Blew up my new snowblower

[George2615]

I think for next winter I'll covert my plow blade into a pusher. Its 7' wide instead of just using the 5' bucket. I should get done quicker.

Sorry Bill, didn't mean to hi jack your thread. Keep us posted on your blower repairs.

 

[Wyld Bill]

When I was a lot younger, I bought a used blower off an old fella and used it for 5 years throwing golf ball sized rocks across the yard thinking how great it was. one day one side of the augers stopped turning, I thought I had finally snapped my first shear pin till I saw it was held in with a grade 8, and trashed the whole gearbox...ouch...lesson learned!!

LOL That's a riot!
Yeah I need to check & see if maybe a grade 8 got put in by accident. You guys don't think that if I torqued the shear bolt down too tight it could cause it to not shear as easy??
The wife said no way to ordering a new gear box, when I told her the cost of a new gear box. I guess I'll be using the blade & bucket for the rest of this season. (BTW she makes a lot more money than I do so she has the right to say no)

 

[Wyld Bill]

I think for next winter I'll covert my plow blade into a pusher. Its 7' wide instead of just using the 5' bucket. I should get done quicker.

Sorry Bill, didn't mean to hi jack your thread. Keep us posted on your blower repairs.

I have an old beat up plow truck sitting here with a 7-1/2' Western plow on it. I'm tempted to remove the plow & make tabs in my bucket to mount it on the front of my tractor.

 

[George2615]

Bill,
See my post #14. If you have the proper grade shear bolt installed I don't think you can over tighten it. They will break way before you bend or squeeze anything on the PTO or blower shaft.

My plow blade is also off an old truck. As it is setup now I pull 4 - 1" pins and remove the bucket then hook the blade to the loader arms directly with the 4 pins. I'll convert it into a pusher blade by adding sides and skids on the bottom similar to the one in the pic. I tried attaching the plow to the bucket initially a couple years ago but that was a lot of weight with the A frame and blade sticking way out in front of the bucket. I only straight blade and don't need power angle. See pics

 

[mbohuntr]

Bill,I could be mistaken, but it looks like your housing broke opposite from the shaft journals, which means you may be able to get it welded. you might even get away with getting some of the teeth on the gear turned down and weld the shaft. Or even find a junker and part out the gearbox. A bolts shear and tensile strength and closely related so no you can't overtighten a grade 2, it will shear way before that. A grade 8 has 4 times the shear and tensile ratings of a grade 2 so you can see where it might cause a problem...
http://dodgeram.org/tech/specs/bolts/SAE_bolt_strength.html

 

[WayneB]

Bill that is really tough luck! I think I would call the company and explain what has happened. They might at least sell you one for cost. There should be no way the grade 8 shear pin would hold before the shaft broke!

With my woods blower I went back to the dealer and asked what size shear bolts to use and he wasn't sure if it should be 5 or 8. I then called Woods and the person there wasn't sure either. So I went a head and started using 5's figured it was cheaper to change a bolt than a gearbox.

This was after I broke the chain sprocket when I picked up a tow chain in the auger. I called Woods and they did not have one in stock but gave me the telephone number and gear number of the manufacturer and he had a gear right in town that I drove over and picked up.

Good luck spring is around the corner!

 

[mike194]

I feel your pain !


I was on craigslist last week and I saw a 52" lorenz snowblower. So drove down to take a look and I turned the blower by hand and seemed all right and the price was right at only $650 so I decided to take it.

Then when I got home I turned it over and all of the sudden it got stuck well a peice of the gear box casting was stuck in the teeth of the gear box. so I needed a new gear box, Then once the gearbox was disconnected i turned the fan and it seemed to have a bad bearing so one broken puller later i had to torch off both the a gear and a bearing.

once i got that far i had to take the augers out and there bearings were rusted on so i basically destroyed them getting them off.

once i got the fan out I got a good look at the fan shaft and it was twisted and not so straight.

Rusty beat up snowblower = $650
all new bearings = $95
All new gears and chain = $60
new Curtis 211 gearbox = $200
new shaft = $?


so now I will have a $1000 + snowblower that is basically brand new but looks like a rusty piece of junk.

 

[George2615]

Mike,
Don't forget to add the price of a quart of rustoleum to paint it up nice and pretty.
Still not bad for a twin augur blower. Plus you have that warm feeling of pride that you rebuilt it.

 

[radioman]

ouch mike - that gotta hurt

 

[Wyld Bill]

Man that is awfull
I feel much better now. I paid less than $2000 for my brand new 70" blower,..then I blew it up.