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

My Honda 928 tracker has skid shoes mounted on the sides of the bucket housing, and also on the rear (near the outside)of the bucket. Why two different sets? Should I take off one set, or what? If so, which one? Any thoughts or experience from you folks out there?

MN_Runner wrote:
The commercial skids are quite stout and will hold up well.  They are quite short and narrow, which prevents too much floating over snow and keeps the bucket and scraper bar close to the pavement  The downside is that there is a lot weight over a small surface area of the skids, it tends to catch on surface irregularities more often and changes the direction of the snowblower.  I'm currently trying out a different kind of skids, they are bigger and made out of UHDPE, thick and heavy plastic which glides more nicely, but probably will not hold up as well as the metal commercial skids.

When I first got my commercial skids shoes, the instructions left me a bit bewildered why there are extra parts and they don't want me to use the existing holes on the bucket housing.  Do follow the instructions drilling your new mounting holes and use the kit provided metal spacer plate and through bolts and nuts.  I wasn't too crazy about drilling 4 holes in a brand new bucket to install skid shoes, but I'm convinced it's the right thing to do.  The spacer plate provides are thicker and wider clamping surface for the skids.  Without them, the bucket sides are not thick and strong enough and will bend if you hit the skids on something.  Also, the original holes are too close to the edge of the bucket, it will only be a matter of time before it tears.

Shryp wrote:


Exactly the reason!  I have the bolt head on the inside of the bucket, threads and nuts on the outside.  Gives me more clearance to the auger.

The OCD in me went and got longer bolts in stainless steel, SS nuts, and SS fender washers.  Put the fender washers inside so that the bolt head is not gouging directly on the painted bucket.  Also put a light coat of antiseize compound on the holes on the bucket that I had to drill.  I think that would be sufficient to keep corrosion at bay. 

aa335 wrote:

I agree with you about why you have to drill new holes. The instruction also requires you to take off the rear skids. So Honda is saying with the commericial skids mounted you don't need have the rear skids bolted on.  Did you take your rear skids off?

I took off the rear skids and now using only side plastic skids. They are gentler on the brick pavers.

aa335 wrote:

How much clearance do you have between the pavement and your scraper bar?  We have gotten 8" of snow since last night and a 5mm gap between concrete and scraper bar seems not optimal.  I will adjust it for 2mm gap.

MN_Runner wrote:
I usually have the scraper bar set between 2-4mm.   It is set at 1.72mm now.

aa335 wrote:

Thanks.  I have my scraper bar at  2mm. There is another reason why you have to drill the holes when using commerical grade skids.  If you use the exisiting threaded holes, you cannot achieve 2-4mmm gap between the concrete and scraper bar.  We got close to a foot today. How about you in Chicago?

MN_Runner wrote:
You're right, makes sense.  I never tried to put the commercial skids on those existing holes to be aware of that limitation.

I got about 7-8 inches of very heavy wet snow today.  I used the 2 stage most of the time, and the Toro SS on the cleanup around tight areas.  On the Honda 2 stage with the poly skids, it worked really well with the 1.7mm scraper bar clearance (thickness of a US quarter coin).  The poly ones probably won't last as long as the metal commercial skids, but guiding and turning the huge 32" wide bucket is significantly easier.  It works much better than any other set up I have in the past.

If anyone is interested in the poly skids, it's the Robalon skids,  it is available for many models.  I would recommend getting proper fender washers that would fit in the slotted holes of the skids.