P.S. Thank you for your excellent channel, very informative. You are an expert technician and teacher. I watch several Canadian small engine you tubers and all are very good, but you are the gold standard. Unlike our president-elect, I am one of the many U.S. citizens who think the world of Canada.
I was blowing my neighbor lady’s side walk a couple years back and sucked up a door mat she had not taken up for the winter. 😂. Didn’t shear any pins because I shut it down right away but it sure took a while to get that mat out of the auger. Hopefully you guys get a break soon so you can get caught up. Thanks for the reminders.
Door mat, newspapers, barbed wire, dog run wire, sticks and stones, wood chips, the list goes on and on. Store inside if possible to avoid ice buildup and inspect the fan shroud for obstructions. Thanks Don!
Things I've pulled out of customers' machines: newspapers, welcome mats, barbed wire, chain link fence, garden hose, and a frozen rabbit. If the shear pin hole is elongated, sometimes you can rotate the auger 90* and re-drill for a low cost quick fix. I own a Toro HD, which doesn't use shear pins, so I've never broken a shear pin myself!
Here's a quick tip that I've learned over the years. If you over tighten the lock nut on sheer bolts, you'll go through them very fast. Over tightening stretches the soft bolt and greatly reduces it's sheer strength.
And you know William, your not missing out on much, believe me ! LOL. That reminds me of back in July of 2005 I was on top of Pikes Peak in Colorado and had driven up to the top. There was a family of four, parents their two teenage daughters who were from Texas and the girls were wearing tshirts and shorts ... and it starts snowing. Well they thought it was just fantastic other than freezing, those two girls had never seen snow in their life and there it was falling heavy, middle of the summer just for them. They handed me their camera so they could have a photo of their family in front of the Pikes Peak 14000 foot elevation sign. Anyway I thought at the time it was rather amusing. I live in northern Alberta, unfortunately I am forced to deal with winter ... my dad was born in Oregon but his parents moved up here during the depression so he had to deal with horrible conditions and lack of anything to deal with it.When he retired from this farm he moved to Arizona and swore never to step foot in snow ever again and he never did ... he passed away down there.
Great comprehensive advice. I broke a pin on my Toro 826 last year when i hit an ice clump under the snow. The clump had fallen off the fender well of the car. When lumps of slushy snow refreeze, they can be very hard.
Thanks for the great videos! I followed your advice in changing a frictions disc on my Craftsman snowblower just last week. Even though I have lived in Saskatchewan my entire life and am almost 60 I did not know about leaving a bit of play in my shear pins. That’s great to know and I will be loosening mine up this morning. Keep up the great work.
This video was outstanding. It points out the hazards to be aware of regarding sheer pins and also how to properly replace and adjust them. Thanks Dony.
Yet another reason why I avoid living where snow falls regularly. We get snow in Central Louisiana every 7 years on average, but we never get more than about a quarter inch and that doesn't stick very long. Any snow usually falls during the night and melts with the Sun during the day or the next day at worst. What's worse here is icing streets and roads because we get rain more than snow. You've helped a lot of snowbound people and I'm sure they appreciate this video. Thanks, Don.
@@donyboy73 My area was still stuck in the 1950s in so many ways when I moved here in 1993, but it's finally coming along now. Louisiana is a Deep South State and a fairly poor one, but the cost of living here helps make up for that. Plus gas/petrol is cheaper here being so close to the Oil Rigs in the Gulf of Mexico. Not that you'd want to live here (because you'd lose your Winter snowblower business 😜) , but if you'd be coming for the Winter weather to get away from all the snow, practically any year would do for that. Let me know and I'll show you around.
Hello Donny from SS Marie. We are getting hammered to. We have gotten well over 220cm of snow so far and it keeps coming. You can’t find a shovel in most stores and snowblowers are flying off the store floors. I took about 4’ of snow off my roof recently and glad I did as I’ve heard of quite a few roof issues lately. My parents house is the first driveway around a corner and it gets filled with plow snow! When the city grader or plow goes by and I suspect that there are frozen ice chunks I kick the pile and pull them out by hand. My Kubota can handle it somewhat but walk behind blowers I don’t think are built to tackle piles of ice chunks. I choose to use a float to get rid of the plowed ice pile. It saves my blower. I’ve always tightened my shear bolts because I suspected that keeping the bolts loose would oblong the auger hole. To date I haven’t had an issue tightening them. When it comes to the heavy wet snow I never take a full cut I usually just take a half or third cut. Why overwork your equipment! My Ariens 28SHO handles that wet heavy snow no problem. Maybe you can do a short video on how hard it is to change a plug on those Ariens. You need a thin wall socket, a universal and a chunk of gas line ( to get the plug back in the hole) and you might also have to remove the heat shield to get it out. It’s crazy they would make it that hard to change a plug!
Now I really appreciate my Gravely MA210 blower. Only thing which stopped it was a 4x6 rub. Stopped not break. Got it out and cleared the yard. Great video. Been watching you for years.
I would also add in that the increased water content of the snow may cause some added ice, I’d say it’s really because they seem to throw a ridiculous amount of salt down pre and post storm. That contributes greatly to the amount of ice at the end of your driveway. I only have those chunks where they plowed “road slush/ice” into my driveway. Seems like they used to let a layer on the roads, but now the expectation is that we drive on bare pavement. Maybe that approach cuts down on some accidents but it’s BAD for everything else!
another key to auger longevity is to grease the fittings on the shaft...i had a pin that was gone and the auger wouldn't spin on the shaft...after 15 minutes of the MAP gas torch and a hammer, I got it spinning and put a few extra grease fitting into the auger so grease could spread along the whole shaft
My Kubota BX2750D calls for grade 8 on the fan and grade 5 on the augers, but I follow your advice about leaving some play in the bolts. The worst is when one breaks and gets stuck in the hole, have had to use a right angle drill several times to deal with that.
I had 2 neighbors that had no idea these were a special nut/bolt and they replaced them with a regular nut/bolt. I told them about the cheer pins. BTW I use a shovel to clear the ice chunks and have only broke 1 sheer pin since I bought my Canadian Tire 8hp/26” blower in 1985.
I had a good laugh when you mentioned a basketball stuck in the inpeller because it happened to me. Took over an hour to cut that ball into pieces and pull it out thru the chute opening.
I think my best one was when I forgot about the extension cord for my block heater. The shear pin broke just a fraction of a second after that pretty blue flash. It took me a long time to unwind everything!
I build my own sheer pins. I have 2 odd ones. One has reliefs and one has a 2 step diameter. I turn grade 2 bolts in the lathe. Usually rocks bust mine. I always find them.
I used to have about an 18" gravel shoulder between the end of my concrete driveway and the edge of the actual pavement. I'd usually break one or two pins a season, from picking up a rock under the auger. One day a couple years ago, I made one pass out to the street, picked up a rock, and broke a pin. Back to the garage, replaced it. Second pass out to the street, picked up a rock, broke a pin, back to the garage & replaced it. Third pass out to the street was uneventful, first active pass back to the garage I saw something in the snow at the very last second and stopped; I was within three inches of ingesting a tire chain that had fallen off on one of the previous passes.
A perfect topic at this time of year. I have a question about shear pins below: I bought a used Toro Power Max 1028 LXE (Model # 38640 Serial # 29000XXXX) and it had grade 5 bolts installed for shear pins. I went to a local Toro dealer, more of a sideline to his tractor business in rural Eastern Ontario, and he told me that this model uses grade 5 bolts. Someone online said that these Toros have some type of way of reducing the engine power so nothing breaks. I find this very hard to believe as I see nothing inside the machine that would do this. Can you confirm the shear bolts for this model of machine? And the best thing I ever sucked up in my machine. I was doing my brother-in-laws driveway and he had delivered to his house 10 lengths of 1/2" copper pipe. I sucked up 2 complete pipes. Hacksawing wraps of mangled copper pipe in -40C in a blizzard is no fun. My now Ex brother-in-law wanted me to pay for the pipe because somehow leaving copper pipe in the middle of your driveway is a perfectly logical thing to do.
Shear pin replacement has dropped dramatically since i cancelled newspaper subscription. Paper person had a knack for getting paper fully soaked by tossing in puddles while tearing flimsy plastic back. Made the mistake of not walking the path, before first snow, that I clear to at fire pit we have in backyard. Found a baseball size rock. Amazon Shear pins did not break. Auger gear did. Just craftsman pins from now on. And walking the path. Between Donyboy’s videos and craftsman’s 18-year old manual showing all parts, replacing auger gear was challenging but fun.
I ran over a tarp with one of my smaller snowblowers that I use for the front walkway. Fortunately I didn't break any sheer pins. There was a yard machines which was an MTD product so I forgot the controls were reversed. I took the whole thing apart to get the tarp out.
Years ago when we had Bell phone books, contractor delivering the phone books got lazy and instead of dropping the phone books at your doorstep, they drove by at night and threw the phones books in people’s driveway during a heavy snowstorm. Never seen so many broken down snowblowers the next day..🤬
I know why so many people snapped shear pins in the last snow storm.......they don't own Toro's.....lol Great video Donny I always learn something from watching your channel.
I had a Honda hs928 that used to go through a lot of shear bolts. I'm in Newfoundland, west coast and central gets hammered, St. John's where I'm to, not a flake of snow is on the ground
Seems like the shear pin for my Ariens is an uncommon size. The more common size is only a few thousands larger. My machine has a cast iron gear case. I've hesitated to drill the pin holes to the larger size because of the additional force it would take to shear them. Is this a valid concern? Is the auger shaft durable enough to handle the slightly larger pin? If I pick up pins locally, I need to bring calipers with me to sort through the pins for the correct size. It's not a big deal but there seems to be a lot more pin lengths in the larger size which indicates that there's a lot of machines that use the larger ones.
Also I feel it is important for viewers to understand that most bolts are especially weakened with the two notches one on either side of the auger tube. An ordinary grade #2 from a store may not necessarily break because it is missing these notches. Great video for this time of year. Grade A as usual!
@ sounds like a plan. I usually make a supply on my lathe for my customers using a parting tool, but didn’t mention it because most people do not have a lathe. If you have a drill press you could chuck the bolt/pin in the drill chuck and put the notches in with a small square file.
Good video Donnie and learning more and more about snowblower from you. Good information although I don’t need a snowblower except for my deck my dog does not like snow at all. He won’t even go out if there’s a dusting of snow on the deck and I can’t say as I blame him, he hasn’t gotten any hair. He’s what you call a desert dog Chihuahua, but I love him.
I always thought, growing up in Michigan which is next door to you, the ice comes from the salting of the roads. Some will come from natural freezing and thawing, but the salting creates this problem most of the time. I don’t ever remember breaking anything on the John Deere snow blower on our lawn tractor, but it would sometimes slow it down or especially clog the chute if it’s wet.
I just walked in the door from blowing big chunks of icey "mat" as we call in in the U.P. of Michigan. I didn't bust any pins this time w. my 30 year old Ariens. I do replace them every couple of years as they slowly get "Z" shaped and are a bear to get out.
Ok so what about Honda blowers. I use a Honda 13/32. They are totally different than what you have shown. Should the auger bolts be tight or 1/8” loose? I am also break a drive shear pin every time I go out. Looking forward to your advice on this.
This kind of snow is a common occurrence where I live in Newfoundland. I stay away from ice chunks unless I break them up first. I've only broken 1 shear pin on my Ariens in 12 years.
Good channel always love your advice and knowledge but my toro snow blower uses grade 8 bolts with a nylock nut no shear pins toro says it’s made to shut the engine off if anything gets sucked up in the augers or impeller and it’s true last storm I got a doormat that was hiding under the snow and the machine shut right off and it was nasty removing it from the augers lol 😂
I got a 1” branch that got past the augers and got stuck in the impeller that cause the engine to stop abruptly. I thought I bent the crank shaft because it was at full throttle but after I removed it 10 years later my Troy-Bilt Storm Tracker 2690 XP tracks is still running like new. It’s been a great machine just regular maintenance and replaced the plastic drive wheels and only replaced 1 shear pin.
Hi Donyboy! Hello from Chicago! Thank You Sir! At age 69, I ALWAYS learn something from your videos and this was a good one! My biggest pet peeve is the kids that deliver sales flier packages and don't put them on the stairs but throw them on the sidewalk right before a heavy snow. A word to the wise, keep an eye out for these. I had one bend an auger. I suspect these kids own stock in Honda or Murray or other snow blower manufacturers. Best Wishes Always and Take Care, Ol' Tom
I'm new to snow blowers and this is important to know. I bought a used Ariens 926101 and found 1/4" bolts in place of the shear pins. One shear pin hole was 5/16", but the other was about 17/64". I drilled that one out to fit the correct 5/16" shear pin. Hope I did the right thing. I figure it was a manufacturing defect.
Since 26 years, I'm the second owner of a 1973 Ariens 8-24, 7 shear pins in 26 years, transmission rebuilt, carburator replaced twice, friction wheel and cutting blade in need to be replaced. Still blowing ok. Merci beaucoup de nous faire connaître vos connaissances et la manière d'effectuer des correctifs et réparations Joyeux Noël à vous et aux vôtres
Ironic that the auger that you show is a Toro. Toro now advertises that they make their gearbox so strong that you don't need shear pins. My brand new Toro Power Max 826 came fresh from the factory with grade 5 bolts installed on the augers and the impeller shaft. I'm replacing those with proper shear pins.
I have the Toro power max 1432 and according to Toro, the engine will shut down automatically when you hit something and therefore you don't need shear pins. I have had this happen once; we got 6 inches of snow in the fall, ground wasn't frozen and when leaving the driveway to blow a path to the shed, the blower started picking up grass and mud like a bull dozer and within a second or two...the auger and chute were plugged with mud, snow and grass, the engine actually shut off pretty quickly and thankfully nothing broke.
@@KensSmallEngineRepair I will go check them later today. When I bought this Toro blower I asked my dealer for extra shear bolts they said that they didn't carry them because.....the blower didn't use/need them. lol Thank you for the info.!
Sheer pins are not the be all they are a hopeful insurance policy. My gearbox blew because my 10 year old factory pins did not break. One of them was bent like a lighting bolt no joke ⚡
I am dealing with getting my parts orders fulfilled. I have used Jack's Small engine parts in the past. After COVID, I am still having issues getting parts.
When you find your shear pins give them a light coat of oil to prevent rusting put them in a small plastic bag, roll them up tight in the bag and using two cable ties, bind them to the part of your handle going down towards the blower in obvious sight. Mine have been there for decades, and every time I look at the blower I see them.
I had a new from john deere dealership 7ft farmking 2stage snowblower on tractor 3pt hitch my 1/4 mile driveway 5/16 shear bolt always broke end of driveway too key is to take small passes its temping to drill out to 3/8 dont do it everyone else is, never can get gearbox parts when you need it
Some years ago, I tangled a hidden cable on a neighbours driveway. It destroyed the auger. This was on a brand new machine and cost me a left-hand auger. The shear pins did not break oddly, and I have no idea why.
They don’t mail phone books anymore. Someone threw one in my driveway which got covered by snow. It didn’t break the pins but got jammed in the fan. Had to remove the chute and beat the fan with a large inverted chisel. Also ruined the auger belt.
a few yrs ago i ran over a big chunk of SOD that the county plow truck left in the bottom of the driveway from a yard up the road from me....i needed a hammer and chisel to get it out of the auger/impeller....who would have thought a piece of dirt and grass would end up in the driveway
Hi I'm a big fan of your videos. I've had a number of Yamaha snowblowers over the years and I found them good. I've never seen you work on one. What do you think of them.?
@@donyboy73 can you do a video on your must have tools for someone whose just getting into mechanics like working on snowblowers? Like Milwaukee ratchet driver, wrenches etc
I got to get some shear pins for my Toro Max I blew a mild a year or two ago the wife got me one for doing the driveway but we got to grab them and it blew both shear pins just like that I got a prostate cancer so I haven't gotten around to doing anything this before that I had my knees done so if it ain't one thing it's something else I got a copy the number off of the snow blower go into my local Park Lawn Mower and tractor parts place I never even found evidence of the shear pan I just seen it stopped blowing snow and spun up by hand and there was nothing there anyways thank you for the video and if you don't get around to make another video Merry Christmas and a Happy New Years from the United States
G day Don from Kit Waterloo Yes we didn't get ur 1st amount but we got on Sat, then yesterday morning I guess it is making up for last yr But u know we are getting less snow than yrs ago causing water table to go down Ths good luck with everything
My Ariens sits, broken, in the corner of my garage as a testament of my ignorance of tightening down the auger sheer bolts. I was clearing the street in front of my driveway and the auger met up with a piece of stainless-steel trim molding that fell off of a car, because of the tightened down sheer bolts the next weakest link was the worm gear in the auger transmission. This happened about 30 years ago and I still tell myself that I'll fix it someday. (SIGH)
Greatest piece of power equipment known to man. Clearing snow with one is very satisfying. Evidenced by the interest people show in posting videos of their machines working.
Where can I lubricant the auger area? there is a squeaking noise as I release the auger handle and as it slows down, it starts to squeak for about five or six revolutions. What am I missing, where should there be greasing in the part of the auger that throws the snow out to shoot? Thank you so much.
Things to check. Brake shoe that stops spinning impellor from the auger pulley. Bearing in the back wall of impellor housing. Bearings/bushings at the outside ends of the auger shafts . Replace the brake shoe if worn out, lube the bushings, replace bad ball bearings. Hope this helps you.
I usually shovel the first 4-feet or so of the mouth of my driveway. Why? The County boys come through with the wing down too low and peel-up gobs of sod, dirt, and rocks and deposit it at the entrance of my driveway. Been here 34-years...been like that forever.
It seems those sheer pins with the separate hitch pin will quickly lose the hitch pin and then the whole thing slides out and disappears causing the same issue in a different way. Really, having the nuts back 1/8" seems like could cause the same results if the nut starts to back off under use. Maybe double nutting those sheer bolts would be cheap insurance.
I found neigbours lost axe in my snowblower. Just broke shearpin and nothing else. If it had reach impeller that might been different story. pin was regular bolt wich was weaken for this purpose.
Sucked a big rock into my machine once. It bent an auger blade and got jambed in the impeller and the engine suddenly stopped. Didn't break a shear pin. I would have preferred that it broke a shear pin. The rock was dragged from my neighbors house by a sidewalk plow and deposit in my driveway. My neighbor used them to line the edge of his lawn. Eventually the city asked him to stop with the rocks because they would damage the large city snowblowers when they cleared the snow banks once or twice a season.
🔻WATCH NEXT🔻
What To Look For When Buying A Used Snowblower
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P.S. Thank you for your excellent channel, very informative. You are an expert technician and teacher. I watch several Canadian small engine you tubers and all are very good, but you are the gold standard. Unlike our president-elect, I am one of the many U.S. citizens who think the world of Canada.
Those chunks at the end of the driveway really get hard after laying there overnight! Good heads-up for everyone, Thanks Donny.
You can also re drill the Auger hole at 90° if yours is elongated.
That's a good idea! Mine are wallowed out, and this may just solve the issue! 90 degrees, and offset from the real holes.
Great tips. I own a Yard Machines blower. The shear pins are nutted. I'll double-check to make sure the pins have a 1/8" gap. Thanks!
I was blowing my neighbor lady’s side walk a couple years back and sucked up a door mat she had not taken up for the winter. 😂. Didn’t shear any pins because I shut it down right away but it sure took a while to get that mat out of the auger. Hopefully you guys get a break soon so you can get caught up. Thanks for the reminders.
Same thing happened to me…a thick, rubber mat. Took two hours to cut it out. Shear pins did not break. Crazy!
Door mat, newspapers, barbed wire, dog run wire, sticks and stones, wood chips, the list goes on and on. Store inside if possible to avoid ice buildup and inspect the fan shroud for obstructions. Thanks Don!
As always nice tips on shear pins, keep warm! 😊😊Thanks 👌
Being a nice guy I was blowing out my neighbors driveway and found an extension cord buried. It was hot and the handle was shocking me.
@ holy cow!
Things I've pulled out of customers' machines: newspapers, welcome mats, barbed wire, chain link fence, garden hose, and a frozen rabbit.
If the shear pin hole is elongated, sometimes you can rotate the auger 90* and re-drill for a low cost quick fix. I own a Toro HD, which doesn't use shear pins, so I've never broken a shear pin myself!
Here's a quick tip that I've learned over the years. If you over tighten the lock nut on sheer bolts, you'll go through them very fast. Over tightening stretches the soft bolt and greatly reduces it's sheer strength.
Thanks Donny. You might find this amusing, I live down in Texas and I have never seen a snow blower...and I'm 60.
And you know William, your not missing out on much, believe me ! LOL. That reminds me of back in July of 2005 I was on top of Pikes Peak in Colorado and had driven up to the top. There was a family of four, parents their two teenage daughters who were from Texas and the girls were wearing tshirts and shorts ... and it starts snowing. Well they thought it was just fantastic other than freezing, those two girls had never seen snow in their life and there it was falling heavy, middle of the summer just for them. They handed me their camera so they could have a photo of their family in front of the Pikes Peak 14000 foot elevation sign. Anyway I thought at the time it was rather amusing. I live in northern Alberta, unfortunately I am forced to deal with winter ... my dad was born in Oregon but his parents moved up here during the depression so he had to deal with horrible conditions and lack of anything to deal with it.When he retired from this farm he moved to Arizona and swore never to step foot in snow ever again and he never did ... he passed away down there.
Never too late and you are very welcome up north of the border to live this "fabulous" experience 😉 😉 😉
@@dhache1195 Boy, I bet that is almost too tempting for a Texan to turn down "almost" 🤣
come on up to Michigan...Good assortment of blowers here!!!
😂
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Great comprehensive advice. I broke a pin on my Toro 826 last year when i hit an ice clump under the snow. The clump had fallen off the fender well of the car. When lumps of slushy snow refreeze, they can be very hard.
Thanks for the great videos! I followed your advice in changing a frictions disc on my Craftsman snowblower just last week. Even though I have lived in Saskatchewan my entire life and am almost 60 I did not know about leaving a bit of play in my shear pins. That’s great to know and I will be loosening mine up this morning. Keep up the great work.
This video was outstanding. It points out the hazards to be aware of regarding sheer pins and also how to properly replace and adjust them. Thanks Dony.
Yet another reason why I avoid living where snow falls regularly. We get snow in Central Louisiana every 7 years on average, but we never get more than about a quarter inch and that doesn't stick very long. Any snow usually falls during the night and melts with the Sun during the day or the next day at worst. What's worse here is icing streets and roads because we get rain more than snow. You've helped a lot of snowbound people and I'm sure they appreciate this video. Thanks, Don.
We're all coming to join you. A hundred million from Canada and the Northern US. Please make room!
I must visit Louisiana someday!
@@donyboy73 My area was still stuck in the 1950s in so many ways when I moved here in 1993, but it's finally coming along now. Louisiana is a Deep South State and a fairly poor one, but the cost of living here helps make up for that. Plus gas/petrol is cheaper here being so close to the Oil Rigs in the Gulf of Mexico. Not that you'd want to live here (because you'd lose your Winter snowblower business 😜) , but if you'd be coming for the Winter weather to get away from all the snow, practically any year would do for that. Let me know and I'll show you around.
@@jptrainor 🤣😂🤣😂🤣 That would take a LOT of land clearing!!!
Hello Donny from SS Marie. We are getting hammered to. We have gotten well over 220cm of snow so far and it keeps coming. You can’t find a shovel in most stores and snowblowers are flying off the store floors. I took about 4’ of snow off my roof recently and glad I did as I’ve heard of quite a few roof issues lately. My parents house is the first driveway around a corner and it gets filled with plow snow! When the city grader or plow goes by and I suspect that there are frozen ice chunks I kick the pile and pull them out by hand. My Kubota can handle it somewhat but walk behind blowers I don’t think are built to tackle piles of ice chunks. I choose to use a float to get rid of the plowed ice pile. It saves my blower. I’ve always tightened my shear bolts because I suspected that keeping the bolts loose would oblong the auger hole. To date I haven’t had an issue tightening them. When it comes to the heavy wet snow I never take a full cut I usually just take a half or third cut. Why overwork your equipment! My Ariens 28SHO handles that wet heavy snow no problem. Maybe you can do a short video on how hard it is to change a plug on those Ariens. You need a thin wall socket, a universal and a chunk of gas line ( to get the plug back in the hole) and you might also have to remove the heat shield to get it out. It’s crazy they would make it that hard to change a plug!
Now I really appreciate my Gravely MA210 blower. Only thing which stopped it was a 4x6 rub. Stopped not break. Got it out and cleared the yard. Great video. Been watching you for years.
Thanks! Your free advice is always well presented and timely. You are a good person for choosing to be helpful.
Also, make sure you use the correct length for your machine. The pin depends on the position of the thinned section of the pin in order to do its job.
Great information. Size of shear pin and tightening down were issues I'd not known about. Winter sucks but you stay working...Lol!
I would also add in that the increased water content of the snow may cause some added ice, I’d say it’s really because they seem to throw a ridiculous amount of salt down pre and post storm. That contributes greatly to the amount of ice at the end of your driveway. I only have those chunks where they plowed “road slush/ice” into my driveway. Seems like they used to let a layer on the roads, but now the expectation is that we drive on bare pavement. Maybe that approach cuts down on some accidents but it’s BAD for everything else!
It's always good to have a lot of spare shear pins on hand. Because you never know. Agree with the ice chunks, I get them of course as well.
I'm lucky in that I've never sheared a pin, but I have blown newspaper all over the front yard and removed about 50 feet of landscape lighting wire.
Extension cords out here in the interior are expert sheer pin killers.
Thanks for posting Dony
another key to auger longevity is to grease the fittings on the shaft...i had a pin that was gone and the auger wouldn't spin on the shaft...after 15 minutes of the MAP gas torch and a hammer, I got it spinning and put a few extra grease fitting into the auger so grease could spread along the whole shaft
Thanks Donny. Very helpful.
My Kubota BX2750D calls for grade 8 on the fan and grade 5 on the augers, but I follow your advice about leaving some play in the bolts. The worst is when one breaks and gets stuck in the hole, have had to use a right angle drill several times to deal with that.
I had 2 neighbors that had no idea these were a special nut/bolt and they replaced them with a regular nut/bolt. I told them about the cheer pins. BTW I use a shovel to clear the ice chunks and have only broke 1 sheer pin since I bought my Canadian Tire 8hp/26” blower in 1985.
Hmm. Haven't broken any in years in spite of snowblowing many deep icy drifts. Guess I better check how tight they are. Thanks for the tips!
Or pull bolt/pin and make sure auger spins on shaft. Many have a grease zerk to help keep auger and shaft rusting together.
I had a good laugh when you mentioned a basketball stuck in the inpeller because it happened to me. Took over an hour to cut that ball into pieces and pull it out thru the chute opening.
Dony, great video! In Florida we never break shear pins on snow blowers. Ha!
I think my best one was when I forgot about the extension cord for my block heater. The shear pin broke just a fraction of a second after that pretty blue flash. It took me a long time to unwind everything!
Great tips as always.
Great tip about the ice chunks, thanks.
I build my own sheer pins. I have 2 odd ones. One has reliefs and one has a 2 step diameter. I turn grade 2 bolts in the lathe. Usually rocks bust mine. I always find them.
Thanks! Great info!
Thanks for this valuable information. I'm going to be taking a look at the condition of mine really soon.
I used to have about an 18" gravel shoulder between the end of my concrete driveway and the edge of the actual pavement. I'd usually break one or two pins a season, from picking up a rock under the auger. One day a couple years ago, I made one pass out to the street, picked up a rock, and broke a pin. Back to the garage, replaced it. Second pass out to the street, picked up a rock, broke a pin, back to the garage & replaced it. Third pass out to the street was uneventful, first active pass back to the garage I saw something in the snow at the very last second and stopped; I was within three inches of ingesting a tire chain that had fallen off on one of the previous passes.
Your luck....is exactly like mine. lol
A perfect topic at this time of year. I have a question about shear pins below:
I bought a used Toro Power Max 1028 LXE (Model # 38640 Serial # 29000XXXX) and it had grade 5 bolts installed for shear pins. I went to a local Toro dealer, more of a sideline to his tractor business in rural Eastern Ontario, and he told me that this model uses grade 5 bolts. Someone online said that these Toros have some type of way of reducing the engine power so nothing breaks. I find this very hard to believe as I see nothing inside the machine that would do this.
Can you confirm the shear bolts for this model of machine?
And the best thing I ever sucked up in my machine. I was doing my brother-in-laws driveway and he had delivered to his house 10 lengths of 1/2" copper pipe. I sucked up 2 complete pipes. Hacksawing wraps of mangled copper pipe in -40C in a blizzard is no fun. My now Ex brother-in-law wanted me to pay for the pipe because somehow leaving copper pipe in the middle of your driveway is a perfectly logical thing to do.
Shear pin replacement has dropped dramatically since i cancelled newspaper subscription. Paper person had a knack for getting paper fully soaked by tossing in puddles while tearing flimsy plastic back. Made the mistake of not walking the path, before first snow, that I clear to at fire pit we have in backyard. Found a baseball size rock. Amazon Shear pins did not break. Auger gear did. Just craftsman pins from now on. And walking the path. Between Donyboy’s videos and craftsman’s 18-year old manual showing all parts, replacing auger gear was challenging but fun.
I ran over a tarp with one of my smaller snowblowers that I use for the front walkway. Fortunately I didn't break any sheer pins. There was a yard machines which was an MTD product so I forgot the controls were reversed. I took the whole thing apart to get the tarp out.
Years ago when we had Bell phone books, contractor delivering the phone books got lazy and instead of dropping the phone books at your doorstep, they drove by at night and threw the phones books in people’s driveway during a heavy snowstorm. Never seen so many broken down snowblowers the next day..🤬
I know why so many people snapped shear pins in the last snow storm.......they don't own Toro's.....lol
Great video Donny I always learn something from watching your channel.
I had a Honda hs928 that used to go through a lot of shear bolts. I'm in Newfoundland, west coast and central gets hammered, St. John's where I'm to, not a flake of snow is on the ground
Thanks Dan
Donny always great info from you. Thanks
Seems like the shear pin for my Ariens is an uncommon size. The more common size is only a few thousands larger. My machine has a cast iron gear case. I've hesitated to drill the pin holes to the larger size because of the additional force it would take to shear them. Is this a valid concern? Is the auger shaft durable enough to handle the slightly larger pin? If I pick up pins locally, I need to bring calipers with me to sort through the pins for the correct size. It's not a big deal but there seems to be a lot more pin lengths in the larger size which indicates that there's a lot of machines that use the larger ones.
Excellent video! Thanks very much, Don. 👍🏼
Great tips as always
Also I feel it is important for viewers to understand that most bolts are especially weakened with the two notches one on either side of the auger tube. An ordinary grade #2 from a store may not necessarily break because it is missing these notches. Great video for this time of year. Grade A as usual!
I have non grade bolts mark where relief goes put the bolt in a drill cut relief with die grinder
@ sounds like a plan. I usually make a supply on my lathe for my customers using a parting tool, but didn’t mention it because most people do not have a lathe. If you have a drill press you could chuck the bolt/pin in the drill chuck and put the notches in with a small square file.
Good video Donnie and learning more and more about snowblower from you. Good information although I don’t need a snowblower except for my deck my dog does not like snow at all. He won’t even go out if there’s a dusting of snow on the deck and I can’t say as I blame him, he hasn’t gotten any hair. He’s what you call a desert dog Chihuahua, but I love him.
I always thought, growing up in Michigan which is next door to you, the ice comes from the salting of the roads.
Some will come from natural freezing and thawing, but the salting creates this problem most of the time.
I don’t ever remember breaking anything on the John Deere snow blower on our lawn tractor, but it would sometimes slow it down or especially clog the chute if it’s wet.
I just walked in the door from blowing big chunks of icey "mat" as we call in in the U.P. of Michigan. I didn't bust any pins this time w. my 30 year old Ariens. I do replace them every couple of years as they slowly get "Z" shaped and are a bear to get out.
Ok so what about Honda blowers. I use a Honda 13/32. They are totally different than what you have shown. Should the auger bolts be tight or 1/8” loose? I am also break a drive shear pin every time I go out. Looking forward to your advice on this.
Great video bud thanks for sharing your knowledge take care have a great weekend
use to break them all the time at work when the shave plate wore down to nothing and the augers were hitting the concrete
Thanks a bunch. Great info as usual
This kind of snow is a common occurrence where I live in Newfoundland. I stay away from ice chunks unless I break them up first. I've only broken 1 shear pin on my Ariens in 12 years.
Good channel always love your advice and knowledge but my toro snow blower uses grade 8 bolts with a nylock nut no shear pins toro says it’s made to shut the engine off if anything gets sucked up in the augers or impeller and it’s true last storm I got a doormat that was hiding under the snow and the machine shut right off and it was nasty removing it from the augers lol 😂
Having a gravel driveway, I usually break 1 or 2 per season. It's a MTD Troy Bilt 26"
Thank you so much.
Thanks!
I got a 1” branch that got past the augers and got stuck in the impeller that cause the engine to stop abruptly. I thought I bent the crank shaft because it was at full throttle but after I removed it 10 years later my Troy-Bilt Storm Tracker 2690 XP tracks is still running like new. It’s been a great machine just regular maintenance and replaced the plastic drive wheels and only replaced 1 shear pin.
Hi Donyboy!
Hello from Chicago! Thank You Sir! At age 69, I ALWAYS learn something from your videos and this was a good one! My biggest pet peeve is the kids that deliver sales flier packages and don't put them on the stairs but throw them on the sidewalk right before a heavy snow.
A word to the wise, keep an eye out for these. I had one bend an auger.
I suspect these kids own stock in Honda or Murray or other snow blower manufacturers.
Best Wishes Always and Take Care,
Ol' Tom
I'm new to snow blowers and this is important to know. I bought a used Ariens 926101 and found 1/4" bolts in place of the shear pins. One shear pin hole was 5/16", but the other was about 17/64". I drilled that one out to fit the correct 5/16" shear pin. Hope I did the right thing. I figure it was a manufacturing defect.
Since 26 years, I'm the second owner of a 1973 Ariens 8-24, 7 shear pins in 26 years, transmission rebuilt, carburator replaced twice, friction wheel and cutting blade in need to be replaced. Still blowing ok.
Merci beaucoup de nous faire connaître vos connaissances et la manière d'effectuer des correctifs et réparations
Joyeux Noël à vous et aux vôtres
"Incidious Ice". Good name for a canadian rock band. 😂
Ironic that the auger that you show is a Toro. Toro now advertises that they make their gearbox so strong that you don't need shear pins. My brand new Toro Power Max 826 came fresh from the factory with grade 5 bolts installed on the augers and the impeller shaft. I'm replacing those with proper shear pins.
Grade 2 max!
No shear pins on my 1988 824. I get a lot of stones that jam the auger, then the belt slips. Gearbox plenty strong in those days, it seems.
I have the Toro power max 1432 and according to Toro, the engine will shut down automatically when you hit something and therefore you don't need shear pins.
I have had this happen once; we got 6 inches of snow in the fall, ground wasn't frozen and when leaving the driveway to blow a path to the shed, the blower started picking up grass and mud like a bull dozer and within a second or two...the auger and chute were plugged with mud, snow and grass, the engine actually shut off pretty quickly and thankfully nothing broke.
@ check again, they DO have grade 2 shear bolts in them, they are just way inside the auger tube.
@@KensSmallEngineRepair
I will go check them later today.
When I bought this Toro blower I asked my dealer for extra shear bolts they said that they didn't carry them because.....the blower didn't use/need them. lol
Thank you for the info.!
Sheer pins are not the be all they are a hopeful insurance policy. My gearbox blew because my 10 year old factory pins did not break. One of them was bent like a lighting bolt no joke ⚡
In over 2 decades only broke one auger shear pin. Every year break the pin for the sprocket and axle 😢 and usually as far from the garage as possible
I am dealing with getting my parts orders fulfilled. I have used Jack's Small engine parts in the past. After COVID, I am still having issues getting parts.
Over all the years I have been using a snowblower, probably easily over a 1000 hours I have never broken a shear pin. I must just be very lucky 😂.
Thanks, now I have to go find where I put my spare shear pins from last year.
When you find your shear pins give them a light coat of oil to prevent rusting put them in a small plastic bag, roll them up tight in the bag and using two cable ties, bind them to the part of your handle going down towards the blower in obvious sight. Mine have been there for decades, and every time I look at the blower I see them.
@@37yearsofanythingisenough39 Great idea, mine are in a plastic bag some ware in the garage.
Another good video!
I had a new from john deere dealership 7ft farmking 2stage snowblower on tractor 3pt hitch my 1/4 mile driveway 5/16 shear bolt always broke end of driveway too key is to take small passes its temping to drill out to 3/8 dont do it everyone else is, never can get gearbox parts when you need it
can you make a video of the ms 310 bearings when bad
Augers hitting the pavement because of mis adjusted skids and housing guards can cause a lot of shear pins breaking.
Great information. Should you change the pins if they have a slight bend in them?
If I see ice chunks, I disengage the auger and use the snowblower to shove the ice out of the way.
Some years ago, I tangled a hidden cable on a neighbours driveway. It destroyed the auger. This was on a brand new machine and cost me a left-hand auger. The shear pins did not break oddly, and I have no idea why.
They don’t mail phone books anymore. Someone threw one in my driveway which got covered by snow. It didn’t break the pins but got jammed in the fan. Had to remove the chute and beat the fan with a large inverted chisel. Also ruined the auger belt.
I have been lucky, never broken a shear pin, even when my blower sucked in a rolled up newspaper. Those ice chunks are a real pain.
a few yrs ago i ran over a big chunk of SOD that the county plow truck left in the bottom of the driveway from a yard up the road from me....i needed a hammer and chisel to get it out of the auger/impeller....who would have thought a piece of dirt and grass would end up in the driveway
good video don
Hi I'm a big fan of your videos. I've had a number of Yamaha snowblowers over the years and I found them good. I've never seen you work on one. What do you think of them.?
We have received 4” of rain this week in northeast. It’s too bad! Idk why we don’t get winters anymore
I prefer cold winters!
@@donyboy73 me too
@@donyboy73 can you do a video on your must have tools for someone whose just getting into mechanics like working on snowblowers? Like Milwaukee ratchet driver, wrenches etc
I got to get some shear pins for my Toro Max I blew a mild a year or two ago the wife got me one for doing the driveway but we got to grab them and it blew both shear pins just like that I got a prostate cancer so I haven't gotten around to doing anything this before that I had my knees done so if it ain't one thing it's something else I got a copy the number off of the snow blower go into my local Park Lawn Mower and tractor parts place I never even found evidence of the shear pan I just seen it stopped blowing snow and spun up by hand and there was nothing there anyways thank you for the video and if you don't get around to make another video Merry Christmas and a Happy New Years from the United States
G day Don from Kit Waterloo Yes we didn't get ur 1st amount but we got on Sat, then yesterday morning
I guess it is making up for last yr
But u know we are getting less snow than yrs ago
causing water table to go down
Ths good luck with everything
My Ariens sits, broken, in the corner of my garage as a testament of my ignorance of tightening down the auger sheer bolts. I was clearing the street in front of my driveway and the auger met up with a piece of stainless-steel trim molding that fell off of a car, because of the tightened down sheer bolts the next weakest link was the worm gear in the auger transmission. This happened about 30 years ago and I still tell myself that I'll fix it someday. (SIGH)
I'll probably never ever see a snowblower in the flesh, but it was an interesting video to watch as I eat ice cream in 30°C heat on the verandah.
Greatest piece of power equipment known to man. Clearing snow with one is very satisfying. Evidenced by the interest people show in posting videos of their machines working.
You're a one man tech school. I have learned a lot from watching your channel.
Where can I lubricant the auger area? there is a squeaking noise as I release the auger handle and as it slows down, it starts to squeak for about five or six revolutions. What am I missing, where should there be greasing in the part of the auger that throws the snow out to shoot? Thank you so much.
Things to check. Brake shoe that stops spinning impellor from the auger pulley. Bearing in the back wall of impellor housing. Bearings/bushings at the outside ends of the auger shafts . Replace the brake shoe if worn out, lube the bushings, replace bad ball bearings. Hope this helps you.
How many miles is 170 centimeters?
I always use factory pins. There are some pins that just don't last like factory
What type of grease goes in the gear box .
Any synthetic grease will do. Better than none at all.
I usually shovel the first 4-feet or so of the mouth of my driveway. Why? The County boys come through with the wing down too low and peel-up gobs of sod, dirt, and rocks and deposit it at the entrance of my driveway. Been here 34-years...been like that forever.
My auger shear pin failed but it was that fiddly little clip you are holding. Clip fell out then shear pin fell out.
More snow in the forecast for you
It seems those sheer pins with the separate hitch pin will quickly lose the hitch pin and then the whole thing slides out and disappears causing the same issue in a different way. Really, having the nuts back 1/8" seems like could cause the same results if the nut starts to back off under use. Maybe double nutting those sheer bolts would be cheap insurance.
I found neigbours lost axe in my snowblower. Just broke shearpin and nothing else. If it had reach impeller that might been different story. pin was regular bolt wich was weaken for this purpose.
👍👍
Now I don't remember where I put my pins🧦⛳⛳⛳⛳⛳⛳⛳⛳⛳⛳⛳⛳
Sucked a big rock into my machine once. It bent an auger blade and got jambed in the impeller and the engine suddenly stopped. Didn't break a shear pin. I would have preferred that it broke a shear pin. The rock was dragged from my neighbors house by a sidewalk plow and deposit in my driveway. My neighbor used them to line the edge of his lawn. Eventually the city asked him to stop with the rocks because they would damage the large city snowblowers when they cleared the snow banks once or twice a season.