Anyone using the 1970-75 spring assist PN 8-4311?

[Raider69 65]

I ordered what I assume is a reproduction of this assist kit. I am curious how much difference these made when raising the blower without hydraulic lift and if it can be used in conjunction with hydraulic lift? I'm getting up there in years and need all the help I can get. I have two tractors it will fit on, one is a 1975 B-100 Hydro currently w/o hydraulic lift but I have all the parts to convert it. The other is a 1968 Raider 9 I'm repowering with an HH-120 in place of the original HH-100. One will get the blower and the other a 42" blade. If it's overkill for the blower would it work on the dozer blade with weight added to the blade for more down pressure? TIA.

 

 

 

 

[pfrederi 17,676]

It will work with the blower on either tractor with or with out hydro.  Will not work with plow.

[Ed Kennell 38,029]

I don't use blowers any more, but when I did, I found 12 HP tractor was the minimum required to operate a blower.    Also the hydro uses  2-3 of the HP.   That only leaves you 7-8 HP to power your blower if you put it on your B-100H.   I had a blower on a C-120 Hydro with manual lift that worked OK.  I added 3 lift assist springs made from garage door springs and was able to balance the weight of the blower so I could lift it with one finger.

I would put the blower in the 12 HP gear drive and the plow on the 10HP Hydro and add the hyd. lift.      I predict you will use the plow and let the blower sit.

BTW, you don' really need down pressure or weight to plow snow.  The blade is heavy enough and you can tilt the blade back to increase the cutting angle of the scraper bar  creating more down pressure.

 

[ebinmaine 67,310]

45 minutes ago, Ed Kennell said:

down pressure

Agreed for regular non compacted snow. 

 

Trina and I both keep a solid bar for down pressure on our plow tractors. 

 

We use them only for areas where we've already driven and compacted a strip with a vehicle. 

 

[Raider69 65]

1 hour ago, Ed Kennell said:

I don't use blowers any more, but when I did, I found 12 HP tractor was the minimum required to operate a blower.    Also the hydro uses  2-3 of the HP.   That only leaves you 7-8 HP to power your blower if you put it on your B-100H.   I had a blower on a C-120 Hydro with manual lift that worked OK.  I added 3 lift assist springs made from garage door springs and was able to balance the weight of the blower so I could lift it with one finger.

I would put the blower in the 12 HP gear drive and the plow on the 10HP Hydro and add the hyd. lift.      I predict you will use the plow and let the blower sit.

BTW, you don' really need down pressure or weight to plow snow.  The blade is heavy enough and you can tilt the blade back to increase the cutting angle of the scraper bar  creating more down pressure.

 

 

My blower is only a 37" and the B-100 ran it just fine but I have a K301 on the shelf I can always freshen up for it. As for down pressure on the blade I use it to get in close in places I can't do any other way and drag the snow out backwards. The blade wants to float so I am putting down pressure on it the lift lever, I do have a down pressure bar but an extra 10 or 15 Lbs. on the blade would be very helpful in those situations.

 

Edited February 6, 2021 by Raider69

[Ed Kennell 38,029]

24 minutes ago, Raider69 said:

As for down pressure on the blade I use it to get in close in places I can't do any other way and drag the snow out backwards. The blade wants to float so I am putting down pressure on it the lift lever, I do have a down pressure bar but an extra 10 or 15 Lbs. on the blade would be very helpful in those situations.

 

Yeah, I understand.     I clear 5 confined driveways and also have to do some back dragging.

[ebinmaine 67,310]

6 minutes ago, Ed Kennell said:

back dragging

Ever used or consider a drag bar?

Had one on a full sized plow years ago.....

[Ed Kennell 38,029]

3 minutes ago, ebinmaine said:

Ever used or consider a drag bar?

Had one on a full sized plow years ago.....

 

Never new they existed Eric.    Looks like that would work.

[Raider69 65]

1 minute ago, Ed Kennell said:

 

Never new they existed Eric.    Looks like that would work.

 

Yeah, I bet that would work great for what I'm doing with my blade. Thanks Eric, I didn't know about those either.

[ebinmaine 67,310]

I don't have a way to draw like the @wallfish does....

But the one I had was home made and even more simple. 

It was literally a full width cutting edge  that had a piece of flatbar welded vertically to each side. 

It was connected at the center of the convex of the plow. 10" or 12" up(?) So it would hinge. 

When going forward it created very little drag. 

[Ed Kennell 38,029]

                                                                      

[ebinmaine 67,310]

31 minutes ago, Ed Kennell said:

                                                                      

Impressive use of emojis Sir. 

 

 

 

[Herder 2,354]

I love using the snow thrower. I found it works best with my C-160 hydro, plenty of power and the hydraulic lift makes it much easier.  I did however try it on my Charger 12 with the manual lift.  NO GO.  I didn't have a lift assist for it and it was to heavy in wet snow.  My left arm was two inches longer when I was done.     

[Ed Kennell 38,029]

59 minutes ago, ebinmaine said:

I don't have a way to draw like the @wallfish does....

But the one I had was home made and even more simple. 

It was literally a full width cutting edge  that had a piece of flatbar welded vertically to each side. 

It was connected at the center of the convex of the plow. 10" or 12" up(?) So it would hinge. 

When going forward it created very little drag. 

 

I like the swinging  back drag bar  Eric.  The problem i see is the low point which  the pivot sector is  mounted to the blade.     There's only a couple inches clearance under the angle rod.

Solutions may be to install a much wider wear bar on the blade to raise the entire plow up, or make a two piece system.  One on each side with nothing in the center sector area.

 

   Ideas?

[ebinmaine 67,310]

12 minutes ago, Ed Kennell said:

 

I like the swinging  back drag bar  Eric.  The problem i see is the low point which  the pivot sector is  mounted to the blade.     There's only a couple inches clearance under the angle rod.

Solutions may be to install a much wider wear bar on the blade to raise the entire plow up, or make a two piece system.  One on each side with nothing in the center sector area.

 

   Ideas?

 

I'd use a piece of square thick wall tubing under the sector. 

Still get the benefit of a full swing and most or even all of the back of the blade is able to be used as the drag. No center mounts to keep things simple both for future wear and ease of build. 

 

[Raider69 65]

56 minutes ago, Herder said:

I love using the snow thrower. I found it works best with my C-160 hydro, plenty of power and the hydraulic lift makes it much easier.  I did however try it on my Charger 12 with the manual lift.  NO GO.  I didn't have a lift assist for it and it was to heavy in wet snow.  My left arm was two inches longer when I was done.     

 

 

I broke the original lift handle on mine raising the blower, It actually had a bad weld on it from the factory, no penetration on one side and the weight of that blower hanging out there was too much for it. The original owner had only had a mower deck on it which didn't put much load on it.

 

Some good ideas guys! 

[Lee1977 6,648]

1 hour ago, Raider69 said:

 

I broke the original lift handle on mine raising the blower, It actually had a bad weld on it from the factory, no penetration on one side and the weight of that blower hanging out there was too much for it. The original owner had only had a mower deck on it which didn't put much load on it.

 

Some good ideas guys! 

They did some bad welding after the Ponds sold the business. Had a few on my C-120. 

[jay bee 896]

I've got a '76 B-100  8-speed that I bought new.  Plowed with it for about 25 or 30 years. Then I got ahold of a blower and never put the plow back on.  The first several years I didn't have the spring assist and it was a real chore sometimes to lift that thing.  Got the spring assist and I couldn't believe the difference it made.  Have never had a problem with the 10 horse not having enough power to run the blower but will admit that with some of the really deep snow that is really wet you do have to slow the pace down a bit.  I would not go back to the plow myself but realize that others may have different conditions to move snow in.

[Raider69 65]

39 minutes ago, jay bee said:

I've got a '76 B-100  8-speed that I bought new.  Plowed with it for about 25 or 30 years. Then I got ahold of a blower and never put the plow back on.  The first several years I didn't have the spring assist and it was a real chore sometimes to lift that thing.  Got the spring assist and I couldn't believe the difference it made.  Have never had a problem with the 10 horse not having enough power to run the blower but will admit that with some of the really deep snow that is really wet you do have to slow the pace down a bit.  I would not go back to the plow myself but realize that others may have different conditions to move snow in.

 

 

I get a wide variety of snow conditions. Heavy and wet, light and fluffy and all types in between and usually with high winds so I get lots of drifting.  Plus I live on a busy highway so I'm fighting the state plows. This year however it's been all heavy and wet, some of the wettest I can remember for a long time. I've found there are times the plow can't get through but a blower can and vice versa, it just depends on the conditions so I want to have my bases covered. AND it's a good reason to have multiple tractors.  I also have an Ariens ST824 with an impeller kit and an extra 20 Lbs. on the bucket that does a good job on drifts and can claw through where the tractor can't in it's current configuration but has a hard time busting through the frozen crust the state plows leave during the night, that's where the B-100 does "better" but it needs more weight to do it well. Plus I'm on the far side of 65 with bad knees and I feel it after 20-30 minutes of chasing that blower around.

 

I'm beefing up the B-100 with more weight and better tires and I'm bringing my Raider 9 back from the dead with similar upgrades. It was my plow machine 30 years ago and it did a hell of a job with a Cadet blade cobbled on to it by a previous owner. If the spring assist helps that much I may put the blower on the Raider since it would be more for long runs and I wouldn't be raising and lowering it as much as the blade. The nice thing however is that I can switch them back and forth to see which attachment works better with which tractor. 

[jay bee 896]

19 minutes ago, Raider69 said:

This year however it's been all heavy and wet, some of the wettest I can remember for a long time.

I agree.  I'm in SW Michigan so we also get a lot of the lake effect snow but this year it seems every time it snows there is a little rain mixed in.  I run cast iron weights on the rear tires with 2 link chains.  Just turf tires front and rear and usually the only time I get in trouble I can blame it on operator error not machine error.  

The spring assist really does work well and you can adjust the amount of tension or spring assist you want.

[Raider69 65]

12 hours ago, jay bee said:

I agree.  I'm in SW Michigan so we also get a lot of the lake effect snow but this year it seems every time it snows there is a little rain mixed in.  I run cast iron weights on the rear tires with 2 link chains.  Just turf tires front and rear and usually the only time I get in trouble I can blame it on operator error not machine error.  

The spring assist really does work well and you can adjust the amount of tension or spring assist you want.

 

I'm glad to hear the assist really works. 

 

I'm running the rock hard and age cracked 45 year old turfs all the way around on my B-100 with 2 link chains on the rear and 67 Lbs. of RV anti freeze in each rear tire. I just bought a pair of Carlisle X-Tracs for the front but don't have them mounted yet, they'll also get fluid filled. New rears are next on the list. The plan right now is to mount the blower on the B-100 and use it for doing the initial clearing then do the final cleanup with the Raider 9 and blade. After watching a couple other people near me clear with their tractors I think the B-100 is going to get AG style lugged tires filled with fluid as it will be operating in fresh snow. Theirs were equipped with fluid filld AG's without chains and they had no problems with traction and were leaving some pretty deep impressions in the packed stuff from the lugs. I'm also considering X-Tracs for the rear. My Ariens has similar tires to the X-Tracs, with an extra 20 lbs. added on the bucket it has NO traction issues and the tires are just the way they came from the factory, no fluid or chains. The belt got loose Friday so the auger wasn't turning under a load and it was still pushing 3 to 4 inches of heavy sopping wet snow like a tractor with a blade! I finished clearing my drive with no auger. I adjusted the belt after I put it away then the wind kicked up and blew it all back within an hour and a half in so I got to do it all again Saturday morning. I'll probably stick with fluid filled turfs and 2 link chains on the plow tractor as it works well on the current B-100 for plowing on packed snow and ice, it just needs more weight front and rear. It will probably get fluid filled turfs wrapped with roller chain on the front. Of course that's all subject to change LOL.

 

Thanks everyone for the great input, it has ALL been extremely helpful.