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

I am not experienced with snow throwers...I recently purchased my first one...used Ariens ST1032...I have seen some topics on shear pins...and how they break from time to time..and how it is good to have

extras on hand...could someone help me out in telling me (or showing me in pcis) what a shear pin does exactly...and where it is / what it looks like on this model? How will I know when one has broken?

Thanks.

A shear pin is just a semi soft bolt that is designed to break or "shear" off when placed under a given load. It is the bolt and nut that goes throught the auger shaft and auger assembly and sacrifices itself when an obstruction such as a rock or other foreign object enters into the bucket and could possible damage the augers. When a shear pin breaks, the auger will no longer rotate inside the bucket so only half the auger assembly will be working to transfer snow into the impeller and out of the chute.

You'll usually notice a marked difference in the performance of your snowblower or even see "windrows" or clumps of snow on the side of the blower with the broken shear pin. You can check while operating the blower by plowing into a fresh pile of snow and looking at the auger indentations in the snow when you back off - you should see 2 auger mark indents on either side of the gear box indent.. You could also shut down the engine and then grab each auger to see if it rotates freely. If one of them does it means that shear pin is broken and needs to be replaced. You won't usually find the broken shear pin so don't bother. When replacing it, do not tighten down the nut too much or it may break prematurely. On my Honda, the threads of the shear pin just barely protrude past the nut itself. Look at yours now and remember the configuration when (not if) you need to replace one of them. Have several on hand at all times - you don't want to have to shovel because you don't have a spare shear pin.

The URL at the bottom of the post links to a site which will explain how to get a manual for your machine.  You can get owners, parts and service manuals for your machine.  Lots fo good reading for your machine.  

Here is a link to download the manuals for yours.
http://www.ariens.com/corporate/Pages/OwnerManuals.aspx

Another thing with the sheer bolts, remove them now and see if you can spin the "spiral things".

There are usually called augers, rakes or collectors.

Your sheer bolts should be in the center of them.

If they spin just fine, then grease them up, spin them some more after greasing, and put the sheer bolt back in.

Without an exact model number, we can't tell you what sheer bolt is proper for your machine.

Here is what mine uses.
http://www.mfgsupply.com/m/c/41-916.html?id=DeLCR55E

You can see in addition to being a softer metal, it also has 2 grooves cut into it.


If you pull the bolts out and find that you can't spin them, that means they are rusted on the front axle shaft and they will not break when they are suppose to.
The end result is the same as if you have a hardened steel bolt in there instead of proper sheer bolts.  If you hit something that you shouldn't be hitting, you
will break something in the gear box and instead of spending $1 for a new bolt, you will be spending $150 for a new gear box.

Here is a picture that may help



Shear pins are A. B is grease nipples on this machine.

Cheers