If you are in the market for the best skid steer snow blower, Blue Diamond's Extreme Duty snow blower needs your immediate attention. If you are already familiar with Blue Diamond, feel free to skim this article for a refresher on their snow blower attachments. If this is your first time hearing about Blue Diamond, be sure to read right to the end.
Key Takeaways
Blue Diamond's Extreme Duty Skid Steer Snow Blower - The Best Snow Blower Attachment
The best skid steer snow blower is Blue Diamond's Extreme Duty snow blower attachment. But what makes it the best? Both the quality and the design of the attachment. Let's start by looking at the design, and what makes it stand out among the competition.
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Triple Geroler Motors
One of the first things that stand out about Blue Diamond's Extreme Duty snow blower attachment is the use of three hydraulic motors plumbed together through a single hydraulic manifold. One motor directly controls the snow blowers auger, one controls the snow blowers fan, and the last one controls the pivoting movement of the discharge chute via a gear drive.
Advantages of Direct Drive
Having direct drive motors controlling the moving components of your snow blower eliminates the need for chains and belts which are a common failure point. A single hydraulic manifold controlling the flow of fluid to each individual pump greatly simplifies the hydraulic system which eliminates maintenance when compared to belt-driven models.
It should be noted that the fan chute is gear driven rather than direct drive. The gears sit underneath a cover, and by design have fewer moving parts than a chain drive.
Advantages of Geroler Style Motors
I admit that normally we are all about piston style hydraulic motors. However, when it comes to skid steer snow blower attachments, the geroler style motor is the right choice.
The hydraulically driven components in a skid steer snow blower do not require high torque but rather would benefit from a higher rotation speed. An easy example of this is the snow blowers fan motor which performs better at high speed rather than high torque.
A hydraulic geroler motor is a high-speed low torque motor, perfect for skid steer snow blowers. They also provide the additional benefits of being lower cost and more tolerant to sloppy maintenance and operation when compared to piston motors.
No Shear Pins
If you can imagine trying to put a log through your snow blower, you would be right to think it would cause substantial damage. That's why every snowblower needs a way to disconnect the auger from the drive system if it encounters a solid object while operating.
The most common way manufacturers accomplish this is by adding "shear pins" in the drive line. The shear pin acts as the weak link in the rotating assembly, so it will easily break if you run into a solid object. With the shear pin broken, the auger will loose power, preventing further damage to the snow blower.
Advantages Of Not Having a Shear Pin
Blue Diamond's Extreme Duty snow blower does not use a shear pin system. Instead, it uses a high-pressure bypass relief system.
The problem with a shear pin system is that the pin is designed to break. If it breaks prematurely after some wear and tear your day is done. You also will be spending some time tinkering afterwards in the cold trying to replace the pin.
With Blue Diamond's high-pressure bypass relief system, the hydraulic system is designed to sense when there is a sudden and abnormal increase in back pressure which indicates that the auger has contacted a solid object. This back pressure automatically opens a bypass valve removing the hydraulic pressure from the system which prevents further damage to rotating components.
With the bypass relief system, there is no need to worry about replacing parts or accidental breakage.
Aggressive Auger & Flighting
The auger and flighting on your snow blower is the heart of the system and shouldn't be overlooked. Blue Diamond's Extreme Duty snow blower has a 16" diameter auger that is driven on one end by its hydraulic motor and is supported by a greaseable bearing on the opposite end.
The auger flighting is welded onto the auger drum and measures 2.25" by 0.25". The flighting has an intermittent serrated edge built in to help cut through heavy snow.
Advantages Of Aggressive Auger & Flighting
Most manufacturers build their skid steer snow blowers with a 16" diameter auger, and therefore I see this as an ideal number. Occasionally you do see 18" diameter augers, but this seems to only have the effect of increasing weight, slowing down rotation, and taking up more space.
The ribbon flighting on the drum with occasional serrated extensions smoothly draws the snow into the fan at a constant rate. Some competing brands will use a noncontinuous type of flighting.
Noncontinuous flighting will make the auger lighter and cheaper to manufacture. These are two good reasons to avoid it. Having a lighter auger reduces inertia, which slows the auger down in denser snow and increases the load on the hydraulic system.
Built for Standard Flow and High Flow Skid Steers
It’s a common misconception that you need a skid steer with a high-flow hydraulic system to run a snow blower attachment. This may be true for some manufacturers, but with Blue Diamond’s Extreme Duty Snow Blower, there is a model built for every flow range.
For those with a smaller skid steer, you can get a model that requires as little as 11 gallons per minute. The smaller model will still have a cut width of 69.7”, which makes it perfect for the Cat 226D, JD 312GR, and many more.
If you do have a high-flow skid steer, you can enjoy its benefits with an Extreme Duty snow blower that handles up to 40 gallons per minute.
Summary
When manufacturing attachments in a competitive marketplace, companies can be tempted to develop one single feature that differentiates themselves from the competition. This is rarely a long-term winning strategy.
What’s more impressive is when a manufacturer is able to improve upon dozens of small details that compound into a massive quality increase. That’s exactly what Blue Diamond has done with the Extreme Duty Snow Blower.
Finance Your Skid Steer Snow Blower
If you're interested in a skid steer snow blower for this winter, order it now and start making payments after you receive it!
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