looking for blower chute advice

[FatTire]

Hello FatTire,

The small pieces of thick conveyor belt will flex and wipe the
impeller housing clean. The sheet metal retainers have slots in them if
I remember correctly. I cannot use them as I have a three paddle
plastic impeller on this JD(RAD) 42 inch snow caster.

Have you had time to coat the chutes and snow cutting disc scoops on the Unimog
with fluid film? About the way it smells its made from the Lanolin taken from
sheeps wool-don't worry the flock will will forgive you :^)




I wish it was a single stage snow caster but the way they have
these vertical crankshaft engines in these things it eliminates any possibility
of having one unless you build your own and have a second engine
hanging off the back to power it.

its a real shame

Leon- I'm doing Fluid Film whenever it is warm out. Normally that starts about March 1, but this year we've been warm already for a month. We had rain at 9000 ft. on Jan. 9. So I've applied Fluid Film to the Mog's chute and to my plows already. When the snow gets really wet I do the whole blower, but it requires a lot of material so I don't do it until it seems like I'll really need it.

 

[Rustyiron]

Well I covered that giant hole in the side of the chute. I had a piece of heavy (for roofing) standing seam roof metal that I felt would make a easy prototype and hopefully work for at least today. It worked fine and held up just fine. Fab time was all of about 45min. It cut the dust down by A LOT!:thumbsup: and visibility was highly improved. Busted the "A" frame on the plow and replaced "shear bolts" & auger chain's until I ran out of parts. We got about 15", not the 2' forecasted but there is no room for it. Several week's ago a rain then a few real chitty slushey snow's made the banks I was pushing & blowing today real ice'y and hard. (on equipment) Thanks for your help.

 

[leonz]

I am glad to hear the surgery on the snow caster worked and you have less snow dust.

You mentioned the auger chain drive; and I have to ask; did the chains break or throw off to their eventual scrapping?? I ask as many folks
are unaware as to how to properly tension drive chains or check a chain/gear set for wear and know when its time to chuck the chains.

IS the drive chain set up with continuous cotter pinned connector links or a half link to splice the chain loop together???

A number 80 drive chain should not break on you unless the rollers slide from side to side and the side links are so warn they slide sideways as well.

If you can purchase a gallon of fluid film and put a quart of it in a clean gallon sprayer to coat the auger drive chain, the plow and the snow casters steel weldments, the chute and spout you will remove the piles quickly and push back snow with little effort on the mules part.

I gave up using fluid film on shovels as the snow slides off before you can do anything with it haha.


In the off season if and when it comes you may want to consider removing the lower auger and using a sawzall to cut teeth in the auger flighting-or if you have time and patience to do it on the machine where its warm to work on it sitting in a chair with it blocked up on saw horses.

I wish the folks that build these things would make a genuine single stage snow caster with a belt or timing gear final drive to a right angle conical gearbox with 50 pound flywheel they could install all the bells and whistles too and they would sell hundreds of them!!!!!!!!!

 

[aczlan]

If you ever want to trade for a taller chute, let me know.
I have almost the same blower, but it has the tall "truck loading" chute on it.

Aaron Z

 

[CobyRupert]

Obviously, the OP's problem is that his snow is too dry and powdery!!

A water injection system (with pumps, hoses, nozzles, hydrometer control system and a couple side mounted 500 gal water saddle tanks) would be much more innovative!

 

[Al 2]

As far as extending the impeller blades if needed, I just weld 3/8" or 1/4' flat bar to them. Very simple , do it right on the blower and no holes to drill. Tack them on first to make sure they don't bind on the drum at any place. No problem in the last 10 years and the blower will work much better if there was a large air space between the fan and the drum.
Al

 

[Rustyiron]

I am glad to hear the surgery on the snow caster worked and you have less snow dust.

You mentioned the auger chain drive; and I have to ask; did the chains break or throw off to their eventual scrapping?? I ask as many folks
are unaware as to how to properly tension drive chains or check a chain/gear set for wear and know when its time to chuck the chains.
I ran the (#60) that came with it. The friend I plow for stopped by today and he said the chain was worn. I picked up a #60H replacement.
As for tension, I had a sag off the bottom auger & back to the shaft (almost horizontal and about 26") of about 2". Just a guess but it seemed "about right" mechanically.
IS the drive chain set up with continuous cotter pinned connector links or a half link to splice the chain loop together???
The master link is the type with the thin squeezy click on over the pair of studs.

A number 80 drive chain should not break on you unless the rollers slide from side to side and the side links are so warn they slide sideways as well.
Rollers & augers are tight (l/r), I was in some very icy banks. That wet rained on snow made 2' -3' snowballs when plowing!
If you can purchase a gallon of fluid film and put a quart of it in a clean gallon sprayer to coat the auger drive chain, the plow and the snow casters steel weldments, the chute and spout you will remove the piles quickly and push back snow with little effort on the mules part.
I have the sprayer:thumbsup:
I gave up using fluid film on shovels as the snow slides off before you can do anything with it haha.


In the off season if and when it comes you may want to consider removing the lower auger and using a sawzall to cut teeth in the auger flighting-or if you have time and patience to do it on the machine where its warm to work on it sitting in a chair with it blocked up on saw horses. How about making some saw like segments on the bench and welding them on? (if there is room) I intuitively resist removing metal.

I wish the folks that build these things would make a genuine single stage snow caster with a belt or timing gear final drive to a right angle conical gearbox with 50 pound flywheel they could install all the bells and whistles too and they would sell hundreds of them!!!!!!!!!

What is the proper tensioning on a chain? Best connecting link?
I used the skid steer with the snow pusher to push back the banks on my driveway today, found a bunch of those ice snow boulders

 

[Working on Rust]

I think the proper tension on a snowblower chain is tight. Two inches of sag is way to much. Find the tightest spot by turning the augers and then tighten to no more than 1/2 inch movement on the chain. The new better snowblowers have a double spring loaded sprocket and it keeps the chain tight and they get quite a while between chain problems.
A threaded rod idler sprocket adjuster is much better than a push with wrench and try to tighten at the right point sliding slot setup.
Also how much of a shield is there around the chain where is goes out around the auger. The more shield the better to keep sticks and rock from jamming it.
The best connecting link is the spring clip type. I never seem to have any luck with the cotter pin half links.

I have seen a few blowers around here with teeth welded on the auger. It makes a big difference, particularly with smaller and solid augers. Large hollow augers don't seem to need it as much. Most of the ones I have seen are just 2 X 2 squares a 1/4 thick or so and then welded on the back of the flighting as far out as it can be as long as it does not hit the box or cutting edge. I see the new industrial Normand snowblowers have 3/4 X 3/4 X 1 1/2 Hardox 450 teeth on the edge of the flighting. I will post a photo when I figure out how.

 

[leonz]

What is the proper tensioning on a chain? Best connecting link?
I used the skid steer with the snow pusher to push back the banks on my driveway today, found a bunch of those ice snow boulders

Hello Rustyiron,

If the snow caster used #60 chain you need #60 chain. The #60H chain will not rest fully in the valley of the #60 sprockets as the rollers are thicker and will cause premature wear on the sprocket and chain and cause it to fail.

The best connecting link is the cotter pin connecting link. You can use a longer cotter pin of the same diameter and not worry so much about losing the tiny ones. Just be tidy about the longer cotter pin ends and do not let them stick out to much.

Being a vertical sprocket and chain system you need to keep it tight anyway as the top and bottom sprockets have close to two thirds of the sprocket teeth in use on both sprockets.

I would hate to see you crawling around in the dark looking for a broken chain.

 

[Captain Dirty]

. . . I had a piece of heavy (for roofing) standing seam roof metal that I felt would make a easy prototype and hopefully work for at least today. It worked fine and held up just fine. . . ]

When you have other things to do a serviceable prototype becomes a permanent fix. None the less I had a thought of how you might spend your fab time.

Make a wedge-shaped panel from a piece of heavy sheetmetal to fit the opening and bend the (bottom) tip so it would lie flat on the toothed flange. I surmise that those nubs spaced evenly around the toothed flange are the tips of bolts that secure a clamp or clamps that hold the chute to the flange of the fan casing. Replace the bolt directly in front of the chute with a longer bolt that will pass through the toothed flange and through a hole in the bent tab of the wedge. Secure the panel with a wing nut. It may be necessary to weld some bracing as that wing nut and bolt will be the only fastener directly resisting the lifting force of the friction from the snow being forced up the chute. (Alternatively you could just fabricate a robust bracket.)

Weld (2?, 3?, 4?) rods (5/16"? diameter) that project horizontally beyond the sides of the wedge in the same plane as the wedge, and weld tabs or fins to the edge of the chute with upward facing slots to accept the rods. Alternatively you could weld a couple of angle irons horizontally across the wedge so that the downward facing flanges engage the slots. The angles would provide stiffening against bowing either from the snow or from happenstance while the wedge is de-mounted.

Attach a handle to the outside and you would have an easily removable "door" with no projections into the path of the thrown snow. If you have still more time, fabricate a bracket to hold the panel on the back side of the chute when and if you don't want the opening covered.