Outdoor Power Equipment (Lawn Mowers, Snow Blowers, Chain Saws and more) Discussions

I have a MTD 10hp snowblower that is two years old.  While snowblowing I struck a small piece of wood and it bent one auger and the impeller.  Now I need to replace them.  There are two spring pins that hold the shaft into the impeller, can any one tell me how to remove them?

Wayne

A punch is a good thought as long as the pin isnt threaded...I cant really tell if it is or isnt.  What do you mean by "drill blank"?

Thanks for the advice and GO PATS!

vermonter wrote:
It sounds like its very possible they are roll pins (& are called that because they are a piece of hard steel rolled into a pin)  that are driven in and driven out with a punch. easy way to check for sure is see if a small piece of wire will slide clear through them. Roll pins are hollow.  Look closely at the ends also, it will appear the pin is split down one side. They will need to be punched out as they are very hard pins....or be prepared to go through several drill bits & even then its a risk of breaking a bit off inside the pin.
As a last resort if drilling them out is necessary,  find a bit that will just slide through the pin, then start with the next larger bit (best if you have a bit index graduated by 64ths) & just keep drilling through the pin with sequentially larger bits until your pin wall thickness is reduced enough the pin will "spring" easily thus allowing it to be driven out. the big risk here again is breaking a bit off inside the pin.
you might try heating with a torch around the pin to expand the shaft enough the pin releases easier also. or if you have access to a shop press, block up under the pin and press it out.

vermonter wrote:

A drill blank is just a length of steel that is a certain diameter that would correspond to a drill size.  as Spottedpony said, those are more than likely roll pins. you should be able to see a split in them.

I used a dremmel tool with a diamond cut off disk.  ran it right up the center and then popped it out with a screwdriver.  (This was on the shaft behind the impeller bearing which I had to hammer off with a pickle wrench)  Mind you, my machine is a 1978 Craftsman and  nobody had ventured into this unknown territory previously)

Good luck

Jon

They are roll pins, or splt pins as some people call them. To do this job you are better off to split the machine in half and remove the whole auger and impeller assembly as one unit. It has to come apart anyways to replace these parts. 

DNK1, thanks.  After looking at the manual and the blower I realized that taking the roll pins out will not free up the shaft and I need to take the whole machine apart.  Looks like a huge, complicated job, but I have no choice to give it a go.  I cant believe MTD couldnt design a simple way to replace the augers which is probably the part that needs to be replaced most often.  For example, instead of tack welding the sides, the could have bolted them in which would allow you to split the worm gear box open wide enough to  seperate the drive shaft from the auger shaft.  Great engineering MTD

I am disappointed to hear that removing the rolled spring pins doesn't allow the removal of the auger assembly - I have a brand new Craftsman 42" snowblower attachment on a 26 hp tractor and my wife picked up an electrical cord that ripped the shaft out of the bearing cap.  All seems to be intact except that I need to get the shaft back into the bearing cap.  I've unbolted both bearing caps and the upper brace that connects to the auger gear box and thought I only had to press out the rolled pins to remove the auger - not so????  If anyone knows for sure please respond as I am planning to try to pull these pins but won't bother if it won't do the trick.

Thanks for any help you can provide.

Rocky

Rocky7722 wrote:

In my old [1976] Bolens when the bearings on either end of the auger shaft are removed, you jiggle the whole deal a little, and the entire assembly comes out.

In the newer ones, first you need to remove the pulleys & a woodruff key on the end of the impeller shaft.

If you don't have it, there should be a parts breakdown on the sears.com site.  Look it over & see if you can do the same.

Jim

Jim,

Thanks for the info - I'll give that a try.  I did look at the parts breakdown and it appears that the shaft for the auger slides off when you remove the spring pins but there's also a key in the shaft as you described.  Guess there's no easy way is there?  I do know that I've told my wife to stay off the power equipment - every time she tries to help, it costs me time and money.  At least she's out there trying to help!!!

Thanks,

Rocky

Well I took Jim's advice and went from the back side of the snowthrower.  Appears the same engineer that designed Jim's snowblower also designed the Craftsman.  After removing the drive belt from the rear pulley, I removed the center bolt holding the pulley on the end of the shaft.  I then loosened the rear bearing holder and was able to move the entire assembly forward (after removing bolts on the front auger bearing cups).  Much easier than trying to remove the spring pins. 

Jim thanks for the advice it was right on.

Rocky