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

Well........finally getting around to starting a thread on this impeller mod for the snowblower.  Perhaps a little late in the season, but it will give us something to talk about!  In light of the recent thread about plastic liners, I thought I should get this started.

I have to admit that when I first heard of this, I was a little skeptical at first.  Sounded interesting but as with most mods, they are usually more hype than improvement.  Some had been telling me about it and said that it made a real improvement.  Yeah, right.  I checked out the web site and, have to admit, I was being drawn in.  Clarence lives in the same city as I do, so this gave me some more interest in checking it out.  Still back burner though.

So.........one day we are out doing driveways and this occasional client that lives across the street from my client sees that I am having a little trouble with the slush getting plugged up in the machine.  He tells me that he just got the kit installed on his machine and is going to give it a try.  Now I know how his machine performs usually, as I have seen him do his driveway  many times over the years, so this should be interesting.  Well, the next thing I know, is that I almost wet myself!   He was blowing that slush out of his machine like it was being shot from a cannon!  Now we all know that slush usually goes about 2 feet, so seeing  this stuff fly 20+ feet was nothing short of unbelievable.  We tried some snow with it and it was going 30-40 feet.  Normally his machine throws about 20-30 feet.  By the next day, I was over at Clarence's and getting it installed on one of my machines, to check it out for myself.  I have NEVER looked back.  Now, ALL of my machines have been fitted.  My favourite machine is an MTD Pro 13/33 (1986) , with the 13 hp B&S engine, and it will honestly throw snow 50-60 feet!    The Ariens and other MTDs have been fitted too.

ABSOLUTELY no snow or slush will slow down this kit! EVERYTHING that goes in, will come out!  EXCEPTIONS include: newspapers and extention cords!  Havn't picked up a squirrel yet!

Most kits now have roughly 2000 times on them now and the belting is holding up quite well. I see no need for any replacement yet.

Installation will require medium skill, I guess, as you will have to remove the chute and drill the impeller to install the kit.  You are working through the opening for the chute. 

For the first several times you use your machine, the sound will be quite different as the rubber will be dragging slightly on the housing until it gets worn in.  THAT MEANS THAT IF YOU CAN'T HANDLE THE PAINT COMING OFF OF THE IMPELLER HOUSING, THEN THIS KIT IS NOT FOR YOU!  It will make the metal quite shiny, I must say.  BUT, if that is not a big deal for you, then the perfoermance upgrade will be more than a fair trade off.  Other than the paint coming off, the metal is not being worn out.  With all the use that my machines get,  they are still in fine shape.  With typical homeowner use, you should still get 50 years out of your machine.

So........which machines are likely candidates?  I would say every 2 stage machine out there, with the exception of Hondas and Yamahas.  They already have a tight gap between the impeller and the housing and would not show any improvement.

Clarence is a super guy and I send all of my equipment to him now, (that I can't fix) for repairs.

Hope this helps.

Got any questions............fire away!

Ken

PS Thanks for the push.............Fred!

After reading several posts about the Clarence Impeller Kit, I decided to install one on my 2007 Ariens 926LE Deluxe snowblower.

What motivated me to do so is that my snowblower has outstanding performance in powder snow, but on the other hand, its performance in wet snow is to say least very poor i.e. throwing distance of 3 to 4 feet and a lot of jamming. The impeller gap to the housing is not uniform; it is about 1/4" at the center and about 3/8" at the edges of the impeller.

So last weekend I installed the 4 blade / 3” wide kit (the 3" wide kit is perfect for this machine as it just fits the flat section of the impeller) and it took me about 2-3 hours to complete the installation. I started by positioning the impeller at 90° and I used a punch to mark the centre of the middle bolt so that the drill bit would not slip, then I installed the blade, and then used the blade as a guide to drill the remaining holes. Everything went smoothly.

I could not wait to test the kit and fortunately we got 4" of wet snow 3 days later. The results are outstanding: this machine now throws wet snow, slush and water!!! at about 40 feet. This is impressive. I was scared to throw snow on the neighbour's driveway and car. So I'm very satisfied with the kit.

While reading other posts I noticed that some concerns have been raised about this kit and I would like to provide my opinion.

One of the main concern is that this kit will produce premature wear on the motor and belt. I do not believe this. With this kit installed whatever snow that comes in the bucket goes out. Before installing this kit, wet snow accumulated until a jam occurred and engine almost stalled. My conclusion is that there is a lot more stress on the impeller and belt when the snow accumulates until the engine almost stalls. Less snow going out = more show in the bucket = more stress on the machine. With the kit installed, the engine is forcing, mainly due to weight of the wet snow, but is never near to stall. This answers this concern by itself.

The second concern is that in the case one blade of the kit brakes then it would be ejected, causing potential injuries. I do not think that is worst than blowing pieces of ice that are present at the end of the driveway. Also for this problem to happen all three bolts would need to break at the same time.

The last concern was that small rocks could jam between the impeller and the housing. I think that with this kit installed small rocks can not go between the impeller and the housing as there is no more gap. Rocks will simply be ejected with the snow.

/SnowStorm

The kit I installed on my old JD TRX26 a couple years ago turned it into a snow hog!!!!   I love the "new" old machine.....

Hi all,

I am considering installing an impeller on my Ariens Platinum 30. Been reading some comments that people believe it will cause premature wear. I am thinking that I would hear that extra "strain" in the motor and would work the motor no harder than normal, so my belief is that it would have no effect on the longevity of the machine. Would that be a logical assumption or am I way off base here?

GC

Engines that see even minimum levels of maintenance usually outlast the chassis they're mounted on.   Why do you need an impeller kit?  Isn't the Ariens throwing well enough?   My stock Simplicity bombs snow like a 9 h.p. Honda.

borat wrote:

I am considering the impeller kit. Not positive. I haven't used the new blower enough to know if I need it yet. It throws fine. I am just thinking that if I can improve performance for 30 bucks with no detriment to the machine, then I just might do it. I would need to be absolutely sure that it isn't going to damage the machine first.

Yeah I've seen the Simplicity blowers around. They are certainly good machines!! Those I know who have them speak highly of them.

GC

GreatCanadian wrote:
First check the gap between your impeller and the housing.  If it's less than 1/4", adding an impeller kit would not gain anything except pumping slush and water.

Considering your machine is fairly new design, I would think that Ariens have "closed the gap" between their models and the Honda/Yamaha competition.  

aa335 wrote:

Right on. The impeller kit closes the gap when it's too big. If your gap isn't too big it's not going to do enough to make it worth it.

I have installed an impeller kit (home made) on my Ariens Platinum 24 (2010 model).  I can tell you that it does improve the throw distance and slush capability a bit, but probably not nearly as much as on some of the older machines.  Would I do it again?  Yes, because I seem to always want to fix things that aren't broken  .   But it's a bit of work and don't expect miracles out of it on these newer machines.

GreatCanadian wrote:
I'm sure your Ariens works fines in powder snow. What I would consider before installing the Clarence kit, is if you are satisfied with how it works in wet snow and slush.

If your machine currently plugs when throwing wet snow, then longevity will be improved. A lot of stress is put on the machine when it plugs, as snow don't come out but still comes in. The result is that more and more snow (and weight) accumulates in the housing putting stress on engine, belt, and auger gear case.

When the wet stuff comes out the load (weight of snow) is less.

/SnowStorm

snowstorm wrote:

Hi Snowstorm,

I have thrown some heavy snow (quite heavy in fact, but I wouldn'g go so far as to call it slush) - although I did test it on the cul-de-sac where the snow was thick and gray with salt, and it threw it on top of the 15 foot high pile of snow in the middle of the cul-de-sac with ease. The 342 cc engine seems to be powerful enough. It hasn't even come close to clogging. So perhaps I don't need the kit. Might have to wait til next year to find out. Seems like winter is fading here (at least storm wise). 

GC