Just like everyone else, my Snow thrower came without the plastic SKID PLATES that pretty much every reviewer on the Lowes site claim are mandatory. They went so far as even putting stickers over them in the manual and on the outside of the box (date code on blower 08/25/18).
Well it seems Lowes blew out all the old reviews but there was a NEW one dated 8/18/19 complaining about them still being missing and the "Kobalt Team" replied stating
"The skid plates make this unit much easier to push as they help the unit glide easier across rough terrain. If you would like us to assist you in obtaining these parts, we would be glad to help."
So I contacted Kobalt and I said they were missing and based on the diagram I needed TWO of them. Well, they sent me "TWO KITS" consisting of the pair of skid plates, mounting hardware, and instructions … so definitely worth my while making the call.
The skid plates are much more HD / substantial than shown in the parts list, which was a good surprise. Being made of plastic and had they matched the drawing, I would have thought they would wear through pretty quickly and would have wanted to add some S.S. wear strips to them. They are just over 3/4" wide, so I may still do this after I wear a pair down about an 1/8" or so.
This is really the only complaint and reason this snow thrower gets poor reviews. Instead of the effort they put forth to eliminate them, I think it would have been much wiser to just start INCLUDING the kits with all snow throwers. The minimal cost savings can't be worth all the bad reviews.
Doug