Snow Equipment Owning/Operating DIY chute control

[mpham]

Worked my setup for about a half hour. Turned great. Will be going out today to move some drifts. Temps are in the 20's. If it is going to freeze up today would do it. Will post what happens.

 

[drmac]

I hope all of you are GENEROUSLY greasing the bearing surfaces of your chutes. I use MOLY-GRAPH grease applied with a little hand grease squirter I got at Harbor Freight. The first time I re-lubed it there was a major improvement, less but much more consistent resistance, That's when I converted to my gear motor drive system (see Hydraulic conversion of a PTO snowblower)-but I won't forget to keep it lubed.

DrMac

 

[rgs03833]

I hope all of you are GENEROUSLY greasing the bearing surfaces of your chutes. I use MOLY-GRAPH grease applied with a little hand grease squirter I got at Harbor Freight. The first time I re-lubed it there was a major improvement, less but much more consistent resistance, That's when I converted to my gear motor drive system (see Hydraulic conversion of a PTO snowblower)-but I won't forget to keep it lubed.

DrMac

Yah, you have to grease them suckers... LOL

I usually spray mine with WD40 first to get the Dirt off, let it drip a bit and dry. Then grease that up really good. I must say you need to do this with your Fall Cleaning Task. I also, do that with all the moving Parts. Cheaper than buying Replacement Parts or sitting there fidling in the snow.:thumbsup:

 

[radair]

I went the easy route and bought Meteor's electric chute rotator kit through my dealer. It was pricy - $490 for a 12V, 2000# winch with the reel & cable removed and replaced with a gear that mates to the teeth on the blower. It also included the steel bracket to bolt to the blower and steel covers to go over the teeth. I will say that everything fit perfect and works great.

here's a link to the same winch (but with reel & cable): Superwinch, LLC - LT2000 - 2,000 lbs/12V

I'll add some pics if I can remember to shoot a few.

 

[Mark Page]

Why not vinyl coated wire?

 

[Roger270]

Thanks for the idea Mark Page,
I'm going to replace the cable on my blower
operating with a 12V winch.
Vinyl covered cable might run smoother.
Thanks Brother.
Roger270

 

[drmac]

Wyld Bill-

I was hoping you'd tell us what the 10A overload relay you found is and from what source--and how it's working. I think it sounds great!

DrMac

 

[Jay4200]

I just bought a 10AMP auto cycling overload relay today. It is the correct size to fit right in the spot that my in-line fuse it right now. So I'm going ot put that in line & hopefully if I go too far or something jams up it will trip on the overload then come back on in a few seconds.

FYI - I don't know what you are using for a winch, but a typical 2500 pound ATV winch pulls 15A at no load. ~160 amps full load. A chute should be close to no load, but you probably need something in the 20-30A range if your winch motor is similar. I like the breaker concept, but I suspect that you will have short-cycling problems - if so, go a little bigger.

http://www.warn.com/atv/winches/images/953/74375A1.pdf

JayC

 

[joe48]

Thanks for the idea Mark Page,
I'm going to replace the cable on my blower
operating with a 12V winch.
Vinyl covered cable might run smoother.
Thanks Brother.
Roger270

I put a HF 2000lb winch on mine and use a 20 amp in line fuse holder, basically looks exactly the same as the Superwinch.
I also used 3/16 inch galvanized because thats whats been on the hand winch for 6 years from the Smyth factory.
Also here's what I did with my work lights;
"I agree thats what i did with my auxilary light circuits and my winch circuit. I run a 15 amp fuse for 4 - 55 watt halogen work lights, never blown a fuse although it's probably under sized. I like it that way blow the fuse first before anything else."

 

[supertaster]

Looked at it again. So the spring is pulling it counter clockwise when you spool out right? What happens with the spring gets all full of slush & ices up? Have you used this is the real world yet?
Not crapping on your design just don't want to copy it if it hasn't had a real world test season yet.

Hey, I'm not sure how this turned out for you, but one idea may be to encase the spring in a bicycle tire tube cut to the length of the spring "extended" and maybe secured with tie wraps (cable ties) It may take some experimenting with where to tie it off as to not get pinched by the spring on recoil, but it would be a cheap option.

I'm trying to sort out a way of remotely turning my chute. I currently have the manual rotator handle cut and welded an old massey steering wheel to it. It's easy to turn and within reach, but I'm still out in the elements getting covered in snow. (cab on the drawing board)

I see lots of great ingenuity on here.... the best place to get ideas and help. Thank you to everyone for the guidance.
:thumbsup: