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 !

 

[zk322]

I have a question regarding the grill on the front of my tractor. It fell off when I was snow blowing last week. The third image is of the original push pins that held the grill in when I got the tractor. I imagine that these are not stock. I was thinking of drilling some holes and bolting the grill on so that it doesn't fall off again due to vibration. Any advice on this problem would be appreciated. There is also some more pictures of the grill on the front of the tractor.

 

[digger]

I have a question regarding the grill on the front of my tractor. It fell off when I was snow blowing last week. The third image is of the original push pins that held the grill in when I got the tractor. I imagine that these are not stock. I was thinking of drilling some holes and bolting the grill on so that it doesn't fall off again due to vibration. Any advice on this problem would be appreciated. There is also some more pictures of the grill on the front of the tractor.View attachment 158587View attachment 158588View attachment 158586

You need 2 of these.

https://www.ccspecialties.org/hoodsgrillsdashes.html

 

[tkhoffman]

Not sure what the Frame work looks like that captures your Springs. If is worn out you may have trouble with the stock setup.
On later Cubs, they used Springs to Pull the Grill against the frame from the inside. You might have an easier time incorporating this idea.

 

[dschwandt]

Tony, his don't look like an original grill screen and is probably way heavy for a stock spring.
The originals were screen like mat'l and fairly light weight.

 

[tkhoffman]

Tony, his don't look like an original grill screen and is probably way heavy for a stock spring.
The originals were screen like mat'l and fairly light weight.

Actually, i would think the springs pulling from inside the engine compartment would help. My stock 782 grill is fairly heavy.
I have notches to hold the bottom so it just has two up top, as shown in pic. zk322 could use 4 Springs. Two high, two low.

 

[sperrine]

Actually, i would think the springs pulling from inside the engine compartment would help. My stock 782 grill is fairly heavy.
I have notches to hold the bottom so it just has two up top, as shown in pic. zk322 could use 4 Springs. Two high, two low.

These photos are in response to several subjects in this thread about snow throwers, in my case a qa36.

• The long chute was a huge improvement over the short chute in throwing distance, and reduced build-up in the housing. The long and short are interchangeable. I have bought several online, and won’t use the short version again.
• The aluminum plate (grill) deflects the engine heat away from the chute and almost eliminates ice accumulation in it. I used the original springs and “bonded wasers” on the outside of the plate to hook the spring to.
• The skid shoes were put on to address the GRAVEL problem, and it helped, but every once in awhile…. The shoes were bought through Home Depot , but I found out they can be ordered from “ARMORskids” directly.
• My last and best gravel solution so far is the 1” schedule 80 pvc pipe described earlier in this thread. Good Luck Also I’ll repeat , keep the Max rpm at least at 3600 per the manual. Some of these old critters have fallen of the factory settings over the years. I keep ours at 3800 rpm unloaded.

 

[sperrine]

Hey, good people of this form. I will be putting on a ih 36in snow thrower on the front of my tractor. I was wondering what belt size is needed to run the snow thrower? It runs down from the pto to a pully on the back of the snow thrower. Thanks for the help

The belts that work best on my qa36 are
3v -280, that is a 28” belt. They are available in more sizes. I think I got it from Gates directly. About $15. Specifically made for power transmission. Had the same one for 10 years. It has never slipped, and won’t wear out no matter how hard I try.

“Deep V” configuration.