Good morning Gents,
I have been reading the forums on an occasional basis for some time, but thought I might be able to add something to this thread.
I bought a Craftsman tracked walk behind 20 years ago and struggled/suffered with it for 15 years. The rubber roller wheel on the aluminum plate finally would not drive the snowblower forward reliably, and after much whining and complaining, a friend put me onto older Bolens garden tractors with snowblowers. After watching ads for a number of months, a 16 hp medium frame tractor came up cheap with a 38" single stage blower on it. I never had much interest in single stage, but it was cheap and pretty good shape. After cleaning the varnish out of the carb and tank, it was love at first ride! Did I mention it was cheap? I loved that aspect too!
The blower would clog up occasionally with wet snow, which we typically get in the beginning of the season. Did wonderful with powder. somewhere I saw a reference to adding cord reinforced rubber "bailer belting" wipers to the paddles on the auger. I used 1/8th inch thick belting, and bolted it into the paddles, but made it wide enough that it curled around the corners to make a U shape. What a difference! It now rarely clogs on wet snow and I can blow slush and water and not get the chute clogged. The rubber belting is barely short of touching the housing, where there was a 1/2"+ gap before. I think in addition to gaining on that the chute does not clog, I think I gained on the distance the snow throws. This is a highly recommended easy modification. The belting does not allow snow/slush to drop off the periphery of the auger, and keeps the velocity of the snow up going through the chute. The chute is steel, and I am told if I sanded the rust out, painted the interior, and applied snow wax to it, that I would get even better results. The thing works so well I have not yet taken the time to do that.
On the Craftsman walk behind, I was told that they get hard to move when the bronze oil light bearing wear. I took the bearings out, and a couple were almost worn through. I turned new bearings out of real bearing bronze, and added zirk fittings to each bearing so that I could grease them. I have never finished the project since getting the Bolens tractor, but include the mention of it here, as the bearings were very worn like I was told they would be. Just a fwiw for others. When I continue on this snowblower, I will put the rubber on the paddles of the second stage impeller.
I recently picked up a BCS two wheel tractor (cheap) that came with their single stage snowblower. This snowblower has the same set up of rubber inserts on the paddles, and is factory equipped that way. I have not used this snowblower, but they seem to have a pretty good reputation for blowing snow.
I picked up earlier this year a newer Bolens tractor with a two stage blower and a larger engine. I'm interested in seeing what kind of results I get compared to the first one. I will probably eventually put the rubber belting on the second stage impeller on this one too.
I can't speak for all hydrostatic trannys, but Bolens started using the Eaton tranny 50 years ago. On the Bolens forums I habit, I rarely see any comment of the trannys needing rebuilding. The engines and other parts wear out long before the trannys do. Fwiw. It was the frustration of the drive on my walk behind compared to the hydrostatic drive on a walkbehind brushhog I rented that got this whole thing started in the first place!
Hope this is of help.
Regards,
Doug
