# Craftsman 42" Snow Blower 486.24837



## bolillo_loco (Oct 9, 2010)

Hello! While breezing through the local craigslist adverts, I stumbled upon a 42" blower that was brand new for 200 bucks. When I went to pick it up, the seller told me that it was a display model, he got it _for cheap_ due to final clearance sale (Local Sears closed it's doors a couple of few months back), and it wouldn't fit his John Deere LT (Lowes version...). 

It was indeed brand new, already put together, and it came with all the belts, mule drive, plethora of nuts, bolts, and mounting hardware for a variety of tractors. It bolted right up to the 2011 GT6000.

I was surpirsed at how easily it moves up and down. It didn't make the steering harder as I suspected it would. Perhaps that's due to the F-2 3 rib tires. I don't really know. Are the gear boxes greased from the factory? I can't believe they don't put grease zerks on these things. I guess I'll have to drill and tap one myself. I looked up the part number, but nobody sells the gears for them. All I could find was the entire auger drive, which is a Hydro-Gear unit. 



cheers,
bolillo


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## jhngardner367 (Apr 5, 2011)

That's a great find !
Yes those are filled with grease when built. They are supposed to be permanently lubed,and should not need greasing,unless they are disassembled for repairs.
If your drive is paved ,set the skids so there is 3/8",to 1/2 " clearance between the driveway/sidewalk surface,and the scraper edge.this way, there's less chance of catching on cracks,etc.
If you have a gravel drive set them 1",so you don't throw gravel.


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## bolillo_loco (Oct 9, 2010)

Thank you for the response *Jhngardner367*. I'd have guessed they greased them at the factory, but after watching several decades of decreased quality, fit, and finish, I'm a terminal cynic. I'm still going to crack it opened this summer and put a zerk on it. My driveway's paved and crack free, so I put the scraper plate and skids flat on the ground. I lined them up on the concrete of the garage. During the hot lap, it seemed to work flawlessly, and only left behind a thin film of snow. I'd imagine that with wet snow, it would probably clear it like a squeegee. 


Since it's snowing today, I decided to put the weight on the tractor that has the blower, but I forgot that the hydrostatic on the 2011 GT6000 has the axles protruding from the hub, so they wouldn't bolt directly on without roughly 1" spacers. I found some spare 1/2 inch drive sockets that would work, but I didn't have the fasteners. _Oh how I miss the days of the Bethlehem Steel Corporation._ We were _never_ wanting for such things while the nut and bolt warehouse was up and running. 

2011 hydrostatic drive GT6000 









1980s gear drive GT6000 and GT18s









These improvised spacers would have worked, but I lacked the mounting hardware









I used some 1/8th inch thick washers that were 2" in diameter to spread the load out, and I bolted the homemade wheel weight bracket to the hitch plate. I had to use a combination of the smaller #10 and #25 plates to space the larger ones away from the wheels and petrol tank. 









Then I slapped on the remaining plates for a total of 310 lbs (#295 in plates (4x45, 2x35, 1x25, 2x10 and the 15 lb bracket. That 2" round bar is solid steel.)
















There's 14 gallons, combined, water, yes H2O, in both tires. This tractor hasn't seen cold weather since we've bought it, so I just use plain water for liquid ballast. I'm not worried about it freezing 'cause it's never outside long enough, and if it does freeze and damage something, I don't care. I've three sets of unwanted turf tires that are in good working order. 

I then went out for a hot lap, and the tractor handles the blower fine. My driveway's 150' of paved macadam with roughly 100 - 125' of that being on a 9° - 11° grade. The turfs handled backing up on what the blower left behind just fine. My only gripe is with the tractor itself. That tight turn technology is rather slipshod! So much slop has accumulated in the various bell cranks/cams that when I back up, the tires go pigeon toed, and they act as brakes. 

Excluding the woes of the dodgy steering, I would surmise that a pair of turf tires with generous siping would work very well considering how the plain Jane Carlisle turfs handled the powder left behind by the blower. 

This tread pattern looks much better than the typical turf. For a garden tractor/riding mower tire, it's got pretty fair siping.









They're Kenda turfs. 

Just a follow up with some random thoughts. 

Thank you for reading,
bolillo


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## jhngardner367 (Apr 5, 2011)

#10lbs is a lot of strain on those axle shafts. When the weight is mounted to the frame,it places extra loads on the axles. It could bend them or,in some cases break them. I've seen some cases where it actually broke the trans axle housing !

I used to make adapters for my tractor so it spaced the weights out from the axle stubs. Less stress on the axles.


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## bolillo_loco (Oct 9, 2010)

jhngardner367 said:


> #10lbs is a lot of strain on those axle shafts. When the weight is mounted to the frame,it places extra loads on the axles. It could bend them or,in some cases break them. I've seen some cases where it actually broke the trans axle housing !
> 
> I used to make adapters for my tractor so it spaced the weights out from the axle stubs. Less stress on the axles.


I couldn't agree more, but as I've stated previously, I did not have bolts long enough to space my wheel weight bracket off the hub due to the protruding axle shafts of the hydrostatic unit on the 2011 GT6000. I always ballast the tires when possible. 

The bracket I'm using I made specifically for the wheels on my gear drive tractors










However, the frame ballast I used is well within the design parameters of the transmission. I checked that a few years back. Right from the manufacturer's site,










http://www.hydro-gear.com/Main/products/hydrostatic-drives/transaxles-with-differentials/g730

I know that it multiplies the weight as it hangs further from the center of gravity, but the weight looks more impressive than it really is. It's only 305 lbs. Remember, these are Olympic plates, so they're hollowed out to look larger than what they really are. This way, the weight lifter gets psyched out that he's brawny Heman strong with super human strength to lift such huge chunks of iron.

Thanks for reading,
bolillo


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## jhngardner367 (Apr 5, 2011)

Yeah those are like the ones I used,too . 
i actually meant 310#,but I got a case of "fat fingers" going. Can't seem to hit the right keys,at times !
I usually collect used anti freeze to fill tires with,or if it's cheap enough ,windshield washer fluid . Not as harmful to rims,that way.


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## bolillo_loco (Oct 9, 2010)

jhngardner367 said:


> Yeah those are like the ones I used,too .
> i actually meant 310#,but I got a case of "fat fingers" going. Can't seem to hit the right keys,at times !
> I usually collect used anti freeze to fill tires with,or if it's cheap enough ,windshield washer fluid . Not as harmful to rims,that way.


Well if it can hold the weight of my fat mouth, another 310's not much... 

The blower's probably going on a different tractor. I just put it on the 2011 GT6000 'cause I knew it was going to fit. After mounting it, and much eyeballing, I'm sure it's going to fit all my tractors. The belt hangs low enough that it looks like there is 1/2 - 3/4 an inch of clearance between the mule drive (changing horizontal to vertical) when the blower is fully elevated. 

If it won't clear the mule drive, 









I'll just fabricate something up. It shouldn't be too hard to weld up something that will change horizontal drive to vertical, and rather than directing it to the rear for the mower deck, I can just pipe it out the front. The 1991 GT6000 that I have has a linear actuator for the deck and ground engaging lift. I've got a mighty impressive collection of hammers, couple of grinders, and a stick welder, so all that and some choice words while trying to change Coke into Pepsi should work. 

I'm not too keen on the 2011 GT6000. The steering's shot, and I'm not throwing money at Chinese mystery steel components that only last 50 hours. I'll just fab it to the 1991 GT6000 if it doesn't bolt directly up.

Thanks for reading,
bolillo


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## bolillo_loco (Oct 9, 2010)

I've more time than money, and not being happy with the tire selection, I refuse to buy a foreign item when there's a domestic one available, and rather than spend money when I've something that gets the job done, I just cut some siping into the Carlisle Turf Savers. It was fairly easy to do, but _rather_ time consuming.

I used a Scandinavian grind Mora Clipper, and it's shaving sharp. The rest of the tools are pretty basic. I didn't really need the square as any somewhat straight edge would work.

I first struck some lines, and then I started cutting the sipes. In case you're wondering, there are 54 rows of chevrons on a 23 x 10.50 - 12 Carlisle Turf Saver. Every other row has four chevrons while the other has 3 sets of full chevrons and two quarter or half chevrons (243 cleats). With four sipes per cleat, that's a Godawful amount of lines to strike and sipes to cut (972 sipes). I spaced them at roughly 1/4 inch intervals. I did not cut to the shoulder of the chevron. I think it will weaken the cleat too much, and cause tearing/chunking. 

This cleat has both clear lines and it has already been siped.










Basic tools. The duct tape is my makeshift depth gauge










With frequent breaks, it took me about four hours. Within half an hour, my finger and thumb began hurting 'cause I was pressing on the narrow spine of the knife, so I made some blocks. My table saw's kerf is just the right size to fit the knife. The round stock helped a lot, but after a while, that one hurt as well, so I made an even larger one.



















The siping left visible lines in the snow



















By comparison, the other tire wasn't done because I wanted to test the difference.










Just rubbing my finger across a siped cleat and one without, I could feel significantly more friction on the tire with siping. I could feel several of the sipes bite sharply into my finger. Additionally, while I was blowing snow, the tire that spun was always the one without siping. While these findings are _hardly_ scientific, it does corroborate my experiences with siped tires on cars and trucks as well as what tire manufacturers have been saying for years. Even in several inches of snow, the tire without siping always lost traction first.

In my experience, bar (R-1) tires are horrible in the snow. Especially if they're on hard pack/roads with snow cover. Yes, R-1s are great in soft dirt with a certain moisture content, which is what they're designed for. They offer a cog like traction that nothing short of a tracked vehicle or chains can beat. 

Was it worth the effort? I really can't say 'cause I've not yet done both tires. I'm clearing a 150' lane that's on a 9° - 11° incline, and there's also some compound slope near the steepest part. 

Thanks for reading,
bolillo

P/S Why does it double post my photos at the bottom. I'm not sure how to get around this.


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## jhngardner367 (Apr 5, 2011)

Sometimes it double posts,by itself. I've had it do it ,too.
Also,if you accidentally brush the "enter"key,even slightly,it can do it.

I like your idea of siping the tires.


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## jerrywayne44 (Oct 31, 2016)

I have a 917.255920 1987 Craftsman Riding garden tractor also I have a 842:240631 Craftsman snowblower attachment will that fit my mower? Also what Snowblower Attachment fits my mower? plz let me know thanks.


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