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anyone ever get caught in snowblower


cowboyoutlaw

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hey group gonna be on here alot just had hand surgery gonna be out of work for up to 10 wks got my hand caught in a snowblower go ahead and giggle but its not what you think the blower was disengauged a rock got stuck in the auger turned the blower off turned the engine idle down reached in pulled the rock out and the tension on the belts spun the auger and got me now i alwas thought on a cub cadet if you diengauge the clutch the clutch should freewheel till everthing stops or the tension is released but i guess i was wrong or was there something wrong with the clutch could be ice snow or something else packed in there any way just wondered if anyone else out there made the same mistake. i know my surgen did 7 hand surgerys on monday from snowblowers thanks guys
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people 'round here like pictures..... just kidding. sheez, I would have thought the same thing as you. Great tip! Sorry to hear about your misfortune. Will you still have ull use after the 10 weeks?
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Rule of thumb ( or you won't have one ) When working on or around a snowblower ALWAYS Shut the engine OFF before performing any work on it. NEVER trust a clutch. It is a mechanical object that will fail at the most unlikely time. In this case when you had your hand where it shouldn't have been.
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I'm confused. Did clutch actuallyturn snow blower? Or was there tension on the belt that turned snow blower and Clutch remained stationary? I'm leaning to what Maynard said to shut tracto /motor off. Reason I'm concerned is that my daughter used tractor on her gravel driveway. I told her to shut tractor off it it plugged up. I hope I was right.
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Hey guys im gonna be ok wil have full use of hand when im heeled didnt loose any fingers just busted 3 of the up pretty good now i have lots of metal in them ok heres what happened the clutch didnt release the tension on the belt it did shut off just held the tension (were i thought it should have released the tension) and when i pulled the rock it had enugh tensoin in it to spin the auger around again one or 2 more times not sure it happened to fast i figured there was ice or snow jammed in it from blowing so in this case shutting the tractor off i dont think that would have helped and ronald tell your daughter to use a stick or shovel handle to unblock the blower dont be dumb like me and just reach in and ill get pics if you guys want them right now theres not much to see but an ace bandage wrapped around my hand well guys have a good one
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Don't Stick anything in blower With engine running, clutch disingaged or not. Doing otherwise is just asking for disaster. Murphys law anything that can go wrong will go wrong With clutch disingaged and engine not running there is not a chance of loosing fingers, hand or arm or getting hit beside the head with broom stick or better yet haveing a spear between the eyes
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OK OK HERE WE GO SHUTTING THE ENGINE OFF IS THE ANSWER EVEN THOUGH THE CLUTCH WAS JAMED NOT TO THE ENGINE BUT TO THE BELT THE AUGER DID NOT SPIN AS IF IT WERE ENGAGED THE SO UNDER YOUR STATMENTS SHUTTING THE ENGINE OFF WOULD HAVE PREVENTED THIS MY QUESTION TO YOU MAYNARD IS HOW THE SHAFT WAS SPINNING FREELY THE CLUTCH WAS JAMED TO THE BELT NOT TO THE ENGINE I ADDMIDT I MADE A MISTAKE YOUR RIGHT
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Hey Cowboy! I did the same thing on 1-5-2005. Lost trigger finger and middle finger and half the use of my thumb on my right hand. Still right handed can write and run heavy equipment, Still a certified crane operator up to 400 ton. So yeah you have to take all the crap for being stupid, But life gose on. and DON'T let it get you down!! So you messed up I did too and I have to deal with it. Good luck man.........Dave. I'll send you some pic's when I figure out how to resize and get them on this site.............
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You can never be too careful: Any moving parts can get you.(and even non-moving parts). All the safety devices, gaurds, and other features designed to protect you are subject to failure. My son learned at the young age of four about moving equipment. I was out mowing the lawn with my A-C 416. Somehow he snuck out of the house and as I was making a turn, I caught him out of the corner of my eye running up behind me. Another couple steps would have put him there. I re-acted out of instinct and fear.(and lots of adrenolin). I reached out as far and as hard as I could and he went airborn, backwards into a rather large rosebush, full of thorns. He was real mad at me for days, but still had all his toes He is 16 now and still remembers the moment, He is very carefull now. Ken
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I almost lost the thumb and forefinger from my left hand 8 years ago in one of these snowblowers. It was clutched but the engine was still running... I was the least serious of three of us in the ER at the same time that morning. Both the other machines were NOT running at all. In both those cases there was enough tension "backed up" in the drive system that when it cleared, it snapped closed and caught them.... Stopping the engine is NOT enough either...
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Guess I been lucky, the couple times I've jammed a rock in mine the belt snapped too, at the time I thought that was a bad deal. I used my booted foot to kick the blower free once and another time I hadda get a bar. will remember not too use a hand.
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thanks for all the input guys this seems to be a good topic and thanks for your post kent it proves my thinking that wether the the engine is running or not you cant be cautois enough around theses things im glad to say i will have all 4 fingers and a thumb when this is all over but the best thing to come from this and this discussion is the awareness that it can and will happen at anytime with or without the engine running thanks again
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Hey Dirk I'm glad your hand gona be alright It sounds like your ego might be a little bruised too but you kinda asked for that posting this story. Anyway got me thinking about a snowblower a bought a couple of years ago, It came with a (HAND)y little device,Now I know why I think every snowblower thrower should have one sure would cut down on E.R. visits

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hey Paul ego is ok you have to be abl to laugh about these things or youll just drive yourself nuts i like the idea of the clean and clear brush and i was thinking about a prev. post that i wrote about using a stick or a broom handle i thought about what maynard said about it hitting you in the head and thought something more like a pvc pipe would be better it would at least break off that way
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Sorry to hear of your accident. Hope you have a speedy recovery. I do know someone who lost their fingers from a snowthrower. It was a Simplicity snowthrower too, but it doesn't matter what brand it is. You still have to use caution. Anyways, this guy the way he tells his story, it sounds alittle humorous. He told me that just as he was finishing up clearing his driveway, the snowthrower plugged up. While it was still running he used his hand to clear out the chute(Which they tell you NOT to do) and didn't realize his hand was that close to the impeller. Well it was close and he chopped off two of his fingers. He said he really didn't feel anything at first and then realized what happend. He actually then wheeled the snowthrower back up the driveway and into the garage where he was met by his wife. He then said to his wife that he would be right back, he was going back out to pick his fingers up out of the snow. He then showed his wife the injury and she looked on in horror. Needless to say, he found his fingers, but the doctors weren't able to put them back on. Otherwise he's alright.
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sadly we see this all the time, usually the first few storms net 10-12 injuries as above per 24 hr period. i dread being on call for the first snow storm! 1) some dont even shut off power, auger thought they could just reach in 2) shut down but belts are still under tension, pull out obstruction and mechanism takes one more swing at them 3) stalls on compression stroke, same as above newbies this doesnt apply to, but veterans of snowblowers, I ask if they have a plastic/wooden stick that came with the blower and if they had used it in past..and noted how chewed up it gets...hint hint good luck with your injury and hope you make a speedy recovery...sigh mowing season is coming soon...hopefully no one decides to pick their running mower over their head and use it to trim hedges this year..... scott
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Hi cowboy. Glade to hear you will keep most of your hand, is it the right or left hand? Mine was the right.but still use it as nothing happen. It just takes time to heel...
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Cowboy: Glad to hear you're on your way to a full recovery! Fastpaul's idea is perhaps not as good as Mike's (a snow plow--lol) but I also use a clearing stick. Did you know they give them away, for free, at Lowe's and Home Depot? Go to the paint dept. and ask for a couple of paint sticks/stirers. Get the LARGE variety--they must be for 5 gal. pails? They're thin and light enough to fit in, and stay in, the back pocket of your bib overalls, and they last a long time, IF YOU'RE NOT STICKING THEM INTO A RUNNING MACHINE! NEVER do that--they could get launched into your eye, through your hand, etc.... But they're good for clearing a stopped machine. Peter
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These blowers scare the dickens out of me. If you look at my post in Show and Tell titled "VA Snow", in the second picture you will see that I am riding around with a wooden broom handle laying across my lap. I used that to dislodge snow that was packing in the chute. This was after shutting down the tractor and throwing the belt out gear. My grandfather had a finger missing. He impressed it on me at a very early age how easy it was to get fingers or your whole hand caught in moving machinery. I am extremely gun-shy about this, especially since I have gotten older.
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A few years ago, while living in Minnesota on our fishing resort, I would shot little red pine squirrels because they would make nests in our cabins and other out buildings. You guessed it - - one fell to the ground and I did not pick it up. That winter I did pick it up, in my snow blower! It was frozen and stopped the auger "dead". My good luck was there was a shear pin and sheared off so there was no danger after I shut off the engine. Darn squirrel got even with me after all. Dan aka IronPony
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Sorry to hear of your acc. But glad you will be ok. Kind of reminded me of time I took a holt of the hot exhoust stack of the grain conbine to get to the grain bin, hand was fryed. Hurt like you know what. Thankfully no damage. Goes to show we all get careless at times.
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