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Let it Snow
Yawn..., Time to fire up the coffee and tractor. Looks like about 8" of white stuff, no freezing rain.
Good Luck to all snow movers.
bliz
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Bliz
How has your blower held up?
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Blower is holding up well. I will probably make a few changes when mud season arrives though. The adjustable skid shoes are not shaped for my pit run drive, I'll replace them with Fisher 'mushroom' ones so they slide in the turns instead of fetching up and lifting rocks. Probably weld on another wear plate under the auger so the unit floats over the stones better.
I've gone through a handful of shear pins, mostly my fault trying to 'widen out a little'. Not all grade 2 bolts are the same. One batch could bog the engine if I went too fast, the ones I am eating now are as durable as spagetti, got to be real careful not to overload the auger.
Some 'standard' wear on the auger, fan and shroud. Those little stones are very abrasive. No problems at all with the gearbox or chain.
I clear a 1600' drive plus about 10,000 sq-ft combined parking and work areas so it does get a workout for a non-commercial unit.
Keep warm and dry.
bliz
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WigglyBridge,
Did you get to play in the snow with your new chains this weekend, or did you get rain. I sure feel sorry for all the folks south/west of New England, seeing they are deprived of Four (or more) seasons/year. 
bliz
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Bliz, you may be interested to know I'm working on a variation of the now infamous 'Murphy Pipe', this time for BLOWERS.
The concept is the same, a continous bearing surface that will tend to bury obstacles or ride over them rather than scooping them up. Prototype will be unvieled soon.
Best of luck.
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Murph,
I noticed that on my Puma 64" blower the cutting edge is set at a fairly aggresive angle. (Pic#17) Adjusting the skid shoes and shortening the top link does raise it but it still tends to dig in as the machine changes attitude. One modification I'm mulling over is to weld 1/2"X2" bar in front of the cutting edge, flush with the bottom of the reinforced side plates. I'll bevel the leading edge so it won't catch as readily. One mod I did make yesterday was to weld some beveled 'pucks' to the bottom of the factory skid shoes (no Pic yet). They were wearing quite a bit, plus hanging up in turns.
Please let us know what ideas you come up with. I'm thinking of a permanent solution as my drive is quite long and not glass smooth and I'd hate for something to come loose and get tangeled in the auger or blower.
Good Luck,
bliz
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Bliz
How about a couple of small adjustable height wheels on
the outside of the blower near the shoes?
Big vibratory roller just before freeze up works good.
My neighbor has access to one and does his mile long camp
road in November.
just a thought.
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Grinder,
The roller would be ideal, if it wasn't too expensive. I'll check when I do summer maintenance. The drive was in pretty good shape before the December storms, but the wet, heavy snow followed by warm torrential rains took a toll. Pic#20 is a 'puck' I welded on the factory shoe. This seems to make blowing a lot 'smoother', not hanging up nearly so much on turns and gliding over most rocks rather than dislodging them. I thought about wheels, but was afraid that they too would hang up when turning. May give them a try after the next fix, replacing the factory 7/16" shoe bolts with 5/8" or 3/4" ones, doesn't help. The adjustment slots in the shoes are much wider than the bolt diameter, and no matter how tight the bolts are, the shoes tilt after some use, so the curved leading edge tends to catch instead of riding over the stones. Of course, some of the problems are of my own making... I just can't resist the urge to 'widen it out a tad' even though I know TROUBLE lies under that snow (;>
Have you noticed any wear on your skid shoes? I don't think they are very hard 'cause there was noticible wear on mine after only 5(?) or so miles.
Even with these little problems, the tractor/blower is just incrediably better than my pickup/plow. Not having to plow wide to leave room for more storms saves a lot of time and frustration. Not having snowbanks along the drive keeps drifting to a minimum. Not having to climb up the seat to get out the passenger's door after sliding off the drive, priceless....
Keep warm, and thanks for the ideas,
bliz
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Blizzard I was looking at your #17. I rebuilt my shoes this past summer with 3" wide x 1/2" flat stock. Bent them up on the ends... that helps some on gravel but the biggest problem is the crown in the drives.
I could not tell from your photos about the lenght of your cutting edge. It looks very short. Me thinks if you got some 3/8 x 6 x width of blower and bolt it on with carriage bolts that would give you much more control of the cutter floating or cutting on gravel by adjusting the top link.
BTW this year my neighbors plow truck broke and I've been doing his mile long gravel plus the widows 1/4 mile fresh grusher run drive. I got lots of new rock scars but the cutter will float or cut with just a couple of turns on top link.
I am more pleased with this than trying to plow and stay out of the gravel.
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Bliz
As far as the wheel idea, how about a swivel type like on the back of a bushhog? Mine haven't shown much wear, as it is new and I leave about a 1/4" of snow as opposed to trying
to scrape it down to blacktop.
Harvey's idea might work with a cutting edge from a snow blade, not sure if it will take the pounding on the flat without breaking. You said you tried the "Fisher" type shoe? I'm sure your
familiar with H.P. FAIRFIELD IN SKOWHEGAN. Some of those
guys might have a suggestion,they know snow removal.
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