Deere 47in blower; auger rubs, center support Rib bow and shoe adjusters

[al3]

Doing end of season maintenance on the JD blower, it needed a new scraper bar so it was time to de-rust and put down some epoxy paint. Noticed a few things with the blower sitting on its back resting on the tractor forks.

-- Appears auger was rubbing against/made contact with the rear wall sometime during the season. Never had that happen before. See the bare metal rub marks in pic 1 and 4. Cross shaft is running true, augers do not contact the rear wall now. I am thinking it occurred when blowing very wet piles that had been pushed into the drive by the county plow. Been blowing for 14 years with this equipment, first time I noticed any such rub marks. Thoughts?

-- Related to the above, was also wondering if the heavy brace that supports the auger gearbox is supposed to have a lot of bow to it? See the second and fifth picture. Never paid any attention to it before. It is a pretty beefy piece, cannot imagine I could have bowed it that much without taking out the augers. Anyone with one of these like to take a look see at yours and let me know if indeed the part has a good arc built into it?

Lastly, the only way I can get the side shoes to stay extended for any length of time is by putting a metal wedge/shim into the adjustment slot (see pencil in the 3rd pic). If I just tighten down the two adjustment bolts the shoes quickly bottom out. I've torqued them to 65flbs. The shims work, but they have to be custom cut each time the shoes are adjusted scraper bar wear. Brieflly thought about welding on a pair of L brackets with threaded bolts/jam nuts, but not sure about adding obstructions to the path of incoming snow. Anyone work out a good/easy solution to this?

Thks

 

[Dave M7040]

The bent brace is bent!! No manufacturer would make it that way as it is too expensive to do so.

You can push your blower too hard because of the traction and power of your tractor. Then things start bending. If you don't bend too far metals will spring back.

Think of the blower like a skill type saw, don't force it, let the blower do the work.

Consider mounting industrial casters to your blower to provide ground clearance rather than relying on skid shoes.

These photos are of a different style and size of blower but I provide it just to get you thinking of wheels rather than skids.

This style has a manual adjustment

Dave M7040

 

[Pipestone Kid]

Doing end of season maintenance on the JD blower, it needed a new scraper bar so it was time to de-rust and put down some epoxy paint. Noticed a few things with the blower sitting on its back resting on the tractor forks.

-- Appears auger was rubbing against/made contact with the rear wall sometime during the season. Never had that happen before. See the bare metal rub marks in pic 1 and 4. Cross shaft is running true, augers do not contact the rear wall now. I am thinking it occurred when blowing very wet piles that had been pushed into the drive by the county plow. Been blowing for 14 years with this equipment, first time I noticed any such rub marks. Thoughts?

-- Related to the above, was also wondering if the heavy brace that supports the auger gearbox is supposed to have a lot of bow to it? See the second and fifth picture. Never paid any attention to it before. It is a pretty beefy piece, cannot imagine I could have bowed it that much without taking out the augers. Anyone with one of these like to take a look see at yours and let me know if indeed the part has a good arc built into it?

Lastly, the only way I can get the side shoes to stay extended for any length of time is by putting a metal wedge/shim into the adjustment slot (see pencil in the 3rd pic). If I just tighten down the two adjustment bolts the shoes quickly bottom out. I've torqued them to 65flbs. The shims work, but they have to be custom cut each time the shoes are adjusted scraper bar wear. Brieflly thought about welding on a pair of L brackets with threaded bolts/jam nuts, but not sure about adding obstructions to the path of incoming snow. Anyone work out a good/easy solution to this?

Thks

I have the same blower. The paint missing from the back of the blower is common. (Snow gathers grit an acts like sandpaper) I notice your skid shoes are on the "inside". Mine are on the outside and stay where I set them. And yes, the support is bent.

 

[al3]

Thanks for the wheel shots. From what I can see, it would take considerable gusseting/extra steel on my 47incher to make a decent sized set of wheels work. The sheet metal gauge on this deere housing is pretty thin.. That red unit has some nice plate on the edges as well as triangulated tubes. But maybe.

Have to come to grips with how I could put that big of a bow in it (at least 3/16 if not ｼ in plate) without severely bending anything else. It is by far is the beefiest piece on the front end of the blower. I have a big enough press so I should be able to get it back in line; will think about the pros and cons of welding on another plate to provide some more mass.

I always mounted the shoes on the inside to avoid the potential of snags. Same reason I dismissed mounting wheels on the outside ends. Will give it a try this upcoming season.

It possible the marks in the back of the housing that look like auger rubs could be gravel induced; I moved south 3 years ago and from time to time do go over a gravel surface that is not always frozen completely solid. Never saw any marks the past two years though, and one of those years was before I had a large section of the drive paved. Thinking it might be related to the gear box support. I ll keep an eye on it.

Thanks again for the posts. Help is always appreciated.

 

[zzvyb6]

I've seen this happen when the drive shaft is fully extended and the blower drops down over a curb. The gearbox is actually pulled into the housing. I adapted a 47" blower to my F-935 with a shaft reverser and saw this coming. First thought might be that you ran into something and pushed the gearbox inward, but it can be pulled in, too.

 

[al3]

Center support is made out of plate that is 200thou thick, so somewhere between 3/16 and 1/4.

The place I moved to has some steep banks and I did blow back some drifts/berms this year, so the idea of the gearbox being pulled back and bending is interesting. I d of thought the 2nd stage fan assembly would have been pulled back into the fan shrouding and made an awful lot of racket.

Just about have things straight and aligned. Might need some heat to get the attachment points square and plumb again.

One additional question. I noticed a lot of backlash in the input shaft, the one that goes into the gearbox, connects the gearbox to the drive chain gear and has the 2nd stage fan mounted to it. (see the pic with the hollow red arrow; that shaft) If I hold the left and right augers firmly, the 2nd stage fan (and shaft) moves about 45 degrees. Seems like a lot of slop in that worm gear, if anyone can check theirs and let me know what you've got I might sleep better.

Checked with JD parts and saw that they have obsoleted the old gearbox (DE18720) and input shaft and have a nice $800 replacement assembly available. Ouch

 

[Dave M7040]

Something does not seem correct to have that kind of play.

I do not see a shear bolt for the fan.

This is one example but not necessarily the same as yours.
The shear bolt is not in place in my photo

Do you have a parts diagram you could post?

Usually when the gear box fails it looks like this one.

Deere and Kubota blowers are usually the same and made in Quebec Canada by Radco who paints colors to suit.
Radco does not deal with consumers.

Another photo of a modified or improved shear bolt arrangement

Dave M7040

 

[radios1]

Something does not seem correct to have that kind of play.

I do not see a shear bolt for the fan.

This is one example but not necessarily the same as yours.
The shear bolt is not in place in my photo

Do you have a parts diagram you could post?

Usually when the gear box fails it looks like this one.

Deere and Kubota blowers are usually the same and made in Quebec Canada by Radco who paints colors to suit.
Radco does not deal with consumers.

Another photo of a modified or improved shear bolt arrangement

Dave M7040

those gearboxes are absurd, not only are they in the path of the snow, but they rely on shear bolts to prevent them from breaking, instead of using a slip clutch. a better method is using hydraulic motors on the ends of the shaft, or chain drives on the ends of the shaft, on the outside, with a slip clutch, I had an old walk behind blower with that setup, but I don't see that type made anymore. the hydraulic motor type, yes..

 

[al3]

Three shear bolts in this design, one on each end of the augers, and one on the fan. They are all intact. If you look at the first set of pics I posted you can see the nut end of the shear bolt on the fan. Also posted a schematic of this area that show the one for the fan (item 4). I actually have a copy of this page from 2005 before they subbed out the gearbox. Even back then Deere didn t offer the input/pinion shaft or the bevel gear as individual parts.

The original parts page illustrated the pinion shaft as having a cone shaped straight cut gear design. Guessing it was a pressed on bronze. Between it and the bevel gear looks like any kind of repair isnt possible. At this point running until failure/or replace now appear to be the options.

The rest of this is just some observations about the longevity of a few other parts. As long as I had the blower in the working area of the shop decided to pull the input end and check bearings/gears/chain. Did find a broken bearing collar (these are the RA100 style bearing) on the small gear shaft, but no fore and aft movement of the shaft. 14 years of use, the bearings smooth and tight, amazing considering all the crud they ve been exposed to. Hats off to Fanfir/Timkin.

Deere provided me with replacement large tooth gear and chain after year 1. The original gear was poorly made, gear was welded off center and didnt run true, something like 1/2 inch out. Gear teeth on this one have wear but not excessive----lubing them every year must have done some good. Going to pick up a new #40 chain at TSC or Fleet Farm and call it good for now. Thanks for the comments