If you’re in the market for the best miniature snow blower, Blue Diamond’s Extreme Duty Snow Blower needs your immediate attention. If you are already familiar with Blue Diamond, feel free to check out this article to review their snow blower accessories. If this is the first time you’ve heard of Blue Diamond, make sure you read to the end.
key points
The Blue Diamond Extreme Duty Miniature Snow Blower – The ultimate snow blower accessory
The best miniature snow blower is the Extreme Duty Snow Blower Attachment from Blue Diamond. But what makes it the best? Both the quality and design of the attachment. Let’s start by looking at the design and what makes it stand out from the competition.
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Triple Geroler motors
One of the first things that stands out about the Blue Diamond Extreme Duty Snow Blower attachment is the use of three hydraulic motors connected together by a single hydraulic manifold. One motor directly controls the snowblowers auger, one controls the snowblowers fan, and the last controls the rotary motion of the discharge chute via a gear.
Advantages of Direct Drive
Having direct drive motors that control the moving components of the snow blower eliminates the need for chains and belts which are a common point of failure. A single hydraulic manifold that controls fluid flow to each individual pump greatly simplifies the hydraulic system eliminating maintenance compared to belt driven models.
Note that the fan duct is gear driven rather than direct driven. The gears sit under a cover and by design have fewer moving parts than a chain drive.
Advantages of Geroler style engines
I admit we are usually all talking about piston style hydraulic motors. However, when it comes to miniature snow blower accessories, the geroler style motor is the right choice.
The hydraulic drive components of a miniature snow blower do not require high torque, but will benefit from a higher rotational speed. An easy example of this is the blower motor in snowblowers that works best at high speed rather than high torque.
A Geroler hydraulic motor is a high-speed, low-torque motor, perfect for miniature snow blowers. They also provide the added benefits of being cheaper and more tolerant of careless maintenance and operation compared to piston engines.
No shear pins
If you can imagine trying to put a log through your snow blower, you’d be right to think it would cause substantial damage. That’s why every snow blower needs a way to disconnect the auger from the drive system if it encounters a solid object while operating.
The most common way manufacturers achieve this is by adding “shear pins” to the drive line. The shear pin acts as a weak link in the rotating assembly, so it will break easily if you hit a solid object. With the shear pin broken, the auger will lose 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, the day is over. You will also spend 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 detect when there is a sudden and abnormal increase in back pressure that indicates the auger has contacted a solid object. This back pressure automatically opens a bypass valve removing hydraulic pressure from the system which prevents further damage to rotating components.
With the bypass relief system, you don’t have to worry about replacing parts or accidentally breaking them.
Auger and aggressive flight
The snow blower auger and auger are the heart of the system and should not be overlooked. Blue Diamond’s Extreme Duty Snow Blower has a 16″ diameter auger that is driven at one end by its hydraulic motor and is supported by a greaseable bearing at the opposite end.
The auger flight is welded to the auger drum and measures 2.25″ by 0.25″. The flier has a built-in flashing serrated edge to help cut through heavy snow.
Aggressive auger and flight advantages
Most manufacturers build their snow blowers with a 16″ diameter auger, so I see that as an ideal number. You occasionally see 18″ diameter augers, but that seems to be the only effect of increasing the weight, slowing down the rotation, and occupying more space.
The ribbon flying on the drum with occasional toothed extensions pulls snow smoothly into the fan at a constant rate. Some competing brands will use a non-continuous flight type.
Non-continuous flight 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 in denser snow and increases the load on the hydraulic system.
Built for standard flow and high flow minicarts
It’s a common misconception that you need a skid steer with a high-flow hydraulic system to operate a snow blower attachment. This may be true for some manufacturers, but with Blue Diamond’s Extreme Duty Snow Blower, there’s a model built for every flow range.
For those with a smaller mini cart, you can get a model that requires as little as 11 gallons per minute. The smallest model will still have a 69.7″ cutting width, making it perfect for the Cat 226D, JD 312GR and many more.
If you 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 accessories in a competitive market, companies may be tempted to develop a unique feature that differentiates them from the competition. This is rarely a winning strategy in the long run.
What’s more impressive is when a manufacturer is able to improve dozens of small details that add up to a massive increase in quality. That’s exactly what Blue Diamond has done with the Extreme Duty Snow Blower.
Finance your mini car snow blower
If you are interested in a snow blower for this winter, order now and start making payments after you receive it!
We are partnered with CIT Bank to provide our customers with business financing solutions. You can apply here or call us today. Many customers are approved instantly.
