Want your old snowblower to throw farther?

fisherguy123

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Dec 17, 2010
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I live in an area which gets an average of 14ft of annual snowfall........needless to say that after a couple months the snowbanks get to be about 5 ft high and the blower has to blow it back and up quite high. My 5 year old 2 stage blower was starting to loose a bit of distance so I tuned it up and replaced the belts which made a slight improvement . I was considering replacing it when I found a site online which sold a kit which claimed to improve the throwing distance of any blower by reducing the impellor clearance. I looked at some online videos and testimonials and though I was still sceptical I figured it would be worth a try. I made my own flaps out of a heavy rubber truck mudflap and some 1/4 dia by 3/4 in bolts , nyloc nuts and washers
.It took about 2 hrs of work but the results are amazing........the blower throws snow farther than when it was brand new by about 25%,
you can buy a kit from http://smllengns.tripod.com/ but it is very simple to make your own as I did !
 

Part-time

Chief Petty Officer
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Jul 5, 2011
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536
Re: Want your old snowblower to throw farther?

or install a V-8
4889_1120531141.jpg
 

mickjetblue

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Aug 23, 2007
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Re: Want your old snowblower to throw farther?

Very interesting, I will look into this for my snowblower.

I mean the impeller flaps, not the v8.

The concept is really not new, as I had a single stage thrower a few years ago,
and MTD sold rubber flap replacement kits for the "tiller blade" work edges.
The rubber would wear out, as it not only threw the snow, but also provided some
self propulsion.

Putting the rubber flaps on the impeller is new to me, and I would wonder about
any chance of the rubber flap screws working loose, and an increased work load on the engine.

:rolleyes:
 

cgd7777777

Petty Officer 1st Class
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Jun 30, 2009
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Re: Want your old snowblower to throw farther?

you poor up north fellas! We have the ac on tonight down here SE Texas.....and had to put on skeeter spray to sit outside last night...but I wouldn't know what to do in that much snow
 

Bob_VT

Moderator & Unofficial iBoats Historian
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Re: Want your old snowblower to throw farther?

Yup my son and I always build our own with a piece of conveyor belt and some grade 8 bolts from tractor supply.
 

fisherguy123

Petty Officer 1st Class
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Dec 17, 2010
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333
Re: Want your old snowblower to throw farther?

you poor up north fellas! We have the ac on tonight down here SE Texas.....and had to put on skeeter spray to sit outside last night...but I wouldn't know what to do in that much snow

well I bet in July and August you wouldn`t mind having one of our snowbanks to cool off in !
 

raymondpickens

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Aug 5, 2010
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Re: Want your old snowblower to throw farther?

well I bet in July and August you wouldn`t mind having one of our snowbanks to cool off in !

haha, you mean April to November.

Thats alot of snow, I once saw about a quarter inch back in 1985. :D
 

Scott Danforth

Grumpy Vintage Moderator still playing with boats
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Re: Want your old snowblower to throw farther?

snow blower throwing distance is a fine mix of impeller geometry ratio to auger ratio, and of course, the speed that the impeller spins. Manufacturers that have multiple impeller diameters across their range generally tune the impeller to the model's engine horsepower. However some manufacturers use a single impeller diameter across all their products and never fully use the engine's power that is available.

If the kit works for your application, that is all that matters.
 

dolluper

Captain
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Jul 19, 2004
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3,900
Re: Want your old snowblower to throw farther?

Yep gearing....pulley sizes can make fly different ...but these mods make wet stuff shoot out better filling the gap on the housing where the wet stuff sticks to the housing and clogs the shoot ....homemade using at least 3/16 rubber ...thin metal for support and small bolts spaced indentical on each blade with nylon nuts
 

Tim Frank

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Joined
Jul 29, 2008
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5,333
Re: Want your old snowblower to throw farther?

Yup my son and I always build our own with a piece of conveyor belt and some grade 8 bolts from tractor supply.

You're in Vermont.
Do you get much snow that far south?....:eek::D;)
 

mickjetblue

Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Aug 23, 2007
Messages
509
Re: Want your old snowblower to throw farther?

I looked into my 2 stage 5 hp craftsman, and it has a plastic impeller.
I won't mess with that, although I did see about 1/2" gap all aroound, and did not like that.

My thoughts are to use a piece of 1/4" rubber to make a strip and rivet it to the steel wall
around the impeller. The rivets would be from the inside out, so there should still be enough
clearance for the impeller to spin unaffected. Whenever I have had freeze-ups of slosh,
that is where it started, in that darn gap. This fix should stop or minimize that slosh freeze-up.

Since some of you have already done the impeller side fix, what do you think of decreasing
the gap by a shim on the steel wall, rather than messing with the impeller?

Thanks in advance...
 

fisherguy123

Petty Officer 1st Class
Joined
Dec 17, 2010
Messages
333
Re: Want your old snowblower to throw farther?

ya .........mickjetblue ........I think that would probably work well. My gap was about 3/8 on a 10 hp 27" cut MTD machine . My buddy has a new Honda which throws about 50 ft and the impellor gap is only about 1/8 " or less.....and his machine cost $3300 while mine cost about $800
 

mla2ofus

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Joined
Dec 30, 2008
Messages
571
Re: Want your old snowblower to throw farther?

!/4" elevator bolts work better for bolting the rubber to the impeller blades.
Mike
 
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