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

Hello all,

New member here. I seem  to be snapping alot of drive shaft shear pins. These are the pins that are holding the wheels to the shaft. I'm getting the pins from Home Depot because the snowblowers place doesn't have the size I need. I think it's  3/16". Can any suggest why I keep snap these pins.

Thanks

Perhaps the replacements you are getting are not as hard as the original Ariens parts?

Are you running full speed into hard packed snow or hitting a lot of lips sticking up on your sidewalk?

Hi Shyrp,

Thank you for the quick reply. I am running in either 1st or second most of the time and nursing it around. Not forcing anything. It tends to get stuck alot. Most of the time just going straight. The pins look just like the pins at the parts store. See link..

http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Search?keyword=linch+pin&langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053

   Your drive train could be loose, ok but looser than average for a machine.  Taking up the slack easily, the axle could be going into the pin harder than usual.  You can flip the machine onto it's bucket and check the slop by turning the wheels by hand.  That' hard to judge though as some have great slop and are fine.  But you may notice something.  Take off the bottom belly cover and look inside while you rotate the wheels back and forth so just check in there for anything unusual.

   There could have been a non-Arriens pin in there.  The originals are beefy.  I've never seen or heard of one breaking.   Other makers pins are another story but Ariens are tough.

   I've bought and used pins from the local hardware store and they are nothing like the Ariens pins.  Grage 2 bolts are not strong enough for a wheel pin. The hardware store pins probably can't take a good hit either.

   Pins can usually take a lot of head on bucket hits by the cracks & etc stopping the machine.  You may have hit things just right or had too light a pin in there.   You may have hit someting just as your wheel had exceptional traction.  Are you running on one wheel pinned and the other free i.e. one taking all the force?  That's usually fine but may be a factor in an unusual hit.  And of course, bad karma may be a factor - get exorcized.

Another thing: those are not shear pins, they shouldn't be breaking. Try getting a couple from a different supplier. I've seen some really garbage chinese/pakistani hardware around lately.

I had an old Craftsman that would break the drive wheel axle bolts.  After replacing the original with a couple shear pins that soon also broke,  I put in a grade 10 bolt and never looked back.  That baby never let go.  The way I look at it, is if the wheels spin a bit, so what?  It's not like an auger taking in something that can cause serious damage. 

Hi all,

Thanks for all the suggestions.

Went and bought some 1/4" Grade 5 bolts. Hopefully this should cure my problem.

If you were using 3/16" before and are now using 1/4" perhaps they had just enough play in them that they were wobbling back and forth and snapping.

That's what I was thinking also. I believe I tried the 1/4" before and they didn't fit. Maybe the holes were not lined up just right.

Thanks again.

Why use a weak grade 5 bolt?  Wouldn't it be wiser to use a grade 10?  I don't understand why this bolt should be allowed to shear under load?  

If the wheels slip a bit, what's the issue with that?   I'd rather have the wheels spin a bit on the ground than have the bolt break.

Hi borat,

Would using a stronger bolt cause any internal damage to gear box or anything else. I'm not to knowledgable about the inner working of the snowwblower.

Emilio wrote:
I can't see how it could. 

The wheels are the only source of resistance.  If they slip, they slip.  So what?  If the machine is put up against a wall and allowed to destroy itself, there may be a possibility that a chain could break but I doubt that would happen.   Maybe others might know something that I'm unaware of but I solved my problem with a grade 10 bolt and never experienced any issues as a result.   If you want to continue replacing bolts, go with the grade 5.  If you don't want to be doing that, use a grade 10. 

My thinking is the pins he was using were grade 2, so grade 5 might be good enough.