Meteor blower breaking plenty of shear pins... WHY?

[George2615]

Glad it worked out. I was never happy with stock grade 5 bolts because they were never threaded down far enough. Tightening a standard bolt to the end of the threads still allowed the bolt to move in the hole. I eventually found some that were had threads but until I did I used washers to take up the slack and it worked.
Throughout today I plowed at least 15" of snow. I was going to use the blower but was leery because the gravel driveway had thawed and didn't want to shear any bolts. Instead I plowed up a lot of gravel. Now in the spring I have the job of raking the stones back into the drive. I guess they call that job security.

 

[mbohuntr]

Glad it worked out. I was never happy with stock grade 5 bolts because they were never threaded down far enough. Tightening a standard bolt to the end of the threads still allowed the bolt to move in the hole. I eventually found some that were had threads but until I did I used washers to take up the slack and it worked.
Throughout today I plowed at least 15" of snow. I was going to use the blower but was leery because the gravel driveway had thawed and didn't want to shear any bolts. Instead I plowed up a lot of gravel. Now in the spring I have the job of raking the stones back into the drive. I guess they call that job security.

I scraped up a lot of gravel myself, and cringed when it went thru the blower. So much for the nice paint... then I cleared the neighbors paved drive...... We're getting pavement!

 

[bigtiller]

If you are using locknuts with a nylon insert, put a drop of blue or red Locktight on the threads. They work loose and break often I found. The all metal locknuts are the best, but expensive.

 

[Chris from Ontario]

The only time I ever broke shear bolts on my 72" Meteor was when I hit something like a chunk of wood or the nut came loose. I double up the nuts now and it hasn't come loose or sheared in a few years now.