Erskine/QA Snow Blower question

[KSSS]

I have ordered an QA 85" 2400XL blower. I am considering the truck loading chute. If it works, I think I can create quite a niche for it. The blower has the largest motor that they offer. The machine is a CASE 465 with 83 net horse power and 264 foot pounds of torque making 42 gpm.

Any looking for anyone that has run the truck loading chute on a similiar blower with a similiar sized machine.

 

[Steve Frazier]

I've got a Cat 248 that I run an Erskine 2418 blower with truck chute on. I do sidewalks in one of the local villages where there is no place to push the snow to, I load it into tri-axle dumps. My blower has been pretty much trouble free in the 5 or 6 years I've had it save for some broken fittings that got caught in tree limbs.

I think my machine flows 33gpm in high flow so you should be in good shape there. The guy at Erskine was very helpful in making my selection. By the way, both Erskine and Quick Attach are made by the same people under different labels, you might check the price on Quick Attach. In using the blower it will be very important to listen to the pitch of the howl of the impeller, it will tell you if you are pushing the blower too hard where it will clog. You will want to carry a 9/16 wrench and gardener's trowel with you to clear things when you do clog.

One time I picked up a muffler that was hidden in the snow and that jammed the impeller pretty good, I had to beat the impeller in the opposite direction with a lump hammer to get it free. That was quite a chore.

 

[KSSS]

I've got a Cat 248 that I run an Erskine 2418 blower with truck chute on. I do sidewalks in one of the local villages where there is no place to push the snow to, I load it into tri-axle dumps. My blower has been pretty much trouble free in the 5 or 6 years I've had it save for some broken fittings that got caught in tree limbs.

I think my machine flows 33gpm in high flow so you should be in good shape there. The guy at Erskine was very helpful in making my selection. By the way, both Erskine and Quick Attach are made by the same people under different labels, you might check the price on Quick Attach. In using the blower it will be very important to listen to the pitch of the howl of the impeller, it will tell you if you are pushing the blower too hard where it will clog. You will want to carry a 9/16 wrench and gardener's trowel with you to clear things when you do clog.

One time I picked up a muffler that was hidden in the snow and that jammed the impeller pretty good, I had to beat the impeller in the opposite direction with a lump hammer to get it free. That was quite a chore.

Its coming from QA. I have owned a 2418 in the mid ninties, we hit a drought and I sold it and for the next 10 years I didn't need one. Last year was a big snow event and this year is atleast starting out like last. So I will try it again. I ran a 2400XL 73" on a 440 HF last year which belonged to another contractor, I was very impressed with the performance.

I have never run it with the truck loading chute. How fast can do you think you can load a truck? How easy does the chute clog? I plan on picking up windrows and shooting it into trucks off of City streets.

 

[Steve Frazier]

It all depends on your snow load and how wet the snow is. On Friday we got about ten inches of snow, the windrow I was blowing was almost to the top of the blower. I was loading a tri-axle dump about every 50 yards and at a snails pace. Yesterday we got about four inches and tonight I was traveling at a brisk walking speed filling a truck over about 300 yards. In both cases the temps were well below freezing and the snow was dry.

I've worked in some real wet snow where it will barely make it over the side of the truck it's so heavy. This stuff is tough to work in. Like I mentioned before, you'll need to listen to the pitch of the impeller, you'll hear it start to slow before the chute clogs, back out of it immediately otherwise it will clog. With practice you'll learn to recognize the sound it makes just before clogging, you'll have about 1 second to adjust before it clogs. When I first started using the blower, I'd clog it a couple times a night. Now that I've run it a few years I can't recall the last time I clogged it. It gets better with practice

 

[sandnsnow]

Last year I bought a 2400 and I love it. I run it on a TL150. I dont have high flow but wish I did. I have the extended chute but Its faster to load with the bucket if it is heavy snow. We have had nothing but powder so I put it on and it has been working great. I have not had a single problem with it and it has about 500 hours on it.

 

[Steve Frazier]

Here's a thread I started back in '03 on my blower.

 

[KSSS]

Last year I bought a 2400 and I love it. I run it on a TL150. I dont have high flow but wish I did. I have the extended chute but Its faster to load with the bucket if it is heavy snow. We have had nothing but powder so I put it on and it has been working great. I have not had a single problem with it and it has about 500 hours on it.

Do you think High Flow would make the truck loading chute more productive? I ordered mine with the chute. It should be here by the end of the week I hope. I anxious to see how effective the truck loading is. Hopefully it was not a $1.3K waste of money.

 

[sandnsnow]

Ksss, Where in Idaho are ya. I would have let ya use mine if you were close to Sandpoint. It will be slow going but after time it will get faster. There are still faster ways to load trucks. Those ways are not much fun. The sound of that blower puts me to sleep at 3:00 am.

 

[KSSS]

Ksss, Where in Idaho are ya. I would have let ya use mine if you were close to Sandpoint. It will be slow going but after time it will get faster. There are still faster ways to load trucks. Those ways are not much fun. The sound of that blower puts me to sleep at 3:00 am.

I would take you up on that except I am in the Idaho Falls area. I am hoping it impressive enough to make a postive impression with a couple of the street departments in the area. If its at least as productive as what they use now I should be in.

 

[KSSS]

I would take you up on that except I am in the Idaho Falls area. I am hoping it impressive enough to make a postive impression with a couple of the street departments in the area. If its at least as productive as what they use now I should be in.

Here is a picture of my blower.

 

[sandnsnow]

That is a nice setup. Looks like the the same one that I have. I would like to put mine on a wheeled machine as the track loader looses traction on the ice. Last week the inside deflector came off. Two out of the three bolts that hold it on were loose and the third pulled out of the housing. I took it off and am trying to decide how im going to fix it.