bent augar

[Kenh 37]

We got 9 or 10 inches of snow here on Monday. Blowing snow this morning I sucked up, I'm assuming, a bit rock off my drive and I think I bent the augar a bit. I have a slight vibration now:( I'm undecided if I should tear it down and try to straighten it or just live with it. It still blows well. Decisions, decisions...

Ken

[jverhaag 10]

Me personally, and this just my thoughts, I would continue until the end on the season. As long as the vibration isn't to bad, I don't think you will do further damage. It may put excessive wear on the bearings but that should be negliable. Just a thought is the auger itself bent or are one of the pick up fins bend. I had a little one years ago do the same thing. I was sure it was totaled. After careful inspection one of the fins along the auger was bent and this threw the whole thing out of whack. I used a torch and a hammer to persuade it back in line. Straightened the vibration out as well. Just my thoughts not a mechanic by any means. One of the other guys might have a better insight.

[720nut 4,225]

My thoughts are if it's not hitting anything and you can live with the vibration continue to use it, unless you have a backup plan. For some reason repairs always seem take longer than we think. Unless of course you live in southern Mi. we've only had need once this year.

[RickS 87]

One trick you can try is with the auger spinning drive into a snow bank and almost stall the motor. If the bend is not too bad this may straighten the auger out.

Rick......

[Brettw 1,130]

My last blower head had a fair vibration to it. Ran it for years that way without an issue. Most I have seen have some vibration to them. Unless it's rattling your teeth out I wouldn't give it too much concern. JMHO

[Burntime 1]

OMG, you mean the precision of the auger has been compromised??? Say it isn't so! I mean, they all come machine balanced don't they? Lol. I agree, minor is no biggie.

[Bill725 1,177]

I do not think with all the welding used to manufacture an auger, it is a highly precision made part that is balanced when finished.

[Tacey 0]

"Burntime" you need to use the /s (sarcasm) emoticon. /s off.

[Burntime 1]

Hey Tacey! How you been. Sorry, I was out balancing my auger!

[720nut 4,225]

Work any better?:D

[Burntime 1]

Yes, but the darn wheel weights keep coming off! I think I will use stick ons next time! Lol:D

[goatfarmer 817]

If you can determine where it's bent, you might be able to straighten it with a prybar or similar.

Just don't get caught by OSHA!

[Kenh 37]

The vibes are not real bad but it now leaves little ridges in the snow as you move forward. They kind of remind me of waves on water. LOL. If I can determine the "high spot", I might try sticking a 2X4 in it(not running) and see if I can massage it a bit.

Thanks for the input guys!

Ken

[Kenh 37]

I'm going to have to bite the bullet and try to have to straiten the augar. Not only does it vibrate but it spits a lot of snow out the front which it has never done before. I'm going to wait a few days 'cause it's colder than a blue witches boob in a brass bra for a the moment:D

I don't think I'll have to disassemble the blower. I think it can be done in place. The hard part will be finding the high spot and then a place on the blower frame to pry against.

I'll report back with the results.

Ken

[dentwizz 6]

Most single stage units spit out the front that I've seen. That's why they put that wedge shape on some brands to reduce the fling effect. To a degree the vibration can be a help when minor enough to keep the surface a little more agitated.

[tripleguy 74]

I always had some chatter in my blower. In certain conditions, it left small ripples and it always threw snow out the front a bit. This front wash seems to be worse with light snow. Some of you may recall me eating a burried newspaper with my blower last year. Since then the vibration got a bit worse but eased up some with down pressure. I have since fine tuned the auger a bit with a BFW - big wrench and it has tamed some of the vibrating. It's like it was pre-newspaper digestion. Make sure you have max downpressure when blowing though as it really helps quiet vibrations. Adjust the lift linkage per spec so you have about an inch of down pressure travel in the rod from when the housing makes ground contact.

[fishnwiz 3,290]

Big frigging wrench (BFW) as well as big frigging hammer (BFH) are two very important items in my arsenal of tools and nobody should be without them!

[theniteowl 29]

Kenh, I have straightened the auger on my blowers by using a large adjustable wrench. Dial the jaws closed so they just slip over the are you need to straighten and hold the end of the handle for leverage. If an area is bent way out of line then work from the outsides inward bending a little bit at a time and generally keeping the section to about the same amount of correction so as to avoid stretching the metal.

[davidmoll 60]

I have found that spitting snow out the front of the thrower is dependent on the speed your driving the tractor at. Anyone else find this as well?

[Kenh 37]

The "bend" in my augar is not the flighting but in the central tube. The spitting seems worse now than before the rock swallowing incident. I need to look closer to see if the housing has taken some damage. Even when the blower is running near full it spits a significant amount of snow out the front, maybe 1/4 of that going out the chute???? It's hard to judge really how much though.

The temps are well south of the "0" mark for a few days so when "mother" decides to cooperate the fix will need to wait.

Ken

[Mike_H 92]

I'll be watching this thread...I hit a frozen mound of dirt yesterday, making a trail in the backyard. I noticed I have quite a bit of shaking now. Might have to dismount it, look for bends.

[Burntime 1]

In all honesty, I had one with a pretty good bend. Figuring I had nothing to lose, I removed the shoot, offset the bend and blocked it with 2x4s and torqued with a ratchet strap thru the shoot. It took 4 tries, but it ran very smooth. Not sure just how much force you can put on it, and like I said, I blocked it with wood and a piece of metal stock. At least in my case it worked. I figured if I have to change out bearings, I can afford the 6 bucks.

[Kenh 37]

A bit off topic but how close should the augar run to the housing? Specifically should the "throwing" portion be say within 1/4 inch or so? Mine is at least 1/2 to 3/4" from the housing. I was thinking about adding some rubber belting to the backside of the augar at the center to take up the clearance.

Ken

[dhoadley 1,747]

quote:Originally posted by Kenh

A bit off topic but how close should the augar run to the housing? Specifically should the "throwing" portion be say within 1/4 inch or so? Mine is at least 1/2 to 3/4" from the housing. I was thinking about adding some rubber belting to the backside of the augar at the center to take up the clearance.Ken

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id="quote">

id="quote">I've read about adding strips of belting to the impeller blades on older 2-stage snowblowers. I should think that it should work for you, too. Try it and let us know.

[Kenh 37]

I'll have to get some belting rounded up. i wonder how heavy it need to be? I have some 1/8" at work without any fabric in it.