Belt size needed.

[PACub100]

Anyway on to my question. What hight should the snowblower be off the ground for gravel?

Ehhh... just aim the chute away from any windows and towards a bad neighbor's yard...

 

[sperrine]

Not a can of worms or anything else, just another option is all.

I put a 36” section of 1” schedule 80 pvc pipe over the cutting edge of our qa36 thrower , and solved the problem picking up gravel. I carefully slit the pipe on a table saw, drilled holes with a step drill to match the position of the bolts holding the cutting edge, and beat it on with a dead blow hanner. The slit did need to be expanded some and tapered wider toward the outside of the pipe to fit. Half the area I clear is gravel, and the rest is full of surprises. I did try schedule 40, and it worked great, but broke after several impacts. The schedule 80 has been great.

 

[tkhoffman]

I put a 36” section of 1” schedule 80 pvc pipe over the cutting edge of our qa36 thrower , and solved the problem picking up gravel. I carefully slit the pipe on a table saw, drilled holes with a step drill to match the position of the bolts holding the cutting edge, and beat it on with a dead blow hanner. The slit did need to be expanded some and tapered wider toward the outside of the pipe to fit. Half the area I clear is gravel, and the rest is full of surprises. I did try schedule 40, and it worked great, but broke after several impacts. The schedule 80 has been great.

Interesting that it fit without hitting the auger. I've put piping on my snow plow and it does help. Didn't last long before breaking. Looked st foing the ssme as you on my daughters walk behing snow blower.....not enough room between the rear cutting edge and auger.

 

[sperrine]

Interesting that it fit without hitting the auger. I've put piping on my snow plow and it does help. Didn't last long before breaking. Looked st foing the ssme as you on my daughters walk behing snow blower.....not enough room between the rear cutting edge and auger.

The 1” schedule 80 pipe was the only size size that fit over the cutting edge and cleared the auger. The slot cut on the table saw had to be modified some, and holes drilled to clear the bolts securing the cutting edge have to be biased to the bottom (off center) of the pipe. I did have to drive the pipe on carefully with a dead blow hammer.

 

[jdrong]

I used an old rusty piece of 1 1/4" metal pipe. I cut a slot with a torch and used a grinder wheel to smoothen out the cut. The pipe still needs to be coaxed on the cutting edge with a hammer. I welded tabs on the ends of the pipe to use the same bolts as the shoes. I thought I would just use it for my gravel driveway in the back. Turns out it works quite well in the front cement driveway too. It also seems to help to keep the cutting edge from catching on some of the uneven spots in the cement. I have only been able to use it once so far this season on a 4-5" powdery snow fall but, so far so good.

 

[kmcconaughey]

Another thing that helps a little with gravel driveways is to weld skies on the skids.

To help prevent the discharge chute from plugging up, you'll want to clean all the rust out of it and at least the funnel area of the auger housing. Then get a good coat of paint on it and then top coat that with a layer of Slip-Plate or some other graphite paint. This will really help it throw snow and prevent the wet sticky snow from plugging it up. Also coat the area where the discharge chute rotates with the graphite paint to help prevent it from freezing up.

Auger housing "funnel" area.

Discharge Chute.

Bottom of the discharge chute where it rotates on the auger housing.

Clips that hold the discharge chute in place.

 

[sperrine]

Another thing that helps a little with gravel driveways is to weld skies on the skids.

View attachment 158545

To help prevent the discharge chute from plugging up, you'll want to clean all the rust out of it and at least the funnel area of the auger housing. Then get a good coat of paint on it and then top coat that with a layer of Slip-Plate or some other graphite paint. This will really help it throw snow and prevent the wet sticky snow from plugging it up. Also coat the area where the discharge chute rotates with the graphite paint to help prevent it from freezing up.

View attachment 158546

Auger housing "funnel" area.

View attachment 158547

Discharge Chute.

View attachment 158548

Bottom of the discharge chute where it rotates on the auger housing.

View attachment 158549

Clips that hold the discharge chute in place.

After struggling with the discharge issues for 4 years I checked the max. RPMs and found it was 2600 rpm unloaded, so I reset it to 3800 unloaded and the problem was resolved, mostly.. I always run the tractor wide open when using the thrower. Make it BARK !