Dukes Snow Blower Automation

I have been working on my Snow Blower and one of the main things I have been wanting to do is motorize the chute, Right, Left Up and down. I used a Window Motor. (Kelly's Idea he gave me) I made a stainless steel mounting bracket for the motor and have the motor mounted. This is what I have done So Far.

I like it.

nice fab job there duke! works like a charm

Way cool

Do I see a set of limit switches in the future ??

nice work duke . you should build a box/cover over the motor to keep the snow off it.
i have 2 factory simplicity electric chute rotator setups. they used GM window motors.

Duke
Great idea. I might have to steal that one for the blower on my D. Just add a double pull double throw switch and you are in.
P.J.

Nice weld on that stainless.

Duke,
Nice job . Your welding looks great. I think it's time for me to go tig.

Very nice.

I am still trying to get the leaf collector together.

Have yet to work on my blower.

Duke, now that's just damn cool !! Now, between that and the cab... theoretically, you "should" be able to clear the driveway without even actually touching snow! I agree with Perry... some sort of shroud to keep snow/water out of that motor will be imperative! Nice job! Now... how about a spare throttle cable for controlling the up and down?

Oh... and did you leave in any sort of manual override in case your motor does short out?

Looks really good Duke! Bet ya cant wait to use it in a blizzard

Nice !!!!!!
I used an actuator motor to turn the drum on my cable style chute. I bet that window motor is faster. If you are considering using a cable for the up/down of the chute, here's a nice one from Surplus Center. I bought one a while back but can't remember what it was for It is definately heavy duty enough.

Duke...that is way cool...just think, if you did a remote control for the horse,
you could sit in a lawn chair just inside your garage and "git er dun"

this guy at the show in LeSeur had a remote control garden tractor...he sat in a wagon being pulled by the tractor...had a box he hand held with switches and was going around the show grounds. Did the steering, throttle, and could shift gears with the box. radio controled.

Seems to work great Duke! VERY cool indeed!

Now if I only had a use for s snow blower down here!

Kevin

I agree, looks great! Cool idea

Now thats a fine bit-of-engineering there Duke !
If your ever out this way I'll let ya "mod" my sno-chucker .
Mike...........

When's the motorized Up/Down (raise/lower?) mod going in?

That is one pretty slick modification you have done their Duke!

That shoot moves pretty quick as well.

You going to be wearing a t-shirt and shorts in that their snow cab this winter? I thought the fun of blowing snow was the ability to freeze the snot right below your nose?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

Thanks for the pics and the video!

LOVE IT !! Very cool, nice job.

Patent time . . . . Beautiful and functional.

great job and real nice beads there,its a great thing especially with the snowcab,wont be so tight in there!!

Thank Guy's but I have to come clean here, this is not my Idea! The first time I had seen this was when it was posted by my Pal Dale Garver (ThirdRock) Below is a picture of his brother Lyles machine. If you look closely he used a Winshield wiper Motor And an actuator like I will be useing. When finished mine will look kinda like the one below it will have overhead lights and Strobe and my snow cab is just like his. Mine will not have the rear box blade. One thing I will be doing is I plan on ducting heat in off the shroud of the engine or exhaust with a fan with fresh air, this will keep the cab somewhat is a postive air pressure and should solve any fogging problems. Future plans include lexan windshield with wiper motor. Ok well yes some kind of shroud over the motor may be in order even tho the motor is sealed. I will probably use a rubber innertube or something. You have to figure the motor is down in a door and water runs down the window so they are pretty weather proof. The other thing is my garage is heated and stays at 40 deg, so things will dry out. The chute up ad down motion will be controlled by a 8" actuator exactly the distance from full up and down for the vertical motion. Here is a picture of the 12V 8" actuator I will be useing.





The machine below is a C160 with a 20 hp Onan Transplant. From what has been written on this tractor weighs in right at 2000 lbs with driver! WoW!





Here is the Ultimate Snow Machine in action! Dont like the snow in the front yard? no problem! Blow it in the back plum over the house! Now you know why I wanted a 2 stage tall chute! And yes eventually I will be useing the 417A with a 20Hp magnum transplant!



Jason it would be pretty hard to rotate the chute with the mptor linkage hooked up so i will most likely keep some spares on the shelf

P.J. I have two MOMENTARY double pole double throw rocker switches for the motors and three more matching single pole single throw switches for the overhead lights, strobe and heater fan. May need to get another for an electric PTO clutch

Nice work Duke!

If you can stomach leaving the tractor an unheated portion of the shop you might find that the snow will flow better out of the cold thrower housing rather than melting and sticking to the warm one...of course that adds a whole other layer of problems to deal with since the whole tractor will be ice cold.

I've often thought of using Volkswagon exhaust heater boxes from an air cooled beetle. Seems like a reasonably safe way to duct exhaust heat into the cab. Or I suppose you could just vent the exhaust in the cab and hold your breath for a while .

This may present an "overcooling" problem, but after you make the M20 swap into the 417, I wonder if it is possible to use a remote oil cooler kit to plumb engine oil thru a heat exchanger in the cab . Blow a fan across it and you'll have heat from the engine similarly to a heater core from a water cooled engine.

Might not be many btu/hr, but would probably keep some of the frost off the windows. Again, my only worry would be preventing the engine from warming up properly.

Again, nice work! But remember, the better prepared for another Blizzard of '78 you are the less likely it will happen!

Steve

Good job duke.. Borrowed idea or not, still pulled it off.

That's pretty SLICK Bob!!! Fantastic job!

I knew you would figure it out sooner or later. Great idea, borrowed or not. You'll probably need to install a 140 amp alternator to run all your extra accessories. Lookin' good my friend.

Sweet work and VERY nice beads!!! I find the cab to be warm enough with just the heat from the engine area coming back into the cab naturally. And I'm in Northern Vermont 15 miles from Canada.

Having dealt with VW's I'm always worried about exhaust flumes from those boxes....

That blower set up is going to be GREAT!!

caught up on the thread Duke...cant' wait to see here done.

Awesome Duuuuuuuke!

Duke
If you could duct the air being blown over the engine into your cab that might do it. I have warmed my hands there. I have thought about useing a heat riser set up were the engine compartment is coverd up except were the air intake shroud comes in and the exhaust goes out. Cover up the bottum and remove the shifter cover to force the warm air to enter the cab. I useally really think hard about this when Im out there removeing snow. Good thing I have warm clothes

Looks good Duke! The one of mine I just pull a baggy over it and ty rap it tight. I took it off when I sent you the pictures of mine.
Be carefull when blowing in engine heat for the carbon monoxide, hate to see something happen to you.
As far as putting flood lights on your cab, you'll be looking through the blowing snow and it won't be fun. Better to put them under windshield by door hinges.
A small fan will help with the window fogging problem.

Be safe, Randy

Thanks guy's! I did a little painting in the Chute, And today I recieved my 8" actuator. I went to work
and Fabbed & built a couple of SS mounting brackets for the actuator. Installed & Here are some pics!

Looks Good Duke!

That's some clean work, VERY nice. You should make, and sell, complete kits, they would sell!

Really nice work.

Very nice work Duke!

Here is the Snow Blower Chute In full action!

Motorized Snowblower Chute

Great work!! Thanks for posting this last video so we could see it in action. Can't wait to see it throw snow over your house! Perhaps readjusting the high revs on your engine, or a redone pully ratio, for a little extra distance.

Duke, like so many of the other guys on here, you are one clever sonuvagun! NICE work!

Duff

Chris...Dont give him any idea's!!! Shhhh!!

Great job, Duke. Bet you can't wait for the snow to fall.

Thanks Guys!

Ray, ya know if this contraption works as well as I hope it will, I just might hate for winter to end! Did I just say I liked Winter?

Love the last video. Well done Duke!!
-BK

Thanks BK, I have been extremely busy the past couple days rebuilt the carb in the C-120, replaced points, condenser, spark plug, plug wire, changed oil in engine, replaced some fuel line, Installed new fuel filter, replaced air cleaner, replaced 2 leaking hydraulic hoses to the cylinder, have a new battery and am fixing to change out ALL the battery cables to 4ga. I painted the battery box and have been touching up the tractor all over with val spar. Haven't been doing the best prep job nor paint job but I wanted to seal up the rust at least to keep the metal from rusting further till I can get to it and do a better job.










I said earlier that I wanted to get some heat in the cab off the engine and figured a small fan would be in order, but the less amount of amperage I could use the better. Well I got to feeling around and at high throttle around the engine head opposite of the flywheels side and there is one hellofa lot of air coming out in the space circled above. I purchased some 3" Silicone Flex tubing and will be making a shield deflector scoop and attach it to the 3" tubing that will take heat up to 600deg and run it into the cab next to the dash columb and the hydraulic lift lever this should provide one heck of alot of heat into the cab. Since I will only be using this machine in winter any restriction across the head for cooling the cylinder head should be a Non Issue but I will take digital temp readings with infra red thermometers. I have the snow cab panels over to a seamstress gal I know getting sewed up I have the matching fabric, edge material and zippers to replace and patch anything that is damaged. I will also be painting all the framework of the cab this weekend. As you can see I have much to do to get ready for the first snow fall!

Went to Lowe's this morning and got some vinyl rubber matting and cut and installed in the battery tray and cut some for the footrests. This stuff is only $2.47 per foot. It's so easy to cut and install caveman can do it! I then installed the battery and the new 4 ga. battery cables. I picked up a couple new Sylvania 1156A Silver-star bulbs. I polished the light lens in front and used some NOVUS plastic polish for that. I then installed the new bulbs, and what a difference those make! Here are some pics.

As always - looking good Duke!!
I really like the mats!

Randy

They came out good Duke.

Hi very nice job looks cool!!

Lookin' good, my friend.

Duke, I bet you spent enough money that you could pay someone to plow your driveway for the next 4 years. But that wouldn't be any fun.

Havent you heard duke has a money tree out back well atleast untill he run out of ink and paper

Havent you heard duke has a money tree out back well atleast untill he run out of ink and paper

Jerry I spent most of my money on Whiskey And Women! The rest I just plain Wasted!