Snowblower Snowthrower wings

[Freds]

Yes, very similar to those hawkeye, with a longer angled section to get me more width than his 3.5". His were 10 ga, which is .125", 3.5" wider each side and he did not use gussets or braces. That's probably short enough not to get any flex, even with the thinner metal. Thanks for hunting up those pics.

Joel, I like your drift breaker idea. I do get drifts along one part of my driveway and something to reach up and slice them off, tumbling them into the auger area is a great idea.

Leon, I'm not sure pulling in more snow would be that much of a problem. Sometimes I have 4" I'm clearing and sometimes 4'. Four feet just requires a much slower pass, and if I remember right, one time I even held the snowthrower up off the driveway and cleared the snow in layers in one particularly bad spot, but that was more an issue with traction. Maybe clearing a wider path would solve any traction issues. I'm not sure the amount of snow your throwing is necessarily dependent on the width you are clearing. Clearing snow higher than the housing will also flood the housing I'm thinking.

I appreciate everyone's feedback. Sometimes it's good to hash things around. Time to get the cardboard, tape measure, sharpie, duct tape, protractor and tin snips out.

 

[rbargeron]

jjmarotz's wings (link above) are a good design. Wings have to tolerate the occasional collision with posts, stone markers, building foundations, walkway corners etc. - the mass of the tractor is high so they'll eventually get bent, especially on front mounted blowers. If you make them gusseted and super strong, something else will bend instead - maybe better to design them to be expendable, protecting the blower from damage that's harder to fix ? jjmarotz's design has two folds - great for absorbing a crunch without wrecking the housing.

 

[gwjd]

why dis mount the tractor and possibly warm cab you to thouse rear remotes for a reason hydro wing adjustment and of course each side individually lol

but on a more serous note

i would not use a piano hinge for 2 reasons

one they cost a lot when you start talking hevey duty

two i think 3-4 regular hinges would be stronger and then the pins could be pulled to take wings off, also in my scout troop we had some piano hinge on some wooden boxes that we occasionally had dew and rain aka intermittent moisture and they rusted fast and binded up .

sounds cool and i would guess that for small drops of snow it wouldn't matter

what are your thoughts on cutting edge?

 

[Freds]

That's an excellent point about reinforcing them too much rbargeron. Duly noted.

 

[JoeL4330]

to pursue a similar thought (I am planning my own set), if you make them sturdy, the mounting bolts should be flimsy (like shear bolts) so that they are the weak link (like a fuse) ...alternatively, as suggested make them flimsy and plan on replacements ...or some combination of both

if you looked at the thread cited, there is the forward edge as I mentioned ...and the drift breakers ...

here are two of his pictures, repeated

 

[Freds]

I'll be sure to get some pics when I get them made and mounted. I didn't have time to draw them up yesterday, so hopefully today I can start on this project.

 

[Freds]

Got my wings on.
I mounted them flush with the bottom of the sides, but I just couldn't see having that 2" of space where snow could slide on out, so I mounted a piece of thick rubber on either side and held it up about even with the cutting edge. It can bend up out of the way if needed, but should still be able to gather snow.
I am not in any hurry to try them out, but am still looking forward to it, if you know what I mean :confused2: It will be nice clearing wider than the tires. They give me 8" on each side. I still need to pick up some conduit clamps for my "drift cutters".

 

[KubotainNH]

Looks good to me. Don't forget to post action photos. I'm really not ready for snow though.

 

[Freds]

Thanks Mike.
I'll see what I can do on the action shots ;^)

 

[GUS FINK]

I have had a set for 12-15 years left and right are each are 6 inches