Spare Parts For Snowblower to Keep on Hand?

[velvetfoot]

I'm figuring something will break with a bunch of snow on the long driveway at some point in my life.

I've got extra shear pins.
I figure on getting extra belt (s).

Anything else to have on hand?

 

['bert]

i keep the snowblower as a spare part to the blade on my quad! But I also keep one the rubber drive wheels that turns the axle.

 

[DAKSY]

SHEAR PINS!

 

[billb3]

shear pins
tire tube
silicone spray if you have trouble with snow packing in the discharge.

 

[GVA]

Did anyone mention shear pins yet :cheese:

Maybe a spare set of tire chains.......
Don't ask me how....... I seemed to throw a chain every year and had to wait till spring to find it...

 

[fespo]

BELTS

 

[Gooserider]

The two top replacement items are almost always shear pins (with the possiblle exception of Toro's - my OPE guy says they almost never blow them for some reason, which is good cause that big drum design would make them a real bugger to replace) and belts followed by a sparkplug or two.

The other parts mentioned I would class as "nice to haves" but not absolute essentials - I make the distinction based on how badly you are out of action if the part goes bad. If you lose a belts or a shear pin, you can't do much (note that you CAN fake a shear pin by using an appropriately sized bolt, though that risks more serious damage if you hit something that would otherwise shear the pin...) Most other stuff may be a pain to deal with, but you should be able to at least limp through the job enough to cope...

I do have the advantage that I'm fairly close to a bunch of possible OPE parts sources, and have an ancient but very common Ariens machine (i.e. parts are readily available) - if I had something which needed oddball parts, or lived out in the boonies where it would be hard to get spares, I'd probably want to have more parts on hand...

Gooserider

 

[velvetfoot]

Yeah, I have to scope out some belts and maybe a plug.
I don't know if that rubber wheel would cause a derate in performance, but maybe still go-able?
I have a single-stage unit as well, but forget about it on a gravel drive.

 

[Gooserider]

That I know of, the rubber wheel in most drive boxes is not a high failure rate item - it can look like crap for years and still work fine. When it does fail, it does so gradually - symptom is increased slippage when engaging the drive, but even when slipping you normally should get SOME drive, so as you said, de-rate the performance, but will be able to get the job done...

Gooserider

 

[peakbagger]

I would recomend a rubber drive wheel as I have seen them fail quickly and they are usually a special order part. Note, on most units, changing this item requires a warm place to work and a lots of patience.

 

[velvetfoot]

Good point about the lead time.

 

[Gooserider]

One factor that may suggest keeping more parts on hand is price... I've been looking recently at shear pins - the local hardware store seems to get $2-3 each, while the online parts places seem to run well under a dollar each... Not sure how the shipping would impact that, but it might well be worth trying to pick up a "lifetime supply" online as opposed to just getting parts "as needed" locally....

Gooserider

 

[Biglumber]

Shear pins, extra belt for auger and drive and plenty of gasoline. I also keep aircraft cable and ferrules.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

My rubber drive wheel was just replaced this summer on a 25 yo unit. I'd keep some pins and an extra chain or two on hand. I lost a chain and somehow managed NOT to hit it on the following snow falls. I keep a can of starter fluid/ether/carb cleaner around just in case... I've had problems with my starter coil freezing to itself so it's handy to be able to pull it and set it by the wood stove over night.


Matt

 

[Gooserider]

Another item that I'm strongly considering getting for my snowblower is a "Clarence Kit" for the impeller - Invented by a guy named Clarence at (broken link removed to http://smllengns.tripod.com/id1.html) this is a kit of rubber wipers that bolts onto the impeller of any two stage blower, and eliminates the clearance between the impeller and the housing. This is supposed to increase the throw distance on some machines, and help all deal better with slush and other heavy nasty snow (such as the plow turd at the end of the drive...) by both improving the throw and making it more clog resistant...

At $30 US, it's a reasonably priced improvement.

I have not yet tried the product, I'm in the process of ordering it, but I need to talk to Clarence as I have a blower with a six blade impeller, and his standard kit apparently only includes the bits for a four or fewer blade impeller. I will be trying it though.

Gooserider