is it possible to start with a smaller tractor with a regular blower on the back and a back blade on the front. Or run a smaller inverted? whats minimum HP
Nick, when you put the blower down does it "float" or is there down pressure on it? And, how are you handling driverways that have a pretty good incline up or down. Flat ones appear easy but there is a transition I would expect as the tractor moves onto level ground that needs to be compensated for???
Aspenwoodpm Aspenwood there is a setting that will allow you to do either. However I run all of them in float for the exact reason you mentioned. There is a fair amount of float in the arms so on a more steeply inclined driveway you will leave a slight layer at the end but it’s nothing to overly worry about.
Is this a PTO drive or hydrostat drive unit? If it's a PTO drive what rpm is the shaft speed? Right now I'm using a 7 foot wide, 28 inch fan, dual feed augers New Idea snow blower on a 3010 John Deere gas tractor. It's 58 horsepower. I'm running 540 rpm, I can go to 1,000 rpm on the PTO.
Have you guys ever experimented with a rear box blade and front blower where I live we do get a few lighter storms but most of the time there 12 to 16 in
Rear blade and front blower will be significantly slower for driveways. If the snow is going to be too deep to back in, a PXPL might be worth a look. They are heavy and expensive, but they shine in deep snow. They work especially well if you can swing a reverse drive tractor.
@@hvy1ton I agree, I have experimented with a back dragger on the front and blower on the rear. Worked pretty well however there is nothing as efficient as an inverted blower on driveways. The beauty of it is that you only ever touch the snow once, you're pulling out while blowing. If you're doing the business model with seasonal routes you really shouldn't be letting snow stack up more than an inverted blower can handle or you're in big trouble anyways. To offer good service you really need to keep going around. If it's realistically a major issue you may want to look into a PXPL. However if the inverted blower works in montreal I think it'll pretty much work anywhere. Check out some of Paul Vanderzons old videos.
Thanks so much for answering my questions. Great videos of the blowers in action. Really appreciate it. Are your yearly contracts for 5 or 6 months? Yearly here would be in the $800 to $1000 for low end to $1005 to $1290. Basing that off 3 blows per month and 1 sanding. Is this what you do as well? How often do you break keys? How about rocks and other crap? Just wanting to get an idea of problems you have encountered using the blower. Can you run all 100 to 130 driveways on one tank of fuel? Thanks again for all your videos and information. Might have more later... Chris in Alaska.
how big are your driveways? In ottawa, $250-$400 is the townhouse rate. The kubota l6060 I operate uses under a tank for 130, and we usually do 2 runs to get the plow debris. Usually do about 20 events per season, I'm paid for 5 months. Just a worker. I broke 1 shear pin at the start of this season, none last year. All our driveways are paved.
@@jballan We have areas like that (Town Houses with small driveways) but most of the stuff we plow are homes on 1 to 2 arpent in lot size. That is a 1+ acre lot here. So the driveways are big and wide and sometimes long. We see about 190cm on average for yearly snowfall in Anchorage, AK. Some year less and others way more. Depending on driveway size we charge a min of $40 to $50 per event for most diveways. We have a few that are $75+. We double the event charge after 30cm. Just trying to understand How you charge for your yearly's. We see about 12 plowing events on average per year. With at least 1 (or 2) of them being 30cm+. Do you just take the average of 12 events and multiply them by the per event rate? That would seem the most likely way to do it. So my area would work out to 12 events X $40 - $50 = $480 yearly to $600 yearly? I was using 2.5 to 3 events X 6 months and using that to calculate my yearly when I wrote my reply earlier. Thanks for all the insight. The only time I have done yearly charges is for condo associations (like and HOA). That is usually charged on monthly basis for 6 months. The other 6 month are for the mowing.
@@chrisbrandt3642 yeah, we pretty much only do a seasonal rate for residential customers. They pay half in November, half in January. Contract runs Nov 1 to Apr 1. Again, I'm just an operator so my knowledge is limited. I imagine that in rural places around here it would be a per-shot deal too, interesting to hear how it works out in Alaska.
No problem! Jake is correct, 5 months. That is a very very good seasonal number. My average is just below $500 and that's considered very good compared to the big companies in Quebec.
We will do gravel, however it sucks! Ideally avoid it. I just hate to say no to paying customers on the route. Once things pack down with a layer of ice you're set. Before that things can be a bit messy.
@@nickbohner9261 Yup just a sidewalk adjeacent to either side of the driveway that's higher than the street without the gradual slope. A curb basically.
@@nickbohner9261 And 5 cm trigger means that the snow is 5 cm before you go to the site to blow it? I've been advertising 1 cm comparing to other companies in my area but think I may be getting it confused with by hand snow removal so might be smarter to go with 5 cm.
Great video Nick!
Thanks for doing the video. You mentioned that you rent one of the tractors.
What kind of price are you paying to rent for the season?
Thanks for answering
Thx for the info ! Im looking at investing in similiar setup. And not use truck and plow. I have 99% residential.
Where can I get a chip/tuner for my 4052R? I would love to do that for pulling my 15' Frontier grooming mower
Have you seen the new bilodeau inverted snowblower scrapper... they also have a prototype thats extends the with
is it possible to start with a smaller tractor with a regular blower on the back and a back blade on the front. Or run a smaller inverted? whats minimum HP
Hello there I’m from Montreal and I do snow removal I use a Toro 724 power max snow blower
Nick, when you put the blower down does it "float" or is there down pressure on it? And, how are you handling driverways that have a pretty good incline up or down. Flat ones appear easy but there is a transition I would expect as the tractor moves onto level ground that needs to be compensated for???
Aspenwoodpm Aspenwood there is a setting that will allow you to do either. However I run all of them in float for the exact reason you mentioned. There is a fair amount of float in the arms so on a more steeply inclined driveway you will leave a slight layer at the end but it’s nothing to overly worry about.
How did you like the 3046R with the business model?
Nick Bohner
Do you provide “full service” or driveways only?
Is this a PTO drive or hydrostat drive unit? If it's a PTO drive what rpm is the shaft speed?
Right now I'm using a 7 foot wide, 28 inch fan, dual feed augers New Idea snow blower on a 3010 John Deere gas tractor. It's 58 horsepower. I'm running 540 rpm, I can go to 1,000 rpm on the PTO.
What is the typical cost per season and in what part of Canada ?
Nick, what size hybrid normand are you running on the 4066? Awesome setup!!!
Jerry Williams we run 82” normand hybrids on the 4066rs. Thanks!
Any links for tractor tunes?
Have you guys ever experimented with a rear box blade and front blower where I live we do get a few lighter storms but most of the time there 12 to 16 in
Or in other words how do you handle deep snow
Rear blade and front blower will be significantly slower for driveways. If the snow is going to be too deep to back in, a PXPL might be worth a look. They are heavy and expensive, but they shine in deep snow. They work especially well if you can swing a reverse drive tractor.
@@hvy1ton I agree, I have experimented with a back dragger on the front and blower on the rear. Worked pretty well however there is nothing as efficient as an inverted blower on driveways. The beauty of it is that you only ever touch the snow once, you're pulling out while blowing. If you're doing the business model with seasonal routes you really shouldn't be letting snow stack up more than an inverted blower can handle or you're in big trouble anyways. To offer good service you really need to keep going around. If it's realistically a major issue you may want to look into a PXPL. However if the inverted blower works in montreal I think it'll pretty much work anywhere. Check out some of Paul Vanderzons old videos.
Thanks so much for answering my questions. Great videos of the blowers in action. Really appreciate it.
Are your yearly contracts for 5 or 6 months? Yearly here would be in the $800 to $1000 for low end to $1005 to $1290. Basing that off 3 blows per month and 1 sanding. Is this what you do as well?
How often do you break keys? How about rocks and other crap? Just wanting to get an idea of problems you have encountered using the blower.
Can you run all 100 to 130 driveways on one tank of fuel?
Thanks again for all your videos and information. Might have more later...
Chris in Alaska.
how big are your driveways? In ottawa, $250-$400 is the townhouse rate. The kubota l6060 I operate uses under a tank for 130, and we usually do 2 runs to get the plow debris. Usually do about 20 events per season, I'm paid for 5 months. Just a worker. I broke 1 shear pin at the start of this season, none last year. All our driveways are paved.
@@jballan We have areas like that (Town Houses with small driveways) but most of the stuff we plow are homes on 1 to 2 arpent in lot size. That is a 1+ acre lot here. So the driveways are big and wide and sometimes long. We see about 190cm on average for yearly snowfall in Anchorage, AK. Some year less and others way more.
Depending on driveway size we charge a min of $40 to $50 per event for most diveways. We have a few that are $75+. We double the event charge after 30cm. Just trying to understand How you charge for your yearly's. We see about 12 plowing events on average per year. With at least 1 (or 2) of them being 30cm+.
Do you just take the average of 12 events and multiply them by the per event rate? That would seem the most likely way to do it. So my area would work out to 12 events X $40 - $50 = $480 yearly to $600 yearly? I was using 2.5 to 3 events X 6 months and using that to calculate my yearly when I wrote my reply earlier.
Thanks for all the insight. The only time I have done yearly charges is for condo associations (like and HOA). That is usually charged on monthly basis for 6 months. The other 6 month are for the mowing.
@@chrisbrandt3642 yeah, we pretty much only do a seasonal rate for residential customers. They pay half in November, half in January. Contract runs Nov 1 to Apr 1. Again, I'm just an operator so my knowledge is limited.
I imagine that in rural places around here it would be a per-shot deal too, interesting to hear how it works out in Alaska.
No problem! Jake is correct, 5 months. That is a very very good seasonal number. My average is just below $500 and that's considered very good compared to the big companies in Quebec.
@@jballan how many driveways are you doing with one tractor?
Can you or do you do any gravel driveways with your blowers? Or do you only do paved?
We will do gravel, however it sucks! Ideally avoid it. I just hate to say no to paying customers on the route. Once things pack down with a layer of ice you're set. Before that things can be a bit messy.
I have the same experience. Let the gravel get packed and iced over and it’s pretty good. But it’s messy before that.
do you do some Commercial site like gas staton❄❓❓
How do you blow sidewalks that drop off with that set up? My main challenge
Cody Payant drop off on to the road you mean? Just not quite sure what you’re meaning by drop off?
@@nickbohner9261 Yup just a sidewalk adjeacent to either side of the driveway that's higher than the street without the gradual slope. A curb basically.
@@nickbohner9261 And 5 cm trigger means that the snow is 5 cm before you go to the site to blow it? I've been advertising 1 cm comparing to other companies in my area but think I may be getting it confused with by hand snow removal so might be smarter to go with 5 cm.
Got a website or contact number for those blowers? No one carries and inverted blower in Alberta
Boss Tractor Services Sir I do not currently but am working on a solution. We will find a way to get one in your hands!
Thanks, Nick, A lot of great information. Would you mind if I email you?
John White not at all John. nick@nixsnowblowing.com
@@nickbohner9261 Awesome, Thanks
you can chip your 4066r to almost 80hp with staying ont JD warenty
I have a 4052R, where can I get a chip and how much HP gain would it be? It won't void the warranty?
m.ua-cam.com/video/luobCK_YrVw/v-deo.html
Why can’t I find a video of anyone doing snow removal in a 2 foot snow storm. Every video has 2-3 inches of snow.
Because I’m busy in a 2ft storm and don’t have time to pull out a camera for you viewing pleasure.
Great video Nick!