Sticky snowblower chute

[christopher]

I had my first big snow today with my new blower(new to me), this blower has a electric chute motor. It works great but, after a while the chute started freezing up. I greased it like the manual said, but I think the grease got too cold. Does any body have any reccomendations? Thank you.

[Kent]

My experience, which is limited, since I often use my blade.... I spray a lubricant down the chute each time I use it... Rather than WD-40, which can get expensive, I often use the much cheaper PAM (a cooking oil spray) or a no-name silicon based lubricant. The snow will wear whatever you spray off pretty quickly. Also, be aware that the snowblower itself is just a huge fan, so it'll tend to tend to freeze itself up if you're dealing with slushy snow.... You must keep the RPM up (engine wide open) and make sure you're feeding enough snow into it for it to sling it well. You may need to take bigger "cuts" and drive much faster if the snow isn't very deep.... Finally, if you're storing it in an unheated building there's a tendancy for the snow/ice to build up if it doesn't get warm enough to melt. So, make sure you either clean it when you're done, or that the mess will melt off...

[KraigTM]

The rotating portion is sticking right? Not the chute plugging up with snow? Try this, take the chute off, clean it up remove all traces of grease, oil, rust and whatever, on the insides of the chute and the parts on the chute and main housing where the chute rotates. Then paint it with the brush-on version of Slip Plate or graphite paint, available at Grainger's or Fleet Farm. This will lubricate the rotating portion of the chute and the coat on the inside of the chute will prevent the plugging with heavy wet snow. DO NOT add oil or grease to the rotating portions of the chute that would only attract dirt and get sticky when it's cold. For additional lubrication as the graphite paint wears, get some dry lubricant, basically graphite spray lubricant (NOT graphite spray PAINT) like that used for snowmobile clutches, available at power equipment/snowmobile dealers. Kraig