QA36A snowblower/thrower wear bar/scraper bar/shave plate

[mstreet]

Hi All and thank you for the new forum. I don't post much here but first posted in about 2001ish. Getting the QA36A (Wide frame, yup) thrower ready for winter. The original shave plate on the very bottom of the unit under the auger is very worn. That, of course, is from many decades of blowing snow in Western NY. New shave plates are somewhat hard to find and then are pretty pricey. I'd rather make one. I've even thought of buying a couple from modern/chinky little snowblowers and modifying them to work. My main issue is I don't have metal bending equipment to bend a length of stock metal so as to protect the screw heads from contacting the ground and wearing. Make one from wood?

Any thoughts from the experts?

 

[kmcconaughey]

Xtreme Motorworks sells them for $48.50 (I'm assuming there's shipping costs as well). It might be a bit spendy but it'll likely last for decades, especially if you have the wear skids adjusted to keep it up off the ground a wee bit. Wood might work for a short while. Hyfax, aka snowmobile skid rail wear strips, might work but they are almost, if not more expensive than the proper part. What kind of driveway do you have? Gravel, asphalt, concrete? Here's a link to their webpage with parts for snowthrowers, snowblowers and dozer blades:

Snowblower Parts

 

[mstreet]

Man, thanks for the heads up on those, Kraig. Plus, you gave me another idea. Also in our stable is a '71 Arctic Cat Panther that's been in the family 48 years (So the 1650 that runs this QA36A is 4 years younger) and which I restored 2 years ago. I completely refurbished the track including new cleats. I've got several left over cleats which could work. Or thinking I might just weld some steel rod fore and aft on what's left of the existing shave plate. FWIW, our driveway is 200' of asphalt.

 

[bcoakes]

I rebuilt my qa-36 a few years ago. I totally understand parts being hard to come by, through forums, I only know of about 5-6 other cub collectors in the state of Nebraska. My original one was so worn that it had ground away most of the bolts holding it on. Instead of trying to match the original part, I tried to beef it up so it would last longer. I used a piece of c-channel and welded 2 pieces of flat bar to make the wear edge. I think it was all 1/4" stock but not 100% sure. While I was in the process, I also bought a sheet of steel and made wings and wide skids so it works better on my driveway. All together it makes the thrower about 30 pounds heavier but it performs the best it ever has. After 3 winters running across mine and a few neighbors' concrete driveways, the only wear on it is the paint. In the last picture you can see I didn't weld a full bead across, I put 2-inch spot welds on the top only every couple inches to keep it as straight as possible. I didn't put welds on the bottom edge because I wanted it as flat as possible so I wouldn't need to follow the thrower with a blade anymore.
i

 

[dropte]

I rebuilt my qa-36 a few years ago. I totally understand parts being hard to come by, through forums, I only know of about 5-6 other cub collectors in the state of Nebraska. My original one was so worn that it had ground away most of the bolts holding it on. Instead of trying to match the original part, I tried to beef it up so it would last longer. I used a piece of c-channel and welded 2 pieces of flat bar to make the wear edge. I think it was all 1/4" stock but not 100% sure. While I was in the process, I also bought a sheet of steel and made wings and wide skids so it works better on my driveway. All together it makes the thrower about 30 pounds heavier but it performs the best it ever has. After 3 winters running across mine and a few neighbors' concrete driveways, the only wear on it is the paint. In the last picture you can see I didn't weld a full bead across, I put 2-inch spot welds on the top only every couple inches to keep it as straight as possible. I didn't put welds on the bottom edge because I wanted it as flat as possible so I wouldn't need to follow the thrower with a blade anymore.
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I did something similar to this when I repaired my QA-36B, and it worked very well. I will say that the OEM style replacements are made out of harder steel than the mild steel I used, but it's a few bucks to make one out of mild steel and only takes a few minutes to do, so I don't mind replacing them more often.

 

[rrschmitt]

Mark,

In case you didn't know, the wear bar is reversible by flipping it end to end. So if only one side is worn, and the other edge isn't, you still have useful life in your current part.

 

[stanner]

I made one out of hardware store stock way before Aaron started to make them- worked good

 

[kide]

You can tell that auger has never seen a gravel driveway!

 

[kmcconaughey]

You can tell that auger has never seen a gravel driveway!

Or an extension cord...

 

[kmcconaughey]

Man, thanks for the heads up on those, Kraig. Plus, you gave me another idea. Also in our stable is a '71 Arctic Cat Panther that's been in the family 48 years (So the 1650 that runs this QA36A is 4 years younger) and which I restored 2 years ago. I completely refurbished the track including new cleats. I've got several left over cleats which could work. Or thinking I might just weld some steel rod fore and aft on what's left of the existing shave plate. FWIW, our driveway is 200' of asphalt.

We had a 1972 Arctic Cat Panther. I put a LOT of miles on that thing. I wish I still had it, we sold it about 20 years ago to one of my cousins. Here's a photo of me on it back around 1974.

 

[bcoakes]

Trust me, it was not that pretty when I got it, those pictures were all during the refurb. I"ve used it 3 years and some of the paint has started to show wear.

 

[mhorozko]

I'm pretty angry with the amount of Salt or Brine or whatever it is they use on the streets here in western N.Y. I attribute the rust and corroded areas on my thrower to using it at the end of the driveway near the street. Sorry for the Rant. It is however, Something to think about!

 

[mstreet]

Thank you all for the thoughts and ideas.

bcoakes: Nice pics of your work on your blower.

Kraig: Nice pic of your '72 Panther. My parents actually bought twin '71 Panthers with 399 Kohlers in 1971. They sold one a couple decades ago. The other sat in the basement of their hunting camp for several decades and was loaded with mouse nests and droppings and the resulting corrosion from all that. The gas tank had about 3" of gunk in the bottom: I took that off and pressure washed it, it was that bad. Then put a chain in it n shook the heck out of it to get ride of the largest chunks of rust. Then used reverse electrolysis on it for days. Then rinsed it with white vinegar (caustic). Then thoroughly dried it and coated the inside with POR-15. Pricey but worked well. Then rebuilt both carbs. Anyway, in late winter 2017 got it going again for the first time in 20-30 years. Brought back memories of riding it when I was 17.

mhorozko: Agreed, the worst/deepest/saltiest snow is always at the road end of the drive. My technique it to clear a single path with the QA36A all the way to the road and then completely clear that deep, salty snow that's been piled by the Highway Dept first. Then I work my way toward the house end and use that cleaner/less salty snow there to 'clean' the blower as I finish. We have a utility sink with hot and cold water and a hose fitting in the garage and I wash the 1650 and QA36A with warm water every couple weeks or so to wash off the salt.

 

[Robert Mazzaferro]

I rebuilt my QA36A Thrower and used an Old Traffic Street Sign Pole, cut to fit. I also reinforced it with a 3/16 X 1.5 inch steel bar on top. It was cut to fit over the Skid Plates, so there is about a 3/16 " where it doesn't scrape. It should last a while.

 

[-CӞ]

i wonder if anyone has tried one of these (or similar) on a snowblower: https://rubberwearstrip.com
the one i put on my snow blade is fantastic. glides like silk on the concrete driveway but tough enough to scrape up the snow like a squeegee on glass. it is some tough, durable material.

but the width might be a bit much for a snowblower(?)

https://rubberwearstrip.com/CP-CubCadetTractor.html

i’m not pushing a 200’ lane in western NY, but i do like to clear the sidewalk between our house and the elementary school a quarter mile away (one pass each way) and a few neighbors’ driveways.
who doesn’t enjoy moving snow with their Cub!?! that’s the #1 reason i bought headlights for it (to extend the fun!).

 

[Robert Mazzaferro]

That will probably not work on my Snow Thrower because the bottom blade configuration is different. However, when my plow blade needs to be replaced that seems like it is an improvement to the steel blade.

 

[-CӞ]

 

[etipler]

i wonder if anyone has tried one of these (or similar) on a snowblower

the one i put on my snow blade is fantastic. glides like silk on the concrete driveway but tough enough to scrape up the snow like a squeegee on glass. it is some tough, durable material.

but the width might be a bit much for a snowblower(?)

I might be interested in trying that, what size did you use?

 

[-CӞ]

I might be interested in trying that, what size did you use?

mine is the 4” width, and I believe one could rip (cut) the rubber strip to a narrower dimension, if one had the right tool(s).