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!

I wonder how the kit wold work on the newer PowerMax Toros.  There is a plastic part on the top of the auger housing that (for lack of a better way to say it) holds snow that's waiting to hit the impeller, so the housing is not smooth and continuous except for the chute opening.  Also, the impeller itself is not solid and flat but has an open center (also for the lack of a better way to say it).

LL

lland wrote:

That's one that  I am curious about too.  Toro has been the only one to really change the design of the snowblower, in the last 30 years or so.  I have only seen one machine in use that has this new design, and it was doing a great job, under good conditions.

I am going to go an take a look at them and see.  I think I'll call Clarence and see if he has had any come in for the upgrade.

Ken

lland wrote:

Hi lland,

I was going to purchase the kit myself last week and decided to look over my Toro more carefully to see how it would be installed.  After doing this, I decided to pass on the kit.   The impeller tips are only 1/8" distance from the housing, which isn't much at all.  Also, the impeller tips are a little different on these new Toro's and are actually 4-1/4" wide.  From say, 3-3/4" to 4-1/4" the tips are tapered at a 45 degree angle to further aid in lift, similar to the tips on a mulching lawn mower.  Even if you used the 3" wide rubber paddles from the kit, a good part of the impeller would have to be left as is, especially due to the added bracing you may have noticed on the tip ends.  I'm not saying the kit would not make a difference on a Toro, merely that I don't believe it would yield some of the better results that have been mentioned due to the already optimized design on this particular snowblower. 

If you look on the inside top of the auger housing, as you mentioned, it makes it very obvious why this snowblower can throw snow so far even if the snow is only 1" deep and moving only in 1st gear.  The design is optimized already whether used for 1" or high amounts of snow.  Any snow that gets drawn in by the auger, that is more than the impeller can handle, it immediately gets drawn up into that large recess and metered back down when the impeller is able to discharge it.  I'd also have to say that those angled impeller blade tips definitely aid in throwing wet snow.  I still have not been able to clog the chute on this machine no matter what I do to it. 

That kit is a great idea, but I believe it would make more of a different on a snowblower that has something like 1/4" spacing between the impeller tips and the housing. 

Richie wrote:

Richie..........
Great review of the inner workings of the Toro impeller setup.  I agree with you, 1/8" clearance is fantastic!  You would not see any improvement in performance.  The whole idea is to move ALL snow in the impeller area OUT.  With that "cutout", you are correct in stating that any excess snow will be metered back in, so that the impeller is always fully loaded, making it more efficient.

Sadly, most machines made today have a spacing closer to 1"  leaving a LOT of snow in the impeller housing to just get clogged and tossed about.  Very inefficient.  But, cheaper to make.

Ken

  Richie,

My new Husky only has 1/4 clearence from the impeller to the housing. I'm still going to install it.

For $30.00, if it only improves performance 10%, it is a cheap mod!!

But I l think the kit would improve the blowers performance more, even Toro's about 10% dry snow, and at least 25% in slush.

Can you think of a water pump being used with a 1/4 inche gap all the way around (total 1/2) on the diameter.

It would not pump crap!!!

Anything done to reduce that gap, has to improve performance.

Also the impeller rubber and metal are 3 1/2 inches long., which would do the Toro's flat area. 

                                                                                     Fred  

Is there a kit that I can use on one stage blower?

jubol wrote:

Exactly!  When I said 1" earlier, I ment 1" on one side! That's 2"  of space total!

When I looked at those new MTDs and Murrays, my honest opinion was that they were junk!

Ken

walbroman wrote:

No.  If the rubbers are worn, you will have to replace them.  On the Honda that I have, they actually wern't that much money.

Ken

Question on danger when installing these things.  I know everyone will have the plug out no gas etc etc.  But when you look on clarences site he was talking about finger loss.  In a hurry here so no time to direct quote.  Maybe he was talking about compression backlash or something maybe some type of tension backlash from a pulley system  or the auger break still holding back force, don know? .  When clearing snow from the chute  I won't reach in there to save my life, however i don't carry a cleanout either.   Just curious what to tell other users when they think it is safe say just the machine off naturally not engaged as they are going to have to walk around the front of the machine etc.  is there a chance if they reach in there to clean  it something could happen.  I always assume there is a chance so I don't do it,  however I get close.

Thx 

Ben07

SnowPro wrote:

Hi there Ken,

Thank you.   I also couldn't believe what I read in your post that some snowblowers have up to 1" of space between the impeller tips and the housing, holy cow, that is way, way too much  Those individuals should really thank Clarence for inovating such a great and practical component to improve one's snowblower.  I actually believed most other snowlblowers usually had about 1/4" spacing.  It really rubs me the wrong way how some manufacturers skimp on R&D.  Thanks for the information.