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

An older neighbour of mine has just offered to give me his 17 year old, pretty good condition, Generic 1028 snowblower "for parts". I suspect I can get the thing working and can use it at a cottage my extended family owns in the snow belt of Ontario, Canada.

The only problem is that a tracked unit would be much nicer for that location since its long runs with some fairly steep sections. Chains have helped in the past but weren't a total success.

It occurs to me that I might be able to mount a second axle and wheels one the back of the traction housing and then run some sort of track around the wheels. The second set of wheels would just free wheel but the added traction surface of the tracks might be nice.

1. Has anyone done/seen/read about this type of mod?
2. Any ideas as to where to get suitable track material? I'm assuming some adjustment will be needed.
3. Maybe I don't need to uses wheels but something "better".
4. Maybe I should just use wheels and a chain/sprocket setup to get all wheels driven.
   

This would be a summer project for next year. I plan to pick the blower up next week.

Yes clearing snow up there is really "fun".

nibbler wrote:
What about larger tires with low pressure? You may be able to double your footprint depending on what tires you have now. Definitely easier than a track conversion.

Its my understanding that running tires at lower than recommended pressures will seriously degrade the lifespan, the rubber flexes too much, rims cut the sidewalls, all sorts of nasty stuff.

Interesting idea though.

The main problems I see with converting from wheels to tracks, apart from cost, is that a wheeled blower does not have the hydraulic system that allows a tracked unit's frame to be rocked on its carriage for height adjustment, and the center of gravity will be thrown off unless you add enough weight in the back to allow C of G to move back towards mid-tracks where it should be for good traction. In other words the main hurdle is the fact that tracked units have two distinct frames: main body and carriage, while wheeled machines only require a single frame because they can pivot around their axle.            

nibbler wrote:

I believe that might be true with automotive tires running at 100+ kph.  With a snow thrower however traveling at less than 5 kph, I would venture to bet that it would take many, many,  years for low inflation to have a serious effect on your tires.  The issue with low inflation on a snow thrower tire would be whether or not the tubeless tire will hold air with low inflation.  If it will not,  tubes will be required. 

Gelid

Good point about the articulation of the auger housing in a tracked unit. Its not always hydraulic but I think its always there. It would also mean that the transmission of power isn't as straight forward as well since the positioning of the motor and auger/impeller changes noticeably.

Borat

Good point about the speed of use, I was picturing in my mind what happens to under inflated trailer tires and hadn't even considered the speed element. I would guess it happens faster at high speeds because heat won't have as much time to dissipate as fast and the flexing is happening faster. I think you're right that the tubeless tire loosing its air tight seal is the main problem with under inflation.

All

The only thing I can think of would be to make the axle brackets for the rear set of wheels so that a certain amount of vertical movement is allowed. This would allow the auger housing to rock up and down a bit depending on conditions. You could then weight the thing so that it is somewhat front end heavy and rides on the skids. As long as you have a reasonable amount of pressure on the back wheels you would still get improved traction. Maybe 60% on the front and 40% on the back. Springs of some sort might also help.

This is getting more complicated than I originally thought. Fun stuff.