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

Gentlemen,
I haven't posted here since last winter but I would like to thank Borat and the other regulars for their guidance and excellent advice. After much research I purchased a new Simplicity 24" 9 HP (B&S) snowblower. We had quite a lot of snow here in the Chicago area last winter and the Simplicity handled it flawlessly. I have an 80' concrete driveway with a mild slope. But, I live on a relatively busy street so when the city plow passes by I am left with a small mountain of snow at the end of my driveway. I learned NOT to plow the two feet or so closest to the street because small concrete chips and pebbles are dug up by the city plow and hidden in the plowed snow at the end of the driveway, and as a result my impeller and chute interior became very scratched. So I shovel the remainder of snow by hand.

Two things...a headlight was optional for my snowblower but none were in stock at the time I bought it. Sears has a universal kit for $59 which I though was rather expensive. So I purchased a "tractor auxiliary light" at Wal-Mart for about $15 and easily connected it to the snowblower's alternator lead. It works perfectly and looks factory original.

Here's my question...my Simplicity is equipped with Skid Shoes. I removed the shoes in the spring and sanded and repainted them. But after another season of use I will have to repeat the process as the shoes take a beating on the concrete. Wouldn't it make sense to install small, thin wheels instead of skid shoes? The wheels would roll smoothly along the surface as opposed to the friction and grinding of the skid shoes. Does anyone know if Simplicity makes wheels for this blower or could something be fabricated? Your suggestions?

Very nice. Let us know how they hold up.

The wheels worked good but the scrapper was still a problem.   I ordered a set of snow thrower paddles for an old Toro. I cut slots in them where the scrapper bolts would pass through and fit the paddles under the scrapper.  Then push the scrapper all the way up and adjust the rubber paddles properly.    WE have no snow but theres plenty of sand on the road so I went out there to test it out.   It did a nice job cleaning down to the street.   I ran the blower over my uneven sidewalk and the rubber glides right over the trouble spots.  I expect it to work well when the snow returns !

final update
Plenty of snow this winter and the Toro chewed through all of it.  The wheel idea didnt last.  I wound up removing them all together and letting the rubber scraper do all the work, no skids and that worked great.

I like the idea of the rubber scraper.   I'm going to have to look into that. 

I modified my skids by welding a pieces of formed flat bar on the bottom to make them wider and with a more gradual bend in the curves so they'll be less likely to jamb.  They're also 3/8" thick will probably last for ten years or more before they wear down.

Borat,

Check out something NEW (Available November 1, 2010 at snowblowersdirect.com)... It's called a Roller-Skid... and it may be just what your looking for.

I saw those at Sears, they were like $30 or maybe a little less. I'd like to see how well the plastic holds up long-term. A steel wheel with a bushing, spacer and bolt would do the same thing and last a dozen years easily.

Thanks for that rafdog. 

Wonder why there's a need for the skid and a roller.   Unless, the roller breaks and the skid is for back up.  It will be interesting to see how long the rollers last.  Side to side movement of the snow thrower will certainly stress the roller if the front end isn't lifted high enough for the roller to clear the ground.

I have a couple concerns with these vs. regular skids.  First, everyone seems to forget that, outside of the bucket, these things are plowing through snow - may be an issue, may not be, guess it depends on the type of snow and other conditions.  Second, wider shoes tend to ride up on the snow rather than cutting through it - at least, that has been my experience going from the stock skids to the poly skids.  Third, I would imagine the wheels would easily get clogged with snow and get iced up, relegating them back to skid status.  Fourth, how will the bearing hold up since they will be bathed in snow/ice and likely salt for the better part of winter. 

Just my $0.015  <=== (deflation due to recession)

Good points longboat, I had similar concerns.  However, I'm not doubting Thomas and would give it a fair shake before coming to any conclusions.

For my application, the Honda snowblower bucket puts a lot of weight on the skids.  This is as much as 2x the weight of a regular wheeled snowblower.  The skids go through hell, taking abuse from side forces when turning, salt, sand, rocks, and pavement cracks.  Those little stainless steel pins and rollers may or may not hold up, but my real concern was the 1/4" or less molded polymer (plastic for the weak hearted) thickness that the pins are pressed into.  The videos showed the snowblower going through 1-2 inch of snow, on smooth blacktop pavement

Anyways, I hope the maker/designer have taken diligent steps to do long term test to smooth out the reliability wrinkles before putting this stuff on the market.  At the present, there is not a roller skid made to fit the Honda.   I'm not comfortable with drilling my bucket to fit it and become a beta tester for this product.  I don't mind dropping $30 to try it out, but I do mind drilling unnecessary holes into a $3000 snowblower.

longboat wrote:

Ironically this was a desired effect that I wanted. I use my snowblower at my cabin but still need to maintain ice trails for my sleds during the winter. The metal skids that came with my blower kept digging into ice when I didn't want them too. The poly's addressed this for me.