dmottv

To follow up: I picked up a thin metal tie at Home Depot, drilled out holes to line up with my "frankenstein" reinforcement bolts as described in my earlier post, bolted it to the one side that ripped out, and it is working for now. The metal tie reinforces the plastic chute, bolted at the bottom end to one of the bolts of the chute base, and at the top end to one of my new bolts drilled through the plastic chute about 1.5" above the base. The metal tie was about 2" wide by about 12" long, predrilled with a number of small holes, I cut it in half. BTW, I installed the new hex head bolt through the chute with the head on the inside, a nylon lined lock nut on the outside, to avoid snow buildup, etc.

The bolt on the chute pivot is not working very well either, it eventually slips when blowing snow wetter than can be "broomed". I think I'll look for a couple of washers with teeth, or some other "repair" method.

I have access to a somewhat similar vintage Craftsman 5hp 24" snowblower as well, and the chute on that one is still in pretty good shape. There may be some merit to the comment above about the greater force of the larger snowblower.

Yes, My 2002 9 hp 29" blower Model No. 536.887990 has the same problem. The bolt hole at the base of the plastic chute ripped out years ago. I made a "frankenstein" repair by wrapping the chute exterior at the base with hardware cloth that I attached to the base bolts, then drilled holes about 1.5" above the base in the plastic chute and ran addt'l bolts through both the hardware cloth and the plastic chute. It's worked for a few years, but just ripped out. The plastic chutes are junk, they just don't stand up to snowfall in northern climes.There's a good reason some of the other brands use a metal chute. I guess I'll have to see if I can find a replacement metal chute though in the meantime I'll try another patch job, maybe with 6" single wall stove pipe band trimmed and wrapped around the chute exterior base...