Houston, pretty sure I have a problem.

[Soldier415]

So weather report changed from first snow of the season being 1" or less 2 days ago to 4"-8" yesterday. Snow starts tomorrow and continues through monday morning. Just got my new snowblower connected.

Got 1/4 mile of driveway that I added material to earlier this fall. Ended up with a high hump for a crown as I only had a box blade at the time.

Went out today and as a test backed down the road with the blower off just to see if it would clear.

Nope.

This happened with skid shoes at second to last highest position, after this put them all the way down.

Should I be worried that blowing this tomorrow will snap shear pins or will it just throw the excess material along with the snow? Material is 3/4 inch crusher run.

 

[murphy1244]

I would run it with shoes all the way up till it freezes up or that rock will get tossed out.

 

[Soldier415]

I would run it with shoes all the way up till it freezes up or that rock will get tossed out.

Yeah, raised the shoes so they are fully extended. Still will probably scrap a bit off the top.

Hopefully this snow melts and I can do a couple passes with the grader blade or landscape rake and flatten it out a bit

 

[confused8122]

And shorten your top link. It all depends on your specific climate. Here, I run shoes down, top link short(picks the cutting edge up higher), and blow deep stuff until I get a good smoothed hard pack. Then I can lift shoes and adjust top link. Generally here once it freezes good, it doesn't thaw again till spring

 

[Cord]

The gravel will pass right rough. Pretty cool when blowing at night because you'll see some sparks coming out of the shoot.

 

[civilian]

The gravel will pass right rough. Pretty cool when blowing at night because you'll see some sparks coming out of the shoot.

But you have a heck of a mess come spring thaw with all that gravel in the yard. Jon

 

[2ndhalf]

That small gravel will likely settle into your grass and you won't see it to much. It would take larger rocks or a big chunk of ice to snap a shear pin. I still hate to blow gravel out of my drive.. setting it as high as you can until it freezes good is the right call.

 

[herringchoker]

And shorten your top link. It all depends on your specific climate. Here, I run shoes down, top link short(picks the cutting edge up higher), and blow deep stuff until I get a good smoothed hard pack. Then I can lift shoes and adjust top link. Generally here once it freezes good, it doesn't thaw again till spring

I agree with this method: run the shoes all the way down and shorten the top link until you get a hard pack built up, if your climate permits.

 

[Soldier415]

And shorten your top link. It all depends on your specific climate. Here, I run shoes down, top link short(picks the cutting edge up higher), and blow deep stuff until I get a good smoothed hard pack. Then I can lift shoes and adjust top link. Generally here once it freezes good, it doesn't thaw again till spring

This is what I'll be doing. Thanks

 

[amigauser]

Another TBN'r shared this - Snow Blower Skids For Sidewalks and Gravel Drives

 

[oosik]

Shorten that top link until you no longer scrape up gravel. With it being set the way it shows in your pic - you will be moving all that nice gravel off the driveway. OR if the skid shoes can be repositioned on the lip of the blower - move both inward so they are directly below the outboard edge of the opening to the fan. This will definitely lift the blower off the gravel. OR wait until your driveway freezes hard.

 

[MAN IN BLACK]

Crank your top link all the way in...shortest setting for the 1st pass, then it will freeze and compact the snow and gravel together and you should be fine setting the top link in a more aggressive way.