Snowblower - strip or not?

[Kurt-NEPA 755]

Hi Brian,

Looks like you are making great progress on your single stage.  I just finished my 2-stage and faced the same questions.



I'm sure there are lots of options, but this is what I did.

Wire brushed with an angle grinder to remove all the loose rust and paint.
Sanded with a random-orbital sander to feather the paint as best I could.
I touched up with a ro-loc scrotch-brite pad in an angle die grinder and a small cup brush in a battery powered drill to get into corners.

That got everything fairly good, but its lots of work.

I then coated everything with phosphoric acid (Etch and Prep or Phos-etch).  This converts all the rust in the pits to iron phosphate which will take paint well.  It also etches the bare metal to give the paint some tooth.  The rinse with water and allow to dry.

I primed with Rustoleum rusty metal primer.
Top coated with two or three coats of Valspar IH Red mixed with harder and thinned a bit.  I used an HF HVLP gun.  I love this paint, but its getting harder to get (try Amazon).  An added bonus is that this paint sets up quickly.  I paint outside, so that minimizes bugs.

I'm sure there are other options, but this is what I did.  I have done this approach with 2 tractors and single stage.  All are holding up well.

Kurt

[WNYPCRepair 1,875]

Looks great, Kurt. 

 

I am going on vacation for a week, and will finish when I get back. Since I will be under the gun, I will probably end up priming and painting enough to get through winter without the blower rusting away to nothing, then in spring, start cleaning it completely to give a proper paint job. Over the winter, I'll work on my decks, getting them ready for spring, and hopefully find time to tear down the 520-H roller and take the body panels to my son in Syracuse to prep and paint in a proper body shop.  

I then coated everything with phosphoric acid (Etch and Prep or Phos-etch).  This converts all the rust in the pits to iron phosphate which will take paint well.  It also etches the bare metal to give the paint some tooth.  The rinse with water and allow to dry.


Kurt

The naval jelly I used has phosphoric acid in it, I suppose it must do the same thing. Not as well, I'm sure, but it did change the way the rust looked.

[Kurt-NEPA 755]

I am going on vacation for a week, and will finish when I get back.

Have a great vacation Brian.  I'm doing the same thing, vacation next week.

Keep us posted on the projects,

Kurt

[WNYPCRepair 1,875]

Well, I finished the short chute to tall chute conversion, and have it installed on my 520. Also installed the dozer blade on the C-165, so I am ready for snow. Still have to dig out the walk behind blower, fix it's flat tire and get it ready as backup. Also need to get weights and chains for the C-165.

 

The paint job on the chute came out better than I expected. In spring, my plan is to completely redo the blower. 

 

[Kurt-NEPA 755]

Looking good Brian.  Since Old Man Winter gave us a preview today, it is none to soon.

Kurt

[Robert of Lake Michigan 13]

Now when you estimate how much time it will take to repair/ restore your sno/blo attach.  in spring take that time estimate and double it. I think you know why I suggest this.
You guys have a safe winter now, ya hear!

[woodchuckfarmer 333]

A good e-tank will remove the rust and most of the paint. No scrubbing or grinding, just put it in the tank and watch it cook---LOL

[Rob R 951]

Augers can be tough to straighten but I straightened 2 last year with a good sized rose bud torch we have here at work with the blower assembled and on my tractor. It was nice that way because after it cooled I could turn the blower on to check how it ran.

My suggestion would be to move the tall chute to the good blower housing with good auger. I picked up a tall chute blower last year without the chute so I ended up making myself 2 different chutes. Once I had the extra chute I decided to cut off my short chute and replace it. With a cutoff wheel on my grinder I cut the chute off and left about 1 inch on the bottom rotating piece, lined up the taller chute and marked the holes, drilled them out and mounted it. You might even be able to change over the gear rotation assembly but there is no need to if the original wire rotation is working properly.

Here is a pic of the giant chute I made and used all year last year. Surprisingly I never took a photo of the short chute that I made a tall chute. I did pick up an actual tall chute at the end of this summer so I will probably do some chute rearranging again this year.

Impressive, I can't believe that it doesn't clog all the time with the wet snow we've had in the past few years (global warming) ?

[WNYPCRepair 1,875]

Anyone know what the notches on the chute are for?
 

[WNYPCRepair 1,875]

Now when you estimate how much time it will take to repair/ restore your sno/blo attach.  in spring take that time estimate and double it. I think you know why I suggest this.
You guys have a safe winter now, ya hear!

I replaced the chain and the two idler sprockets today. Everything else seemed fine, no bearing play, etc. One of the idlers had a minor amount of play, probably would have been fine, but I replaced it since I was in there anyway.

In the spring, I'll strip and paint
 

[Kurt-NEPA 755]

You will not regret replacing the new chain and idlers.  Cheap insurance.

I hate working on tractors and snow blowers in January with 16 inches of snow on the ground, 10 degrees and 30 knot wind.  Anything I can do to prevent that is well worth the effort.

Kurt

[Ed Kennell 35,770]

Anyone know what the notches on the chute are for?
 

I could never figure out a purpose for the slots Brian.   Nothing lines up with the slots.

[WNYPCRepair 1,875]

Anyone know what the notches on the chute are for?
 

I could never figure out a purpose for the slots Brian.   Nothing lines up with the slots.

That's going to drive me crazy  

[JERSEYHAWG / Glenn 4,487]

What notches?  Lol

Glenn

[WNYPCRepair 1,875]

What notches?  Lol

Glenn

These notches

[Ed Kennell 35,770]

I asked this when I was redoing my tall chute a couple years ago.   Still not sure what they were for.
  http://www.wheelhorseforum.com/topic/50331-tall-chute-question/#comment-461323
 

[PaulC 341]

Augers can be tough to straighten but I straightened 2 last year with a good sized rose bud torch we have here at work with the blower assembled and on my tractor. It was nice that way because after it cooled I could turn the blower on to check how it ran.

My suggestion would be to move the tall chute to the good blower housing with good auger. I picked up a tall chute blower last year without the chute so I ended up making myself 2 different chutes. Once I had the extra chute I decided to cut off my short chute and replace it. With a cutoff wheel on my grinder I cut the chute off and left about 1 inch on the bottom rotating piece, lined up the taller chute and marked the holes, drilled them out and mounted it. You might even be able to change over the gear rotation assembly but there is no need to if the original wire rotation is working properly.

Here is a pic of the giant chute I made and used all year last year. Surprisingly I never took a photo of the short chute that I made a tall chute. I did pick up an actual tall chute at the end of this summer so I will probably do some chute rearranging again this year.

Impressive, I can't believe that it doesn't clog all the time with the wet snow we've had in the past few years (global warming) ?

Actually I used this chute ALOT last year and it only clogged 1 time which was at the end of the driveway when the snow/slush was the consistency of soup! I remember dealing with many more clogs with my previous short chute blower.

I have finished my garage expansion so finally got all my wheel horse gear back home and it turns out this giant chute is about a foot taller then a normal tall chute and I have it mounted more upright then the wheel horse chute. The angle of the bend and the upper portions are very close so I guessed that part pretty good. I am going to trim it down just a touch mainly to get it to be the same angle off of the blower housing and try it out vs the  chute.

[mikekot3 92]

Paul C,
If I understand you correctly you have a small chute single stage snow blower that you put on the custom tall chute and it works well for you? Can you provide some measurements of your chute? Also can you take some pictures of the cable linkage that makes the chute turn as my push pull cable is stretched out.
Thank you,
mike

[WNYPCRepair 1,875]

You should be able to tighten the cable

But it looks like Paul did the same thing I did, took the chute and turning mechanism off a tall chute, and put it on a short chute blower. Paul made his chute, mine came with another blower that was in worse shape.

[mikekot3 92]

WNYPCRepair,
Could you please show some closeup pictures of the conversion? How did you convert it from a cable driven to worm driven chute?
 

[WNYPCRepair 1,875]

WNYPCRepair,
Could you please show some closeup pictures of the conversion? How did you convert it from a cable driven to worm driven chute?
 

 

WNYPCRepair,
Could you please show some closeup pictures of the conversion? How did you convert it from a cable driven to worm driven chute?

I had a complete tall chute snow blower, but the auger was really beat up, so I took the 4 bolts holding the chute and turning mechanism off and moved the entire thing to the short chute. Then I cut the short chute turn crank off the snow blower housing with a cut off wheel.

 

 

 

The chute and turning mechanism removed from the tall chute
 

 

 

Edited October 27, 2015 by WNYPCRepair

[Bow_Extreme 533]

I currently have a two stage stripped apart and ready for blasting.  I have a quote of $400 to blast and powdercoat the entire blower.  I'm sure it's a good deal but still expensive.  Still not sure if I should blast and paint instead of powdercoat.  Figure it will cost about the same.

You would be amazed at how many Toro part numbers are the same components in the two stage wheel horse blower as they are in the toro branded blowers including walk behinds.  I picked up a 1984 2-Stage Toro branded 36" blower that was brand new and the trans case in the front is the same as my 92' 44" two stage, impeller and rear shaft are the same, gearbox is the same, etc.  

Made easy parts for my 44" that I needed.  Bearings are the same as well.  Even the blower housings are very similar.  The Toro branded blower has extensions which I will add to my 44" blower housing.  

Anyone have a good lower chute piece?   This is the piece that connects to the toothed rotation piece.  Mine is in rough shape.

 

[PaulC 341]

You should be able to tighten the cable

But it looks like Paul did the same thing I did, took the chute and turning mechanism off a tall chute, and put it on a short chute blower. Paul made his chute, mine came with another blower that was in worse shape.

Actually in the picture I posted that was an actual tall chute blower that I got cheap because someone stole the chute from. I made 2 different chutes and the one pictures is the second version.

Paul C,
If I understand you correctly you have a small chute single stage snow blower that you put on the custom tall chute and it works well for you? Can you provide some measurements of your chute? Also can you take some pictures of the cable linkage that makes the chute turn as my push pull cable is stretched out.
Thank you,
mike

I also have an older single stage short chute that I did cut the chute off leaving about an inch left at the bottom and then bolted my first version of the chute I made onto it to make it like a tall chute. If I remember correctly the bottom and second section are around 13" long each. For the cable linkage there is good detail in the owners manual on how to adjust the cable. It can be a pain to adjust initially to get it perfect but once you do it should stay for a long time and it actually works really well.

Here is the short chute that I modified.

[mikekot3 92]

Thank you folks for the feedback !!!