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Prestige Snowblower question


joelk

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Just picked up a 46" single stage blower for my 2003 prestige. It looks to be all there (reading the manuals) except for on piece. It is shown as a "plate lock" and will allow the hydraulic lift to put downward pressure on the blower when attached (by compressing the spring on the lift rod). My thought is that I don't really need this as the weight of the blower should be more than enough down force even with the spring assist attached, but I'm just guessing. Anyone have experience with these blowers? I can get the part but its just more to change out and if its not necessary I'd rather not bother. Let me know what you think, thanks.

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I know on the sovereign I had that there are times you need down presure. Like when someone drives on it before you clean up. Worst case is try it without it, if you need it, then buy it. If the part is cheap, then just do it.

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The Sovereign doesn't have a float position does it? With the Sunstar, I had to compress the spring on the lift rod, to account for an uneven ground etc, but the Prestige floats mechanically as I see it.

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You'll probably want the lock plate, but you wont need it to operate. As you stated, without it you'll have no down pressure other than the weight of the thrower.

The float in the sovereign is done via cable lifts, the prestige is mechanical on the rock shaft and without that plate there is no 'hold' position.

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The lift for the snowblower on the sovereign is on the rocks haft also

On my two stage blower on Prestige the triangle piece fits on the rocks haft

And I do not think I could lift snowblower without it

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FYI - I got it hooked up, and it lifts just fine without the "plate lock" just can't put downforce on the blower, works just like the float position on my 3112H. The nice part about the FDT hydrolift is you can choose either downforce or float, with this setup you have to make a decision one way or the other. I will just leave the float for now, but will pick up the plate lock in case I get a plow for it someday (before they are NLA).

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Yes, the snow thrower lift for both the Prestige and the Sovereign is on the rock shaft. Down pressure is provided by a spring on the lift rods for both as well.

The difference is in the float. On a Sovereign the rock shaft is fixed to the hydro/electric/manual lift and holds whatever position it is in unless you have a lock tab on a manual lift to allow "float". When using a mowing deck this is worked around by the use of cable for lift which will give to allow the deck to float. When using the snow thrower the outside tab of the rock shaft doesn't allow for any float outside of the down pressure spring.

On a Prestige/Conquest the ear for rock shaft lift (hydro or manual) is a slide that allows for the rock shaft to float up, independent of the lift's position. It's this function that the lockout plate prevents so that the down pressure spring has something to push back against and provide down pressure.

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quote:Originally posted by joelk

FYI - I got it hooked up, and it lifts just fine without the "plate lock" just can't put downforce on the blower, works just like the float position on my 3112H. The nice part about the FDT hydrolift is you can choose either downforce or float, with this setup you have to make a decision one way or the other. I will just leave the float for now, but will pick up the plate lock in case I get a plow for it someday (before they are NLA).


id="quote">
id="quote">Real down-pressure (not spring preload), front and rear, plus float position, is why some of us still swear by "FDTs Forever"... :D:D
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