Forage Harvester Snowblower

Forage Harvester Snowblower SNOWBLOWERS Snowblowers 8-6-22 Mike Rice doesn't let his Deere 5400 forage harvester sit idle during the off-season. Instead, he's figured out how to mount a large 9-ft. wide snowblower on the front of the 200-plus horse-power machine. "A self-propelled forage harvester makes a powerful blower and, because it has hydrostatic drive, you can run at any speed. It's also much easier to operate with the blower mounted out front rather than on the rear of a tractor," notes Rice. To mount the blower on the forage harvester, Rice mounted a 3-pt. bracket on the front of the machine so the blower raises and lowers with the harvester's header controls. He then mounted a salvaged gearbox onto the gearbox driving the cutter on the header. A pto shaft runs up from the gearbox to the snowblower. "It can be converted back to harvesting in 2 to 3 hours by removing the 3-pt. bracket and the gearbox," says Rice, noting that he has no traction problems with the forage harvester because the blower rides up front over the harvester's drive wheels. He puts chains on the wheels, however.

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