cod 117 #1 Posted February 22, 2015 So it finally snowed this week in MD. Last Tuesday I was finally able to take the beast out and see if new bearings, sprockets and pulleys would make a difference. The results were great and I also think that repainting the inside of the housing, impeller and chute helps as well as I have yet to have a clogged chute or jammed impeller. Today I think we got about 10 inches so I decided to clear the driveway but I noticed today that whenever I raised the snow thrower and backed up for another pass, it seemed like there was about 2" of snow that didn't get picked up. At first I thought that I was going too fast so I slowed down and that didn't help so I lowered the height of the wheels thinking that might help but no dice. Finally I caught a glimse of snow flying out from under the back of the snow thrower and that seems to be the problem. Is there a chance that someone has seen this before? The only thing I can think of is that somehow the flag and lift arm "might" be frozen together and even though I lower the snow thrower, it just isn't getting low enough. Tomorrow I'll get under it and see but if some of you have other thought about what to check, I'm all ears. Thanks - Cod Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
shallowwatersailor 3,213 #2 Posted February 22, 2015 A snowthrower is not like a plow that you are scraping the surface with. I have my scraper bar about an 1/8" + to the surface. Today's snow was pretty dry so it will blow back underneath a bit more. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
pfrederi 17,193 #3 Posted February 22, 2015 I had added a bunch of washers between the flag and the lift rod to get the blower to pickup further for transit. I too had a similar blowby problem. Took out some of the washers and the problem improved. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
boovuc 1,090 #4 Posted February 22, 2015 Here you go cod...............from February 10th and some explanations and suggestions as well. Glad that snow went to my south. I'm getting a little tired of snow removal this season. And the arctic air blasts. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
cod 117 #5 Posted February 23, 2015 Thanks for the advice and the link to the article. Went out yesterday and there was quite a bit of snow and ice on the lift arm so I knocked it all off it seemed to help. Luckily it was almost 50 here yesterday so once I was done cleaning up I parked the tractor in the sun and let any snow I couldn't brush off melt out. Supposed to snow more this week so I'll get to test more. Cod Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
wallfish 16,016 #6 Posted February 23, 2015 A snowthrower is not like a plow that you are scraping the surface with. I have my scraper bar about an 1/8" + to the surface. Today's snow was pretty dry so it will blow back underneath a bit more. I use mine to scrape the surface clean and assume that's what the scraper bar is for. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
shallowwatersailor 3,213 #7 Posted February 24, 2015 (edited) I use mine to scrape the surface clean and assume that's what the scraper bar is for. It can vary according to the surface being cleaned as to where you set the skids. For gravel you have it raised so that you aren't throwing the gravel as projectiles. Smoother surfaces can be set lower. I have an additional plate to widen my skids to have them float more. The 1/8' plus happens to be my preference as the surfaces I clean are all asphalt. It is also the measurement that Ariens recommends for my walk behind. The Toro manual doesn't specify other than "close to the surface." Having the skids carry the load as opposed to the scraper bar will prevent less damage being done to the housing, I feel. If I leave too much behind from the snowthrower, I'll follow up with the snow blade tractor that is better equipped with a trip mechanism on the blade. Edited February 24, 2015 by shallowwatersailor 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
