Snow Attachments finding shear bolt hole

[Gods Country]

Have you explored the possibility of longitudinal shift ? The hole may be 1/2" one way or the other from the band youre viewing. MikeD74t

This would be my guess. Although I don't own a tractor mount snow thrower I did own a very large 4' cut walk behind, and did the same as the OP once after blowing a pin. I was almost done so I just kept going. Ended up that the mount for the gear box shifted enough (presumably from the weight of the snow pushing against the inoperable side) to allow the auger shaft to shift about 1/2''. Couldn稚 find the sheer pin.

 

[BeezFun]

After you get the broken bolt located & replaced, take a center punch and mark the exposed part of the internal shaft adjacent to the shear bolt hole & auger tube. This prick mark will give you a frame of reference for the next time you break a shearbolt. On NH front mount blowers there is just enough exposed shaft to do this.

Big ditto on that. I make a small mark on the inner shaft at the edge of the auger, and on the end of the auger tube. The mark on the shaft gets the auger in the right longitudinal position as well as lining up rotationally with auger mark.

I've thought of training the dog to find the bolt hole because I always break the shear bolts on sticks, newspapers and old bones from the mailman that he leaves in the driveway. He's figured out how to lock himself in the car, he should be able to figure this out.