Snow GC2410 TLB / MF2360 Snowblower

[Venturabass]

All,
I posted up above describing how my dad has a Kubota GR2100 garden tractor with the RAD built 46" GR2728 snowblower. I was describing how he's having the same issues with breaking several fan shear bolts. Looking at TrueNorth's photos this Kubota blower looks nearly identical in design.

Dad was just telling me how he broke another shear bolt and yesterday I found this post:
http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/kubota-lawn-garden/280620-gr2120-yea-nay-5.html

Take a look at post #42 and see his photos. I know this is a Kubota unit but I'm telling you the construction is **** near identical. The poster mentioned how Kubota (or really RAD) released an updated fan and shear bolt design to address this problem. The end of the fan has a collar built onto it. When it slides on the fan shaft, there is a mating collar that bolts to the fan shaft where the original shear bolt would go, except it no longer contains a shear groove. The actual "shear bolt" is now the bolt that connects the new collar piece and the collar on the new fan. The shear bolt is oriented coaxial to the fan shaft now.

Why this make a difference? Not really sure. Does Massey also sell an upgrade kit? Not sure either. I will note if you read my post above I was discussing how I have a belt-driven Bercomac blower for my John Deere X540 garden tractor. Bercomac told me that RAD originated from the same company, and their designs are very similar. My Bercomac is a 2015 model, so fairly new, and the shear bolt design is exactly as shown in the linked post above. I noted that though I've only had the Bercomac since end of last season, I haven't sheared the fan bolt once.

Hope this is helpful to someone.

EDIT: Didn't see post #18 describing similar problem on a Kubota. Not sure if the folks there came to the same conclusion.

 

[JWR]

This post # 21 essentially says the RAD blowers were a defective design and that a newer design is out. If that is true as I read it, every one of the older design blowers should be having the problem. There ought to be one heck of a hue and cry, not just a few. One wonders how many of these are in the field, how many are so lightly used that the problem has not shown up, and how many poor devils are out there silently replacing shear bolts all the time. The dealers and in turn the OEM need to be forced to comment and respond to these issues.

 

[JWR]

Take a look at http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/...through-second-stage-bolts-5.html#post4669824 where folks on the Kubota side have unearthed picts of the old and the new shear bolt situation for the RAD front mounted blowers. I think both MF and Kubota users deserve a recall from the manufacturer to fix this clearly demonstrated design flaw.

 

[Venturabass]

Thanks JWR, that was a really informative post also. I'm thinking of contacting RAD to see if they can assist with my dad's Kubota.

 

[Pixguy]

I had a shear bolt snap today and for some reason the new bolts I just got from Kubota are snapping smooth on both ends making it a pita to find where the old bolt was to punch it out.

 

[LuckyP62]

I confirmed my blower is the design with the sheer bolt through the fan shaft vs the one flagged as "newer" where it is parallel to the shaft (per pics in link from post 23 above). My blower is about 4 years old. I checked the Agco parts book site and they have three different main assembly drawings. It appears. older designs has the shoe and pin parallel to the shaft, then they shifted to the pin through the shaft and now the newer designs are back to the pin being parallel. (tough to tell for sure as there are no clear dates, only serial number references).
I can say that until the sprocket started shimmying around, I rarely, if ever broke a fan bolt - and I run the machine 2 hrs at a time on a mile long driveway. So having the "older" design, hasn't caused me much pain. Key think for me is making sure those sprockets stay tight and aligned, which may be a problem for others having the fan bolt issues - and perhaps the newer design for the sheer bolts helps mask the root cause which is the sprocket movement.

 

[Dave M7040]

I was at my Canadian Kubota dealer this week and although my blower is not the design in question, I did ask him about the shear bolt issue on RAD made blowers.

The brand new blower he had in his show room had the parallel shear bolt. It had a socket head rather than a normal bolt head. Everything, including the shear bolt was orange

He showed me three different bolts. One had two deep grooves, one had two shallow grooves and the third was a larger diameter with one groove if I remember correctly.
I am sorry but I just have a cheap flip phone or I would have taken pictures
The part numbers were :

with 2 shallow grooves 7006001338
with 2 deep grooves 7006002416

another which I think was larger diameter with one groove 7006001337

I tried finding those part numbers on Messicks with no luck

For those who have a loose sprocket, I recommend Loctite stud and Bearing mount. Just make certain everything is clean of any oily film by using brake clean.

Loctite 69 Bearing Mount (Green) Retaining Compound, 1ml - Pegasus Auto Racing Supplies

Dave M7040

 

[irvingj]

Truenorth, I have the same blower. In NH we don't get as much snow as you do, but we've had some pretty good storms in the 7 years I've had the tractor. When the snow is really deep and it bogs down a bit, I just up the RPM a bit and keep on chuggin'. Only time I've broken shear pins (usually on auger) is when I've hit a rock while up on the dirt road I live on. (Now use the FEL for that until the ground really freezes.)

Sure does sound like there's something not right on your 2360.

 

[pmsmechanic]

So if the sprocket keeps coming loose on you then look into a browning hub. A picture is worth a thousand words so I'm just going to include a link to browning hubs. What you want is the last one on the pdf that's called a weldable steel hub. You buy the hub with the matching center for the size of your shaft. You also need to buy the matching sprocket and have it welded to the hub. Most farm supply stores stock these type of hubs.

http://houstonbearing.com/contentonly.aspx?file=CATALOGS/BROWNING-BUSHING-HUBS.pdf

Edit to add: This is what I'm planning on using on my John Deere 59 blower. The sheer bolt for the fan is loose on the shaft and the fan also wobbles on the shaft. I'll build up the shaft to original specs and change the whole setup to a horizontal sheer bolt as shown in the Kubota link. It was nice to see a manufacturer come up with an upgrade that is similar to what I have in mind.

 

[MF RED in MT]

Hi truenorth,

A neighbor of mine has a orange snow blower like ours, and he was always going through shear bolts. He was also digging into his gravel driveway while snow blowing ( early/late in the winter ) , and you also commented about picking up gravel with your snow blower?

I also noticed in your picture that your driveway gravel has quite a crown in the center and it looks like it really drops off on both edges of your driveway? That may be a problem until you get a good layer of winter snow and ice?

My neighbor also has been using his tractor and snow blower for about 4 years and he did not know about the float position of his joy stick! I showed him and now he does not go through as many shear bolts and he does not shoot gravel thru his snow blower like he use too.

On my snow blower, I installed three pieces of 1/8" aluminum diamond plate risers on top of the snow blower and now I can easily snow blow about 32" deep snow (I cut a "U" shape out for the discharge chute) without any snow coming over the top of the snow blower.

Hope you find yourself a solution regarding how many shear bolts you have been going through?

B.T.W. I have been thru about ten MF shear bolts in 7 years, mostly for the auger from blowing neighbors driveways. I did not know where their driveway ends. Also from the many items my neighbors had left laying under the snow and not visible on the driveway.

I pound many snow marker rods into my driveway (before the ground freezes) edges about twelve feet apart and use them as my snow blowing reference points.

KC