Certified Parts
A couple of years ago when my Mom and Stepfather moved from Ohio back to Texas, they were nice enough to give us their snow blower. It’s a great Toro snow blower that works wonderfully, saves me a ton of time, and occasionally ranks above some of the kids on my list of favorites. Just kidding… sort of…
The only thing about the Toro that causes some frustration is that there is a part that keeps breaking. It has two augers in the front that connect to the axle. The bolt that connects the augers to the axle break occasionally. I’m not sure if I have it set too low, am too aggressive with it, or if this is some sort of defect, but I go through about a dozen of these bolts every season. I’ll probably take it down to get serviced this spring, but that’s not the point of this story.
I’ve been heading down to the Toro dealer and getting the certified bolt for this. They cost about $2 each. Not a big deal. I usually prefer to get the dealer parts for things.
Today I was in Fleet Farm and thought I’d see if I could find this highly specialized bolt. I did. I bought four of them for 25 cents. They fit perfectly. Work great.
Sigh…
Are you sure it’s the same bolt? Better be careful.
Having just done a bunch of work on my snow thrower, I’m somewhat of an expert on this. (ha!)
Those bolts are called shear pins. They are supposed to break. Though, not that much. They break to keep the auger from being damaged.
Posted by Deibert on January 12, 2008 at 1646 hrs
Well, they looked, felt, and seemed to weigh the same. Hmmmm… if they are too strong, I don’t want my auger to be damaged.
Darn you, Deibert! Now I’m all worried about it!
I’ll take it easy at the next snowfall and see how it goes.
Posted by Owen on January 12, 2008 at 1650 hrs
Deibert is indeed correct. These certified bolts are designed to shear if the force on the auger is too much. Not so much to protect the auger, but to protect the much smaller gears that drive the auger. If you bought regular bolts to replace, you’re running a risk of expensive damage.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on January 12, 2008 at 1655 hrs
This is why I post these things…. so that you guys can educate me. Thanks.
Posted by Owen on January 12, 2008 at 1704 hrs
Another tidbit - size is only one factor when matching bolts, “hardness” is another. The markings on the bolt head denote the strength of the steel they are made from. No marks would be the softest - usually used for “shear pins” - raised marks (usually radiating lines or letters) indicate increasing degrees of hardness.
As Diebert said, if you use too hard a pin, something else will become the weak point of the system.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on January 12, 2008 at 1713 hrs
So why are mine breaking so often? Do I have it set too low? Are the augers supposed to be at ground level or slightly above?
Posted by Owen on January 12, 2008 at 1713 hrs
BTW…
size is only one factor when matching bolts
Posted by Owen on January 12, 2008 at 1715 hrs
I don’t know for your specific Toro why you’re shearing your pins. I bought A Toro 2 years ago - brand new - and have had no troubles with it. The mouth of the snowblower should be a little off the ground, like 1/8” of an inch or so. Mine has a metal block on each side of the mouth that adjusts. If not, then the bottom of the mouth could get damaged by any little bump in the surface being cleaned.
If I were you, I’d live with the $2 bolts for this winter, and when you take it in for your spring maintenance talk to the experts about it. Either you’re being to agressive, or there’s something causing too much friction (Rolling Friction for the TATA car thread), or there’s too much friction on the snow being “processed”.
Oh, and GO PACK!!! Nice recovery from 0-14!
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on January 12, 2008 at 1802 hrs
Thanks. I think that’s exactly what I’ll do.
Posted by Owen on January 12, 2008 at 1811 hrs
...that’s what she said…
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on January 12, 2008 at 1812 hrs
I used one that sheared the pins fairly frequently and the leading cause was small stones jamming between the auger and the metal shroud around the auger. Also, chunks of ice can sometimes shear the pins if they jam in same locations. If you have a gravel driveway you may just have to live with it.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on January 12, 2008 at 2028 hrs
I used to go through a couple of sheer pins every winter. It isn’t the $2 price for the shear pins that is a pain, but changing them in the cold garage.
What kind of surface are you using it on. Mine were breaking (I assumed) because I have a gravel driveway. Any small stone that catches can jam the auger. I raised the height from 1/8 to about 1/4 inch and haven’t broken one since, or about 3 years now.
Posted by Sandi on January 12, 2008 at 2029 hrs
I have a concrete driveway and several hundred feet of sidewalk (corner lot). I could understand it if they broke when hammering through the end of the walks where the plows have put up a nice pile for me, but they also break when just doing a couple of inches on level ground. That’s what makes me think that I have it set too low or something.
It isn’t the $2 price for the shear pins that is a pain, but changing them in the cold garage.
Agreed!
Posted by Owen on January 12, 2008 at 2036 hrs
One reason that God made electric heaters is to put them in the garage for winter-repair projects.
I put a 480V 3phase in mine, with a blower. After about 20 minutes, the garage was 50 degreesF.
Good enough…
Posted by dad29 on January 12, 2008 at 2120 hrs
Your auger shouldn’t be touching the ground, just above it maybe a 1/8 to a 1/4. The cheap 25 cent bolts from the Farm & Barn are low grade and are no stronger than the $2 ones.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on January 12, 2008 at 2121 hrs
I put a 480V 3phase in mine, with a blower. After about 20 minutes, the garage was 50 degreesF.
What did you have to do to put that in your house??? It was a LOT of money to get 3 phase, when I was building - about 5 years ago.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on January 12, 2008 at 2137 hrs
The cheap 25 cent bolts from the Farm & Barn are low grade and are no stronger than the $2 ones.
That is an amazing statement, and I want you to prove it. It doesn’t pass my smell test.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on January 12, 2008 at 2139 hrs
I feel the need for an experiment.
Kids, grab the goggles, we’re going out to the garage…
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on January 12, 2008 at 2145 hrs
I post gun pr0n and this post gets more comments!?!?
I’m ashamed of you people.
Posted by Owen on January 12, 2008 at 2156 hrs
The cheap 25 cent bolts from the Farm & Barn are low grade and are no stronger than the $2 ones.
That is an amazing statement, and I want you to prove it. It doesn’t pass my smell test.
Posted by Jason on January 12, 2008 at 2139 hrsI can admit i’m guilty of assuming the tensile strength of the Farm & Barn bolt is equal to the OEM shear bolt/pin.
Having worked with a wide variety of mechanical repairs over 20 years of maintenance experience I believe i have a fair knowledge of fasteners.
We know that shear strength is defined as the maximum load that can be supported prior to fracture, when applied at a
right angle to the fastener’s axis. A load occurring in one transverse plane is known as single shear.
Double shear is a load applied in two planes where the fastener could be cut into three pieces. The shear strength is generally known to be 60% of the fasteners minimum tensile strength.
Ref.(http://www.portlandbolt.com/faqs/bolt-shear-strength-considerations)An auger and shaft would be considered single shear if any threads of the fastener are inside the assemble. Double shear if the unthreaded portion of the fastener covers the whole assembly.
Ref.page 4 (http://www.fastenal.com/content/documents/FastenalTechnicalReferenceGuide.pdf)Bolts come in many different grades. The most common referred to are the grades one, five and eight. Weakest to strongest.
Ref.(http://www.portlandbolt.com/technicalinformation/fastener_identification_markings.html)To be certain that we are replacing the shear bolt with an equivalent we would need to know it’s tensile strength..
Erring on the side of caution one could assume the manufacture would want to provide the best protection for the product and would select a low tensile shear pin.
There fore i would replace my shear bolt with a grade one fastener.
Taking the “Home Improvement” approach you could go with a larger or higher grade bolt/higher tensile and reducer the possibility of shearing the bolt. The question arises “Whats the next weak link.I have an older Sears 8hp snowblower that would keep breaking a shear bolt on a drive axle sprocket. After the eight occurrence i made a decision to drill out the hole and step up from a 1/4 to a 5/16 bolt. This doesn’t come with out risk, but I’ve been happy not replacing the bolt for the last two years with no other failures to the drive train.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on January 13, 2008 at 1207 hrs
OMG~
Tensile strength
whaaaaaaaaaaat?
Maybe if you were trying to pull the bolt apart from nut to cap with two tanks.60% off this equals that and I will throw in a few links to make my made up statements look official as well.
Sounds like someone has some insecurities with their intelligence or something too prove. Okay lets omit all the useless “copy and pasted” crap here that we googled to show were smart!!!!
Double shear if the unthreaded portion of the fastener covers the whole assembly.
your kidding right? I hope so…
Bolts come in many different grades. The most common referred to are the grades one, five and eight. Weakest to strongest.
whaaaaaaaaaaaaat?
I’ll fix this statement, it should be “Bolts come in many different grades. The most common referred to are the grades two, five and eight. Weakest to strongest.”
Grade 2 is a standard hardware grade steel. This is the most common grade of steel fastener and is the least expensive. I don’t know what they are using up in Portland but find me a grade one bolt here in Wisconsin especially at a hardware store and I’ll be impressed.To be certain that we are replacing the shear bolt with an equivalent we would need to know it’s tensile strength.
No No No… what we need to know is the amount of force it will take to “shear” the bolt. That is the actual process we are trying to do is to protect the snowthrower. But this is getting way too complicated now, its a shear bolt for goodness sake. They sell these things at Home depot, Lowes, Farm& Barn, and local hardware stores in the snowthrower section.
There fore I would replace my shear bolt with a grade one fastener.
That is just dumb. Shear bolts are made to snap or shear clean without deforming. That is why they have grooves cut in them at certain distances to fit the correct diameter of the shaft. Also to shear at that point without leaving large gawls, mushroom heads, or mangled bent bolt that you then have to spend a hour pounding out with a torch and a drill/drift pin.Taking the “Home Improvement” approach you could go with a larger or higher grade bolt/higher tensile and reducer the possibility of shearing the bolt. The question arises “What’s the next weak link.
I can answer this, the small gears in your transfer case which isn’t going to be cheap.
Shear bolts are made for a reason my suggestion is use them. Yes you can most likely get away with a regular bolt, but chances are that it could cost you in the end. Don’t want to pay the large exacerbated, were here to hold you over the barrel cost of “Bills Power Center” with genuine Toro OEM parts. Then go to Jackssmallengines.com and order up a bag of shear bolts and be set for the next 10 years.
I have a 8hp snowthrower it has 5/16” shear bolts. I have a corner lot with a large driveway, alley on the back side, and 3 access points at the curb that get plowed in all the time. My snowthrower has been in use for 10 years now and I have broken probably 5 shear pins due to hitting something like; large chunck of ice, edge of the curb, rock, piece of asphalt, and even a hidden frozen newspaper. Which when this happens I’m more than happy to replace these pins knowing that it spared large costly damage to my transfer case or engine. It requires 1-shear pin, small hammer, drift pin, 2-1/2” wrenches and about 2 minutes of time if your organized and know where to find your items. If your breaking large amounts of pins in open snow or with out at least hitting something. Something is not right with the snowthrower and it is in dire need of adjustment.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on February 12, 2008 at 0310 hrs
My “shear bolt” DID NOT SHEAR though last year when I hit something causing my 9 hp engine to die. This year the auger belt started burning. I took it into the garage and discovered a six inch 1.5 inch thick branch caught between the augher and the blower. The blot did not shear. It has numbers on its head of 307A SBY.
It is brass tone and is ferrous.Any thoughts on this?
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on February 24, 2008 at 1538 hrs
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