BX Blower Noise Found!

[the_g]

Many of you have read my earlier post about the noise I could hear if I raised the blower to far off the ground. After investigating it further I found that the plastic cover over the small front short shaft was rubbing in 2 places on the frame of the quick release hitch. One place was on the the hindged plate that holds the shaft up in the air when your ready to "drive in" to the blower and the other was on the large bellmouth end of the cover near the Universal on the Tractor side. Due to the threat of snow this weekend I decided to look into it more closely instead of just taking it back to the dealer. I found that the "Ecentric" collor locks that hold the splined intemediate shaft in place between two bearings had lost their set screws. This allowed the shaft to move forward toward the blower. So much so, that the long shaft from the PTO was barely engaged onto the spline and the short shaft that goes to the blower had been bottom out to as short as it could get. Once I removed the blower, I couldn't even lock it back in place again because the shaft was to short. I readjusted the position of the shaft "Back" to where I thought it should be, Locked the collors in place with 2 new set screws then of course found out that I had it so far back I couldn't reinstall the long shaft to the PTO because it was now to long!!!!!!! Took everything apart again and moved it forward untill the start of the splines that connect to the long PTO shaft were about 1/2" away from entering the face of the rear bearing. Everything works fine now and no more rubbing. I suspect that when these are assembled at the factory the parts are all probably around room temperature but when you go to use the unit it's cold enough for the shaft to slightly shrink and have everything come loose. TIGHTEN THOSE SET SCREWS!!!!!!!!!! Note in my attachment that the start of these splines are visible on the inside face of the rear bearing. That's how far it had moved.

Mike
NH

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Don't blame the factory. I think this unit is assembled by the dealer. Manual 70001-00757, Male Quick Hitch and Subframe Operator's and Parts Manual, page 10, shows how this should be assembled.

When the mechanic came to our house to do the BX2200 fuel tank recall, he and I installed my (assembled) snowblower. He had only assembled and installed one other snowblower and it took quite a while ($$).

I noticed the flanges holding the bearings on the output shaft had not been installed correctly. We disassembled this unit and had a nightmare trying to reassemble it. The set screws had been tightened enough to raise small metal burrs. The tolerances were tight enough that the shaft would not fit through the bearing until the burr was filed down.

You're right about double-checking the set screws, but folks might also want to check the plates, flanges and bearings are all assembled according to page 10.

(I had bought from a distant dealer, who trucked the BX to me. The local dealer charged me for the mechanic's time doing this initial snowblower install - including a lot of time correcting this subassembly.)

...Rich S.

 

[the_g]

Yup, Your right. I stopped by the dealer to let him know what I found and the head mechanic told me that they had to completely assemble the unit there. He reminded me that these "Locking" collars should be locked in the direction of rotation which is counter clockwise as viewed from the seat of the tractor. He said they must have forgotten to tighten them properly and apologized for "Their" mistake. I think I'm still gonna keep an eye on it through the winter just in case it decides to loosen up again.