# Do Bobcats really go through everything?



## JLawrence08648 (Jan 15, 2017)

I've seen YouTube videos of Bobcat blowers going through deep snow not stopping, and throwing well, and the EOD mess doesn't stop them. It seems a lot of Bobcat owners swear by them. Any swear at them? Lol. 

Really, are they the non-stop monsters that the message is conveying?

Do they clog with wet snow under the same conditions as other snowblower would? 

Or just a snowblower with the same problems when others are having the same problems?

Problem getting parts?


----------



## Brother Al (Nov 12, 2015)

Hello Jlawrence; All!

I've been away from the site for awhile, but I still have my trusty Bob-caTs. 

They can muscle through quite a lot. Very little stops 'em... short of a mechanical failure, or a very large obstruction, like a piece of firewood, large edging stone, the neighbor's pitbull... etc. Bob-caT's were designed to be very durable for heavy commercial use & most originally started life as such, but by the late 60's/early 70's, "Bob-caT" was a common machine for homeowners w/a few bucks & an eye for durability. A lot of machines were "built-to-last" back then, but most have a bunch proprietary components. Bob-caTs were built-to-last with widely-available industrial-spec bearings and components. ****, the Briggs & Stratton engines were not built to last anywhere near as long as the machine.

Both my 5hp and 7hp Bob-caT's take longer than a newer machine to do the same job, but the trade offs = lower initial cost, capability, and most importantly, overall durability. Your typical new snowblower has a big motor, eats shear pins for breakfast, costs waaaaay too much, and grenade apart when faced with Old Man Winter's worst... Cost Reduction Engineering SUCKS!!!!. 

...A Bob-caT/Bear-caT is a solid machine and anyone that has ever owned one in good working order will tell you that they are beasts. That said, a Bob-caT, in good working order, should be able to throw snow anywhere from 10 to 60 feet away or more, and roostertail it about as high, (depending on the engine size and snow type)... Its not out of the ballpark for the larger versions to fire powdery fluff up to 80 feet. The monster tractor-mounted units were essentially two scaled-up versions welded together (two 2nd stage impellers)... incredible pieces of equipment, but god help anyone/thing caught in their way. All Bob-caTs/Bear-Cat/Bear-Paws will consume snow, ice, rocks, and small animals with the 1st stage, then it pulverizes and launches them at high speed with the 2nd. People get mangled by typical snowblowers, but this thing will really maim a person....like "neighbors will be finding chunks of your body parts in the spring" kind of bad. Bone and flesh are no match for that cast iron 2nd stage impeller... think rock crusher. It will take more than a finger off.

When dealing with heavy-wet snow, ye olde Bob-caT will bang right on through it, without clogging....wet snow, frozen/packed snowbanks, & shrubbery are no match, but you do need to give the impellers time to chew their food... otherwise the forward drive will over-run the machine's ability to throw snow, causing it to plow &/or climb the snow. Sometimes that plowing effect can be handy because it aids in quicker area clearing,... then you can chuck the snowpiles out into the yard... (depends on how familiar you are with the machine, it can be a good tactic). The 2nd stage thrower's chute throat can clog, but only if its really, really sloppy... you'd have to be cleaning big melt/slushy puddles from the side of the road or trying to removing snow in the rain.


----------



## wdb (Dec 15, 2013)

I swore at mine but mostly because it was a beast to handle. The all-inline design makes for a very long unit -- that impeller is a long ways away from the handlebars. Made it cumbersome to lift/turn.

As far as handling snow/wet stuff, it was far better at snow than wet stuff. I tended to use it as a plow if the snow was slush. EoD was never a problem other than the front end tending to ride up on top of it instead of staying down and digging in.

Unit-specific parts I assume are nonexistent these days. Most of the stuff is fairly generic however; I wouldn't hesitate to buy one due to parts concerns.


----------



## Brother Al (Nov 12, 2015)

wdb said:


> I swore at mine but mostly because it was a beast to handle. The all-inline design makes for a very long unit -- that impeller is a long ways away from the handlebars. Made it cumbersome to lift/turn.
> 
> As far as handling snow/wet stuff, it was far better at snow than wet stuff. I tended to use it as a plow if the snow was slush. EoD was never a problem other than the front end tending to ride up on top of it instead of staying down and digging in.
> 
> Unit-specific parts I assume are nonexistent these days. Most of the stuff is fairly generic however; I wouldn't hesitate to buy one due to parts concerns.


^^^ LOL, yeah, it can be a pain to manuever in tight areas, but Im used to it I guess. Only time I swear at mine is when something gives up the ghost, but I expect worn old to parts fail... I replaced a bunch of things, made some upgrades to the original engine, and keep her greased.... So long as I do that, she'll outlast me.


----------



## guzzijohn (Mar 31, 2014)

Hey Al. I just used mine for the 1st time this winter. It is definitely a keeper being lighter than my S7 or Noma 10/33-I'll be 72 in the Spring so light is good. It would appear that my earlier idea of Tecumseh h10 swap wouldn't fit the chassis mounts. Mine does bog a bit under load but I don't like wot on my toys-maybe just let it rev. Just wondering what you did to your engine. A bit of trivia-when I'm out riding on one of my cycles there is a Bobcat tiller along one of the regular roads I hit.


----------



## Robert A Fierro (Jan 24, 2018)

Hi... when my dad got his bobcat in the early 60s, that beast would go thru almost anything that a north jersey winter could dish out. Plowed in and frozen driveways, did give it pause, however letting the beast "nibble" its way thru instead of trying to have it power thru worked. Once my uncle got impatient and hit a frozen snow bank on a running start... yes something broke. It got fixed and worked for years after that.


----------



## steamboat view (Mar 2, 2020)

what? do you WORK for bobcat? my bobcat snowblower has been a pain since i got it. it has been either waiting for parts or broken this whole snowy season here in the mountains of Colorado. i ordered NEW parts ($1000) worth and found that they DON'T FIT TOGETHER! What? new parts and they don't work? my dealer says (after he let me take them home) that they have to make the hole bigger in the fan in order to accommodate the input drive shaft all the time. why would i spend so much money on new parts just to have to have them re-manufactured by the dealer in order to make them work? stupid! stupid! stupid! It doesn't "eat" through the snow either unless it's very cold outside. the shoot gets choked all the time. so we have had to spray the shoot down with silicone before every plow and this seems to help a bit. 
customer service is terrible. i have called bobcat parts, my dealer, another dealer, and customer service. none of them have been helpful. Bad product and bad service. never again.


----------



## Kiss4aFrog (Nov 3, 2013)

:welcome: to SBF steamboat view

I have to ask. If you're up in the mountains of Colorado why you don't own something newer and more reliable. A new or good used Toro or Ariens would have easy parts availability and great customer service. If you had the cash it sounds like it might be worth trying to find a Honda as a step further up. All three would be more reliable and easier to find parts and fix than an old Bobcat. Rather than sink a grand into that old of a machine I'd sure be looking for it's replacement and use the $1K towards that.
To the best of my knowledge the Bob cats and bear cats haven't been made for decades and parts and customer service should be expected to be limited.


.


----------



## notabiker (Dec 14, 2018)

Here I was thinking a real Bobcat and got excited..


https://youtu.be/uyFsJ4DQsTU?t=123


If there was room and I had a decent chunk of land I'd get a bobcat.


----------



## Kiss4aFrog (Nov 3, 2013)

I wondered that too but hopefully they would have posted in the commercial snowblowers section as it's really not the typical homeowner size unit.
BUT my neighbor has a Bobcat with a bucket that he uses for his driveway. I kind of drool when I look over at it :crying:
I'm curious why he doesn't go for a used Toro or Ariens at around $500 which should be in good condition and maybe replace the bushings/bearings, skids? and friction disc and have a pretty bulletproof machine that should with proper maintenance go at least a decade without much trouble. And that would likely be under the $1,000 
I like those Bobcats but it's not something I'd rely on for my main machine. :2cents:

.


----------



## Shovel (Mar 26, 2019)

People like Bobcats in general here

Sent from my LM-Q710.FG using Tapatalk


----------



## Brother Al (Nov 12, 2015)

steamboat view said:


> what? do you WORK for bobcat? my bobcat snowblower has been a pain since i got it. it has been either waiting for parts or broken this whole snowy season here in the mountains of Colorado. i ordered NEW parts ($1000) worth and found that they DON'T FIT TOGETHER! What? new parts and they don't work? my dealer says (after he let me take them home) that they have to make the hole bigger in the fan in order to accommodate the input drive shaft all the time. why would i spend so much money on new parts just to have to have them re-manufactured by the dealer in order to make them work? stupid! stupid! stupid! It doesn't "eat" through the snow either unless it's very cold outside. the shoot gets choked all the time. so we have had to spray the shoot down with silicone before every plow and this seems to help a bit.
> customer service is terrible. i have called bobcat parts, my dealer, another dealer, and customer service. none of them have been helpful. Bad product and bad service. never again.


Gentlemen/Ladies, these Bob-caTs are not, nor were they ever, affiliated with Bobcat Skidsteers or their equipment lines/accessories. TOTALLY DIFFERENT COMPANIES AND PRODUCTS.


----------



## Snow Dr (May 18, 2020)

Brother Al said:


> ^^^ LOL, yeah, it can be a pain to manuever in tight areas, but Im used to it I guess. Only time I swear at mine is when something gives up the ghost, but I expect worn old to parts fail... I replaced a bunch of things, made some upgrades to the original engine, and keep her greased.... So long as I do that, she'll outlast me.


It's called a snow thrower for a reason. It throws it out over any bank you may have and for this fact you can tell a bobcat guy as his bank at the end of the driveway is small and not like snow blowers just pile it up next to the snowblower...
I remember telling my father the same thing when I was young (about heavy and long)and starting to use one. He said it's designed that way so the snowblower does the work and you just drive it. All the other wanna be snow throwers you have to toss around and manhandle. So once you learn to sit back and drive it and steer it then the snowblower cantilevers in front to dig natuurally and less work for the operator. If they sold these new I would have 2 of them. But I already own 2 of the 8hp, one 6hp, one 5hp Bobcats and two 8hp bear-cats. One is brand new never seen snow and still has the tags on it...


----------



## JLawrence08648 (Jan 15, 2017)

Snow Dr said:


> It's called a snow thrower for a reason. It throws it out over any bank you may have and for this fact you can tell a bobcat guy as his bank at the end of the driveway is small and not like snow blowers just pile it up next to the snowblower...
> I remember telling my father the same thing when I was young (about heavy and long)and starting to use one. He said it's designed that way so the snowblower does the work and you just drive it. All the other wanna be snow throwers you have to toss around and manhandle. So once you learn to sit back and drive it and steer it then the snowblower cantilevers in front to dig natuurally and less work for the operator. If they sold these new I would have 2 of them. But I already own 2 of the 8hp, one 6hp, one 5hp Bobcats and two 8hp bear-cats. One is brand new never seen snow and still has the tags on it...


And how does the 5 compare to the 6 to the 8? Is the 5 worth owning? The 6?


----------



## Snow Dr (May 18, 2020)

JLawrence08648 said:


> And how does the 5 compare to the 6 to the 8? Is the 5 worth owning? The 6?


Well here is how I see it. I have the 5 and even though it's smaller it's great for around the small city type houses and anywhere when the kids are learning, not to mention as we get older it gets a little easier to handle and still does the same great job. When I was a younger buck I obviously wanted to throw snow and the 8hp I think develops up to 11 hp on the gov especially with the gear reduction allows you to throw snow at half throttle vs tecumseh which is all HP to throw it. Stil works great though. The bob and bear cats throws snow over the power lines when aimed correctly. In addition I have snow blowed the puddle out at the end of my driveway with all of them so snow or water it's coming out. My dad bought one in 1964. I still have it. He said when they marketed them in those days they started them and engaged it and let it go down the yard by itself and all you could see was the handlebars and it went all by itself just throwing snow. Research shows the paddle design throws snow equally to the left and right whereas the new style feeds to much in and throws good only to one side. One trait you will notice when you use bob cat or bear cat is when your done you don't have ridges of snow next to where you blew it. It scatters it and you don't even know you put the snow out there vs modern day machines which need 12hp engines to do same thing. Hence the reason this is the only one called a snow thrower for a specific reason. I now this is a lot but simply awesome machines. My brother in law has a collection...
I have seen in these feeds about parts hard to get. Not true. This machine was designed with everyday parts that are accessible in the common world. Not like specific to one machine. The clutches, chain, gears etc. Can get all this stuff at grainger for most.

You question: the 5 throws the snow just as far. The 8hp throws more of it at one time.


----------



## OLDTMR (Dec 22, 2020)

I bought my Bob-caT 5 HP 20" in 1977 and gave it to my son about 15 years ago. Its still running, and yes we had to do some "maintenance" on it over the years, but maintenance pays off and that 5 HP Briggs & Stratton still runs like a champ. I gave it to my son because my ailing Father-In-Law gave me his nearly new MTD8/24 with electric start and honestly, the BC makes mincemeat out of the MTD. Just look at the second stage paddles... what are they, 5/16" steel? Apparently it was a losing proposition, they weren't really making much profit on them. In a heartbeat I'd buy a new one if they made one again that followed that same engineering thought. Snow blowers/throwers don't have to be sophisticated to work, the BobcaT proved that. Nothing can throw snow with those beasts.

Mike


----------



## guzzijohn (Mar 31, 2014)

Just did 8" today with my 7/24. May put my other two on CL as 3 is overkill. They are both 8/28. One is cheapo MTD that works fine. The other is Craftsman tracker I restored replacing the plastic bushings with nice flange bearings.


----------



## JLawrence08648 (Jan 15, 2017)

guzzijohn said:


> hey are both 8/28. One is cheapo MTD that works fine. The other is Craftsman tracker I restored replacing the plastic bushings with nice flange bearings.


For the flange bearings, do you know the source and item #?


----------

