OT: Snowblower Feet/skids

[Meanie]

Anyone familiar with the 2 cycle snowblowers is aware they have height adjusting metal skids or feet on each side of the auger housing(at least my Craftsman does). Those feet eventually grind down and need replacing every so often, depending on use, of course. I was thinking of making new skids out of a tougher material but unsure of what that material could be. It would obviously need to withstand the grinding of the concrete much longer than the metal.

The metal skid is simply a flat stock bent to a 90 degree and slightly arced where it makes contact with the ground. When it grinds away, I'm left with a piece of sharp metal sticking straight down and gouging into the cement, making it very difficult to push the blower as well as ruining the concrete. If I used a solid piece of, let's say, acrylic, it may grind down, but it'll remain whole and allow me to still push the blower, until it bottoms out on the scraper bar.

What material could be used to make new skids?

Thanks

[Retired]

Can you change the skid to a wheel/caster ??

BTW. think you meant "2 stage", not "2 cycle".

[DerbyDad03]

Consider a pair of composite skid shoes. They don't rust, they don't mar concrete surfaces, they supposedly glide easier and they are reversible so you can flip them over when they wear. I don't have any experience with them, but it is my understanding that they last longer than metal skid shoes. DAGS

I plan to either buy a pair do composites when I need them, or I might do what is described below...

I've also heard of people making their own from HDPE cutting boards. They screw two pieces together to get the correct thickness. They also make them reversible like the composite ones that you can buy.

Have fun!

[Retired]

FWIW,

Ariens sells a replacement "skid shoe" made of polyethylene

[clare]

Just get a standard shoe and have a welder lay a few beads of hard-coat on the bottom. Basically like carbides.

[clare]

No, he meant 2 cycle single stage - I think - but the 2 stage blowers have them too.

[Roy]

Yep, hard surfacing is the answer. Many farmers who use cultivators do this routinely on their cultivator shovels...I know I do.

[Meanie]

You're right, I meant 2 stage.

[Meanie]

...and I like the caster idea. Something I obviously didn't think about.

[Dean Hoffman]

Old timers like my dad would get the plow shares hard surfaced. I bet it's been ten years since I've actually seen a farmer plowing his field. It was wheat stubble.

[Meanie]

You guys (and/or gals) are the bomb. Bringing new ideas or simply ones I haven't thought of to the table is why this place is great.

All your experiences and expertise are appreciated.

I like all suggestions and will look into them. Overall, I like the idea of something that rolls, but anything to improve the situation is better than what it is now.

One thought which came to my mind was Oren's suggestion of a round metal stock. Not exactly sure what he is implying but I vision a round disc, so to speak, attached to the auger sides in the elongated grooves to allow proper height adjustment and then rolls along on the ground.

[Stormin Mormon]

My snow blower has a couple plastic wheels. It's a 3 HP or so, Toro single stage with gas mixer engine. Some how, I can run it on rock driveway without throwing too much gravel and rock. Helps when the ground is frozen, and I lean down a bit on the handle so the spinner is up an inch or so.

[DerbyDad03]

Check out the skid shoes with casters here...

[DerbyDad03]

I don't know that I've ever seen a single stage thrower with skid shoes. I thought the purpose of the skid shoes is to keep the scraper bar of a two stage blower off the ground so that it didn't catch grooves, cracks etc. A single stage unit gets it's drive from the rubber flappers on the auger so it has to be closer to the ground.

[clare]

I've had several single stage "blowers" that were wheel driven and had skid shoes. Snow "throwers" or "power shovels" have rubber augers that propel the unit and do not (generally) have shoes.

[DerbyDad03]

Interesting. I went from a couple of beat up "throwers" over the years to a two-stage unit three seasons ago. None of my throwers had shoes. They were all hand me downs that I barely kept alive until the next not-as-bad one came along.

My Ariens SnoTek 24" isn't the highest end machine, but it clears snow pretty well. Love that rooster tail!

[clare]

I differentiate between throwers and blowers - blowers are wheel drive or track drive machines with steel augers. single stage blowers fling the augers real fast while 2 stage chew with the augers and blow with a fan. Throwers have flexible augers that rotate forward at high speed and (can) scrape the snow to bare pavement with no damage. They have wheels. Power shovels are scaled down throwers with no wheels

That's MY differentiation. Blowers have shoes - single stage or dual stage. Throwers generally do not and power shovels do not. The single stage blowers I had were 5HP and up 4 stroke behemoths. Likely 45 - 50 years old now.

You want to see a rooster tail you gotta see a Yamaha YT624 at work. That sucker blows snow a good 40 feet. And with the hydro drive you can run wide open all the time with total control over drive speed.

[DerbyDad03]

Your differentiation of throwers vs. blowers is pretty much the accepted differentiation amongst snow moving machine aficionados.

Here's my next machine, a 3 stage monster.

[clare]

2 stage double auger - actually used to be relatively common around here. (tractor mounted - and the city has them on "trackless" machines for sidewalk clearing.

[DerbyDad03]

Scroll down this page and you'll see that they were sold as 3 stage machines, at least according to the site.