Snowblower skid shoes digging into gravel

[Steuny]

We have had little snow and the ground is not frozen. My snowblower shoes are digging into the gravel on my driveway with this mornings 4" of snow. The obvious solution (in my mind) is to increase the size of these shoes. Are there any other ideas that work better. How big would these shoes need to be?
Has anyone else experience similiar problem and how did you solve it.

 

[JoeL4330]

mushroom shoes free to rotate ...like snowplow shoes

 

[Thomas]

Evening Steuny.
"the ground is not frozen"...not real much you can do others than maybe lower the blower so the shoes just barely touch the ground....down side of doing this not nice looking clean job,also extra weight from the blower on wheel bearings.

 

[SPYDERLK]

I put 6" narrow wheels on mine in place of the skids as soon a I started doin g snow on gravel. They work well. Snow packs inside them against the frame until you figure out the right fender/guard arrangement. After that, trouble free on any surface.
Larry

 

[herringchoker]

I slit a steel pipe and put it over the full width of the bottom lip of the blower. I posted a (not very good) picture of this on a thread that's going right now on the Kubota Owning/Operating board. There is some other good info in that thread. I'd post a link to it if I knew how , but the title of the thread is "Rear 5 ft. snowblower questions about using". Good luck.

 

[ccsial]

I have a friend who went the wheel route and said they work great.

 

[DieselPower]

I put lawn mower wheels on mine. If I get a chance later I'll take a picture of it to show you. Works great on my gravel driveway.

 

[DieselPower]

As promised, pictures of my lawn mower wheels on a snow blower. I also used the lawn mower wheel adjusters. Instead of digging into the gravel and ground they just roll over it. Also works great in my back yard to make a path to the garage. They just roll over the grass/lawn without digging in.

 

[Steuny]

Thanks so much for all the useful replies. The slitted pipe may be a good solution for me. My front mounted snowblower weighs about 350 lbs and the wheels as pictured above may still dig into the gravel. I have asked SPYDERLK to post or e-mail me a picture of his wheels before I go the pipe route. Thanks again for all the replies. I did go to to that article you mentioned and it was informative.

 

[Farwell]

Evening Steuny.
"the ground is not frozen"...not real much you can do others than maybe lower the blower so the shoes just barely touch the ground....down side of doing this not nice looking clean job,also extra weight from the blower on wheel bearings.

If you lower the blower prior to the ground being frozen the snow blower will pick up a bunch of gravel and you will have to rake it out of your lawn come Spring before you do any mowing. Don't ask how I know.
The wheels look like a good idea, maybe I will give it a try myself.
David B