Home-Built 6-Ft. Wide Snowblower

Home-Built 6-Ft Wide Snowblower MISCELLANEOUS EQUIPMENT Miscellaneous Harold Tribitt used the frame fan and gearbox from a snowblower he’d built earlier as the foundation for a new machine that’s 50 percent larger The original gearbox came from two right angle Hub City boxes that he located in Aberdeen S Dak He used two end plates to make a centerline shaft for the fan and still have the right angle drive to the auger Tribitt had MacSteel in Watertown build the fan housing from 1/4- in plate steel after he made them a wood template He welded the ends on the main housing drilled holes and mounted the end bearings He made a new auger 2 ft longer than the first machine from 2-in double wall square tubing A movable spout on top rotates with a steering-wheel-type shaft It’s connected to a 12-volt reversible motor with a switch near the operator platform of his tractor Tribitt made paddles to pull snow into the machine from 1/4-in by 3-in strap iron They’re welded to a circular tube to produce a snow cutting device that’s 15 in in diameter He likes his paddle design on the in-feed because the paddles cut easily into drifted hard snow much better than conventional augers which tend to crawl up and over a hard-packed bank Tribitt had MacSteel bend sheet metal to form the back frame for the blower He says the cost for steel and out-of-pocket labor was about $200 “I wanted a larger blower because with the 4-ft model I always had to remove the duals on my tractor and then it didn’t have enough traction ” Tribitt says “With the 6-ft blower I can keep the duals on get plenty of traction and blow more snow in less time ” His articulated home-made tractor has a 4-cylinder gas engine from a self-propelled swather dual wheels all around from a 1960 Chevy pickup and a hydrostat from a 400 International windrower ” Tribitt says it’s a great snow blowing rig in the winter and an equally productive lawn and garden tractor in the summer Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Harold Tribitt 16108 482nd Ave Revillo S Dak 57259 ph 605 623-6622; htribitt@hotmail com

To read the rest of this story, download this issue below or click here to register with your account number.