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Nov 10, 2012#1

lawn mower fanatic

Since last winter I have noticed that behind the snowblower "blades" the metal is bowed, due to all the weight. I have a picture of what I mean (the green line is where it is bowed on my snowblower):

I have been trying to get it straightened out by rolling up a towel and putting it under just the middle part, so it will straighten, but it is a slow process. I am not able to have the snowblower down as low as I would like (so there is no snow left after I snowblow) because of the bowing. How else can I fix this??

Nov 10, 2012#2

D2hornets58

Not sure if I know what your talking about but is the part thats "bowed" The metal piece bolted on. I know on plows its called a cutting edge and my snowblower has one. Its a metal bar that touches the ground to scrape and it goes across the back. That could be worn out and needs replacing. Its hard to see but it would be the part circled in this picture
.http://www.mytractorforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=139588&stc=1&thumb=1&d=1295386679

Nov 10, 2012#3

lawn mower fanatic

D2hornets58 said:
Not sure if I know what your talking about but is the part thats "bowed" The metal piece bolted on. I know on plows its called a cutting edge and my snowblower has one. Its a metal bar that touches the ground to scrape and it goes across the back. That could be worn out and needs replacing. Its hard to see but it would be the part circled in this picture
.http://www.mytractorforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=139588&stc=1&thumb=1&d=1295386679

Yes that is the piece. I hope it doesn't need replacing, though, because I only got this snowblower in January and used it only once for 10 mins.

Nov 10, 2012#4

D2hornets58

It should last much longer then that. Can you post pics of it? If it does need to be replaces it is a very easy job and shouldnt cost too much but if you barely used it then it shouldnt need to be replaced yet.

Nov 11, 2012#5

lawn mower fanatic

D2hornets58 said:
It should last much longer then that. Can you post pics of it? If it does need to be replaces it is a very easy job and shouldnt cost too much but if you barely used it then it shouldnt need to be replaced yet.

Sure, I will take a picture when I have a second this morning.

Nov 11, 2012#6

lawn mower fanatic

OK....so here are the pictures. It is hard to see, but the middle is obviously lower than the ends (see picture 1). I could stick a wrench under the metal on the ends, and even have space above it (picture 2), but I could not get it under the middle (picture 3). That is how bowed it is! And just wondering...is the metal supposed to skim the ground to gather all the snow or be just above it?

Nov 11, 2012#7

D2hornets58

lawn mower fanatic said:
OK....so here are the pictures. It is hard to see, but the middle is obviously lower than the ends (see picture 1). I could stick a wrench under the metal on the ends, and even have space above it (picture 2), but I could not get it under the middle (picture 3). That is how bowed it is! And just wondering...is the metal supposed to skim the ground to gather all the snow or be just above it?
View attachment 9673

View attachment 9674

View attachment 9675

It looks like on the two ends you have black pieces that touch the ground. On plows(and i think snow blowers) those are called "shoes". I know on plows the height of those is adjustable to either put the bottom of the plow closer or higher off the ground. If your are plowing a gravel drive way those will keep the bottom of the plow a little bit off of the ground so it doesnt dig up the gravel. If you dont have those then the metal should scrape the ground. On my snowblower i have shoes but they are adjusted so that metal cutting edge touches the ground. The metal touching the ground helps scrape the pavement and do a better job of not leaving a small layer of snow on the ground. So are those two black pieces on the end the only things touching the ground and does it leave some snow behind?

Nov 11, 2012#8

lawn mower fanatic

D2hornets58 said:
It looks like on the two ends you have black pieces that touch the ground. On plows(and i think snow blowers) those are called "shoes". I know on plows the height of those is adjustable to either put the bottom of the plow closer or higher off the ground. If your are plowing a gravel drive way those will keep the bottom of the plow a little bit off of the ground so it doesnt dig up the gravel. If you dont have those then the metal should scrape the ground. On my snowblower i have shoes but they are adjusted so that metal cutting edge touches the ground. The metal touching the ground helps scrape the pavement and do a better job of not leaving a small layer of snow on the ground. So are those two black pieces on the end the only things touching the ground and does it leave some snow behind?

The shoes touch the ground, but the metal (the thing that is bowing) does not touch the ground. But yes it does leave a layer of snow.

Nov 11, 2012#9

slammed

lawn mower fanatic said:
The shoes touch the ground, but the metal (the thing that is bowing) does not touch the ground. But yes it does leave a layer of snow.

Just adjust the shoes so they bring the blade closer to the ground.

Nov 11, 2012#10

D2hornets58

slammed said:
Just adjust the shoes so they bring the blade closer to the ground.

Ya thats what I would say to do.

Nov 11, 2012#11

lawn mower fanatic

slammed said:
Just adjust the shoes so they bring the blade closer to the ground.

D2hornets58 said:
Ya thats what I would say to do.

OK....that's what I was thinking of doing. Hopefully the way I have it sitting the metal will get straightened out so when I lower it the whole thing will skim the ground--not just the middle where it's bowed.

Nov 11, 2012#12

R

Rivets

You need to do a few things to correct this. 1. Loosen the skid shoe bolts so they slide easily up and down. 2. Loosen the bolts on the scraper bar so it moves freely. Set the blower on a flat level surface. 3. Push the scraper bar down as tight as possible and then tighten the scraper bar bolts. It should be fairly close on both ends. 4. Insert a 1/8" shim (I use an old yard stick) under the scraper bar. 5. Push the skid shoes down tight as possible and tighten bolts. Done, you want the scraper bar up slighting for two reasons. One, it will not catch on every crack in the concrete. Two, the scraper bar will last longer. If you set it down tight it will only last 2-3 years.

Nov 21, 2012#13

H

HCBPH

It's possible it's the scraperbar that's causing the change in the housing profile. I'd take it off and check it out. I've seen more than one bent or warped scraper bar.

Nov 21, 2012#14

lawn mower fanatic

HCBPH said:
It's possible it's the scraperbar that's causing the change in the housing profile. I'd take it off and check it out. I've seen more than one bent or warped scraper bar.

OK thanks for the info! :smile:

Dec 29, 2012#15

lawn mower fanatic

To follow up on this thread, all I had to do was fold up a towel and put it under the middle of the deck so the middle was being pushed up and gravity was pulling the ends down. After awhile, that straightened it out, and it works great now! :thumbsup:

Feb 3, 2013#16

lawn mower fanatic

lawn mower fanatic said:
To follow up on this thread, all I had to do was fold up a towel and put it under the middle of the deck so the middle was being pushed up and gravity was pulling the ends down. After awhile, that straightened it out, and it works great now! :thumbsup:

Here is proof it is not bowed anymore. Look how close to the ground it scrapes! :thumbsup:

Feb 3, 2013#17

metz12

lawn mower fanatic said:
Here is proof it is not bowed anymore. Look how close to the ground it scrapes! :thumbsup:
View attachment 11892

wow you got more snow then we did!
we only got a coating. most of its gone now though

Feb 3, 2013#18

lawn mower fanatic

metz12 said:
......we only got a coating. most of its gone now though

That stinks! :frown:

Feb 3, 2013#19

P

possum

They will do that as long as you are on good concrete. Good concrete like that is just plain fun to work. Not so much fun if its cracked and sticking up in a couple hundred places. Running on top of rocked driveways can be a bit nerve racking as well. Then running over sidewalks that are more narrow than the blower with sod higher than the walk can be a bit tough as well. Your blower does a nice job. You have it set very well. I suspect those poly skid shoes are a good idea. Sears got a good setup in that blower it seems to be well liked.

Feb 18, 2013#20

lawn mower fanatic

I was looking at my snowblower today and realized that one of the shoes was off the ground. I thought something had gotten messed up, for one shoe to be way off the ground, but then I realized one of the tires had gone flat. It does this often. I pump it up, and then 2 days later it is pretty flat. I will get it fixed over the summer, since I can live with it going flat every couple days, since it won't instantly go flat when I am snowblowing. Anyway, I pumped up the tire, and that fixed the problem, and the snowblower leveled out. That proves that a flat tire can REALLY affect snowblowing (not that I didn't know that already). I took before and after pictures of the one snowblower shoe. The line in the first picture shows where the shoe should be!

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