love the WH snowblower! Hate the pins! lol

[Jman6 1]

Ok, for those of you that don't remember me. I bought a 1990 WH 312-8 about 5 months ago. It came with a mowing deck, double bagger, snow blower and a roto-tiller attachment for 295$. The engine was not running, had a bad fuel pump, took that apart cleaned it up and now it runs like a champ!

Been using it now for the last five months. Every time it snows I keep telling the wife and everyone who is around, that this is the best 300 I have spent in my life!

I thought that the pins, bridge pins, that the guy before me had on it would be fine. Well they have all broke, the wieght on the unit and that amount of use it has been getting plain bent the pins like they were aluminum not steel.

Now a little tip for anyone else looking at this post. DO NOT buy the cheap ones at home depot or lowes. I am sure that they are fine for light weight use, but not for my WH. They bend and break like crazy! I have been using the extra strong ones made for tractors and they seem to work better.

There are two main spots that seem to break pins more so than others. One is the spot where the lifting bar attaches to the snow blower attachment and the other is where the lift bar attaches to the tractor. Lets just say that I have been getting so good at fixing it that it now takes me 30 seconds to lift the snow blower on to blocks and get it reattached. First time it took me 30 minutes! Practice makes perfect!

Think that very soon I am gonna have to buy some bridge pins as long as I can get the right diameter.

Course it could just be because I have a huge amount of snow and a driveway that is over a half mile long that this is happening.

hehe

Jman

[Teddy da Bear 11]

I have never broken any of the pins.

I blew snow for 20 some years with a lawn ranger

and now this winter with a B-100.

[Duff 206]

Gotta LOVE them 312-8's, eh, Jman?

Duff :D

[ol550 831]

I have yet to use the snowblower I have mounted on a GT-14. But I do have an idea of what is going on with yours. After lifting the blower up and letting it down a few times I also sheared the cotter pin where the lift pole attaches. Went ahead and installed another just to shear it off also. What I found to be the problem is the mounting pin that the lift tube attaches to was bent forward putting excessive pressure on the cotter pin. And I'll even bet if the mounting pin on yours is bent the flag is bent also. May take some heat to get them back where the belong but you won't have to lay in the snow again.

Also make sure you have washers on the pins. Mike

[Jman6 1]

Gotta LOVE them 312-8's, eh, Jman?

Duff

Oh I love the 312-8!!! I can not believe that these were not more popular in my area!!! I just wish I could find another one or two to have as backups! LOL

Jman

[Jman6 1]

I have yet to use the snowblower I have mounted on a GT-14. But I do have an idea of what is going on with yours. After lifting the blower up and letting it down a few times I also sheared the cotter pin where the lift pole attaches. Went ahead and installed another just to shear it off also. What I found to be the problem is the mounting pin that the lift tube attaches to was bent forward putting excessive pressure on the cotter pin. And I'll even bet if the mounting pin on yours is bent the flag is bent also. May take some heat to get them back where the belong but you won't have to lay in the snow again.

Also make sure you have washers on the pins. Mike

Yeah that may be the problem... Will have to check it out when it stops snowing enough that I can take the thing apart... right now we have a blizzard going on, well only supposed to get another six inches today, so not too bad. Least not compared to the 2 feet we got over the weekend!

Thanks, for the info I am sure that something is just bent and that is why I keep shearing pins.

Jman

[DOC in Kentucky 178]

Hey Jman, where you located, just curious with you getting all that snow? :hide:

[jtmoyer 1]

last year i broke the pin where the lift arm connects to the snowblower 2 blocks from the house. had to back up all the way to fix it.

[TT-(Moderator) 1,162]

Maybe you should try a hitch (hair) pin instead.

They tend to have a lot more shear strength than a split cotter pin, and are definitely easier to remove. Use a washer regardless.

[Jman6 1]

Doc, am up in Cashmere, WA. We get lots of snow. Course we are nestled up against the cascade mountain range so that tends to help in the snow department.

TT that is what I am using. Tried cotter pins and they just shear off on the first pass. The hitch pins shear off after a while, but the cheap ones from Home depot shear faster than the good steel ones from the tractor supply place.

Thanks, for the info.

Jman

[Sparky-(Admin) 23,794]

Does your blower have a cutting edge? Mine does. I wonder if yours is so worn down that the hitch pins holding the lift tube to the blower is touching the ground. That might cause it to "grind" off or get snapped off.

Mike.......

[Jman6 1]

Does your blower have a cutting edge? Mine does. I wonder if yours is so worn down that the hitch pins holding the lift tube to the blower is touching the ground. That might cause it to "grind" off or get snapped off.

Mike.......

Thought of that, but that is not it. Checked it last night, everything is in like new condition there. Called the previous owner last night and he said that he had only used it about 20 times or so as his neghbor was retired and liked doing it on his. SO when I asked him about the pins, he laughed and said he forgot to tell me to replace all of them as they were just the cheapies that would break easy lol

Thanks for all the ideas.

Jman