Tranny

If you are going to start posting Snow Removal advise, we need to move SF Jack D back to 5th Place in the snow removal competition.

Jack D. is just to brilliant when it comes to snow removal and i would never pretend to challenge such wisdom...

However considering i have read through many threads throughout my years as a L.S member and not run across any truck mounted snow blower threads i assume they are a rare discussion on this site... I don't think any searches will reveal any valuable info and the closest think to the topic was something to do with blades or blowers mounted on ATV`s...

Jack D. and his other user names may have more info on a specific thread that addresses this topic however because he has been a member long before i ever joined...

Another reason i butted in was Weedingqueen was getting very little input to her original question other then Georges lawn and mulch...

Finally i like posting pictures of anything Briggs powered "which most people consider junk" despite them being the first small engine manufacturer and quite reliable in my opinion blowing snow way into the stratosphere as shown in picture #2 above ...

That was with 1 plug wire off and the governor improperly adjusted so the B&S was actually only operating at 20 percent potential so one can see they are very underrated...

Now i`m sure Jack D. will jump in with true expert advice and properly advice weedingqueen as to which machine is best to leave as little remains as possible when fido accidentally falls into spinning tines and how to keep a straight face when neighbor Joe explains that little Suzy cant find her doggy...

Sincerely, TRANNY.............

[weedingqueen]

Thanks for Feedback

Hi Guys,
Thanks for all of your replies... I have researched these blowers online, but no sales site is going to tell you their equipment stinks, and I couldn't pull up much else other than actual for sale ads... I will go check the snow-plowing forum as Georges Lawn recommends I hadn't realised there's *another* snow-related forum, sorry about that.

In short response to some of the issues others mentioned.
Yes, already our 18hp blower can, and will, put snow on the neighbors roof (and yes, the neighbors will ***** if they hear it) - we've plenty of experience at angling "just so" to miss all critical structures. Most of our customes are 30 to 80 feet apart (loosely developped retirement community of pricey modulars) with open yards. We would of course get the "smallest" unit for a pickup -only a few hp up from our current setup, with a much bigger swath.
A truck straight shot in is easier than the 3-4 passes total our 38" machine requires; up/turn-spin-the-chute, down/turn-spin-the-chute, repeat as needed.
Plowing is not an option - our niche is driveways for customers who hate the mess plows make, or whose layout makes plowing very impractical. The other option is a Toro or Walker mower with snowblower attachement, and then we're into beaucoup bucks again, maneuvreablity issues and a investing in a mower we don't intend to buy (we love our Bobcat mower - no desire to change in the near future).
With a more powerfull unit we could accept some of those 50ft drives we've been turning down because they just take too long - truck-mount would also get rid of the loading-unloading time, and finding parking where the BIG plow trucks won't take us out....

We spent several storms last year HAND-SHOVELING these *&%^* driveways when both blowers crapped out/ wouldn't run right before we replaced the engines... This year we have a skidsteer and a plow available in a pinch, and the biggest snow we got has been 6 measly inches! Pfft!! On the up side, the blowers have run like new.

Very responsive and helpfull group here.
Thanks!

[hardboiled]

Welcome to the site weedingqueen!