Gravel / Bluestone Plowing / Blowing thoughts and ideas

[WVHillbilly520H 10,373]

Yes the one I bought brand new has had a roof over it since the day I brought it home and moved 4 times, the other one not so lucky and it is older with less hours on the clock. 1st pic '95 I bought used, 2cd the "new" Anniversary model.

Edited January 30, 2021 by WVHillbilly520H

[Chestnut 315]

Back to the original post and those little slip on PVC pipe skids. If they work and the only issue is sliding off occasionally, how about using that outboard bolt that holds the steel scraper bar in place. Notch out the PVC pipe for a little clearance. Then either reverse that bolt so it runs from the backside to front and use a coupling nut instead of a regular nut to hold that bar in place. Then you could run another bolt into the coupling nut, long enough to keep the PVC pipe in place. The off the shelf coupling nuts may be too long and interfere with sliding the PVC on. Could cut them to size, or alternatively leave things just as they are and weld a regular nut onto that bolt head. Remove when a new piece of pipe needs to go on. 

Hope the description makes sense. I may be the only person in the world unable to draw more than a simple line on a Mac.

[ebinmaine 67,313]

59 minutes ago, Chestnut said:

. I may be the only person in the world unable to draw more than a simple line on a Mac

Nope. 

I don't even know how to run one. 

 

I stay just exactly tech savvy enough to get in trouble here on Redsquare.  

[WVHillbilly520H 10,373]

@Jeff-C175 here's another brand's snow chute stone deflector.

[Jeff-C175 7,199]

2 hours ago, Chestnut said:

use a coupling nut

 

That's a pretty darn good idea!  That PVC wraps all the way around the back, and there's enough thread hanging out of the nut to screw a coupler onto.  Then, a hole through the PVC and another bolt bottomed out in the coupler and tightened.  

 

Maybe I'll try that this weekend.  With any luck the coupler will be long enough that I can cut it in half and make TWO!

[Jeff-C175 7,199]

13 minutes ago, WVHillbilly520H said:

snow chute stone deflector.

 

I had to look at it for a few seconds to get my mind off the idea that we were looking at a heating element inside an electric oven!  

 

Is that thing spring loaded?  what happens when the rocks build up behind it, if it's not...

[WVHillbilly520H 10,373]

1 minute ago, Jeff-C175 said:

 

I had to look at it for a few seconds to get my mind off the idea that we were looking at a heating element inside an electric oven!  

 

Is that thing spring loaded?  what happens when the rocks build up behind it, if it's not...

Spring loaded not so much, its wire .(120" dia) or so that has 90° bends on each side that go through the chute, you squeeze them in to install/remove, it may have a bit of fore/aft movement the top stop is the chute and the bottom stop (hiding behind the belt) is the chute ring. 

[Jeff-C175 7,199]

So it 'snaps' in at the red circles and pivots at the blue circles?

 

The cable that can be seen in the other photo, That controls the discharge chute angle?

 

Edited January 29, 2021 by Jeff-C175

[Jeff-C175 7,199]

Weather reports that winter storm "Oreo" (sp!) is on it's way.  They're saying possible 12-18" so I might get a chance to see how my toys play!

[ebinmaine 67,313]

5 minutes ago, Jeff-C175 said:

So it 'snaps' in at the red circles and pivots at the blue circles?

 

The cable that can be seen in the other photo, That controls the discharge chute angle?

 

I've had those guards in a couple of walk behinds.

On the ones I had they only attach at the pivot point. Nowhere else.

 

I removed them.

My yard is gravel with no hard surface anywhere and I learned a long time ago never to point the snow blower anywhere near something I care about damaging.

I found if the snow had any sort of moisture content to it that those guards were getting clogged, often.

[Jeff-C175 7,199]

2 minutes ago, ebinmaine said:

if the snow had any sort of moisture content

 

Not only the guard I bet!  The last (and only so far) snow we've had here in Joisey stopped the walk behind cold after about 5' of travel.  COMPLETELY packed in the chute.  I gave up right quick, knew not to fight with it.  I hope the rubber 'wipers' I bolted onto the 2nd stage impellers help with that, but I don't really have high hopes.  We shall see!  This upcoming snow should be dry though.  It was 18° here this morning so ground should be frozen and the snow dry.

[WVHillbilly520H 10,373]

1 hour ago, Jeff-C175 said:

So it 'snaps' in at the red circles and pivots at the blue circles?

 

The cable that can be seen in the other photo, That controls the discharge chute angle?

 

No blue circles mounting points, red circles is where the stop against the chute at its uppermost part, the lower most part stops against the "ring" hiding under the belt, (not my machine or picture) just trying to depict what could possibly be a stone deflector in some manufacturers eyes.

Edited January 29, 2021 by WVHillbilly520H

[peter lena 8,588]

think if I was going to regularly deal with a gravel driveway , mount a heavy ga, sch 40 pipe  2- 3"  in dia  that would rotate with forward motion on the bottom of plow blade , with bolt on brackets. a smooth roller will settle down loose stone easier that a solid edge. pete 

[Handy Don 12,167]

1 hour ago, WVHillbilly520H said:

No blue circles mounting points, red circles is where the stop against the chute at its uppermost part, the lower most part stops against the "ring" hiding under the belt, (not my machine or picture) just trying to depict what could possibly a stone deflector in same manufacturers eyes.

I always thought the one in my Ariens was more to take some of the energy out of the flying stone than to try to trap it. These may be akin to "lawyer lips" on the front forks of bicycles sold with quick releases--a legal defense more than an engineering solution.

[WVHillbilly520H 10,373]

10 minutes ago, Handy Don said:

I always thought the one in my Ariens was more to take some of the energy out of the flying stone 

exactly "stone deflector" (removal of energy by deflecting) not entrapping.. I believe it even says in one of my WH snowthrower/blower manuals "wire stone deflector"... 

[Handy Don 12,167]

1 minute ago, WVHillbilly520H said:

exactly "stone deflector" (removal of energy by deflecting) not entrapping.. I believe it even says in one of my WH snowthrower/blower manuals "wire stone deflector"... 

I must add that when I ran into the plastic-wrapped and rolled newspaper buried under the snow, well, that wasn't pretty. Funny, yes; pretty, no.

[Chestnut 315]

17 hours ago, Jeff-C175 said:

 

That's a pretty darn good idea!  That PVC wraps all the way around the back, and there's enough thread hanging out of the nut to screw a coupler onto. 

Glad you thought so! I didn't think about the backside too much because the photo was front. With threads already there it makes it even easier. If it works well it could be that rare trifecta - fast, cheap, good.

[Jeff-C175 7,199]

4 hours ago, Chestnut said:

Glad you thought so! I didn't think about the backside too much because the photo was front. With threads already there it makes it even easier. If it works well it could be that rare trifecta - fast, cheap, good.

 

If the coupler is long enough I could drill a clearance hole for it in the backside of the PVC and I could just thread it on to the existing threads and not even need a nut.  It only has to keep it from sliding sideways.

 

I hope I can get that done tomorrow before the blizzard hits on Sunday.  IF it hits, they still aren't sure.  We're gonna get something, how much is the question.

 

And now my wife's newly repaired car that was running so darn well for 5 days has developed a cylinder 5 misfire.  Bad enough so that the that the SERVICE ENGINE light was flashing, which means possible Cat Con damage if driven.  I hope I can get the garage at least warm enough to look at that and hopefully get her back on the road.  I'm thinking a clogged injector, I should have replaced them when I had it apart.  It MIGHT be a stripped out rocker bolt ... but it started running better after about ten minutes and I took it out for a 'blow out' tuneup and no rocker arms came through the valve cover at 6000 RPM so maybe that's OK.  Injectors can be intermittent, stripped out rocker bolts can't... I pray.  It still sucks I have to take it apart again and spend more money though.

[ebinmaine 67,313]

7 hours ago, Jeff-C175 said:

sucks I have to take it apart again

Gggrrrrrrrrr.....

 

 

 

Hey that PVC pipe trick.....

How long does that last and on what surface?

 

 

[Jeff-C175 7,199]

49 minutes ago, ebinmaine said:

Gggrrrrrrrrr

 

Not my exact words but yeah.  After I cleaned the injectors the spray pattern looked fine and a new set of them is $400.  The decision to not replace was too easy to make.  I should have.  Hindsight as they say is 20 x 20! (See what I did there?)

 

This is the first year I've tried the PVC.  I didl p!ow my drive which is a fairly large area, about 300' of gravel  dirt road, and my neighbor's drive.  Nothing was frozen yet so they did a lot of scraping rocks.  I was very surprised at the minimal amount of wear, almost none in fact.  Very surprised!

 

With frozen ground I won't be surprised if they last years.  But we don't get THAT many 'plowable events'. Might not last you as long...

[Jeff-C175 7,199]

Just reviving this thread long enough to say  that I've had my drive asphalt paved.  I still need to do the gravel road though so I'm not completely out of the woods yet.  Maybe I'll let one of the OTHER 'do-nothing' neighbors take care of it, I've been doing it too long with nary a 'Thank You'.  I've got 4 wheel drive, no problem for me.  Wife can stay home or I'll drive her.  Tired of "do-nothing, no gratitude" neighbors!

 

So, I think I'll be ordering the rubber bar from Rubber-Cal before winter.  

 

[Jeff-C175 7,199]

On 6/23/2021 at 1:35 PM, Jeff-C175 said:

So, I think I'll be ordering the rubber bar from Rubber-Cal before winter.  

 

Finally ordered it and got it yesterday.  Not a bad deal for $26 , 3/4" thick, 4" tall, 5' long.  Shipping was about $15 I think.

 

Did some repair work on the blade, welded the 1/8" steel flat stock to the bottom edge where the p.o. had neglected it and ground it down to the bolt holes.  Quick 'farmer' paint job ...

 

You can see the rubber edge that I've got the blade resting on while the paint dries.  (yeah, I only painted the bottom of the front where I was welding. )

 

     

[ebinmaine 67,313]

Looks good!

[MikMacMike 479]

On 1/27/2021 at 4:56 PM, Jeff-C175 said:

@ebinmaine, @WVHillbilly520H

@BeninCT

I'm starting this in order not to hijack another thread.  My drive and private road is gravel and bluestone so requires special measures for plowing and blowing.

 

On my plow blade I've got a piece of heavy rubber mat sandwiched between the wear bar and the blade along with 2" gray PVC slotted and shoved over the blade.  The PVC stays in place on it's own for straight plowing but if the blade is angled they tend to slide off now and then.  Need to come up with a way to hold it in place better that's easy enough to change them out when they wear down, or another method altogether for keeping the blade edge above the rocks.  I'm thinking of installing mushrooms on the back of the blade instead, keeping the rubber sweep.

 

Can ya dig the caution tape?  That's more for me working around the shop so I don't bang my shins into the corners!

 

 

 

Same sort of idea on the blower but these are angle iron cut into a point and bent up at the front like Santa's sleigh.  This has also got a rubber 'sweep' on it.  This works VERY well!

I also cut up my old front Carlisles and bolted the pieces to the impeller blades.  Haven't had a chance to use it with those in place yet but looking forward to see if there's the huge improvement the internet claims there will be!

 

 

 

And finally, I've broken several of the cheap plastic chutes so I decided to apply some 'armor' this time:

Hopefully the rocks that do get picked up will not crack the plastic or wear the ends off the rivets.

 

 

How about it all y'all?  Got any neat tips / tricks / hints you use to keep from breaking windows and shattering vinyl siding and generally making a mess that needs to be raked back into the road after Spring thaw?

 

I kind of did the same thing....but my blower had those silly small iron wheels. So i went to adjustable sliders because i blow on rock and ashfault.

[Jeff-C175 7,199]

@MikMacMike

 

Great idea!  I might steal it from ya!

 

What did you do here with the cable?  Piece of heater hose around the shaft?

 

I was going to build a 'spool' like on the later models.  You can still get the spool from Toro but they want 60 BUCKS! for that part, and all it is is a short piece of tubing with two washers on the ends.  I could make that in ten minutes!  (which I will do probably, but I do like the tubing idea!)

 

Edited September 5, 2021 by Jeff-C175