How to save snowblower shear pins

Georgec

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BX2370
Dec 12, 2016
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Brattleboro
I have an idea and I'd like some input.

I snowblow a gravel driveway. At the start of the last snow season and again in the spring I went through a lot of shear pins. While I have the shoes fully extended, the uneven drive and the crown combine to get gravel into the blower.

So I am thinking of adding some kind of "roller" to keep the blade up, at least for the start of the season. I'm thinking of drilling a 3/8" or 1/2" hole in each shoe and running a threaded rod the width of the blower. The rod, in turn, would be inside a 1/2" pipe.

My idea is to be sure that the whole blower blade is an inch or so off the ground.

Anyone try anything like this, or have another solution to shear pin consumption?
 

North Idaho Wolfman

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You won't get a rod like that to work, it will just bend.
Consider adding large caster wheels behind the blower. ;)
 
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Tractor NUG

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B2601, LA434 Loader, B2782B Snowblower, RB1672 Rear Blade,TowBar,HLA 60" Grapple
Sep 17, 2017
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8
Canada
This is going to be my first winter with my new tractor and snowblower. I also have a long gravel and dirt driveway through the forest. My neighbor has been snow blowing my driveway with an L series for the last few years. He says he can’t leave it in float for the same reason. He keeps snapping shear pins. He has learned to just drop the blower down but not in float. I also confirmed with my Kubota dealer that it is no problem to use the blower raised so that is what I am planning to do.
 

Ike

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Kubota L 3301, Farmall Cub. JD B. Ferguson TE 20
Jul 18, 2015
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Mich
I drop mine all the way down and then just touch the hyd to raise it. Then I set the depth adj to that location. I have the shoes off of mine and they have not been on it in 30 years. I don't like the build up you get with the shoes on. Just be careful until the ground freezes. If you have a 3 pt you can adjust your top link so it does not dig in as bad
 

Dave_eng

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Oct 6, 2012
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This is the delux version of Wolfman's suggestion.


I have been working on how to do the same on my blower. I bought the axle and wheels I will need to acquire hubs and wheels.
I have cut the axle in half.
Where to mount each wheel is proving challenging so far to get adequate clearance for when the wheel is retracted.

Dave.
 

Cfrazer

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BX2670-1,FEL, BX5450, BBox, GS1548, RB1560, QH05, AI2 Forks, SS Curtis Cab
Jan 22, 2018
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North Rose, NY, USA
I cut a 1/2" slit lengthwise in a 2"EMT Pipe to allow me to put a bolt up through the inside of the pipe through the outside of my snow blowers cutting edge mounting holes. I've read where people are welding on pipes but i can't weld and prefer to not permanently change anything on the tractor until i know it will work.

So far I have used it with as much as 18" of snow and as little as a couple inches, it leaves a little snow behind but acts like a squeegee and doesn't seem to sink in like the skid shoes did. since putting the pipe on i use it in float position all the time. This is my first tractor so still learning from all the great posts on this forum.
 

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Charlie5320

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BX2670
Jan 8, 2018
113
3
18
Springfield, IL.
I used to use a single stage blower on my rock drive and made the shoes on the blower 3" wide. It worked pretty well, but that blower was a belt drive and don't think it had shear pins.
 

ItBmine

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Jan 21, 2014
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When I started following these tractor forums back in 2008 I saw a thread where someone put big caster wheels behind the front blower on his Massey GC and it worked great. He made it so they were adjustable in height.
I'm sure if you do a bunch of searches on TBN and MTF in the Massey forums you will find pics.
 

mikester

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M59 TLB
Oct 21, 2017
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www.divergentstuff.ca
What kind of snowblower is it? Rear 3PH?

If so try tilting the snowblower back so you leave at least 1/2" skim coat of snow for the first few times you clean. After it packs down you can lower the cutting edge and scrape down to the skim coat each clean.

The shear pins are doing their job. Try modifying your technique a little at the start of the season and things will go better later on. Expect to loose at least one shear pin each season and keep several in your tractor toolbox along with some wrenches to fix them on the spot.

The only negative to the skim coat is it turns to ice by spring and you have an ice rink to drive on.

Now if only I could stop the junk-mail newspaper sausages/mines from getting dumped/buried at the end of my driveway from the county snow plows...
 

07wingnut

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Here are the castor wheels that are on my front snowblower. They serve double duty for the snowblower and the sweeper that they came with. Both skid shoes and castor wheels are used and both are adjustable for height. The 500 ft laneway is all gravel and so far this year no shear pins have given up their lives.
 

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sheepfarmer

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Here are the castor wheels that are on my front snowblower. They serve double duty for the snowblower and the sweeper that they came with. Both skid shoes and castor wheels are used and both are adjustable for height. The 500 ft laneway is all gravel and so far this year no shear pins have given up their lives.
What brand is that snowblower? The wheels and support look like they'd mount on any blower.
 

sheepfarmer

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Maybe I asked the wrong question, so if one wanted the wheels and bracket only I should look in the parts list for the blower or the sweeper? Does it look to you as if easy to put on another blower?
 

07wingnut

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The gauge wheels came with the BX2537 sweeper that was part of the package deal when I bought my BX23. I'm not sure if this is a sweeper add on or if it is a standard part. The mounting hardware to bolt the wheel and shank to the BX2750 snowblower was custom made to fit the blower but is very similar to the hardware that is still on the sweeper. This allows one to swap the wheels back and forth as needed.