DIY 59" Snowblower Manual Chute Adjuster

[arrabil]

Howdy. I finally got around to my snow blower chute adjuster project. My Yardman walk-behind uses bicycle cables and two cams to lower and raise the chute. I thought that would be really easy to adapt to the JD blower. So I bought the parts off MTD's web site and some tandem bike shifter cables...

I still need to figure out how to mount the cam to the chute. Gonna work on that later this week.

 

[kennyd]

Interesting...But a small linear actuator would be much sexier

 

[arrabil]

True. And I looked at both electric actuators and hydraulic cylinders. But I have $64 total into this project and all thats left are four carriage bolts I didn't have in the parts bins. Does that make it any sexier?

 

[arrabil]

I figured out how to mount the cam and how I'm going to raise and lower the chute. Looks like I found the right point for setting a bolt to the chute... 7" away when raised and lowered.

Gonna need to hit TrueValue tomorrow and get another piece of metal with holes in it and some matching bolts, cone washers, and lock nuts.

 

[joes_427_vette]

Let me know how it works at 10 below zero in a strong wind. My Trek cables don't always work properly in 70+ degree weather.

 

[arrabil]

Not in PA I won't. I don't think its ever been 10 below around here. But I have never had a single issue with the ones on the Yardman walk behind which was the second reason as to why I wanted to try it here (first reason being cost).

I can also tell you why this is better than the cables on your Trek. On a bicycle the cables are "one way." As in, they come to the return position due to a spring or release of tension. These cams work in tension in both directions because there are two cables for one action. So binding and incomplete cycling are almost not possible.

BTW, I switched to hydraulic discs on this latest bike. Sooooo awesome. I wish they figured out a way to make hydraulic derailleurs too.

 

[C-Range]

Not quite sure by your kinematics pics, but if you are using an arm attached to an arm (the ruler) attached to the chute, I predict there will be too much torque on the plastic cam gizmo. It'll either get pushed open by the force of the snow or break the plastic gizmo. Just an observation and again, I'm not sure I understand your approach based on the pics.

I have the JD chute adjuster, though I really like your lever setup. It looks much more ergonomic than the JD push/pull knob. The one thing I can't stand about the JD one is that you have to pull the knob to lower/close the chute and push it to raise/open it. It's counter intuitive and I still go the wrong way half the time even after 3 winters of use.

G'luck!

 

[arrabil]

Ensoil, you got it right on.

Its mounted different on the Yardman. On the MTD blowers the cam is the pivot point (but not the same point as on the JD) but because the MTD chute is plastic the weight supported is minimal. Since the JD chute is metal I didn't want the plastic cam supporting all that weight.

So the forces being too great are a possibility. I think it will be okay though. Its a lot stronger of a setup than it looks. Mostly because everything is metal except for the cam. And all the cam does is turn. Its the bicycle cables that do all the work. Also, I was purposefully looking for a lever pivot point as close to a 90 degree working range as possible. I figure that will minimize the force required to operate the chute.

I'm not worried about the snow pushing up the chute however, you can just lock the handle down tighter to prevent the whole setup from moving as easily. I had to do that on the Yardman after I got it.

You have a picture of the JD setup? I've never seen a mechanical chute adjuster from JD!? I thought they were hydraulic (Frontier) or nothing...

 

[C-Range]

Best one I got.

 

[arrabil]

It's counter intuitive and I still go the wrong way half the time even after 3 winters of use.

Now that I see it, I agree its counterintuitive, but you generally have the chute pointing up so it does keep the handle out of the way. You'd always have the handle at your knees during normal operation if it worked the other way around. So there is a bright side.

So how well does that setup work? Thats a slightly heavier duty wire rope in there too, yes? How does it prevent the snow from blowing the chute open when you set it in the middle?