Snowblower Snowthrower wings

[Freds]

I'd like to make some wings up for my 3PH Blizzard snowthrower this year and have a few questions for those that have gone before me.

Is it possible to make them too wide, within reason?
I need 4-1/2" to meet the outside of my rear tire. I'd like to round that off to a foot :thumbsup: 12" extensions on either side angling out, or back in towards the thrower, depending on your point of view. I'm assuming one only needs to go slower for that first pass? 12" would not only cover my tire, it would allow me to clear the snow 12" on either side of my newly concreted driveway without the shoe dropping off the edge.

Bolt on or weld?
The thrower looks to be close to 1/4" plate. If my wings are similar thickness, that's some serious drilling for anyone without a proper garage or tools, plus bolts do loosen, but it would be nice to take the wings off if the need arose. Although I don't ever see the need arising...
And of course with bolts there would be some flex at the point of bolting if I only went with one vertical row, however, welding would eliminate that. Especially with some well placed stitches. Any preference?

And, if I make them out of similar thickness metal, 3/16 or so, would I need any gussets back to the thrower? I'm thinking I wouldn't, even with a 45* angle.

Any advice from some others who have modified their snowthrowers in this manner?

 

[KWentling]

I have thought of doing that to my BX's front blower to give some wiggle room to be able to turn a little in deep snow. I was thinking more of 2 or 3" per side though. In your case, I think I would get some piano hinge and make them able to fold back flat against the side of the blower when not needed. You could make some struts to brace back from the front of the wings to the back of the blower to hold them in place. These could even be adjustable to vary the amount of wing extension. McMaster Carr would probably have heavy piano hinge. Our steel supplier here also has it. I would think bolting would be fine as long as there is other support to the wing such as a strut or brace back to the blower. As far as drilling the steel, get yourself some split point drill bits (Black and Decker Bullet is one brand I believe) of the appropriate size. Should make the drilling easy.

Kim

 

[Thomas]

"would I need any gussets back to the thrower?"

Do you mean side of blower?
My only concern if the wing should hit something solid like ice etc. and could bend or break welds,also after time will side of blower joint become weak.

 

[Freds]

Hinges?! Don't get me making something too technical :laughing: I used to be a sheetmetal working specializing in industrial fabrication. Boy I wish you hadn't said adjustable... you've got my mind running away with the project already
Let's see... I could get some telescopic tubing and drill it for some pins...

Seriously, thanks for the suggestion, Kim. I think I'll try to keep it more basic this time around though. Who know, maybe I'm getting into new territory here. Maybe no one has actually done this before. I thought it would be more common.

 

[looknlearn]

Do you mean side of blower?
My only concern if the wing should hit something solid like ice etc. and could bend or break welds,also after time will side of blower joint become weak.

What if you put a spring-trip brace back to the side of the blower? Then if you hit ice or other solid objects it wouldn't bend.
Just a thought. Haven't thought about how it would be set up.

 

[Freds]

"would I need any gussets back to the thrower?"

Do you mean side of blower?
My only concern if the wing should hit something solid like ice etc. and could bend or break welds,also after time will side of blower joint become weak.

Thanks for the reply, Thomas.

Yes, they would go back to the sides if I made the gussets. I had given some thought just reinforcing the top edge and taking the brace back to the top of the snowthrower. If they are 3/16 or 1/4" I'm not sure it would make much of a difference, seeing as how it's not that tall, but probably the sides. I like to keep things symetric.

Ice had crossed my mind as far as the wings hitting it, but since I got the snowthrower, I never hit any ice. Not like pushing up mounds of snow with the back blade. That's why I was wondering if gussets were even needed at all if I went with a wing the same thickness as the sidewalls. I guess they wouldn't hurt though. Thanks.

 

[leonz]

Not to throw water on the magnesium fred but if you add wings of any width beyond the working width it will become so bogged down the tractor will not move because the snow will not funnel into the blowers cross auger.

The blowers immediate advantage of being able to eliminate the snow weighing 21 pounds per cubic foot will be lost.

Dont forget the issue is the cross auger as it floods the housing and snow flow is unregulated due to the open auger configuration.


A wing will only win you the advantage when you are slicing to widen only with less than a full width of cut to remove snow at depth.


leon

 

[JoeL4330]

I'm guessing that a little bit of "straightness" (1-2 in.) in front of the flare will improve performance and lessen force on the flare as you move into drift...in fact extending that piece up some distance would give you useful "drift breaker" and let you see better where the edge of the blower is

 

[KubotainNH]

I like the hinge idea, when I first read your post I was thinking 2 or 3 heavy duty pin type hinges so you would have adjustability and could remove the wings by pulling a long pin. Being adjustable would let you fine tune it if you find the width is too much for the weight/depth of the snow you have. As mentioned, bogging down could be an issue but that of course is dependent on the snow you currently need to move and how large your blower is. At some point you'll most likely have to move more snow than it can handle being extra wide.

If you are worried about ice hitting the bottom edge or sides you could add thick rubber as a cutting edge that has give, I did this on my ATV plow mainly because I have a gravel driveway. It does the job.

 

[hawkeye08]

Perhaps something like this member did?

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/john-deere-owning-operating/187639-59-blower-mods.html

 

[Freds]

Yes, very similar to those hawkeye, with a longer angled section to get me more width than his 3.5". His were 10 ga, which is .125", 3.5" wider each side and he did not use gussets or braces. That's probably short enough not to get any flex, even with the thinner metal. Thanks for hunting up those pics.

Joel, I like your drift breaker idea. I do get drifts along one part of my driveway and something to reach up and slice them off, tumbling them into the auger area is a great idea.

Leon, I'm not sure pulling in more snow would be that much of a problem. Sometimes I have 4" I'm clearing and sometimes 4'. Four feet just requires a much slower pass, and if I remember right, one time I even held the snowthrower up off the driveway and cleared the snow in layers in one particularly bad spot, but that was more an issue with traction. Maybe clearing a wider path would solve any traction issues. I'm not sure the amount of snow your throwing is necessarily dependent on the width you are clearing. Clearing snow higher than the housing will also flood the housing I'm thinking.

I appreciate everyone's feedback. Sometimes it's good to hash things around. Time to get the cardboard, tape measure, sharpie, duct tape, protractor and tin snips out.

 

[rbargeron]

jjmarotz's wings (link above) are a good design. Wings have to tolerate the occasional collision with posts, stone markers, building foundations, walkway corners etc. - the mass of the tractor is high so they'll eventually get bent, especially on front mounted blowers. If you make them gusseted and super strong, something else will bend instead - maybe better to design them to be expendable, protecting the blower from damage that's harder to fix ? jjmarotz's design has two folds - great for absorbing a crunch without wrecking the housing.

 

[gwjd]

why dis mount the tractor and possibly warm cab you to thouse rear remotes for a reason hydro wing adjustment and of course each side individually lol

but on a more serous note

i would not use a piano hinge for 2 reasons

one they cost a lot when you start talking hevey duty

two i think 3-4 regular hinges would be stronger and then the pins could be pulled to take wings off, also in my scout troop we had some piano hinge on some wooden boxes that we occasionally had dew and rain aka intermittent moisture and they rusted fast and binded up .

sounds cool and i would guess that for small drops of snow it wouldn't matter

what are your thoughts on cutting edge?

 

[Freds]

That's an excellent point about reinforcing them too much rbargeron. Duly noted.

 

[JoeL4330]

to pursue a similar thought (I am planning my own set), if you make them sturdy, the mounting bolts should be flimsy (like shear bolts) so that they are the weak link (like a fuse) ...alternatively, as suggested make them flimsy and plan on replacements ...or some combination of both

if you looked at the thread cited, there is the forward edge as I mentioned ...and the drift breakers ...

here are two of his pictures, repeated

 

[Freds]

I'll be sure to get some pics when I get them made and mounted. I didn't have time to draw them up yesterday, so hopefully today I can start on this project.

 

[Freds]

Got my wings on.
I mounted them flush with the bottom of the sides, but I just couldn't see having that 2" of space where snow could slide on out, so I mounted a piece of thick rubber on either side and held it up about even with the cutting edge. It can bend up out of the way if needed, but should still be able to gather snow.
I am not in any hurry to try them out, but am still looking forward to it, if you know what I mean :confused2: It will be nice clearing wider than the tires. They give me 8" on each side. I still need to pick up some conduit clamps for my "drift cutters".

 

[KubotainNH]

Looks good to me. Don't forget to post action photos. I'm really not ready for snow though.

 

[Freds]

Thanks Mike.
I'll see what I can do on the action shots ;^)

 

[GUS FINK]

I have had a set for 12-15 years left and right are each are 6 inches