Snow Equipment Owning/Operating Getting Ready

[PHPaul]

I've been planning to do this for a couple of years now. Between a gravel drive and town/state salted roads, I was getting quite a bit of surface rust on my Pronovost Puma 64 blower.

I was hoping to take the impeller off but not really counting on it as they're usually corroded in place to the point that it turns into a major project in itself. Imagine my surprise when it came off just by a little wiggling and pulling!

Driven sprocket on the auger was getting noticeably saw-toothed so have a replacement on order and a new length of #50 chain cut and ready to install.

Sanded all the rust spots down to bare metal, buffed out the edges with a 3M Scotchbrite disk on a die grinder, hit it with some Rustoleum Rusty Metal Primer. That's the spot coverage in the pictures, it got an all-over second coat after that.

Little damp out, but when the weather (and the paint) dries out a bit, I'll hit it with a coat of red.

 

[RNeumann]

For parts that are known to corrode together, like the impeller and shaft, I’ve had good luck with anti-seize.

 

[Thomas]

Kinda hard to believe old man winter will be knocking on the door soon. :confused2:
Agree about getting attachment ready now than repair when wind howling snow drifting.

 

[FatTire]

And by doing it now you get to work with your overhead door open!

 

[PHPaul]

Yes indeed. I plan to apply Never Seize on the impeller shaft and on the splines for the auger drive shaft.

 

[PHPaul]

And by doing it now you get to work with your overhead door open!

Yup. Had a minor stupid attack and didn't bother to take the car out of the next bay before sanding/grinding on the blower. Car is supposed to be metallic gray, had sort of a pink sheen to it when I took the Mrs. shopping yesterday. :confused2:

 

[Reb954]

I've been planning to do this for a couple of years now. Between a gravel drive and town/state salted roads, I was getting quite a bit of surface rust on my Pronovost Puma 64 blower.

I was hoping to take the impeller off but not really counting on it as they're usually corroded in place to the point that it turns into a major project in itself. Imagine my surprise when it came off just by a little wiggling and pulling!

Driven sprocket on the auger was getting noticeably saw-toothed so have a replacement on order and a new length of #50 chain cut and ready to install.

Sanded all the rust spots down to bare metal, buffed out the edges with a 3M Scotchbrite disk on a die grinder, hit it with some Rustoleum Rusty Metal Primer. That's the spot coverage in the pictures, it got an all-over second coat after that.

Little damp out, but when the weather (and the paint) dries out a bit, I'll hit it with a coat of red.

This reminds me of when I rebuilt my McKee blower a few years ago. I also had to reline the impeller housing though. It was worn out from 30 to 35 years of blowing a gravel road.

Something you might consider doing, it looks like your blower has a flat plate at the top of the shoot. Find some thin wall pipe, split it and weld it to the flat plate. I did that with mine and it sure made a difference in how far it would blow the snow and how much loose snow was blowing back on me.

 

[leonz]

Hello PHPaul,

it would be worth your while to check and see if they offer an extended chute for your snowblower as it would get almost all the snow dust away from you when there is no wind.


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I've been planning to do this for a couple of years now. Between a gravel drive and town/state salted roads, I was getting quite a bit of surface rust on my Pronovost Puma 64 blower.

I was hoping to take the impeller off but not really counting on it as they're usually corroded in place to the point that it turns into a major project in itself. Imagine my surprise when it came off just by a little wiggling and pulling!

Driven sprocket on the auger was getting noticeably saw-toothed so have a replacement on order and a new length of #50 chain cut and ready to install.

Sanded all the rust spots down to bare metal, buffed out the edges with a 3M Scotchbrite disk on a die grinder, hit it with some Rustoleum Rusty Metal Primer. That's the spot coverage in the pictures, it got an all-over second coat after that.

Little damp out, but when the weather (and the paint) dries out a bit, I'll hit it with a coat of red.

 

[PHPaul]

This reminds me of when I rebuilt my McKee blower a few years ago. I also had to reline the impeller housing though. It was worn out from 30 to 35 years of blowing a gravel road.

Something you might consider doing, it looks like your blower has a flat plate at the top of the shoot. Find some thin wall pipe, split it and weld it to the flat plate. I did that with mine and it sure made a difference in how far it would blow the snow and how much loose snow was blowing back on me.

Are you saying eliminate the corners, as shown in red?

 

[Reb954]

Are you saying eliminate the corners, as shown in red?

Yup, but I opened the pipe up so it carried up the sides too. The snow was traveling up the shoot, hitting the deflector and deflecting all over. The pipe kept it more contained so it was a smoother transition from the shoot to out the end of the deflector.