Model 450 Snowblower repair and tech info needed

[mdrohman]

Hey everyone,
First post in the cub section. I have a 1872 with a model 450 snowblower. During the last 5" snow we had my augers stopped spinning so I got my tools and spare shear bolts and went out to the tractor to find all the shear bolts in tact. Not good.


Using this website:
Parts and Diagrams for Cub Cadet 450 45" Snow Thrower
I was able to find the part number for the gear (and cheaper prices). It turns out this gearbox and gear are used on many small snowblowers - 28" walk behind models. No wonder it stripped on a 45" (also I will be installing the shear bolts much looser from now on).

Amazon.com: Snowblower Worm Gear - Replaces MTD 717-1425 & 917-1425.: Patio, Lawn & Garden

Gear Worm LH MTD 917 1425 717 1425 Snow Blower Snowblower Parts | eBay

Questions:
1) These gears seem to come in aluminum (steel?) and brass or is that just an optical illusion on the web sites?. What would be better/stronger?
2) The driving gear looks to be fine to me, not even scratched. These also cannot be found much cheaper then $60 from my brief research. Think I'll be okay running the old driving gear with the new driven gear?


Thanks for any insight,
Matt

 

[JRJP56]

Hey Matt, I've been doing a little research for my 451 which is basically the same unit and notice gears in brass I would imagine this wouldn't be a bad choice, let me ask was this gearbox producing any noise or chatter before quitting on you? Jim

 

[mdrohman]

I ended up ordering the one in the first link from my original post. It looked steel/aluminum in the picture but a very brass gear showed up. I'm glad though, the brass gear confirmed that my old gear was aluminum. The brass one is much heavier. Hopefully that translates to strength. I did my best to clean all the old grease and aluminum shavings out of the gearbox, installed the new gear and bolted it all back together.





I put it all back together on the tractor today and went and blew some old crusty piles with no problems. I guess we'll see how it holds when we get another bigger snow.

JRJP56 Jim, I didn't notice any noise or chattering at all over the sound and vibration of the engine. It seemed to just up and quit. Thanks for the input on the brass gear, I think it will do better than the old aluminum one.

Matt

 

[JRJP56]

Matt, lots of great info and pics on your repair, Thanks, gives me a great idea as to what I'll be looking at as well. Your gearbox looks identical to mine which has puzzled me after I noticed it's not the same as the parts diagram shows. If you notice the box shown is much larger and has a lubrication plug located at the top, ours has none. Looking at your pics it's pretty tight inside, I had thoughts of drilling the case and installing a zerk fitting, might help to keep these things lubricated. The other boxes take a special oil from what I've been told by the dealer but at $28 for 16 oz maybe we're better off. Glad to hear you're back up and running.

 

[JagAlfaOwner]

I just finished doing the same fix on my walk behind snow blower. I used CV Joint grease, packed it in, tested the covers shut tight. Wiped the edges clean and put on a new gasket. Bolted everything together. Works great. Cheaper than a new transmission which comes with the 2 axles. Total cost was $75.00 for everything. They say the brass is used to save the other gear where the pins did not break. I think mine striped because I was trying to blow 24 inch high snow.

Al