Snowblower gravel deflector mod

[asgard]

No doubt some of you have experienced the same issues the last few winters with the freeze-thaw cycle and if you have a gravel drive the skids digging in and the blower collecting and redistributing gravel where you don't want it.
So looking over YouTube I noticed some videos where people added a plastic tube to the bottom edge of both snowblowers and plows to stop the dig in.
I thought the plastic tube would be a bit light for a front-mounted blower and as I had some thick wall galv tube on hand and a few bits of scrap I decided to make something up.
It is quite simple, I am using existing holes the side where the skids attach and the bottom where the cutting edge fixes. I have kept the metal thickness the same as that used 3mm and have the tube about 12mm below the existing cutting edge.
The proof will be in the pudding but I thought now was the time to experiment.
I also made a set of wider skids to mount with the gravel deflector.
I Will post again when I mount it. Comments welcome

 

[WFM]

A few years back a customer wanted his snowblower welded. A few rocks had beat up the paddles and got lodged a couple time between the end of the paddle and the housing. He wanted like a 1/4" piece added so the space at the end of the paddle was less leaving very little room for stuff to get stuck there. So I took a piece of plate shaped it and fit it and welded it into the housing. NOW back to the gravel driveway issue. While it was here he asked me to get some big castors and add them with an adjustable bolt for height to each side towards the front. He has a long steep twisting gravel driveway. I fixed stuff for him since a few times and I see the castors are still holding up on the blower.