Snow blower runners bent

[Green Acres Homestead]

The two runners are already bent on my new blizzard b74 snow blower. Both are bent in the exact same spot. Anybody else have this problem?

 

[Deere Dude]

The two runners are already bent on my new blizzard b74 snow blower. Both are bent in the exact same spot. Anybody else have this problem?

Not on a Blizzard, but a John Deere two stage. The side walls and the runners were bent from running into high spots on the edge of concrete sidewalks and driveways.

There is not much to do except possibly putting a big 3/16" backing plate on the edge of the blower and reinforce the runner. And don't run into anything. If you didn't tag something with it, and it happened from just pushing it down the driveway, then it was a bad engineer job.

 

[grsthegreat]

The two runners are already bent on my new blizzard b74 snow blower. Both are bent in the exact same spot. Anybody else have this problem?

you have a pic of the damage?

 

[Green Acres Homestead]

Here are some pics. There was 16 hours and the runners were wore thin and bent. I ordered new ones and some people reinforce them as soon as you get them.

 

[Green Acres Homestead]

Thing should be made to last a reasonable amount of time and in my opinion these shoes are not reasonable. I may post pictures of the shoes I took off. There is nothing to them. Could I reinforce? Yes but I should not have to. I had a meteor before and I still have the runners. They are three times thicker then these.

Other then these week shoes the blower is great. It can direct snow at sharp angles so I can place snow where I want when in confined areas. It has inner fan has 4 fins and spinns very fast and can throw snow over baby barns and into the back yards. A great running blower other then the shoes.

 

[greg_g]

No insult intended, but is this your first implement with runners? I own/have owned several, and very few of them are intended to actually run on the ground. Now I'm not talkin' sled here, that's a different concept. But implement runners are typically intended to protect the sheet metal to which they're attached - from damage that might result if/when you encounter a dip or rise that causes one side (or the bottom) of the implement contact the ground.

My recommendation is to remove the damaged runners, straighten the sheet metal out as best you can, install new runners, then review the owner manual about the operating height.

//greg//

 

[grsthegreat]

No insult intended, but is this your first implement with runners? I own/have owned several, and very few of them are intended to actually run on the ground. Now I'm not talkin' sled here, that's a different concept. But implement runners are typically intended to protect the sheet metal to which they're attached - from damage that might result if/when you encounter a dip or rise that causes one side of the implement hit the ground.

My recommendation is to remove the damaged runners, straighten the sheet metal out as best you can, install new runners, then review the owner manual about the operating height.

//greg//

operating height??? a snowblower lays on the ground. the height above the ground = 0.0"

these runners should NOT look like that at all. My blowers have always had shoes. The current blower has hardened shoes.

 

[Green Acres Homestead]

No insult taken and your recommendations are good and I am happy to have somebody's honest feedback.
The only problem is there is not enough metal to bend back.... worn thin. Also as mentioned the runners for my other blower is three times as thick and shows very little sign of wear after three years of use. Do not think I used one blower any different then the others Guess i have to calk it up to shoes that are not meant for extensive use.

 

[greg_g]

GRS -

I was speaking to implement runners in general. Before too many knee jerk injuries occur, maybe we should address the Blizzard specifically. Here's the operating manual. It doesn't say anywhere that the B74 skids/runners be lowered to the point of full contact. In fact there are several places where either safety or operating instructions pretty reasonably indicate they should NOT touch the ground. Like
pgs 5 and 7 "use a rear counter weight"
pg 6 "adjust operating height to clear suface"
pg20 "shoe height adjustment"
pg23 "raise the blower and take a top level of snow first"
et cetera.

It can be expensive if one doesn't pay attention to how runners and skids are supposed to be used with any particular implement

//greg//

 

[greg_g]

No insult taken ...the runners for my other blower is three times as thick ... Guess i have to calk it up to shoes that are not meant for extensive use.

Perhaps. It's not outside the realm of possibility that your other blower has different safety/operating instructions. Or maybe was just built a helluva lot stouter.

//greg//