Walk Behind Snowblower Upgrade - Plastic Glide

[ri702bill 8,316]

All:

First a tip of the Wheel Horse Cap to our resident Grease Guru, @peter lena, aka Slippery Pete for suggesting this chute upgrade - it works.

I have my faithful 1976 Ariens 10000 series 24" Sno Thro with the manual crank to rotate the discharge chute. I removed the chute, cleaned up the metal mating surfaces and cut a 6" or so diameter glide washer out of a 1/16" thick UHMW plastic sheet, about 7/16" wide. This glide lives on top of the tub and the chute sits on it. Had to make some aluminum small diameter spacers, also 1/16" thick to lower the 3 retainer plates.

Sorry, no pictures, but you get the idea. Lubed up the metal guide tube that centers the chute with silicone spray - no more chunchy jerky motion to rotate the chute - works slicker than jelly on a gold tooth !!

Bill

 

 

[Jeff-C175 7,200]

38 minutes ago, ri702bill said:

Sorry, no pictures, but you get the idea

 

I do get the idea, but would still love to see pics if you can swing it.  Sounds like something I'd like to do to mine!

 

 

[peter lena 8,612]

@ri702bill  NICE !  THATS WHAT I,M TALKING ABOUT ! just a little tweaking  on an issue , that  plastic sheeting  is the deal to cut out and work with . better watch out , now that you have done that , you might get the  WHAT IF  ?  thought going  . know what you did , lots of stuff  I  do is related , to a fairly simple  issue .  like the easy way  things can work ,  what's next  ?  thanks for the shout  , pete

[ri702bill 8,316]

5 hours ago, Jeff-C175 said:

but would still love to see pics if you can swing it.

Pictures tommorrow, hopefully - busy day here today ....

[ri702bill 8,316]

Pictures, as requested. The plastic ring, the ring installed, and one of the three chute retainers with the small spacers installed.

[ri702bill 8,316]

The plastic sheet material does not cut well with a coping saw, but can be cut without distorting of fracturing it with a pair of good sharp tin snips.

I used a 1-1/2" holesaw inboard in the middle to allow the snips to get to a good working angle - cut the ID first, then the OD.

Had a short length of 3/8 diameter aluminum on the stock rack to make the spacers... I also had to adjust the drive gear bracket seen in the 2nd picture up a tad to better engage the chute ring.

Bill

[Jeff-C175 7,200]

37 minutes ago, ri702bill said:

The plastic sheet material does not cut well with a coping saw, but can be cut without distorting of fracturing it with a pair of good sharp tin snips.

I used a 1-1/2" holesaw inboard in the middle to allow the snips to get to a good working angle - cut the ID first, then the OD.

Had a short length of 3/8 diameter aluminum on the stock rack to make the spacers... I also had to adjust the drive gear bracket seen in the 2nd picture up a tad to better engage the chute ring.

Bill

 

Thanks Bill!  I'm going to take a look at my WH blower and see if I can adapt the idea to that one first, my walk behind works pretty well so don't really need to do that one.

 

What was the source of the UHMW plastic sheet you used?  Expensive?

 

Do you think HDPE would work similarly?

 

 

 

 

[ri702bill 8,316]

3 hours ago, Jeff-C175 said:

What was the source of the UHMW plastic sheet you used?  Expensive?

 

Do you think HDPE would work similarly?

 

Got the 12 x 12 x 1/16 sheet from McMaster - 10 bucks plus shipping.

High Density Poly Ethelene may work fine too. @peter lena should chime in - he originally suggested Teflon - a tad slicker & more expensive....

[peter lena 8,612]

@ri702bill   you might look up  those plastic  roll up  snow sliders , that will also work , had piece of teflon sheet , that I  had used . has to be able to flex a bit , with irregularities  (  whew ). just did my usual snoopin around to  make things easier . pete 

[peter lena 8,612]

@ri702bill   you might look up  those plastic  roll up  snow sliders , that will also work , had piece of teflon sheet , that I  had used . has to be able to flex a bit , with irregularities  (  whew ). just did my usual snoopin around to  make things easier . pete     walmart , https://www.walmart.com/ip/Growment-Snow-Sled-Lightweight-Roll-Up-Snow-Sled-Portable-Rolling-Snow-Slider-for-Adults-Flexible-  big foot 

[peter lena 8,612]

@Jeff-C175 https://www.amazon.com/Super-Lube-51004-Synthetic-Viscosity/dp/B000UKUHXK/ref=asc_df_B000UKUHXK?  makes that work with ease , use that on a lot of areas , pete