Newspaper in Impeller

[Rustyiron]

I came too close to my doghouse and..... He was getting sucked toward me with all four paws dug in. Lucky him it was a front mount and I could see. I would hate to unwind him fro the impeller.

Reminds me of un winding a Fawn from the conditioning rolls on the haybine. Sad & not pretty.

 

[MossRoad]

Paper sheets is worse than throwing a 2x4 in the machine, because each sheet acts like a shim to the next and they just wedge in there tight. Can you imagine the strength of a 2x4 if it had grains as tight as a stack of paper? I don't know how you could have gotten it out of your blower any easier than you did other than disassembling the thing if the reverse rotation thing didn't work.

 

[dougtrr2]

I worked at a company where the President had the Wall Street Journal delivered. It started getting stolen so I had them deliver it to my warehouse that was behind a fence. Worked well for all concerned. Then we got a big snow and I was out with the snowblower cleaning my drive. The conversation with Sales Admin was "Harry, the good news is I found the Wall Street Journal......The bad news is I found it with the snowblower and it is confetti" The little blower didn't even bog down, it just shredded it. It took me a while to live that one down.

Doug in SW IA

 

[FatTire]

Paper sheets is worse than throwing a 2x4 in the machine, because each sheet acts like a shim to the next and they just wedge in there tight. Can you imagine the strength of a 2x4 if it had grains as tight as a stack of paper? I don't know how you could have gotten it out of your blower any easier than you did other than disassembling the thing if the reverse rotation thing didn't work.

^^^^This. Dense soft material is the worst. I've chewed up firewood before, no problem. And rocks break shear pins. But something like a newspaper, chunk of rubber, phone book, hose, etc., are really bad.

EDIT: BTW, our firewood is soft, pine and spruce.

 

[BLSXJ]

my experience is 50/50. half the time the snowblower will spit out the paper like confetti the other half it jams up real tight.

And I'll admit to hitting the "dog tie out cable" 3 times...only once with a dog on it.... its lots of fun when running a 42" blower on the front of a lawn mower.... getting pulled sideways trying to figure out whats happening.

Now my routine is... I start the kubota, and let it warm up while I shovel the steps, and walk ways and put the dog tie out up on its hook off the ground. Once I'm done all that the tractors good to go and away I go...

 

[GLyford]

Before we finished fencing in the yard, we had a split ring threaded into an extra hole of the "claw guard" on the back sliding screen door, to clip the end of the tieouts on so they wouldn't get lost under the snow or frozen to the deck, and you could fetch the ends in and get them clipped to the dogs before opening up the door enough for them to get out.

So sure enough one day I caught one of the tieouts in the auger and pulled the screen door right across the deck before I got it shut down.

These days there is a gate across the driveway end of the back patio that freezes shut so we don't even bother clearing a path. And as long as the weather isn't subzero there's a dog door.

 

[FatTire]

I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one that has "sh&t happen".

 

[Oaktree]

Just like a tire jamming the bush cutter - been there too.

Never hit a tire, but I did pick up a tarp once. It was brown and covered with leaves. Took a couple hours to cut it all out, at least it was in Oct. and not the middle of the winter.
Have a slip clutch on my cutter so no damage.

 

[Deere Dude]

I needed some shredded straw for a new lawn I put in and I couldn't thing of a better way to shred a bale of straw that a big walk beyond snowblower. Don't do it, it don't work. It takes forever to get the straw unwound.

 

[aczlan]

A mower works much better...

Aaron Z

 

[Creamer]

I worked at a company where the President had the Wall Street Journal delivered. It started getting stolen so I had them deliver it to my warehouse that was behind a fence. Worked well for all concerned. Then we got a big snow and I was out with the snowblower cleaning my drive. The conversation with Sales Admin was "Harry, the good news is I found the Wall Street Journal......The bad news is I found it with the snowblower and it is confetti" The little blower didn't even bog down, it just shredded it. It took me a while to live that one down.

Doug in SW IA

After I left the farm my Dad and brother bought a snowblower for the tractor - it was a big one that made the 140 hp tractor work. One time my brother was in the cattle lot cutting out some compacted snow and the other stuff the cattle leave and apparently did not see the mineral feeder which was constructed of an inverted car tire nailed to a couple of 2 x 12s. With the frozen compacted snow/ice/fertilizer mixture going through it was making a lot of noise and apparently my brother sitting in the cab did not notice anything but when he went to fill the mineral feeder he couldn't find it. He did find a steel belt on the rotor of the snow blower but that is all they ever found of that mineral feeder.

 

[cabover4us]

Have had about 3 instances, first with my dad's Montgomery Wards 8 hp lawn tractor with 42" single stage. We used this for years until I found a large rock from snow plow from village. Bent the high speed spinning auger/impellor unit. Never worked good after Dad had maintenance men put it on a lathe and ground off 1/2" of metal, still rotated out of round but didn't hit housing. Here in Salem had some huge storms, plowing and got stuck, pulled out by neighbor with John Deere 855. Went back to clean up lines where plow left behind and sucked in a 20' chain to my Yardman 13hp snowblower. Impellor housing raised a bit in the middle where chain went around. Had to break snowblower in two to remove and fix with new impellor. The housing is still raised, never pounded back down. Third time was in Greenwich, bought my Mother and Father in laws home, am naturally neighborly and snow blew woman next door driveway only to suck in welcome mat, luckily, only had to punch out both shear pins on auger. Spun right out with no damage to impellor. I did buy a 60" Woodmax blower for my John deere, works flawlessly, but worried about hitting something to damage gear drive.

 

[CincyFlyer]

When we used to sell snowblowers, frozen newspapers were the #1 cause of repair.

 

[crazyal]

The problem with newspaper is if it gets wet then freezes it's even worse than pykrete. Pykrete is just water with saw dust mixed in then frozen. It's incredibly strong. The government looked into making hulls for boats with it for the north Atlantic during the war since it was very simple way to build a boat.

 

[Howling]

Door mats will tear up and jam under the auger. Have had to unbolt auger to free chucks of door mat. Finally got my wife to agree to put mat inside breezeway instead out on the walk.

Did find partially inflated soccer ball (dog tog) on the path to oil fill. That jammed between the impeller and chute. Pain to cut out of there.

Havn't found dog lines with blower (yet). Tend find them with ROPS. Found out run in the front yard run is a little low when eyebolt pulled out and smacked me in the head. Can drive under back yard run. Caught the drop line and heard the screen door slam open and shut. Dog line won and took handle off the door. Now have small hook beside the door for the run hook. Wife still likes to leave it on the door handle.

 

[PILOON]

A friend ingested a pile of firewood that had been delivered just before a good snow event.
His auger was demolished, flighting all twisted and the shaft bent.
Needless to say he was not a happy camper.

 

[rp4410]

I found that the fastest way to unplug both ends and wind up a 50ft extension cord for your neighbor is with your snow blower. Makes you feel good when you can be so helpful!!!!!

 

[civilian]

I found that the fastest way to unplug both ends and wind up a 50ft extension cord for your neighbor is with your snow blower. Makes you feel good when you can be so helpful!!!!!View attachment 538973

At my daughter's in DC, they were gone 2 years ago when that big snow storm hit DC. A helpful neighbor cleared their drive and found the garden hose left outside the garage door. S.... happens. Don't know if or any damage to the small walk behind snow blower. At least the drive was cleared. Jon