Snow blower performance

[Reb954]

A few suggestions,

Before you add length to your impeller blades, check the impeller housing for wear, holes and such. You may need to reline the housing before adding to the impeller blades.

Look at various impeller designs before modifing yours. I have a WIFO blower which works great, if you scroll through the pictures in the attached link you will see how they designed their impeller. Check other designs to see which you prefer. http://www.wifo.ca/products/snow-blowers/3-point-hitch.html Notice how the last few inches of the impeller blades cup the snow.

Check the passage way between the impeller housing and the chute. You have a lot of snow built up around the base of the chute which makes me wonder if something isn't disrupting the snow flow.

The surface finish inside the chute can also disrupt the flow of the snow. If needed you can pick up spray cans of pickup bed liner from the parts store. That will provide a good smooth surface that is also durable.

You may have several problems that need addressed, cover them all while doing this. A few better pictures of your impeller/housing might get you better input.

 

[Dan33Klein]

That looks like a good design on the impeller. Unfortunately I don’t think I will be able to remove mine.
I plan on probably relining the drum and clearancing the impeller to fit. And a coat of paint. If it don’t perform any better next year I will send it down the road.

 

[Dave M7040]

Dave,
There are numbers welded on top of a plate. So That confirm it is a loftness blower.
I will get a picture/read the numbers after work.

Dan

Since Loftness have responded so quickly I will ask them about fan to drum clearance.

It would be good to have that info from their perspective.

Here is the response from LOFTNESS:

We recommend 3/16” to ¼” but if it is real wet heavy snow they will sometimes blow as you described below anyway.

Since getting your fan off will be impossible, it would be wise to line the drum since doing so wont affect any balance issues

Dave m7040

 

[leonz]

Hello Dan33Klein,

it may be worth your while to pick up a pint of slick plate paint at tractor supply and a couple of disposable
paint mitts. they use this paint in grain wagons to make the grain flow easier.

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That looks like a good design on the impeller. Unfortunately I don’t think I will be able to remove mine.
I plan on probably relining the drum and clearancing the impeller to fit. And a coat of paint. If it don’t perform any better next year I will send it down the road.

 

[Dan33Klein]

Dave,
Thanks for the info I will pursue re lining the drum.

I will look for the slick paint. But I’m sure a nice smooth new paint job with some snow boars wax will help the chute situation.

 

[Reb954]

That looks like a good design on the impeller. Unfortunately I don稚 think I will be able to remove mine.
I plan on probably relining the drum and clearancing the impeller to fit. And a coat of paint. If it don稚 perform any better next year I will send it down the road.

Are you saying you don't think you can get the impeller off? Relining the impeller housing is going to be pretty tough without taking out the impeller.

Take out the center bolt holding the impeller, spray a bunch of penetrant in it and stick the bolt back in. In a couple hours do that again and keep doing until the penetrant has had a chance to soak thru. If needed, use a torch to apply heat to the center hub of the impeller. I have pulled 2 different impellers out of old blowers and they came out easy. Of course, that doesn't mean yours will but give it a try.

 

[Dan33Klein]

Are you saying you don't think you can get the impeller off? Relining the impeller housing is going to be pretty tough without taking out the impeller.

Take out the center bolt holding the impeller, spray a bunch of penetrant in it and stick the bolt back in. In a couple hours do that again and keep doing until the penetrant has had a chance to soak thru. If needed, use a torch to apply heat to the center hub of the impeller. I have pulled 2 different impellers out of old blowers and they came out easy. Of course, that doesn't mean yours will but give it a try.

I am going to attempt to remove it if possible.
But i won’t take drastic measures to do so.

I agree it will be tricky with the impeller still in there

 

[Dan33Klein]

Here are some pictures. Showing the shaft go through the gear box to the impeller.

Numbers welded look like 1-0-205

 

[hawkeye08]

On my 48" blower, it had seen some abuse by previous owner (ran a bunch of gravel through it and ballooned the sheet metal around the impeller). I wanted to get a new piece and put in, but as often as I was using it, ended up bolting some tire tread at the end of each blade. Went from blowing about 10' with perfect snow to about 60'. With heavy wet snow, it easily cleared 6' out which was more than I had hoped for. I have never had any snow stick to rubber or bolts.. oh, btw, I used nylock nuts so they do not back off.

 

[Dan33Klein]

Finally got around to messing with this today.
I installed 14gauge sheet metal to line the housing since it was beat up and had a few holes.
I didn稚 have any luck removing the impeller. So I had to build up the impeller through the discharge hole.
13 passes with the welder. Don稚 judge the welds, it wasn稚 easy to do it while on the blower. If the impeller would have came off it would have been easier doing it on the work bench. Hard to get the grinder in there too. But I should be able to clean it up better.