Spinning the augers after removing the shear pins was a critical maintenance step I missed over the years; I discovered that yesterday after downloading and reviewing several maintenance manuals for my snowblower. It's why I did that check and discovered I had one frozen auger. It's also what inspired my summer overhaul project; better in June-July than in the middle of a Canadian winter!!
I've also replaced shear pins from time to time, and that requires aligning the auger with the rake shaft and typically requires rotating the auger on the rake shaft. However, purposely spinning the auger would do a much better job of distributing the grease around the rake shaft. The other factor is that I was not using a marine grease that is fresh and salt-water resistant. That's another bit of hindsight I discovered during my internet research. Now, if the Internet were here forty years ago....
The blower got a new engine in 2004; Tecumseh HMSK110. See image at URL below.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/norvarg/5884841593/