Replacing auger shear bolts - B2782

[skywaterbanjo]

I've had my B2782 snowblower for a year now and I absolutely love having it for all the snow we have had. I seem to go thru shear bolts pretty quickly but they are doing their job (rocks, sticks, etc.).

I get a bit frustrated trying to put in new shear bolts on the auger specifically, locating the broken one still in the shaft.

How do you guys get the broken bolt out? I've been trying to line up the hole with the old bolt and then tapping a new bolt in to knock out the broken one. Sometimes I can find the old one quickly, sometimes it takes a while for me to find the old one. I use the bolt orientation on the unbroken side for reference but I still get frustrated.

Just wondering if anyone has any tricks I am missing.

Thanks and happy new year!

 

[Evil the Weasel]

Once the shear is broke the auger turns freely. I just turn it until I find the rest of the bolt and then tap it out with a small nailset punch. Having said that, I'm on my 3rd season with the original painted shear bolts.

 

[skywaterbanjo]

Once the shear is broke the auger turns freely. I just turn it until I find the rest of the bolt and then tap it out with a small nailset punch. Having said that, I'm on my 3rd season with the original painted shear bolts.

I do the same but use a new bolt instead of the punch. Maybe I'll try that.

Based on my limited 2 years worth of experience, that is impressive. I plow gravel driveways, pasture for the animals, and pathways through the woods.

Do you have a paved driveway?

 

[AJL]

I've had the same issues and also use the nail set technique that was mentioned. I find if you put the point in you can use it the line the holes up. I agree it is a pain, and using the new bolt does not work for some reason.

 

[Ductape]

I find that if I wrap the end of a punch in a paper towel, stick it in the hole, and rotate the auger it will 'wipe' the grease enough to easily find where the sheared bolt is. Then use the punch to drive out the rest of the shear. A decent flashlight shining in thew hole helps too.

 

[Evil the Weasel]

Do you have a paved driveway?

Yes. I'm surprised I haven't picked up a rock or other debris from the goodies that the street plow leaves in the end though. :confused2:

 

[AJL]

I must have soft bolts or hard snow because I've sheared bolts without any dog toys, chunks of wood, etc. getting in there...had to change a impeller fan blade bolt tonight and no objects to be found....:confused2:

 

[Searay45DB]

I must have soft bolts or hard snow because I've sheared bolts without any dog toys, chunks of wood, etc. getting in there...had to change a impeller fan blade bolt tonight and no objects to be found....:confused2:

If it makes you feel any better, last week I hit a rock that my wife decided to put in the walkway for some reason that I will never know. All the sheer bolts snapped, but the auger is more of a piece of modern art, the fan blade is shot as Kubota has one of the blades extend farther and the shaft is damaged. So I got that going for me...

I find that based on how aggressive I get blowing the snow, weight and height I can pretty much predict when I will break. I also use grade 5 bolts and they seem to hold up better. Bottom line...go slow and you should not break.

Now, how the heck do I get the gear box off the shaft. It stops at the shear pin holes.

I think I am ready to write the service manual that does not exist for this.

 

[Toyboy]

Take a file and honing stone and clean up around the shear bolt holes. You may have some metal raised around the holes from shearing the bolts.

 

[PILOON]

I keep a dedicated punch in the tractor tool box.

It is the same size as the shear bolt, flat faced BUT I have added a slight taper to the end.
That greatly helps with that missalignment problem.

 

[irvingj]

Ditto PILOON... I keep a small box on the tractor, which has in it spare shearpins, a tapered, flat-faced punch, paper towels, 7/16" socket/ratchet, 7/16" box-end wrench, and a small hammer.

First year I used the blower I never broke a pin... now I can count on losing at least a few every winter!

It also seems to make a big difference if I follow the manual- and only use 9 ft-lbs of torque, basically just enough to snug up the lockwasher. At first I wound 'em right in there, but that did seem to hasten the breakage.

 

[Haywire]

Do they make blowers with slip clutches like are found on tillers?

 

[leonz]

Hello Ian,

No one makes make blowers with slip clutches

for residential or commercial use.

The business end of a snow blower

being the auger is always subject to

the forces created by the rotation

of the cross auger halves and the

shear pins are the simplest way to

protect the 2 stage snow blower

that employs the open auger

configuration rather than a solid auger

ribbon using a gearbox after the V belt

drive or paddle auger which is typically

belt driven.
.


You can use a friction disc liimited slip

clutch successfully on a rear blower when the

bottom 4 inches of the intake is protected

with a meshed frame of concrete reinforcing

mesh to prevent cobbles from entering the

the housing and shearing the pins in which

I described to a member earlier in the

week that was dealing with constantly breaking

shear pins due to his access road to hos home

being subject to ice if any wet snow is left on

his dirt road to his home which is a very high

elevation and fully exposed to high winds and

thus quickly freezing snow turning it to ice.

 

[kday64]

All,

I am a bit confused. I own a B2789 that is mounted on the back of a BX2360. They are awesome machines. Oh yeah I snapped my first shear pin of the season and first shear pin on this tractor.

I opened the manual and it showed two shear pins. One in the Driveline and one in the DriveShaft. I snapped the driveline shear pin. Easy fix, 5minutes... first time ever.

Both of these pins hold two plates together. There is very little lining up required especially if one disconntects the driveline from the PTO. Or are you all talking about the rear bolt on the driveline?? If so I don't think this is a shear pin at all. The rearpin on my driveline is a gr12 bolt.

Below are the required shear pins for my B2789.
The driveline shear pin is a M10 x 1.25" x 45mm gr8.8 bolt.
The drive shaft pin is 5/16" NC x 1.75" gr5 bolt.

~Kevin

 

[Sumpter]

I have never found any remnants of my shear bolts when they go. They seem to evaporate.

 

[kday64]

I have never found any remnants of my shear bolts when they go. They seem to evaporate.

I also found this to be true. Though I have only snapped on shear pin on my BX. I use to shear bolts/pins all the time back home on my family's Ford. (I was too young to understand that I needed to step off the clutch slowly.)

When I was growing up my brothers and I snapped the rear bolt at the universal joint. This bolt is not a shear pin and is a pain to line up, punch out and replace. This bolt should be gr12 bolt to ensure the gr8/gr5 shear pins snap first.

~Kevin

 

[Haywire]

Gr 12? I didn't know it went above 8. :shrug: I learn something new every few years.

 

[kday64]

Gr 12? I didn't know it went above 8. :shrug: I learn something new every few years.

Bolt Depot - Bolt Grade Markings and Strength Chart

I didn't know there was anything higher than a gr8 until went out and examined the driveline more closely and realized the head of a bolt said 12. From my reading of wikipedia gr12 is not a steel alloy.

There is very little on the topic of gr12 bolts... I wonder why? Not many uses.

~Kevin

 

[Haywire]

It looks like the metric bolt grades are stronger than the imperial equivalents. Metric "classes" being 8.8, 10.9, 12.9 and imperial "grades" being 2, 5, 8.

It isn't a numerical continuation.. class 8.8 isn't stronger than grade 8.

Edit... a bit of conversion of units.. "proof loads" in psi. Grade 5 and Class 8.8 are very similar, Class 10.9 is just a hair over grade 8.

Grade 2: small bolts 55k, bigger bolts 33k
Class 8.8: small bolts 84k, bigger bolts 87k
Grade 5: small bolts 85K, bigger bolts 74k
Grade 8: 120k
Class 10.9: 120.381k
Class 12.9: 140k

 

[Dyer retired]

I use a similar method as Ductape...I try to clean the grease out of the way to better see the sheared bolt remaining, but I just spray degreaser and then do a quick swipe with a paper towel. My B2782 doesn't seem to shift like my old 2750 where you had to move the wings to get the shafts to line up, so you could then punch out the remaing bolt.

As AJL mentioned, I sheared an impellar bolt and found no reason for it, but that's a much easier changout on the 2782.