Snowblower Modification

[AStanton]

I stumbled upon a video on YouTube where a guy was making modifications to snow blowers to prevent clogging and increase snow throwing range. He demonstrated that the clearance between the auger and housing was so great that clogging would occur. By closing the gap with a piece of rubber, the snow blower performed better. After his modification, his snow blower was tossing snow like no one's business. I saw kits were even available for this mod on Amazon. The guy in the video recommended using old single-stage snow blower paddles, sides of tires, or truck mud flaps. I decided to do the mod on my Meteor Snow Blower. I bought a $8.00 truck mud flap from Napa and some screws at the hardware store for $4.00. Regarding the installation, you only need to do two opposite paddles on a 4-way auger. If the auger has 3 paddles, then you need to do all 3. We are due to get some wet snow this Sunday. So I'll be putting this mod to the test. Attached is a shot of modified snow blower.

 

[HillStreet]

AStanton,

Is yours a Meteor snow blower? Sure looks like it. I have a Kubota B2320HST with a Meteor SB51 snowblower. Works fine, especially this year was a good test for it. I do suppose I could use a 26 or 29 HP machine with a larger blower but hey, mine is paid for and I will just slow down when it bogs down.

I did add spacers to the wheels, 1-5/8 each side. This extends the tires just outside the blower so I do tread-in the snow.

 

[AStanton]

Yes, it's a Meteor, made by Martin out of Canada.

 

[HEC]

I have a 7 ft.meteor blower on my 5700 and I have noticed quite a gap that your mod would work good on mine also . Mine doesn't blow snow very far due to that gap. Were you able to drill the holes with the auger in place ? I really haven't had much problem with clogging as it is so darn cold up here most of the time .

 

[Jay4200]

We are due to get some wet snow this Sunday. So I'll be putting this mod to the test. Attached is a shot of modified snow blower.

I don't think it'll do anything. I believe that any gap that exists packs full of snow almost instantly, creating a zero-clearance situation, regardless of how small or big that fan/housing gap is. Of course, since you went to the effort and expense to do the mod, you'll want to think that it is working better, but I bet it operates exactly the same with the exception of a couple percent higher fan blade edge speed. OTOH, the two unmodified blades will see a gap, so it might even get worse. Please report back with results or lack thereof.

 

[AStanton]

Were you able to drill the holes with the auger in place ?

Yes. For mods on walk behind blowers, the guy on YouTube recommends removing the chute.

 

[KennyG]

I don't think it'll do anything. I believe that any gap that exists packs full of snow almost instantly, creating a zero-clearance situation, regardless of how small or big that fan/housing gap is. Of course, since you went to the effort and expense to do the mod, you'll want to think that it is working better, but I bet it operates exactly the same with the exception of a couple percent higher fan blade edge speed. OTOH, the two unmodified blades will see a gap, so it might even get worse. Please report back with results or lack thereof.

I vote he will see an improvement. My blower had similar clearances (three blade) and I had lot's of trouble with it clogging and it would not throw very far. Since I installed it over a year ago, I have never clogged the blower and it seems to throw snow at least twice as far. I did the same mod on my walk behind and it also hasn't clogged since. I'm generally skeptical of "add-ons" but this one really works.

 

[Al 2]

Years ago I had a 3 pt blower that would clog up numerous times when trying to clear just a small amount of snow but worked fine if you were going thru a lot of snow. I just welded flat bar to the fan blades as close as possible to the drum and it worked fine after that.
Al

 

[Parkanzky]

I'd love to do this, but my front-mount snowblower has a composite impeller and I'm worried that it wouldn't hold up. They sell a metal replacement, but that makes this an expensive mod.

 

[DuckSlayer1017]

I'd love to do this, but my front-mount snowblower has a composite impeller and I'm worried that it wouldn't hold up. They sell a metal replacement, but that makes this an expensive mod.

Maybe try gluing them on. And I don't mean some cheap hardware store super glue. If you know the materials that will be bonded you can maybe find an adhesive that will hold up. Try researching Henkel Loctite for some applications. They are gluing car body panels together now, I'm confident someone makes a glue that will hold some rubber on a plastic impeller.

 

[CalG]

Maybe try gluing them on. And I don't mean some cheap hardware store super glue. If you know the materials that will be bonded you can maybe find an adhesive that will hold up. Try researching Henkel Loctite for some applications. They are gluing car body panels together now, I'm confident someone makes a glue that will hold some rubber on a plastic impeller.

Your confidence is in direct opposition to my experience.

Barring vulcanization, I contend there are no consumer products or processes that will bond an "attachment" to a blower impeller.

Hardware might.. for a while. ;-)

 

[tractchores]

Will be interesting to see how it does. I have a meteor too, but it has very little clearance.

 

[PILOON]

My Meteor has 3 blades and I plan to modify it to 4.
Meanwhile since I have a 3 speed PTO I run it at the mid speed (about 725 rpm) and that performs just great.

 

[Looking4new]

I also have a meteor, with 4 blades. I am watching this too.

 

[Baby Grand]

Your confidence is in direct opposition to my experience.

Barring vulcanization, I contend there are no consumer products or processes that will bond an "attachment" to a blower impeller.

Hardware might.. for a while. ;-)

I have the same doubts. A lot of the automotive bonding depends on large surface areas of materials having similar properties with low dynamic forces. With adhesive attachment of tips to a composite impeller it's going to be tough to match tip to impeller properties. Then there's the high dynamic forces, spread over a small surface area, on a rotating mechanism that's doing mass transport of an inconsistent material. Actually sounds like a fairly good recipe for bond failure.

 

[srs]

Regarding the installation, you only need to do two opposite paddles on a 4-way auger.

Did you only do 2 paddles or all 4?

 

[DABSGT]

Does the modification affect the impeller balance at all?

Sent from my iPad using TractorByNet

 

[AStanton]

I did only two, opposing impellers. I wondered about upsetting the balance also. However, as the poster on YouTube pointed out, when you are blowing snow, the snow load on each impeller is always dynamic and changing.

 

[HEC]

I was out blowing some non sticky snow today and not one bit of it filled in the gap like a previous poster mentioned would happen . I can put my fingers between the gap on my meteor blower . I will make this mod come warmer weather for next winter on the meteor .

 

[Parkanzky]

I have the same doubts. A lot of the automotive bonding depends on large surface areas of materials having similar properties with low dynamic forces. With adhesive attachment of tips to a composite impeller it's going to be tough to match tip to impeller properties. Then there's the high dynamic forces, spread over a small surface area, on a rotating mechanism that's doing mass transport of an inconsistent material. Actually sounds like a fairly good recipe for bond failure.

I agree. I think the only hope I'd have is to drill holes and through-bolt with a fender washer on the back-side to distribute the stress a bit. And I think it will make a lot of noise when those paddles finally fail.

Of course, that would give me the excuse I'm looking for to upgrade to the metal impeller...