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

On the Honda two stage snowblowers, the stock skid shoes are rear mounted behind bucket.  Has anyone changed the skids to the optional side mount skids?  What's your feedback on the handling or performance of the side mounted skids?

It seems that all other brands have side mounted skid shoes.  I wonder why Honda would chose to go against convention and use a rear mounted skid shoe. 

Knee_Biter wrote:

Got my side skids on last night.  They are thick, however, I thought they would be a little wider and longer.  I was kind of perplexed why the instructions said to drill holes on the side of the buckets instead of using the weld nuts already there?  Maybe the bolts and spacer are stronger and can be sawed off if they corrode and stick together.  The other possibility is that the weld nuts are used to mount something else, but I don't see any accessories that mount there. 

Did you use both side and rear skids?  Any difference in running both at the same time?  I tried running with just the side skids, there's some darting around, maybe my scraper bar is catching on the pavement.   Going to lower the skid shoes a bit and see that improves the handling. 

I don't think that the sheet metal used in Honda's snow bucket is strong enough to support the rear skids. The buckets always dent there. I drilled and screwed on an extra 1/8 inch of plate steel to support the rear skids.  If you can find a way to solve the skiddish handling problems with the side skids I think that I will switch over too.  So keep us posted. 

Maybe the adjustable bucket height on the tracks units is the reason they put the skids back there. No other idea comes to mind.

Underdog wrote:

I think it's put there so that the pivot point allows the auger to dig into the ice.  The side mount skids do not change the auger height in scraping mode.

I'm trying out different side and rear skid heights combination.  Once I get them dialed in, i'll let you know.

I had my side skids on and have been using it for the last three snow clearings.  I thought I report back my observations with this setup.

With the side mounted skids, the bucket is more stable and feel more planted on the ground.  They now 32 inches apart, versus 24 inches with the rear skids.  Because the side mounted skids are towards the outside and nearest the auger, there is less chance of the auger making contact with the pavement because the skids it goes up and down with pavement irregularities.  I have uneven pavement where the my driveway apron and the street meets and I am always fearful of striking the auger on the 1 inch concrete lip.  I still lift the bucket when going over this lip.

As many of you know, tracks are not smooth when rolling at high speeds.  In fact there is quite a bit of hop when going at max speed with the bucket down.  With the side skids, the hopping is reduced significant.  It's still there, however. 

After experimenting with different heights, I have finally got a setting that works for my pavement.  I have the side skid shoes set to allow 1/8" clearance for the scraper bar.  The rear skids shoes are still on, but they are 1/8" higher than the side skids.  Most of the time, the side skids shoes are supporting the bucket.  The rear skids are there to provide some protection when I back up and when I go forward with the bucket hanging over the curb.

One of the negative of using side mount skids is that you lose the ice scraping mode.  Tilting the bucket only puts more weight in front but does not put the auger any closer to the pavement.  However, this is useful when cutting into the EOD pile as all this weight on the bucket eliminates any lifting or riding over the snow.