Abby’s Guide > Outdoor Power Equipment (Lawn Mowers, Snow Blowers, Chain Saws and more) > Discussions > Weld up all the seams on the bucket?

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eleckster

Location: Saint Anthony Village, MN
Joined: Dec 22, 2012
Points: 5

Weld up all the seams on the bucket?
Original Message Dec 23, 2012 10:24 am

Hi all, first post.

I moved to a new house with a bigger driveway this year and decided that I needed a bigger snow blower. I picked up a Simplicity 860 and pulled it apart. The bucket has some rust on the bottom and I will need to cut out the area that the cutting edge bolts to and weld in new. Ill then have it blasted and repaint.

So while I have the welder running, I'm thinking of welding up all the seams on the bucket that are currently stitched in. Other than taking time, and the possibility of warping the metal if done incorrectly, is there any reason I should not do this?

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jrtrebor

Location: Michigan - 3 hours north of Chicago on the lake
Joined: Feb 10, 2010
Points: 539

Re: Weld up all the seams on the bucket?
Reply #6 Dec 24, 2012 11:46 am

borat wrote:

Nice work guys.

Salt is more of an issue than water.

Your right, salt on bare steel is really bad.
It's not so bad in the dead of winter.
But towards the end of the season when things get
a little more liquid. Salt really starts to go to work.

carlb

Joined: Nov 16, 2010
Points: 279

Re: Weld up all the seams on the bucket?
Reply #7 Dec 24, 2012 12:00 pm

I usually blow a path to the EOD and clear that first so if there was any salt put down i get it through the blower at the beginning of my snow blowing then I do the rest of the driveway and walkways letting the clean snow flush the salt and slush out. While i like the idea of Automotive seam sealer I think that on a snow blower they will see a lot of vibration you might be better served using a more flexible product such as GE Silicone II. It will stay flexible down to -30 degrees i think and it is very sticky when applied and has excellent adheason and really does a great job of sealing up joints. Some of the GE silicone ii products are also paintable.

jrtrebor

Location: Michigan - 3 hours north of Chicago on the lake
Joined: Feb 10, 2010
Points: 539

Re: Weld up all the seams on the bucket?
Reply #8 Dec 24, 2012 12:01 pm

By the way, nice blower.
I love the solid feel that the Simplicity handles and control levers have.
Overall they are very rugged blowers.

borat

Joined: Nov 10, 2007
Points: 2692

Re: Weld up all the seams on the bucket?
Reply #9 Dec 24, 2012 12:32 pm

You have to wonder how people can take such a great machine and grind it into the pavement??? One can only assume that the original owner was unaware of replaceable scraper bars?

If the skids are set properly, the scraper bar will last a very long time. I set mine about 1/8 from the pavement. Easier to replace skids than a scraper bar.

However, I made thick skids out of flat bar to replace the relatively thin stock skids. When the original skids wore down, I had a couple shaped pieces of 5/16" flat bar welded to the bottom of the old skids. They'll probably last for decades now.

Bill_H

Location: Maine
Joined: Jan 12, 2008
Points: 354

Re: Weld up all the seams on the bucket?
Reply #10 Dec 25, 2012 12:14 am

I'll +1 what jrtrebor said. I rebuilt mine a few years back and after blasting, phosphorous treating, and priming, I sealed all the seams (both sides) with auto body caulk. Top coated over that and it still looks great, not a single rust bubble anywhere.

Who the hell let all the morning people run things?

eleckster

Location: Saint Anthony Village, MN
Joined: Dec 22, 2012
Points: 5

Re: Weld up all the seams on the bucket?
Reply #11 Dec 25, 2012 7:12 pm

Merry Christmas everyone.

Body work is lower on my list of things I like to work on, but it needs to be done before I move on. I did just get a wire feed so I am itching to use it. Higher on the list is performance so if I stick with this project, more power will be added and welding would add strength as well as seal the seams up.

My auto body buddy says any place I weld a seam to spray it with a lot of weld thru primer so it soaks all the way in. Weld it up and then clean off any exposed primer, as it is better at protecting the hidden area, than as a primer under paint.

jrtrebor, that looks great. I saw the post on your Honda re-power. I’m dreaming of a v-twin, Honda or Vanguard, but first things first.

I never thought about flushing out the salty snow, but I will be doing that from now on. My new house is on a cul-de-sac so I get an extra large pile at the EOD.

This rust appears to be from sitting in a pool of the salt water. I have an Ariens ST504 that I redid the bucket on 7 years ago. More often than not I fog it with some oil that I have laying around after I dry it out with a heater. It has very little rust on it.

I do like the solid feel and looks of the handle on the Simplicity enough to pay more than it probably was worth. I was looking for a Gilson as it would match my tiller and looks even more solid, however it appeared that the parts are harder to find.

I like the idea of welding on a piece of metal to the shoes. I was just going to flip the shoes to the unused side but I will probably weld a piece on the wore down side.

Currently I'm thinking I will weld up some areas I think will add strength. I’m not sure about sealing the seams. Ill have to have a couple of beers in the garage and think about it.

Thanks for all the advice.

This message was modified Dec 25, 2012 by eleckster

jrtrebor

Location: Michigan - 3 hours north of Chicago on the lake
Joined: Feb 10, 2010
Points: 539

Re: Weld up all the seams on the bucket?
Reply #12 Dec 26, 2012 12:50 am

I would agree with your Auto Body buddy. But if you don't seal the seam.
You will still get moisture in the joint and eventually rust will develop.
I have used weld through primer. The key to having it work well is to
spray the steel surfaces that will be over lapped.
You coat those surfaces before the steel is laid one piece on the other.
Your joint are already put together so you can't
spray the surfaces that really need it. They are covered up.
A little food for thought, while your having your beer.
Every vehicle on the road has one brand or another of
Seam Sealer being used to seal the joints of body and
roof panels. The stuff is specifically designed to be used
in exactly the type of application you would be using if for.
The blower housing itself may vibrate a lot.
But the actual joints/seams are not seeing much if any movement. If they were the housing would
start to break welds, or at the weld points the first season of use.
The problem with blower housings especially some of the newer ones.
Is that they are Powder coated. Powder coating has a hard time getting into the seams
and joints like a paint will. This problem is called the Faraday Cage effect.
Which keeps the powder from being able to get into corners and small tight places.
A paint coating is also thinnest on the sharp edge / corner of a surface.
That's why rounded corners well give a more longer lasting finish.
It allows the paint to maintain a more even mil thickness around a corner / edge.
Trying to keep paint on an un-rounded edge / corner of steel is like trying to keep paint on the edge of a knife blade.
You can see that in the photo of your housing (bottom center of the photo). There is a thin line of rust forming right on the edge of the steel
sheet that curves around the end plates. You for sure want to knock that edge off with a sander or grinder as part of your prep work.

This message was modified Dec 26, 2012 by jrtrebor

aa335

Joined: Nov 29, 2008
Points: 2434

Re: Weld up all the seams on the bucket?
Reply #13 Dec 27, 2012 10:50 am

eleckster wrote:

I never thought about flushing out the salty snow, but I will be doing that from now on. My new house is on a cul-de-sac so I get an extra large pile at the EOD.

I always start out clearing my EOD drive first. This is the most wet, salty, sand gritty snow that is bad for snowblowers with metal buckets and augers. After clearing EOD, I go over driveway and sidewalk with fresh snow to flush it out. It is quite effective technique and requires no additional effort. Before putting it away, I run the auger/impeller dry without feeding any snow. This will fling some stuff off the auger and impeller. If you're really OCD, you can use pressurized air to clean the entire snowblower off, be careful pointing it at fragile or sensitive seals. The other alternative is to use a leaf blower, which has much lower air velocity.

Salt and water by itself is fairly benign. Mixed together, they are a quite a corrosive force. Corrosion is a factor of time, concentration, and temperature of the salt water. If you have eliminate or reduce any one of these factors, it will reduce corrosion. You can't control temperature, but you can control time and concentration. The key is in drainage.

If you bring a snowblower back into a warm garage, the salt water will start eating away at the metal parts. I have a tracked snowblower so I can tip the bucket housing back and keep it off the floor and not have any pooling of water under it. It will stay tipped back and not go anywhere. If you have a wheeled model, you can put a 1x4 piece of wood, or non-metallic part under the skids to get the bucket and scraper off the ground. The snow will still melt, but at least the water will drain away, and not collect around the scraper and skid shoes. Drainange reduces the concentration and the time the salt water is contact with metal.

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