522xi snowblower repair

[Redisbest 22]

Long story short....blowing a customers drive and pulled in a cast iron trailer hub into secondary....bent the impeller flights all to h#&?. So I had to tear down blower to fix this and right auger was bent also. I had new seals,bushings and thrust bearing for auger gearbox  and auger in stock so decided to redo that while it was torn down. Installed new parts and assembled from front to back.  Assembled sides of snowblower to auger shafts, kept outer auger shaft bearings hand tight...impeller gearbox rebuilt on assembly, to line up and help set preload on thrust bearing in gearbox i removed bearing flange,bearing and locking ring on main chain sprocket ( turns impeller shaft). Reset flanges, bearing and lock collar. Reached in chute and set impeller .Thinking this would center and set all tolerances at once. Made sure all idlers and sprocket were in line. Start up and engaged PTO...now the gear box moves up and down and front to back....I don't see why I have movement back in forth in relation to impeller shaft & gear housing ? I know there should be some play....but not this much....it's the up and down motion that has me concerned....acts like a bent impeller shaft AND auger shaft....when i had out I dial indicated and they were fine... suggestions ?

Edited January 7, 2018 by Redisbest
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[WVHillbilly520H 10,373]

A short video of it in action would help with the diagnosis, now unless you got a washer or so out in the auger gearbox that might cause the "jumping" where the pinion gear(impeller) is trying to climb the ring gear(auger), I know when I had my deuce apart for quite sometime I wondered if I would get it back together correctly on first go, Jeff.

[Redisbest 22]

Put it back together same as took apart....the steel worm gear may have been flipped but that should not cause problem...it is symmetrical. I will try to post video tomorrow...never posted vid on here before.

[WVHillbilly520H 10,373]

Another thing, you say the impeller was bent severely, if when you repaired/straightened it and added extra weight with weld or reinforcing metal to one blade more than the others it could now be out of balance, therefore causing it to oscillate/vibrate like a mower blade not balanced during sharpening, again a theory I'm throwing out there... Here a video of my deuce on my 520H in operation, FYI when posting, at the paperclip symbol (choose files) click on that it'll prompt you for photos, videos, links ect if you're media is on your phone or computer just pick the one you want to upload, Jeff.

VIDEO0001.mp4

[Redisbest 22]

Jeff..hope this helps....God know I'm no cinematography guru by no means ! I can remove impeller and try it. If to unstable I can redo.

TRIM_20180107_185255.mp4

[Redisbest 22]

Jeff...over the yrs of working on these I found that Toro original parts from SLE are almost half the price that Toro wants....just for your info.

[WHX?? 48,779]

Vid works fine Red is best.....

[WVHillbilly520H 10,373]

OK from what I see in your video (and you did good) I'm thinking it's an impeller imbalance, and with a machining background and building car engines balancing crankshafts you either add weight or take weight away, it's easier to take it away just by drilling some small holes or grinding material away but with these impellers it's gonna trial and error, another member on here @Kurt-NEPA, or @lynnmor, fabbed up a center auger gearbox support to eliminate the stress of the auger hanging off the impeller shaft, BTW I get my part # then google all the sites Partstree, Jacks, SLE, RPC eBay, ect for the best price or an aftermarket alternative like bearings roller chain,  Jeff.

[WHX?? 48,779]

Heres that support of Kurt's that Jeff mentioned ..it really is worth the effort. pic courtesy of @Kurt-NEPA

[Redisbest 22]

I planned on making a support just like this... I had to make 1 flight and 2 gussets....plasma cut them from a template made from the one that wasn't screwed up...made from same metal thickness....put welds back in same place...put on surface plate and got it really flat with dial indicator...I can pull keyway on impeller put some anti-sieze on shaft ..safety wire it back and see if the gearbox still moves...if it does...part of problem would be auger shaft is bent also....I can try to balance it on a fulcrum and measure each ear...like a mower blade...think that would work ?

[WHX?? 48,779]

Yes I think that's a good plan.... I also think that the trailer hub buried in the snow had to make a heck of a racket! 

[Redisbest 22]

It's a noise I never want to hear again ! I'm surprised WH didn't put a shear pin on impeller....it would need a collar in front to keep it from going into auger if it did shear.... maybe they didn't want to weaken the shaft with a hole in it...plus the vibration of not being set screwed. Thanks Jeff,Jim...let you know how it turns out.

Edited January 8, 2018 by Redisbest
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[Dennys502 244]

From what I can see in the video it looks like the auger shaft is bent. It's kind of hard to tell with it spinning that fast.

Might be easier to see at an idle.

 

[Kurt-NEPA 755]

14 hours ago, WHX14 said:

Heres that support of Kurt's that Jeff mentioned ..it really is worth the effort. pic courtesy of @Kurt-NEPA

 

This center brace worked really well for me.  My 520H blower was badly damaged when I got it.  I think the PO was chucking boulders with it.  2 of the three blade ears were bent backwards.  Lot of torch work and I got it somewhat back to shape.  A few hours with a TIG welder took care of the cracks.  I tried to balance it as best I could.  When I put it back together the auger was vibrating up and down quite a bit.  I added that center brace and it settled things down considerably.

 

Kurt 

[WVHillbilly520H 10,373]

I wish I would've taken pictures of the impeller on mine (it must be the curse of the deuce) mine as well only had one good flight I torched and hammered multiple times till I got it as "square" and straight then Mig welded back then while I was rebuilding I add the rubber paddle extensions, I guess I got lucky almost no vibration, my only issue was drive pulley alignment but I believe I have that under control now, @Redisbest I believe when I "balanced" my impeller ,I set up a piece of bar stock in the lathe chuck and tailstock center ,with the impeller free wheeling  and let it set it's heavy side down then either ground off some weld or added weld to a lighter paddle till it basically would rest where ever I turned it to, hope this helps, but seems you have the machinist part under control on your end, Jeff.

[Redisbest 22]

Update....hey guys thanks for the input....I pulled it all apart....I bought a new impeller, made a new impeller and auger shaft myself... I took the set screws out of impeller and wired it back so it wouldn't hit the augers when engaged....to check the main empeller shaft....it still wobbled....but not as bad. Took the auger shaft out and put it in v blocks and dial indicated it again....it was out .260....put it in press and got true with in.010. Since I commercially blow with this I decided to make two new shafts, new main bearing with lock collar and save the old impeller and shafts for replacements ( I have 2 blowers). I replaced all bushings and thrust bearings, and new bronze bevel gear on auger shaft( that's is a major pain in the a__)....she purrs like a kitten. I also made a auger gear box stabilizer like Kurt made to help keep it stable if one hits a trailer hub or some other foreign object😣will send photos after paint....thanks for the input guys !

Edited January 14, 2018 by Redisbest
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[Kurt-NEPA 755]

Great news - Congratulations

 

I'll bet getting that bronze auger shaft gear off was a PITA.  I was lucky on mine.  That gear and both shafs were the only things I could salvage from the gear box. I replaced the auger gear box housing, drive gear, all the bearings and seals.