It has plenty of power for the blower. This storm was about 12”, the last one was 20”. Traction is better then I expected with 4 suitcase weights and tire chains.
What did you do on or to your John Deere GT today
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You don't run any suitcase weights to counter your 54?
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Its a 47... But yes no added weight. Well other than the quick hitch hanging out there in the air which weighs 80lbs.
Considered making a concrete ballast weight but haven't gotten around to it. Maybe for next winter.
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Ohhh I didn't realize the extra weight wasn't as necessary for the blower vs plow. Good to know.
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If I can get away with it on my steep [email protected]@ driveway you should have no problem with that flat top you have.
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@nastorino So finally got the loader off the tractor this weekend so I could open the hood all the way and check this out. There is nothing broken on your tractor. There is a small support to keep the hood from being pushed down and to help align the grill but there is nothing in place to keep it from being pulled up.
Also loosening a bolt or two at a time also did not fix my headlight at all. I think it might be more involved and maybe have to do with the alignment of the hood and grill where they bolt together. So will need to take off the hood and get it everything loosened at once to see if I can straighten it up like the left light.
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I'm sort of relieved as I was a little hard on my machine when I moved to this property two years and was pushing back the overgrown brush line. It's a shame they didn't get smart and make a fastener to stop that spot from moving excessively.
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You can’t idiot proof everything.
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Similar experience here. I can back up 60-100 feet uphill through 5-6 inches of snow to do the neighbors drives and it just eats that stuff like that Range Rover ad going up Tienmen Mountain in those ads. It's really rather impressive. Doesn't even seem to work at it. I have to blow the snow DOWN the drive with the neighbors as there's no real room to pile it side to side. I've used another technique where I blow the first pass uphill with the chute to the right and down, blowing it into the ground and to the right, then coming down the drive on repeated passes to move the snow down the drives.
I've also backed it up my paved drive after clearing, too, where I would suspect it might be a little slick. The mouth has some substantial incline and must be regularly serviced. I keep a bucket of tube sand to spread after I clean that section off, gives a little extra "bite" without the corrosive effects of rock salt on a relatively new "pour". I'll slip on occasion if I don't toss a little sand out there sometimes, but the tractor eats up that hill like no sweat whatsoever.
I also don't use any weights on my 47". The sales manager at my dealership has the exact same setup I do, and he didn't use any weights either, save for the quick connect bracket and me - the driver. "You + bracket = OK, if you add any more then we'll talk." The traction is impeccable, in numerous sloped driveway cases.
It's also really good on that mush and chunky stuff the plows leave at the end of the driveways, I was able to clear out all five on the block and run it across the street, and shave out nice, well rounded contours for the driveway openings as it's getting pretty high here.
"Urban snow sculpting with your x700 Series....."
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I just realized that you have auxiliary lighting mounts on your blower. Looks great! Do you have any additional pictures of the lighting setup and how you built and mounted them? How about where you pulled power from? Are they tapped into the headlight harness and switch or an additional one?
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I'm pretty happy with the lights especially combined with the led headlights. There's no shadows in front of the blower even in the blowing snow.
The mounts are simply some angle iron I had laying around welded up. Used existing holes on the blower as mount points. They cut thru snow plow driveway berms like butter.
I tapped into the headlight wires for power. There is an automotive style plug hanging just below the hood to disconnect the lights when dropping the blower.
The lights themselves are nothing special just some cheapo amazon jobs.
Vise grips for the test fit.
A little paint
Mounted and wired.
A little snow never bothered me.
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Nice work and thank you for those pics. I'll keep this in mind. Even with my CTA plow I was planning on mounting some LED cubes through the top flap holes. I really didn't want to take into the headlights harness but I'm not ready yet to start punching holes through my dashboard for extra toggles for lights. At this point I'm thinking about tapping the headlight harness but adding a small harness, with dual terminals, with a switch to my rig. One terminal will terminate by the grill like my trickle charger plug. The other I'll run to the back end of the machine and terminate it back there. As mentioned this would let me put forward lighting on my plow or snowblower as well as lighting off my rear weight bracket.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08CGSH7TJ/ref=ox_sc_saved_title_3?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&psc=1
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07DCLL8P4/ref=ox_sc_saved_title_1?smid=ABIOZJIA9GC8T&psc=1
One thing to consider is how much the attachment covers your field of view. I just switched plows on my truck, and unless it’s elevated and retracted I can’t see anything 50’ infront of me. The lights on my x475 have smilar qualities. I can see everything with regular lights when it’s down, it’s just in the way when raised. A tractor has better geometry, but the camera angle above improves the view angle even more.
Light is good, don’t get me wrong.
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The implement certainly block the headlights when raised and the chute is always there. My goal for the lights was to fill in shadows caused by the implement blocking the headlights. So far I've been happy with the results.
As for the camera angle above the phone was about an inch above the hood right in front of the dash. So not a high angle shot.
If I were putting lights on a plow I would certainly get more powerful lights than I put on the blower. Would also consider bypassing the headlights with plow to avoid the back glare when the plow us raised.
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i agree with CJ, it would be supplemental lighting for the coverage that is lost by the headlights
Light is good. Where it is placed makes it better.
I didn’t mean to knock the lights, i was just clarifying you can’t light your way to x-ray vision. I’ve used dozens of tractors with different light configurations. Some are better then others, this appears to be good, but more light is better.
Putting them on the tractor reduces shake especially when lifted but creates shadows which you can’t always prevent from overlapping without adding ridiculous wing mounts. Just the basic every solution has pluses and minuses to balance.
On my X485 i ran the wires back and put a 12v cigerette lighter plug and plugged it in the power point and used the switch to turn on and off.
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Oh that's a good idea since it is already switched from the factory and the rocker is on the dash. I'll have to see what fuse amp size is feeding that switch. The LEDS won't draw much so it shouldn't be too concerning. When I tap it I will try to locate a waterproof T-tap rather than a standard one. I don't need the moisture getting in there when plowing.
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