Snowblower: Leaves Excessive Snow On Driveway

If one of the blades in your snow blower is not spinning on the shaft, expect snow to be left on the pavement. It is likely that the blade hit something, such as a rock or a chunk of ice, breaking the shear pin. To fix this, simply line up the shear pin hole on the blade with the hole on the shaft, and insert a new shear pin. Once you do that your blade will be fully operational. If your notice that a blade is broken or badly bent to the point where it cannot pick up snow, it will have to be replaced. To start this repair, you need remove the belt cover, and you need to take the auger belt off the drive pulley. You can do this by rolling the belt off. Remove the bolts securing the front roller bracket, and set the bracket aside. Disconnect the auger drive spring from the idler pulley bracket. Remove the bolts that attach the auger housing to the snow blower; this will allow you to separate the two halves. You can safely rest the back half of the machine on the handles. Secure the impeller with a piece of wood, which will lock the impeller in place as you loosen the bolts that hold the auger drive pulley in place. Make sure you remove the washer and pulley with the hub. Loosen and remove the bolts that hold the bearing holders on the auger drive shaft. You can now pull the auger assembly out of the auger housing. Remove the bearing holder with the bearing, washer, and spacer. Pull the shear pin out on the side with the broken blade. You can now slide off the old auger blade and install a new one. Remove the bushings from the old auger blade and install them into the new blade. Or you can choose to install new bushings, which is often what we recommend. Once the new blade is in place it is time to put your snow blower back together. Start by reinstalling the shear pin. Then reinstall the spacer, washer, and bearing with the bearing holder. The impeller needs to be put back onto the rear gear box shaft. Next, reinsert the auger assembly back into the housing. Align the rear gear box shaft into the rear bearing, and reinstall the bearing holders. Reinstall the pulley hub and the drive pulley. Again, secure the impeller with a piece of wood, then tighten down the bolt. You can now reconnect the two halves of the snow bower, and tighten the bolts. Connect the auger drive cable spring to the idler pulley bracket. Next, reattach the front roller bracket to the frame. Feed the belt back onto the engine drive pulley, and reinstall the belt cover. Remember to grease any grease fittings before using your snow blower.

Skid shoes provide a half-inch buffer between the snow blower and the driveway. Skid shoes purposely leave behind a small film of snow in order to protect your concrete and snow blower. The skid shoes are located on the outside of the auger housing. To adjust these shoes to the proper height, cut a piece of cardboard that is the exact length of the blades only. Move the snow blower to position the blades on top of the cardboard. The sides of the housing should not be touching the cardboard at all. Next, loosen the bolts holding the shoes in place and slide the shoes down so they touch the floor, when they are in the desired position, then tighten the bolts. The shoes can also be set to 1/8 - 1/4 of an inch. Shoes do wear over time, so will need to be periodically replaced if damaged or worn beyond use.