OP
irvingj
Elite Member
KC, there are two schools of thought on that....
Despite horror stories about how much the pins cost from the dealer, I didn't find they were that bad; about the same either from Kubota/TownLine or M-F/Northwood, under $2 each. I have some from both.
OEM pins from the dealer are, at least for the auger, grade 8 bolts with two scored/cut rings on the shaft, so breakage occurs there. M-F seems to favor a self-locking nut, Kubota a regular nut and a lockwasher. Other than that, they appear identical, even to the "gold" impeller shearpin (I've only replaced that once) and the "silver" auger pins; I'm fairly certain the blowers for both are made by the same Canadian company.
Others feels that a normal grade 2 bolt works about the same. These can be hard to find --most hardware stores don't carry below grade 5 or so-- but I picked some up at Kibby Equipment in WRJ, who also have a hydraulic shop; they cater to heavy equipment users.
Although I have some grade 2s, I've been sticking with the OEM parts so far.... Never lost any the first winter I had the tractor/blower, but have gone through about 4 auger pins each winter since then. I keep AT LEAST 3 spares on hand at all times, and have set up a small toolkit that I carry on the tractor- pins, small hammer, 1/2" socket & box end wrench, 5/32" drift punch.
Looking at the weather outside now.... yuck! If it doesn't stay warm long enough to melt off my driveway, I'm going to have a skating rink when it turns cold again on Tuesday!
Despite horror stories about how much the pins cost from the dealer, I didn't find they were that bad; about the same either from Kubota/TownLine or M-F/Northwood, under $2 each. I have some from both.
OEM pins from the dealer are, at least for the auger, grade 8 bolts with two scored/cut rings on the shaft, so breakage occurs there. M-F seems to favor a self-locking nut, Kubota a regular nut and a lockwasher. Other than that, they appear identical, even to the "gold" impeller shearpin (I've only replaced that once) and the "silver" auger pins; I'm fairly certain the blowers for both are made by the same Canadian company.
Others feels that a normal grade 2 bolt works about the same. These can be hard to find --most hardware stores don't carry below grade 5 or so-- but I picked some up at Kibby Equipment in WRJ, who also have a hydraulic shop; they cater to heavy equipment users.
Although I have some grade 2s, I've been sticking with the OEM parts so far.... Never lost any the first winter I had the tractor/blower, but have gone through about 4 auger pins each winter since then. I keep AT LEAST 3 spares on hand at all times, and have set up a small toolkit that I carry on the tractor- pins, small hammer, 1/2" socket & box end wrench, 5/32" drift punch.
Looking at the weather outside now.... yuck! If it doesn't stay warm long enough to melt off my driveway, I'm going to have a skating rink when it turns cold again on Tuesday!
