# finally broke a shear pin



## guest

well after 2 years.. i finally broke a shear pin.. to be honest.. i cant believe it did not happen sooner... 

Ive got a gravel driveway with 'recycled hot top' on it.. i keep the cleats low so the blower is always off the ground but still many times... it sounds like a machine gun shooting out those little black rocks.. and sometimes bigger ones..

last storm, i finished the driveway and was doing a path out back.. I was going down a decline and there must have been rocks in the snow.. i got that oh too familiar da. da. da. da. da. da. da. da. black rocks shooting everywhere (its sort of fun -till i have to clean them up next spring at least) 

I noticed right after that half of the thrower had snow going over the top... 


it was too cold and snowy outside to bother.. i changed it later no big deal but it was bent and took a little hammering to get out... 

At least Im glad it broke After i was done with the driveway.... 


so one shear pin in 2 years.. no complaints... especailly with the amount of stones ive shot out..



do you guys break them very often? 
(and, jody, please.. no comments about sitting in the warm sun ok?)


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## jodyand

It suppose to get to about 72 deg today


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## AlbanyBob

Well congrats John:

How does it feel to have broken something so trivial? :furious: 

Well I have not broken a shear pin in 4 years of using mine. OPPS now it will happen.

But I did break the drive belt for the blower the other day trying to get rid of the drifts I had. So off to the simple dealer for a new one. $60.00 later. OUCH  

Changed it and went back to work.

Oh well poo poo happens.


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## guest2

Sj
I've broken 2 in the last 2 years. Both times on a tree root that I had a pretty good idea of where it was but just didn't raise the blower in time. 

The second one was rusty so it was harder to remove. I think it was aegt who recommended removing them and greasing them at the end of the season. I greased the last one but not the first one. I guess that should get added to the "list". Only problem is when spring "springs" I get distracted by all the new things to do!


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## guest

> _Originally posted by AlbanyBob _
> *Well I have not broken a shear pin in 4 years of using mine. OPPS now it will happen.
> 
> But I did break the drive belt for the blower the other day trying to get rid of the drifts I had. *



bob i think i jinxed myself too.. the day before i did it i was joking to my boss (he'd broken 2 sheer pins in his snow blower) I was saying.. nope never broke a one yet.. i knew i should have kept my mouth shut...



i thought that simplicity replaced belts their drive belt for free? maybe it was a different belt?


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## guest

> _Originally posted by jodyand _
> *It suppose to get to about 72 deg today *



keeep mocking me jody... next year, when im in florida.. ill be doing the same thing:furious:


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## guest

> _Originally posted by Keweenaw4310 _
> *I've broken about 8 on the augers and somewhere around 5-7 on the drive shaft. (most early season blowing in Dec but just last week broke 2 auger ones in one night).
> 
> *


Tom, 
Is that this year?? whats the reasoning for so many? rocks? stumps? or is that normal with a bigger unit? wow seems like a lot...


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## AlbanyBob

John:

The belt you refer to is the drive belt for certain Simplicity tractors.

Nothing on the blowers or attachments that I know of.

 
Bob


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## DeereBob

SJ,
I went through a shear bolt a year when I had the old 425 with my current snowthrower. But in the last two years I haven't had one go probably because I bought a bag of them a year ago. Like Keweenaw, the ones on the auger are a snap (no pun intended! ) to change. I don't have any on drive shafts on my X485 either the PTO shaft or the universal to the blower gear box. What gives me fits is that state snow plow throws up stones at the end of my driveway so I have learned to turn off the PTO and push the snow the remainder of the way off the edge. In spite of this I still catch a few stones ever time I blow snow so it's a matter of time before a shear bolt goes on the auger.


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## itsgottobegreen

Only when I suck up a frozen newspaper with my 3pt blower. My john deere blowers I swear eats shear bolts. So I put in a grade 5 and ended up spending $40 for a new main sprocket/shaft adapter and my time welding the parts together. Won't be doing that again.


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## Ingersoll444

I guess I have been lucky. I have had my little snowblower for oh man probably ten years now. Beat the TAR out of it. Used to live in the city. Tall old two famley houses side by side with the drive inbetween. Snow and ice would slide off the roofs in to the drive. If we had 6"'s of snow, I would have 12-18" of icey, chunky snow clods in the drive. Just FORSED the blower into them. Would push, and life it more then have it move under its own power. Never popped a shear bolt. First one I had to grab out of the bag that came with it, was one I busted when I serviced the snowblower for the first time this year. I tell you, people knock these cheep MTD snowblowers, but this little guy has been through the ringer, and lived to tell the tale.


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