[BT_1360]

Hey guys, thought I was ready for the winter but the snowblower is on a different schedule.

I've been reading the forums for the past couple of months and thought to myself I've never checked to see if the augers or impeller spins freely if you remove the shear bolts. The blower is the 47 JD, purchased new 9 years ago.

Both augers were perfect, plus they get greased every spring. Next the impeller.. this is where the pain and frustration starts.

I'll fast forward 3 days of soaking the shaft with penetrating oil and cursing.

I finally broke down and removed the auger and impeller from the housing. This allowed me to get oil on both ends of the impeller.

To get the impeller moving and off I removed the set screws and key on the drive flange. Place the two flanges together and use a long solid rod as a punch. Tapping around in a circle. Once I have movement I drove it back on and off..

Don't strike the hex shaft on the gearbox end or the flange won't fit back on...

Little sanding fixed that mistake.

I need to clean up the shaft. It should polish up.

Next, open for suggestions, without starting a lubricant war..

I was thinking of a Teflon marine grease for the impeller and never seize for the big sprocket (I heard they can be a pain).

I've had no issues with the plastic impeller and it looks pretty good for 9 years.

Starting next spring the annual maintenance will include removing all 3 shear bolts and spinning the augers and impeller! Then reinstalling the bolts next fall.

Is there anything else I'm missing?

 

[quackaddict]

Emory cloth the shaft, clean it up, and then never seize the daylights out of it and reinstall. Then go get the new chaincase rear drive assembly and replace the trash gear drive. Then you will have the most reliable setup you can make out of the 47 blower.

 

[CJadamec]

Emory cloth the shaft, clean it up, and then never seize the daylights out of it and reinstall. Then go get the new chaincase rear drive assembly and replace the trash gear drive. Then you will have the most reliable setup you can make out of the 47 blower.

What he said.

 

[AJgrn78]

Yes...there needs to be a sticky thread to remind everyone to check the impeller every season. My 54" blower has a pretty easy life, 2 years ago (after 3 seasons of lighter use) I checked my impeller. It moved but not easily, it took some working back and forth and some PB blaster. I can only imagine how bad they seize up on a heavily used blower after several years. And of course no grease fitting for it...

 

[Sundancer268]

Agree on the new rear drive chain case. Carefully inspect the bearing mounting bolt holes where the shaft passes through the blower housing, this area is prone to developing cracks. Mine was only held together by one bolt and that hole was cracked.

 

[rydplrs]

I prefer scotch brite for polishing,

Grease......I have lots of thoughts, but only one grease gun. Everything gets whatever it’s loaded with, usually JD poly. When I had a boat it was marine grease for everything.

I think actually doing the scheduled maintenance and putting in the time checking things over is much more important then what grease you choose.

 

[BT_1360]

Has anyone thought about installing a grease nipple in the impeller. I found these on the net the other day but might be over thinking it.

 

[BT_1360]

Carefully inspect the bearing mounting bolt

Glad mine there's no cracks on mine. What cases the cracks... to much torque or hitting something when the impeller is seized?

 

[tj1]

I believe JG installed a grease fitting on his impeller,, I'm going to do that after this winter is over and when the auger is removed and do a 7 year rework. New bearings on both ends which I already have. I can move my impeller but it's hard to do so. I have the steel impeller so it will be a piece of cake installing a zerk. If you do one remember to use an angled fitting. Much easier to get the grease gun in there. I also have the chain case, makes life so much easier to take this all apart too. I'm also going to do the change on the rotation chute to give it more working rotation..
One of these days the JD blower will be a real blower!

 

[CJadamec]

Repeated impacts on the impeller and radial torque on the square bearing mount holes leads to fatigue cracking in the sheet metal. The new chain case they came out with solves the cracking issue by putting that bearing inside the chain case.

This is what my new to me used blower looked like when I took it apart.

 

[BT_1360]

I've never been a fan of used... I would have 😢 if I saw that.
Glad the new chain case fixes that issue. Might be hard to justify as there's nothing wrong with mine...

But I don't like the grease coming off the chain and the sprockets wobble - but there always the price!

 

[jgayman]

I believe JG installed a grease fitting on his impeller,, I'm going to do that after this winter is over and when the auger is removed and do a 7 year rework.

I didn’t yet but have plans to.

 

[CJadamec]

I've never been a fan of used... I would have 😢 if I saw that.
Glad the new chain case fixes that issue. Might be hard to justify as there's nothing wrong with mine...

But I don't like the grease coming off the chain and the sprockets wobble - but there always the price!

I went into my used purchase knowing I was going to tear the whole thing apart and rebuild it. The new chain case is only about $150 after you pay for shipping. Way cheaper than I expected it to be. For all the maintenance it gets rid of it's worth it.

My blower may have been used but it looks and runs better than new now.

 

[robwheeler]

Nice

rob

 

[John Deere 1025R TLB]

I went into my used purchase knowing I was going to tear the whole thing apart and rebuild it. The new chain case is only about $150 after you pay for shipping. Way cheaper than I expected it to be. For all the maintenance it gets rid of it's worth it.

My blower may have been used but it looks and runs better than new now.
View attachment 767072

On ebay search for the part number. They have 9 left. Got mine now.

Sent from my SM-N976V using Tapatalk

 

[Cfad104]

I believe JG installed a grease fitting on his impeller,, I'm going to do that after this winter is over and when the auger is removed and do a 7 year rework. New bearings on both ends which I already have. I can move my impeller but it's hard to do so. I have the steel impeller so it will be a piece of cake installing a zerk. If you do one remember to use an angled fitting. Much easier to get the grease gun in there. I also have the chain case, makes life so much easier to take this all apart too. I'm also going to do the change on the rotation chute to give it more working rotation..
One of these days the JD blower will be a real blower!

Curious what the change to the rotation chute is?

 

[jgayman]

Curious what the change to the rotation chute is?

Some folks have changed the pulleys and cables on the chute to enable it to rotate farther. The way it comes from the factory it can only rotate about 190 degrees.

 

[BirdDog0]

I went into my used purchase knowing I was going to tear the whole thing apart and rebuild it. The new chain case is only about $150 after you pay for shipping. Way cheaper than I expected it to be. For all the maintenance it gets rid of it's worth it.

My blower may have been used but it looks and runs better than new now.
View attachment 767072

I LOVE the lights on the blower!! Frigging great idea!!

 

[CJadamec]

I LOVE the lights on the blower!! Frigging great idea!!

So far they have worked out great the lights aren't shaking or flickering. I might consider getting a more powerful pair of lights at some point. The pair that I have mounted there were only 12 bucks on Amazon.

 

[tj1]

Curious what the change to the rotation chute is?

Sorry this is so late, but JG stated what it is. After watching some videos and reading up on the change I have decided to NOT do it! I'm pretty equipped to do just about anything but this looks to be quite an undertaking. Traveling around to get the necessary parts and fooling with an already mystical adaptation.. NOPE.. I'll leave it alone..
The chaincase has proven to work pretty good after beating it to death with recent storms and my steel impeller is totally free.. Somehow the two Allen screws loosened up and I could move that impeller front to back on the shaft with no problem.. A Little blue Loctite was in order yesterday after I found that out.. I did replace my mid to front pto shaft yesterday too.. It was wobbling so bad it made my feet numb! The front splined yoke was worn pretty bad. I tried to get just the yoke but couldn't find one so a new shaft was purchased. $$ I'm still going to look for a yoke and new u joint just to have a spare shaft.
I will say; it appears the gear ratio is a little different with the chaincase too, I never had an issue with power to move snow with the sprocket deal but now it does bog the engine down doing the same as I always have. It throws the snow pretty good but it does have a bogging issue even with WOT.. Even running slow into the snow it bogs down, not much but it is noticeable.
Jeff