D160 snow chute plugs up

[Duramax7man7 505]

Sarge,

 

 I agree, the front end really needs weight with any tires when on ice or heavily packed snow...

 

Wallfish,

 

 This is what I discovered, I had my belt on the smaller diameter section of the PTO pulley on my 520h and was experiencing clogging and even auger rotation stop. So I moved the belt to the larger diameter section of the PTO pulley as well as tightened up the PTO clutch adjustment. This made night and day difference. I move into the snow and you can hear the governor kick in and the motor chugging away while shoot a 30ft+ arch of snow! Love it!

 So if the OP is experience any slow down in the auger or hearing a high pitched squeal coming from the tractor, most likely a loose clutch or belt. IMHO...

[erickson13455 1]

well it is snowing today.  I will get some test time in.  so maybe tighten the belt.  The bolt is not tight, where the gear box is it is slotted. maybe I need to tighten it up and try again.

[82Caddy 851]

Do you have the spring and chain tensioner from the pto mount to the blower frame?

 

I found mine wasn't maintinaning tension when the blower was down and when placed under load it would slip/slow down the agar enough to allow the chute to plug. Once that was fixed I haven't had any issues.

[JERSEYHAWG / Glenn 4,487]

I am voting with Jeff on the chute guard being better. I bought one for my single stage, took the wire hand guard off. Seemed better. But, from my experience, my chute is smooth, no rust etc, re painted. And I keep it covered, snojet, WD40, spam, wax, etc. BUT, LOW SPEED, HIGH RPMs. Don't forget the single stage needs high revs, works auger and flips snow. High ground speed will overwhelm the snowthrower and clog it everything.  SLOW GROUND SPEED, I have had some trial and error seat time, with all kinds of snow. Chain tension good, zerks greased, chain oiled. Hope this helps, best of luck.

 

Glenn

Edited December 16, 2016 by JERSEYHAWG / Glenn
2 years ago action shots

[Duramax7man7 505]

Yep, Same here.... Max rpm's, slow and steady ground speed for tractor on a Single Stage. I don't even have the tall chute either. Works great.

[erickson13455 1]

how does the spring tensioner work.  I don't think my spring is attached to the PTO box.  It is attached to the blower frame way down low right behind the blower, and another part of the frame that has some extention bracket I think.  I will have to go look again. 

Can someone post a picture of the spring to the pto box.

Thanks

Edited December 16, 2016 by erickson13455

[wallfish 15,918]

2 hours ago, JERSEYHAWG / Glenn said:

 SLOW GROUND SPEED,

OK, but he's already tried that and clogged it up.

 

 

[Ed Kennell 35,708]

Looks like a debate is shaping up here.  I gotta go with @wallfish in this one.   Keep the ground speed up enough to keep the blower full.

   I usually get a clog when I run out of slushy snow.   Sometimes If I power into a deep drift, it will actually blow out the clog.

Again this is the advantage of the hydro...the auger always runs at top speed and the ground speed is varied to keep the blower full.  With the 520 there is no HP problem like there may be on smaller engines.

[JERSEYHAWG / Glenn 4,487]

18 minutes ago, Ed Kennell said:

Looks like a debate is shaping up here.  I gotta go with @wallfish in this one.   Keep the ground speed up enough to keep the blower full.

   I usually get a clog when I run out of slushy snow.   Sometimes If I power into a deep drift, it will actually blow out the clog.

Again this is the advantage of the hydro...the auger always runs at top speed and the ground speed is varied to keep the blower full.  With the 520 there is no HP problem like there may be on smaller engines.

Point well taken, but, I am getting lost. Most of my time was on the 416-8. In full throttle the auger is going full speed, the gears are keeping the ground speed to a crawl. Am I missing Something? Maybe snow conditions? Fluff lite, heavy wet slush....many variables here. But a good conversation to learn others techniques. Haha, there's a fancy word.  

 

 

 

Glenn

[Sarge 3,462]

Ground speed is highly dependent upon the type of snow - fluffy stuff takes some speed to keep it loaded up and isn't as critical as very heavy wet snow . The wet stuff it can be a real chore trying to match ground speed and keep an eye on the discharge which is what I feel is the key - if it's not coming out in a decent sized stream you're either too fast or too slow . There's always a balance in there somewhere and when you find it the thing works like it should . I will say this - two biggest issues are too much clearance/wear in the auger to the housing box and the 2nd being either a slipping clutch or belt issue . Rpm's are the main key - single stage blowers need to spin at full speed to work , or they won't work at all since they rely on centrifugal force to throw the snow up through the chute . I increased the speed on my blower by about 20% through changing the chain sprocket tooth count - it really helped but when I pulled it with a really tired K301 loading became a bit more critical since it could bog down the engine . On the C-160 it worked excellent with the extra torque of the bigger engine and only when blowing flat out slush from road salt did it ever plug up . That blower has also had rubber flaps installed on the auger's center flats where it ejects the snow up into the chute and that difference sure made it throw a lot farther - sometimes hitting over 40' easily .

 

Sarge

[erickson13455 1]

Got out this morning.  Probably had 4-5 inches of fairly light snow.  Before starting I extended the belt tensioner clamp, by about 6 full turns.  Belt felt much tighter.  My spring is not attached to anything, and I don't see what that does expect help with lifting the blower.  It attaches to the tach-matic mounting bracket, which does not move at all, because it is mounted to the tractor frame.  My spring will not hook through the chain like in other pictures i have seen here, the chain opening is to small.

 

Anyways, with the tighter belt i was able to blow the entire driveway out without much issue.  I did have just a small issue with plugging towards end, but then I was blowing the already blowed snow, and it was getting thicker and heavier.  I just stopped, lifted and lowered blower, and it unclogged itself.

 

So, it looks like belt tension was the issue.  Thanks guys for all your thoughts, didn't even think about belt tension being the issue.  Any thoughts on where that belt tensioner should be positioned.  How tight should the belt feel, like it should deflect so much when pushing on it.

 

Thanks!

Edited December 17, 2016 by erickson13455

[Duramax7man7 505]

3 hours ago, Sarge said:

Ground speed is highly dependent upon the type of snow - fluffy stuff takes some speed to keep it loaded up and isn't as critical as very heavy wet snow . The wet stuff it can be a real chore trying to match ground speed and keep an eye on the discharge which is what I feel is the key - if it's not coming out in a decent sized stream you're either too fast or too slow . There's always a balance in there somewhere and when you find it the thing works like it should . I will say this - two biggest issues are too much clearance/wear in the auger to the housing box and the 2nd being either a slipping clutch or belt issue . Rpm's are the main key - single stage blowers need to spin at full speed to work , or they won't work at all since they rely on centrifugal force to throw the snow up through the chute . I increased the speed on my blower by about 20% through changing the chain sprocket tooth count - it really helped but when I pulled it with a really tired K301 loading became a bit more critical since it could bog down the engine . On the C-160 it worked excellent with the extra torque of the bigger engine and only when blowing flat out slush from road salt did it ever plug up . That blower has also had rubber flaps installed on the auger's center flats where it ejects the snow up into the chute and that difference sure made it throw a lot farther - sometimes hitting over 40' easily .

 

Sarge

 I 100% agree! You're dead on with these thoughts Sarge!

 I like the idea of the smaller pulley to increase the Rpm's of the auger... This is very interesting concept which could potentially save quite a bit of fuel for those of us running a blower on twin cylinder engines. Now I'm wondering what the power band range of Rpm's is on the P220G engine. Not sure how much that would matter if we with similar twin cylinder engine's could still get away with running at 2500-3000 rpm's with a smaller auger pulley considering the engine would still chug away in the same manner.... What do you think? Obviously this would be a better option for more powerful (aka: not so tired ) engine's with less time on them. Although my 90' 520 P220G has 2,366 hours on it. ha ha...

 Also, do you have a thread for the upgrade on the paddles? Wouldn't mind taken a gander at it.

@erickson13455 ,

 

 Good to hear. I figured that it was something along the lines of what you discovered. That surprising that you were able to tighten up the belt that much. Rule of thumb I was always told growing up with no more than half an Inch Movement, pull to push. So I guess 1/4" either way. Never has failed me yet with the equipment I've used over the years.

  Question for you... Do you hear anything abnormal when your auger slows down or starts to clog, other than proverbial boggin of the engine? Anything like a whining noise or screeching noise? If so that's probably the clutch slipping or the belt slipping but at this point I would think that IF you heard this kind of noise it would be the clutch...

 

 

  

[Ed Kennell 35,708]

4 hours ago, erickson13455 said:

 

 

 

 

Cancelled post.

Edited December 17, 2016 by Ed Kennell

[wallfish 15,918]

36 minutes ago, Ed Kennell said:

Here is a picture of the correct spring loaded belt tensioning system on single stage blowers.

He's running a D-160 Ed, which is a different animal. Never owned a D so can't help with how they hook up.

[Ed Kennell 35,708]

Thanks John...Sorry I missed the D-160.    I am not familiar  with that either.

[Duramax7man7 505]

From what I can see the PTO points forward, whether a single or twin cylinder engine, instead of to the side...

Edited December 17, 2016 by Mastiffman

[Sarge 3,462]

From what I understand , the D's front pto clutch is pretty sensitive to it's settings . One the 160 , it won't have the gut wrenching torque of the bigger twin opposed K's used in the 180 & 200 models but there are very specific adjustments to the clutch as well as the front pto belt setup on the "mule" drive for the blower . I'd suggest getting the manuals for it and going through the adjustments step by step and make sure they are set correctly . I think some of the 160's have an electric clutch and there is a setting for most of those as well so it's important .

 

I don't have a post on adding paddle wipers as there are a ton of them out there , all basically the same . I used 1/4" high density rubber and cut it to fit the split where the two augers come together leaving a flap sticking out . That flap needs to be trimmed to where it just clears the blower housing by maybe 1/16" since that auger does flex slightly in the middle when loaded . If you remove nearly all that gap between the paddles and the housing it moves the snow out of the housing much more efficiently and with a lot more velocity - keep that in mind as it will also launch debris a lot farther with a lot more force as well - especially rocks . If you do find sticks and such , it will quickly wear out the rubber flaps so I've got several extra sets I cut and keep in the shed , takes a few minutes to change/trim a pair and away you go .

 

Be aware that modding the blower's drive speed will wear out parts a lot faster - including sprockets , chain and bearings . V-twin engines , even a 20hp Onan won't produce the torque of a large bore single cylinder or the heavy cast iron twin opposed K series Kohlers . I have yet to fully load the governor on my D-180 - it just doesn't have to work that hard and it's tough to knock it off it's governed rpm's while working .

 

Sarge

[JackC 616]

"Wet heavy slushy snow is the worst for clogging them up but running WOT and enough ground speed will limit the clogging up of the chute no matter what style chute. "

 

Here is a perfect example of the wet heavy snow situation. I took the shoot off, sanded including getting the rust off and repainted with XO Rust IH Red Gloss from True Value and will try again soon. The color match is great. I also bought some Toro T-150 slippery coating to give that a try. I was going to line the inside of the shoot with adhesive Teflon tape but not sure that will stay attached to the inside of the shoot.

 

 

Here is link to the T-150

 

http://www.snowblowersdirect.com/Toro-29100/p4069.html