Trying out a new snowblower mod

[mikester]

One complaint I have withe using a 3ph snowblower is that in some weather conditions ice starts building up in the blower chute between the fixed snowblower base and the chute itself. Basically its two concentric steel pipes and no bearing surface to slide on. Its just paint to paint or steel to steel. Theres a little bit of melting happening in between and eventually ice builds up enough to jamb the chute rotator.

My snowblowers have always been the manual chute turner type using a steel cable wrapped around the chute base to turn it. Not a very durable design. Eventually I cant hand crank them after using it a while.

I rebuilt an old snowblower and modified the hand crank to be operated by a hydraulic motor. I had to add this after installing a cab on my tractor. The problem now is I have lots of torque - enough to pull the chute off or break the steel rotator cables after the chute rotator ices up.

Ive tried oils, spray grease, dry lube...they all fail after a while. I then tried cutting up one of my kids crazy carpets (a thin plastic sheet with handles kids can use as a taboggan) and inserted it in between. It works great until the back and forth action causes the plastic to ride up and out of the joint until the friction from the blowing snow throws it out of the machine.

My thinking is if I could find some thin self adhesive UHMW plastic sheet somewhere it might solve my problems. UHMW is an excellent material used as plastic bearings. Its very slippery and takes a lot of abuse. On amazon I found this 1 inch wide tape
https://www.amazon.ca/CS-Hyde-Polyethylene-Rubber-Adhesive/dp/B000REGUE4

I pulled the chute, cleaned it well, and spiral wrapped the UHMW tape around the impeller exit. The tape seems very sticky and had good adhesion to the painted steel even though it was only several degrees above freezing in my barn. I re-mounted the chute and so far so good. Hopefully this tape lasts at least a season.

Sorry no pictures yet. I didnt bring my phone with me to take photos when I did this. We had an unexpected snow dump of 6 inches yesterday and I had to do some juggling to get the snowblower out of storage and the driveway cleared before work.

 

[oosik]

Look for an engineering plastic product called - Hyfax. Almost as tough as steel & perhaps one of the slipperiest products made by man. It is used on the bottom of the runners for dog sleds and the bearing surface between the frame and track on snowmobiles. Contact your local dog sled manufacturer or local snowmobile dealership.

 

[mikester]

I think hyfax is brand name UHMW. You you have any sources for reasonably priced self adhesive sheets please let me know.

 

[ArlyA]

You are correct. The snow plow companies also sell kits at add plastic to there truck plows. It might be HDPE, but would work largely the same. Could you add photos of where the ice is building?

I think hyfax is brand name UHMW. You you have any sources for reasonably priced self adhesive sheets please let me know.

 

[Wyobuckaroo]

I know people have cut "washers" out of plastic table mats to use between the surfaces of the blower body and discharge chute.

Last summer when I did maintenance on my 3pt blower It has a curved channel iron that bolts over the flange to keep the chute in place. In the back of the shed I found half a tube of old grease that is dull blue color about the consistency of Play Dough. I liberally applied that on the places any parts moved together. Not the best product maybe, but it has worked well and is easily and cheaply re-done.

My 5 cents of experience.

 

[dnw64]

I think hyfax is brand name UHMW. You you have any sources for reasonably priced self adhesive sheets please let me know.

I've gotten it from McMaster Carr. Not sure if it was "reasonable" or not...

McMaster-Carr

 

[MossRoad]

An adhesive backed sheet of it 12" by 24" is only $11 at McMaster-Carr.

 

[BoylermanCT]

Can you post a pic of how you attached the hydraulic motor to the hand crank? I want to do the same with my blower. Thanks!

 

[oosik]

I think you are correct there Mikester. UHMW ( ultra high molecular weight ) - Hyfax IS probably a brand name. This "stuff" was TOP SECRET stuff when we raced snowmobiles in AK in the late '60'. Stuck on the bottom of the track frame it allowed the track to turn with a whole lot less HP.

 

[mikester]

Can you post a pic of how you attached the hydraulic motor to the hand crank? I want to do the same with my blower. Thanks!

Hi BoylermanCT

Here is a closeup photo of the chute turner mod. My lucknow blower came with an adjustable 3/4" steel rod as the hand crank which slides into a 7/8" ID pipe where the steel cable chute turner mounts to.

I removed the hand crank and replaced it with a short piece of 3/4 keyed shaft and mounted a lovejoy coupling on one end. I mounted a spare hydraulic motor on a home made bracket to drive the cable turn assembly. I made the chute and assembly to be removable for summer storage. That way it fits on my pallet rack without taking up too much space. When I pull it apart again in spring I will take photos of how the tape survived the season.

There's more photos on my blog if you want more detail on the blower rebuild
Snowblowers – Front and Rear PTO Driven Conversions for my Tractors – Part 2 – Divergent Stuff



PMWyobuckaroo,

I originally used a plastic polyethylene water jug as my bearing surface. You can still see part of it on the chute base - look for the white bit sticking out at the bottom of the chute. The problem with using scrap plastic is finding a piece large enough to fit all the way around the inside of the chute and then keeping it in place. Buying new HDPE or UHMW plastic sheeting is stupidly expensive. The UHMW adhesive tape I found seems to be a good compromise of price and performance.