I purchased a 60” MK Meteor Pull-Type Snowblower from Good Works Tractors in January of 2022, in the gray color, which was the only color available at the time. This thing has been nothing short of amazing. I highly recommend this implement to anyone who is on the fence about spending the money, or pulling the trigger to buy one. My MK Meteor snowblower has been nothing short of amazing. This has been my 3rd winter using the thing to clear my steep, 435’ x 16’ concrete driveway and sizable 40’ x 60’ pad in front of the house. The MK Meteor is a true beast, capable of clearing a huge amount snow in a very short time. The functionality and performance have far surpassed my expectations. I store it in my garage during the warmer months, at which time I lubricate the chain & other lube points. The paint has held up very well considering the heavy use, and it still looks brand new. I highly recommend counter weights up front to balance the weight of the MK Meteor blower. Mine is a 60-inch model, which weighs in at 495 lbs. I fill the bucket of my John Deere 3 series tractor with 435 lbs. of cinderblocks, which keeps the front end down & gives me great traction on the front (4WD) wheels. I also have liquid ballast in all 4 tires, which also helps greatly with traction in the snow & ice. Setup this way, I can easily drive over 10-12” inches of snow with no problem, even going up an incline. Incidentally, 10”-12” of snow is about the max you will want to take on, unless you have a larger tractor than my JD 3-series pulling a 60” blower. I additionally purchased the manual back-drag for my blower, but found the up/down travel in the mechanism to be insufficient to be of much use. Also, it was a pain hopping on & off the tractor to adjust the mechanism. To remedy this, I fabricated a mount for a linear actuator and rigged a relay & LiPo battery in in the left armrest storage compartment of my tractor. I also added a switch to the right armrest for controlling the up/down movement of the actuator. (John Deere installs a switch bay on the right armrest near the PTO control which has 3 blank knock-out plugs in it for adding accessory switches. This worked out perfectly for setting up my linear actuator. After a few heavy uses, I ended up removing the linear actuator on the back-drag because the mechanism would jam up while driving over uneven terrain, or going over swales, driveway approaches, etc. However, I have found the back-drag to work well in a static position, suspended from chains at just above grade level. Setup this way, it can simply “float’ up & down to follow uneven or sudden changes in the terrain, even in reverse. Last summer, I added a 12” tall x 60” wide piece of curved ¼” inch steel plate to the backdrag to better facilitate using the snowblower in reverse as a snow-pusher. I added a 6” tall x 60” wide rubber flap, (think snow plow blade) to the top of the snow-pusher plate. This setup works great and is far more useful than a stand-alone back-drag. Now, instead of piling snow up on top of the snowblower and pushing a wall of unruly snow, it literally rolls the snow into a giant rolling cylinder, and more easily pushes the white stuff around. I also fabricated an electric chute rotator by cutting the hand crank off of the manual chute rotator shaft. In place of the crank, I mounted an automotive 12v worm gear electric seat motor ($70 an amazon). The output shaft fits nicely inside the handle of the chute rotator shaft with the addition of a $2 hardware store aluminum bushing. The chute rotator motor is suspended by an aluminum Z bracket that I fabricated. The electric chute rotator is controlled by a relay and switch in the armrest of the tractor. Out of necessity, I added a linear actuator to where the manual chute deflector used to mount. The actuator is also controlled by a relay and switches hidden in the armrests of the tractor. Like the chute rotator, the chute deflector has proven to be invaluable for placing snow exactly where I want it. If you’re like me and don’t have a cab on your tractor, you will want to invest in a good snow suit. This attire is definitely a must if you’re blowing snow on a windy day without a cab!
