Old Combine Snowblower

Old combine snowblower MISCELLANEOUS EQUIPMENT Miscellaneous 14-2-9 "We equipped our 1964 Deere 55 combine with an 8-ft. Lundell snowblower. It works better than we ever expected," says Merle Carpenter, Wayne, Ohio. Carpenter bought the junked-out combine for $1,000 and completely rebuilt the engine. He and his sons stripped away the combine's grain header, cylinder, and straw walker and equipped the combine with a new heavy duty gearbox to pto-drive the snowblower at 540 rpm's. The combine's original grain head-lifting cylinders lift the snowblower up and down. "We bought the snowblower for 3-pt. hookup on a tractor, but the tractor was geared too high for the snowblower so we decided to try mounting it on the combine. It's a heavy duty snowblower that really chews snow up. It works better than I ever imagined because the combine has variable speed drive which works great for slowing down and speeding up as needed while blowing snow. In the past we used a tractor and loader to clean our driveway, but when we piled snow up along the driveway the wind blew it right back. Our combine-mounted snowblower blows snow 15 to 20 ft. from the driveway, which is far enough to keep the snow from drifting back." Carpenter bought a new heavy duty transfer gear case to power the snowblower and mounted it on a frame above the combine transmission. He attached a gear to the center of the shaft that originally drove the combine cylinder and uses it to power the transfer case. A pto-shaft runs from the transfer case to the snowblower. He built a plywood box to go over the cylinder shaft and transmission drive belts to keep snow out of them. The box is hinged on top to allow servicing of the belts. He removed the radiator screen and turned the radiator shield upside down to keep snow from plugging up the radiator. The radiator now draws air from the bottom instead of from the top. He removed the rear hood that formerly covered the straw walker and chopper and used it to cover the engine. The combine was equipped with an after-market cab that wasn't heated so Carpenter made his own heater by running a duct from the engine manifold to the rear of the cab. Total out-of-pocket cost for the combine snowblower, including the factory blower, was about $3,500. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Merle Carpenter, 7370 Wayne Rd., Wayne, Ohio 43466 (ph 419 288-3123).

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