John Deere 47 Snow Blower Maintenance: Part 1 - Tear Down and Flapper Mod

Per usual - a small project became a larger one. The 47 blower for the X series is not as easy to tear down at the heavy duty blowers from the front mount series.

[@TractorHoarders]

Great timing. I was thinking of adding flappers to my 47 and 54 here soon. Glad you are sharing your experience with it, so I can go into it a little more certain of what to expect. Thanks!

[@mmrbeef]

Going back to our comments the other day. The HD blowers are much easier to perform maintenance on compared to the the 47 quick hitch blowers. I am tempted to modify my 60HD blower for the 1445 just as a comparison in time. All total it took me almost 5.5 hours to disassemble and reassemble the blower. Last time I replaced the bearing in my 60 HD blower it took me 1.5hrs.

[@jackfarrell4727]

I have the very same unit, rebuilt once and now have a hole in the fan box. thank you for the video

[@Greg_Gatsby]

I would be proud of work that looks this clean. Nice job. 👍

[@derekchristofferson4244]

i think you will like the rubber tips on there. i've done it to every snowblower i've owned, no tractor blowers though. trim them close, to much pressure and power is an issue. i thought they would "self trim", but they didn't.

[@mmrbeef]

I'm split on it these would self trim or not... I am guessing they will not as you found out.

[@nofascists]

I have the same blower and took it all apart before , as you did. I was never happy with how far it threw snow (wet, heavy snow about 6 to 8 ft., medium wet snow about 16 to 20 ft. and adjusting speed for how fast to go into it. Even pretty dry snow, 6" deep or so, going at a pretty good clip, only about 20 to 25 ft.) and considered doing what you did. Now, years later, the edges of the impeller are all beat to shit from rocks etc. and I'm thinking about it again. A relatively minor concern is how it's "balanced". Wear out bearings from it being out of balance? Also, how long and well do those belting extensions hold up?

[@_P0tat07_]

I need to do some work to our snowblower. I think it needs a new impeller bearing.

[@MJB516]

It's a bit early for my request but I'm hoping in the spring or summer you do part 2 on buford bucket on the X758. Oh nice work on the snowblower. Have fun with it.

[@mmrbeef]

Once it warms up I will certainly get back to that project.

[@jdtractorman7445]

I'm a Deere fan myself, but I think they overlooked a few aspects of their snowblowers when they made them. The gap between the impeller paddles and the blower housing causing it to not collect all the snow that it can. I think they could have maybe "cupped" the paddles better as well so it would collect the snow to throw out the chute, giving it better throwing ability with more volume of snow essentially. Also, I think the impeller may be geared to run too slow, even with the engine at full throttle. You should check out some of the videos here on youtube showing Kubota CUT tractors with snowblowers on the front of the tractor. There is a big difference. From what I can tell, the Kubota blowers have 4 paddles on their impellers and they might be cupped slightly as well. They do a great job of throwing the snow quite a good distance. Some of the Deere blowers also had plastic impellers in them. I read somewhere that they were worried of the stress on the metal blower housing with a steel impeller. Don't know if that's gospel or not. If I were you, I would do something with the inside of your blower housing where the impeller is. Maybe paint it or try some POR 15 on it. That surface being smooth and rust free is important as well.

[@mmrbeef]

I agree and I've discussed the shortcomings with Deere blowers in past videos and particularly as it relates to the Heavy Duty blowers when you compare them to something like a Pronovost. The impeller does turn too slow, when you speed the blowers up through modification they perform well. When you start to look at the cost of the blowers it is even more apparent the short comings of the Deere blowers. I discuss one of the sprocket modifications in part 2.

[@PhatboyHD88]

Buddy normally the way they do that is they use flat bar for behind to hold mat on , reason why is the way you have it snow will push back the mat and that gap fills with snow and continues that way tell the flapper is so far away from the shroud it serves no purpose .. they put the flat bar right close to the edge of the impeller with a bolt on either side so the mat is held flat and firmly against the impeller.. just thought id mention that 2 you , ..

[@jasonchristman9880]

I have a stupid question on the drive shaft my coupler went bad had it rebuilt once failed again so I have a new one I took the snap rings off but how do I get it apart,looks like a pin runs through the middle do I punch that out just lost on how to get the old coupler off thanks for any help

[@mmrbeef]

I'm not 100% sure of what you are asking but you may be looking at a roll pin. You can get a set of roll pin punches to get one out.

[@jj-eo7bj]

The 47 blower is that what is needed for the 318 tractor 🚜 ?

[@mmrbeef]

Here are two videos showing what you need. kzbin.info/www/bejne/Y5Pbf6t9qd2kZ8U kzbin.info/www/bejne/ZovHp5qMlJeVj5I

[@ryankolesar571]

How much difference did it make for how far it throws the snow?

[@mmrbeef]

For this blower the difference was significant. But the gap between the impeller and case was large.

[@stevenfiner3637]

what are you using for the flappers on the impellers?

[@mmrbeef]

Baler belting from the local farm store.

[@andrewterry8092]

I have the 44" JD snowblower all torn apart, I have the plastic impeller fan instead of steel. I wish mine was steel. Anyone add the flappers to the plastic version, how did it work out? I'm concerned it may add too much weight and cause the bearings in the gearbox to wear out. Anyone with experience, I would appreciate hearing about it, thank you!

[@markpontes4457]

Since its that much of a pain to take apart I think I would replace all the bearings! 👍

[@mmrbeef]

Ultimately I replaced two. All the rest gave me no reason to replace them, they spun easy and felt good.

[@user-wu8os5fn2j]

At this point I would replace where the chain and sprockets are with the new gearbox assembly,once you do that you don’t have to take that apart the next time you need to work on the impeller assembly ,and I would also replace the impeller with the 4 paddle metal impeller should make a big difference.maybe there would be a way to also seed up the impeller a little more,I do think it could or should turn a bit faster,I have a brand new John Deere snowblower and I’m not happy I’m replacing the impeller with a new steel 4 paddle trying that first it needs to throw the snow farther for me. It’s shame that the 2380 Kabota with the BX2822A blower throws the snow almost twice as far as John Deere

[@nofascists]

I don't think more paddles will make it throw snow any farther. The size of the drive and driven sprockets on the back would need to be changed to increase rpm at auger and impeller. Probably create a whole new problem like replacing shear bolts more frequently. Mine is like the one in this video. Not that it makes a difference but I see the newer ones appear to have chinsier gearboxes in the front and plastic impellers (my brother in law has a newer version of mine. I wasn't impressed with the plastic impeller. Not even a little. Cold weather and/or a rock would break it, it seems to me.)

[@DKTractors]

You might want to put the flaps on the other side/following edge so the snow doesn’t build up but slides off the top.

[@mmrbeef]

Considered that but based on my experience with the baker belting on my snow pusher I think the usefulness of the flaps would be short lived after they bent backwards and stayed that way. The impeller supports the flap so only the top 3/8-1/2” is folding.