Leaf Blower Attached to C-175

[amard 5]

1. Time for me to learn how to weld

2. This was created just to see if it was possible

3. It is by no means "finished"

4. I had a good time playing with it on my C-175!

5 This is a pretty easy modification. You can't have a manual lift though. You'd kill yourself trying to lift it!

Here's the story. I have this HUGE walk-behind leaf blower and my property is a 1/2 acre (sloped). It is a bear to push this thing around so here's what I did:

I pulled the blade off the plow frame of my "work" tractor. I then removed ALL three wheels off of the walk behind blower. I pushed a thinner axle through one side of the blower's axle hole, then through the existing holes in the plow frame and then out through the other side of the blower. At this point the blower is freely pivoting/hinged on the plow frame. I attached a chain from an existing hole in the plow frame and then attached it to one of the engine mounting bolts on the blower to keep it from falling forward. It is important for there to be a hinged like movement so if you have a sloped property your tractor - with the blower attached - it will "bend" and be flexible when you're going down a slope and get to the flat portion. You may even have to raise the blower a bit.

The picture shows how I attached the blower to the tractor. Note the chain holding the blower up.

I went to Harbor Freight and bought an 8" swivel pneumatic tire to replace the stationary one that was on the blower. I stole the lip of an old hand truck that I had lying around and I had a piece of slotted angle iron in the shed. BTW, I used the axle from the old hand truck too. I'm sure we all have or had one of those orange cheapo hand trucks that converted to a "flat bed" by removing the handle. Yep, that one!

Anyway, the whole thing worked fantastic! I was even able to angle the blower from the seat as though it was a plow blade. I am going to consider getting a smaller blower actually. I'm afraid I'm putting too much pressure on the hydraulics with this beast. Any thoughts on this? The front wheel does take some of the pressure off the tractor. Am I pushing it?

Thanks for looking. If I don't get any comments that suggest I might be killing the tractor, I'll put some time into a better "front wheel" design and paint it up!

[AMC RULES 36,961]

Looks like a good idea to me, sure beats walking it around the yard.

[CRE1992 135]

I like this I thought about doing this with a blower but power it off of the pto

[312Hydro 473]

Pretty nice! That angling with the plow frame was a neat trick. :thumbs2:

[amard 5]

Anyone know if the hydraulics can handle this long term?

[CRE1992 135]

Theoretically, if you are letting the front swivel wheel wit on the ground while blowing, you should have no problem straining the hydraulics if you have a chain hooked up to the rockshaft or the lift lever that connects to the deck.

[amard 5]

CRE1992, I actually have a straight bar, not a chain attached to the rockshaft. Should I change that and why would that matter? Just curious.

[Alan_Heist 7]

I agree with the chain suggestion. It will give you the ability to lift, but make it like a "float" option, so if the ground rises quickly, it's not putting pressure into your cylinder and trying to raise the whole front of the tractor. Either that, or put some type of slider joint in your fixed rod to accomplish the same thing. You don't need down pressure for something like this.

[amard 5]

Thanks for the explanation. I will remove the straight rod and replace it with the chain. Just out of curiosity, how much weight CAN the hydraulic system lift? Anybody have thoughts or specs? I WILL look for a smaller blower to do this with. I really don't want to kill the tractor.

[Alan_Heist 7]

Weak point, IMO, is the seals in the cylinder, but too much pressure in rapid succession heats up the pump/trans too.

[Tankman 3,515]

Love the Little Wonder and mounting to the dozer frame ingenious!

 

Looks like a winner! 

[shorts 182]

Once the hydraulics/rockshaft position is set the pump is in noload mode, the lift cylinder and hoses to the valve are under the pressure created by the attachment, the valve position holds the pressure of the load.

Your set up should be ok but if you're concerned about it add 2 more casters back at the blower axle position and then change from a soilid lift link to a chain so it can float with the contour of the ground.

 

I've seen a lawn service that has a 20HP blower on a 4 wheel cart with 4 link connection to the front of a quad runner for leaf cleanup, it sure looked tippy and hard to control in my opinion,

 

One of the slickest blowers that I remember seeing was a large PTO driven squirel cage fan on a front kwik attach mount, it had a removable 90* elbow so the leaves could be blown to either side or straight ahead. I think that the blower was a take out from a commercial furnace

Edited February 13, 2014 by shorts