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

I would like to install a CLARENCE kit on two more snow blowers. One of them is a no-brainer since there's allot of clearance.I can easily get my finger between the impeller and housing (MTD). The other one, new to me is a snapper 1132 (2005 series). What would be the clearance to necessitate adding a kit.

   Hirschallan,

If it ain't broke.... don't fix it........

Carlb, I can say that it didn't help at all, its like shoveling wet snow, it's heavy my back! assuming that wet snow weight with a clearance 1/16 to 3/32... gear case works harder!

Denis wrote:
Reducing the clearance by using an impeller kit could put more strain on the belt.  And cause the engine to work harder under certain conditions. 
But the kit would have no adverse effect on the gear box.  The kit fits on the impeller not on the augers not that,  that would have any effect either.  If the kit was fit to tight to the housing.
I would create a drag and resistance to the impeller spinning.  That would needlessly sap power from the engine.  With the engine trying to spin the impeller which was tight in the housing.
The belt would be under a lot more tension and could stretch out and or break.  But again that would have no effect on the gear box.  Wet snow is obviously heavy,  that is why a person has
to slow down their forward speed and keep the RPM up.  Your back may care how heavy the snow is.  But a snowblower doesn't. 
The only thing gear boxes don't like.  Are objects that get jammed in the augers and between the housing.  But that is what sheer bolts are there for.

If the clearance distance was a factor in your gear box going bad.  Then in theory, borat's clearance of an 1/8" to 3/16" should be causing more damage to his gear box.  Than someone else's
gear box is receiving if their impeller clearance is a 1/4" or more.  That reasoning just isn't valid. 
Having said all that.  There is a mild learning curve to using a blower with a new impeller kit installed.  When and if the engine starts to bog down, slow down.

jrtrebor wrote: Jrtrebor,

That is exactly the post that i was going to write but i was too lazy to do all that typing.  I couldn't agree more with you spot on assessment. 

Ok guys let see it another way: wet snow enter the auger with the clarence kit installed wet snow try to reach out by forcing the belt ok, so the snow doesnt come out like fluffy, so snow become packed in the auger case, the impeller shaft is driving the auger what happen then? the brass gear is getting to tight I mean by that it's logical the gear force

Denis wrote:
Wouldn't even know where to start to answer this.  Except to say no not right, to everything that was said.

I think what Denis is trying to say is that the tighter clearance impeller will experience more load with wet snow.  i think we all agree to that.  His point about the Clarence kit putting more load on the gear box is more to do with the machine being required to force more snow through the system than it would be capable of without the kit installed.  Rather than bypassing some of the snow, the kit forces the impeller to move it all.   Kind of like a car with narrow tires spinning them easily but put on a set of slicks and the load to the entire drive system is increased substantially due to the available traction.  The Clarence kit gives the snow moving part of the machine  a similar effect by increasing load.   I'm not certain that the additional load would have that much of an effect on the gearbox unless the components therein were border line and ready to let go. 

If i could put on a simulation video of the thing, I could probaly be more precise on how wet snow could damage the gear with clarence kit installed, in a long term.

Denis wrote:
A person could also put on a simulation video.  Of how to damage a gear box and how to put excessive load on all of the blower components.  By by using to fast a forward speed for the
snow conditions.  Or by plunging into an EOD pile that has chunks of frozen snow and ice.
The impeller kit does one thing.  It improves the efficiency of the impeller.  It creates a smaller gap between the blades and the housing.  So that more of the snow that is in front of the blade is
expelled out the chute on the blades first pass by the chute opening.  Can that put more load on the engine and belt than the way it came from the factory, yes.  But would that load be any greater than than trying to blow 12" of wet snow in third gear instead of 2nd or first gear?  No I don't believe it would.  I guess my point is that with or without an impeller kit a person can damage blower components by using it incorrectly.  And you see people, or hear people doing it all the time.  As I said there is a small learning curve when using a blower with a kit installed.
A person can easily shorten the life of blower components by using it incorrectly. 

The gear box issue.
Putting an excessive load on the impeller has no effect on the gear box.
The impeller and gear box spin off the same shaft.  So when the impeller slows down due to a load so does the gear box.  You can't blow a gear box because of a heavy load on the impeller.
I would go so far as to say that if you have the correct OEM shear pins installed and the augers are free on the shaft.  You can't blow a gear box period.  All the gear box does is spin the augers
which moves the snow horizontally.  That is not a tough task for a screw auger.  What happens to often is that people get the idea that a snowblower is half snow plow and half snowblower.
Anytime you feed the blower housing more snow than is has the capacity to process.  Your putting an excessive load on it.  Just listen to the engine. 
Blowing deep wet snow is like cutting long wet grass. 

jrtrebor wrote:

+1