Snowblower Trouble with front mount JD 54in snowblower

[flyinghooks]

We have a 54in front mount snowblower mounted on a John Deere x758 lawn tractor. (I'm not as familiar with the mechanism of this blower as we just upgraded from a 38in on an LX188. We did most repairs ourselves on that for over 17 years). A small log was jammed in the blower when when my husband was snowblowing this past weekend. He had to leave on an overseas business trip, local dealer is 3 weeks out on repairs, I was hoping with some guidance I might be able to solve this myself. When he hit the log, he shut off the PTO, pulled a big piece out from the impeller and tried to engage the PTO again. It made a horrible whining sound with no movement of the impeller or augur. Upon further inspection there was a smaller piece of wood jammed between the augur blade and the housing. Removed that, engaged the PTO, blower began to move slowly, but the noise remained. Now if you engage the PTO the blower does not respond, the PTO drive is turning, but nothing inside the blower. The three shearing bolts are intact. Neither the impeller nor the augur/blades freely turn. Any thoughts or suggestions?

Thanks

 

[bigtiller]

It sounds like the sheer bolts are broken but are still stuck in the hole.

 

[Dutch445]

if you can verify the shear bolts are not broken, you then need to investigate behind
the blower housing.
there is a long pto shaft coming from the mid pto under the tractor to the front axle. then there
is a short pto shaft on the snowblower that is connected to front side of the axle.
(there is a short shaft going thru the front axle that both the long shaft and short shaft connect to)
that short pto shaft connects to the back of the snowblower at a chain sprocket, which then drives a 2nd chain sprocket,
which is connected to the shaft that goes thru the back of the snowblower thru the impellar fan and into
the front gearcase.
and the hip bone is connected to the knee bone etc etc.
check and see if you can verify where things stop. would be best with a helper, and maybe a camera, so you can
pinpoint a problem area.
being a direct drive system, ie shafts , and chain, there really isn't anything to slip, unless some shaft splines have
been sheared somewhere in the pto drive.
if you can unhook the snowblower short drive shaft from the tractor in front of the front axle, you can run the pto
and verify that the mid to front pto kit is in tact. then you can try to rotate things by hand to see what is or isn't turning.

 

[flyinghooks]

Thanks everyone... I found the chain slipped off one of the sprockets, was able to get it unstuck from underneath said sprocket and then tighten the tension on the chain. I'm guessing it was loose to have had this happen, but it seems happy now. No weird noises, and it throws snow!!