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John Deere 1023e Snowblower Blades can't turn

7K views 20 replies 5 participants last post by  HouseMouse 
#1 ·
Hey everyone,

So I bought a John Deere 1023e about two weeks ago with a 54inch snowblower and we got our second snow storm since I've had it and when I went to blow the front blades wouldn't kick on, so when I looked at it I noticed that the blade was catching on the right side and couldn't fully rotate it's like it shifted an inch to the right. Has anyone seen this or have any idea what would have caused this? It's obviously still under warranty, so I'm going to contact the dealership tomorrow during business hours, but I was really baffled and was wondering what would have caused this. I attached a video to show what it's doing. Thanks in advance.

 
#2 ·
The problem is the auger is hitting on the bolt that holds the skid shoe on. Try mounting your skid shoe on the outside of the auger housing OR simply try taking the bolt out and inserting it with the nut on the outside.
 
#4 ·
Hmmm... without seeing the rest of the auger it is difficult to say. I have the same blower and there really isn't anything that would allow the auger to shift unless the shear bolt retainer came loose. If you grab the right side auger tube can you slide it left-right at all?

I'm assuming you removed the shear bolt from the right side or did it break as a result of the auger hitting the bolt?
 
#5 ·
Here is a large image of the auger on my 54" when it was first delivered. You should be able to zoom in and see details. Do you see anything that looks vastly different from your auger alignment?
 

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#7 ·
I'll admit this is my first tractor and I'm very uneducated on the specifics on this. I see both shear pins are still there and I'm able to move the blade as you can tell. If they are broken does that allow the blades to spin? Here is a photo of mine.
There is a shear bolt on each end of the auger. The red arrow below is pointing to it. There is an identical shear bolt on the left side. When these bolts are in place you will not be able to turn the auger by hand. When aligned, the oval-shaped shear bolt retainer (green arrow) will be aligned with the counter balance on the auger. From your video I suspect this bolt is missing as it appears you are turning the auger by hand.

Where are the two shear "pins" that you are seeing?


 

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#8 ·
Did you move the skid shoes up to have blower clean down to pavement?

When I got mine it was set low, to leave more snow on gravel drive. When I got the gravel packed down and froze, I moved my shoes up, but put them on the outside of housing. There are several settings you can set those shoes at. As you raise them up, you need to move the shoes to the outside of housing.
 
#9 ·
I was thinking that too. But there is only one set of bolt holes in the housing. So no matter what position the shoes are in, the bolts will be in the same place in the housing.

I always recommend changing the shoes to being mounted on the outside, I'm not sure why JD shoe-horned them on the inside.
 
#10 ·
Oh ok I understand. I thought you were talking about the bolt in the middle of the bar, so my pins are missing on both ends, so they did break. Thank you for explaining that. So I could pop another one in no problem, but the blade still seems like it is off alignment where it would hit the boot/bolt even if I moved it. Tomorrow I'll have to see what the dealership says and if they just want me to move the boot down and replace the pin or if they want me to do something different where it does seem to have shifted some. I learned a lot on the new toy. Thank you for showing me the photo. How often do these pins typically break. Is this a common occurrence?
 
#12 ·
Those are not bolts. Those are grease zerk fittings (see red arrows below). The way the blower works is the gearbox turns a shaft that runs INSIDE the auger tube. The flanges at each end of the auger tube has shear bolts which couple the inner drive shaft to the outer auger tube. This is how the auger and gearbox is protected. You need to keep these greased to prevent the inner shaft from rusting fast to the outer auger tube. I suspect yours broke due to the auger hitting the skid shoes.

Looking at your auger, I don't really see anything that is out of alignment. If you grab the auger tube can you move it left or right?

I suspect your skid shoe position may be the problem. I can't really say why it wasn't a problem in the beginning. Regardless, you would be well served to move those shoes to the OUTSIDE of the auger housing. That will eliminate any future contact with the auger tips.

 

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#13 ·
One other question, is your right-side auger tube tight against the center gear box (see red arrow below). If it is, the auger tube has not shifted to the right). If you have a space between the auger tube and the gearbox then it is possible that your right side shear bolt flange came loose and moved to the right. But again, if this were true you should be able to slide the right side auger tube back and forth.
 

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#15 ·
Here you can see how much gap mine has. There seems to be just enough gap for grease to escape when I grease those auger tube fittings.

 

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#18 ·
Thanks for the tip. I ended up moving the shoes to the outside like you did which give bolt holes instead of the sliders. What happened was the boot which was on the inside of the blower pushed up a little and the blade got a really slight bend hitting the boot. This is why moving it to the section with bolt holes and the outside should help. If the next few storms aren't ideal still I may pick those boots up you recommended.
 
#19 ·
Thanks for getting back to us with the resolution.

Ahh.. ok. So the skid shoe came loose, slid up and came in contact with the auger tip. That makes perfect sense. Yes, putting the retaining bolts in a hole instead of a slot will help it keep the adjustment. Moving them to the outside will eliminate the problem all together. I still can't figure why JD put them on the inside when virtually every snow blower you see (walk-behind, front-mounted, 3PH) has them on the outside of the housing.

I doubt a slight bend in the auger tip will effect anything but you should be able to bend it back by slipping a large adjustable wrench over the tip, tighten the jaws and then tweek the tip a bit.
 
#21 ·
There should be some Xtra sheer bolts stored next to the blower chute for situations like this. Or at least mind did. I usually broke two per season.
 
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