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

I've got the roll pins out of the impeller and the impeller-gearbox-auger out of the housing.  However the impeller is frozen to the shaft.  Anyone have any tips or secrets on how to get the impeller off the shaft?

You shouldn't need to take it off.  The impeller doesn't need to come off unless maybe you are doing something with the gear box.  I got one off by taking (2) 2x4s about 2 feet long, slotting the ends, putting the fan blades through the slots close to the shaft, then beating the shaft with a sledge hammer.  That will bend up the impeller though.

The impeller shouldn't need to come off. Unless the gear box is bad.  And in that case I would just by a used box that has the impeller still on the shaft.
Removing the impeller as others have said can be a really hard thing to do.  With no real good odds of success.

jrtrebor wrote:
The gearbox is not bad.  But the impeller needs some minor straightening or balancing.  The previous owner consumed something that bent one of the fan blades back slightly, pushing the "plate" against the back wall of the housing.  I'm trying to restore that without damaging the gearbox.  I fear that any hammering on the impeller will damage the gearbox.  Plus, I want to sand and paint the fan.

Also, thinking down the road, if I replace the gearbox with a cast iron one, it would be cheaper to reuse the fan.  If I purchase the gearbox assembly with the impeller and auger shafts, I would have to purchase a fan as well at about $100.  I was hoping to save that.

It's looking more like I should just repair the fan in place.  Or bite the bullet and get the CI gearbox and fan at a total of $300.  Or roll the dice on a used one.  I got the machine for free and put $150 into it already.  In the end, I would have a decent machine for $450.  I think I'll defer that decision until next year.  See how it performs this winter.  The fan is only slightly out of balance.

I wouldn't worry too much about balance.  Once it is filled with snow it will be off balance anyway.  You could probably use an adjustable wrench to get it back close to where it goes.  I used a sledge hammer as an anvil and a regular hammer to flatten my blades back out a bit.

Maybe if you had some pictures of it we could see how bad it is.

My impeller is the five blade version.  I had to straighten one of the blades and the back plate.  Picked up a wooden door stop off a sidewalk and it didn't quite make it out of the
housing. Impeller caught it just as it was going out.  Bent one of the blades and the back brace back almost an 1".  The back plate wasn't quite touching the housing but it was close.  Ran it that way most of last year.  Was able to straighten the whole thing out this fall with the impeller on the shaft.  Not using any heat.
 What worked pretty well for me was using two piece of 4x6 on end.  Cut long enough to keep the gear box off the floor. 
 An adjustable wrench as shryp suggested. And of course an assortment of hammers

 The Craftsman repair man had two pieces of  1/4 steel welded together  to straighten the many impeller  blades that he discovered. ,

It had a slot that slid over  the  impeller blade , it also had a 3 ft handle welded on. When he straightened the impeller on my old  Craftsman that I once owned, , it also straightened the back plate.