Berco snowblower. How to Fab hookups?

[ebinmaine 67,309]

I was poking around the CL the other day and this popped up. 

No price on it so I messaged the ad lookin for info. 

 

I went back and forth with the seller, then texted @Stepney Spenser for help/info. 

 

Well I had initially declined the purchase knowing it will be a project to make the mounting system and drive system. 

 

The guy made me an interesting counter offer so I'm gonna go see it Saturday. 

 

 

Should be 40 to 42 wide. 

 

Any other thoughts?

Help?

Info?

 

[Stepney 2,325]

Just realized the auger is .. part of the mule drive? Interesting arrangement. 

[wallfish 16,985]

That pulley arrangement is set up for a vertical shaft engine drive.

[WVHillbilly520H 10,373]

Its most likely for a Husqavana or other MTD assembly but they are one the primo brands for snow chuckers period... If a man could find himself a 1:1 jackshaft box and use the same pulley at least that side would be taken care of.

[Handy Don 12,163]

The big pulley is direct to the impeller and on that shaft is likely a bevel gear that drives a matching bevel on the (enclosed?) shaft of the auger chain drive. Likely that gearing reduces the impeller's rotation speed somewhat going to the auger shaft and then the chain drive reduces it even more. Augers typically run at about 1/10th of the impeller speed. On my walk behind, the motor to impeller reduction is via belt and its ~50% for a (~2:1 reduction) and the rest is a worm gearbox--3600 engine, 1700 impeller, and 170 auger RPM.

Your task, then (should you decide to accept it, cue theme music) is to carry the WH PTO belt forward and somewhat downward through a 90º "left turn" to drive the big pulley.

With the 4" pulley on your WH PTO you'd need an 8" pulley on the impeller (that one looks like only 6-7" though)--and for sure you'd need a way to deal with the varying height of the blower in use (idler/tensioner)?

I notice that the two auger blades' ends don't meet in the middle--this probably means that the shear pin in one side broke (or is missing) and the PO didn't know to align them then putting in a new shear pin.

A concern is the boxy sheet metal housing. If there is a curved one inside hugging the auger that means there is a space between the inner and outer metal.  More likely, the boxy shell means extra space around the auger making it easier for snow to "skip around" the auger blades.

Lastly, this is an "all sheet metal" construction--not at all what you are used to with your Horse's castings and steel plate. It'll be engineered quite closely to rely on every bit of metal and every bolt or screw to stay together and work properly--cut or move things and you have to make really sure that that piece's structural and other purposes have been accounted for.

IMHO (and I'm not telling you what to do, wink wink) unless this was nearly free and I really needed a blower and I had the time and interest to do a bunch of fabrication, I'd pass on this. For $150-200 get an actual WH blower.

[ebinmaine 67,309]

17 minutes ago, Handy Don said:

free

That's a key word here....

 

 

TBH we prefer a walk behind BUT the seller REALLY wants to ummm re-home it. 

 

Will I do anything with it????

 

Well.... I dunno yet. 

 

 

[8ntruck 6,991]

Well, you've made friends with your welder.  That's half the battle in adapting an off brand accessory to your application.

 

I'd look at the possibility of driving the shaft that appears to drive the auger.  Hopefully, that would then back drive the 2nd stage impeller.  Have to think about the ratio you would need on the PTO here.

 

Hitch and lift linkage should not be too hard to build something to mate up with the front Tach-Magic.

[WVHillbilly520H 10,373]

@Handy Don, I am almost for certain that this Berco unit has a one piece auger unlike the Toro/WH version, and it is chain driven from the side where the T/WH is 2 piece driven from the impeller shaft to a split center gearbox, I had a bigger one (Berco built) for a Kubota very nice unit I had thought about converting to my Mahindra ( but I decided to sell and order the correct unit for my tractor) Berco are made in Canada and WH actually had Berco build the 40" 2 stage before the 44" came out as a 500 series attachment.   And I figured if Eric could find a right angle gear box such as this it could be do able     https://www.ebay.com/itm/172442701717unfortunately I had a similar gearbox from a Cub Cadet 1100/482/582 special that just let go this summer.   Again is it worth it ?

Edited December 4, 2020 by WVHillbilly520H

[Handy Don 12,163]

1 hour ago, 8ntruck said:

I'd look at the possibility of driving the shaft that appears to drive the auger.  Hopefully, that would then back drive the 2nd stage impeller. 

 

I found this image of a Berco that was set up for a vertical shaft Wheel Horse (B or 200?) that shows the connection parts. Not directly helpful for ebinmaine's tractors for somewhat informative of the number of parts involved.

Connecting to the auger drive shaft would be fine for the auger, but I strongly suspect that the gearing between the impeller shaft (big pulley) and the auger drive shaft is a worm, not something that'll go easily in reverse.

 

@ebinmaine I often quote a former mayor of New York City, David Dinkins (who just passed a week or so ago from natural causes).  In the 80's, while in the depths of an economic crisis in NYC's budget, a businessman offered to give a couple of old buildings to the city in lieu of his taxes. Dinkins' response: "When a man offers you elephants at two for a quarter, it is only a good deal if you have a quarter and you need elephants."