# I hate to brag but..... (Wait, no I don't)



## hfjeff (Jan 24, 2016)

Has anyone else never ever EVER have a problem with clogging up? Last week we had 3 inches of wet heavy snow overnight. The next morning temps were hovering around 37 so it was very wet, sticky, and melting fast. I knew it would be a challenge for my single stage as it does not throw the heavy stuff well and the EOD still had a pretty good mound to clear. Went the route of overkill and got out the Toro. I was still able to throw this stuff 30' and never once clogged, no matter how slow I went. In fact, this is my second year with this machine and have yet to clog! I have had many brands of snowblowers over the years and was prepared with the broom stick handle to clear the chute-never happened. Just had to give out shout-out to the Toro Anti-Clog system-it works!. (I must confess, I secretly scoffed at the neighbors "big box store red machine" which was barely getting the snow out of the chute) :blowerhug:

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## Eric (Dec 10, 2016)

What's their anti-clog system consist of? Are there design features that could be applied to other machines without too much trouble? My new Ariens Deluxe 24 could be better in the slushy stuff and after only 8 hours on the clock I'm thinking it might be time to consider some modifications.I usually leave stuff as stock as possible because modifications s might improve performance but they almost never improve reliability. But if i can improve slush throwing performance I might make some reasonable changes.


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## DriverRider (Nov 20, 2016)

Eric said:


> What's their anti-clog system consist of? Are there design features that could be applied to other machines without too much trouble? My new Ariens Deluxe 24 could be better in the slushy stuff and after only 8 hours on the clock I'm thinking it might be time to consider some modifications.I usually leave stuff as stock as possible because modifications s might improve performance but they almost never improve reliability. But if i can improve slush throwing performance I might make some reasonable changes.


Slush is tough on any machine with dripping water evidenced with the gray color of the water logged snow. The pic shown might have some stickiness but nothing which should clog a machine as long as it is fed.


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## Eric (Dec 10, 2016)

DriverRider said:


> Slush is tough on any machine with dripping water evidenced with the gray color of the water logged snow. The pic shown might have some stickiness but nothing which should clog a machine as long as it is fed.


My little lot seems to have it's own weather systems. There are places that will be much wetter than others. Most of my snow will look like the posted picture but then I have a large area I the front and an even larger are out back that will be very wet and look gray like you said. I've been wondering if I should find a used single stage for the wet work.


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## GustoGuy (Nov 19, 2012)

Eric said:


> What's their anti-clog system consist of? Are there design features that could be applied to other machines without too much trouble? My new Ariens Deluxe 24 could be better in the slushy stuff and after only 8 hours on the clock I'm thinking it might be time to consider some modifications.I usually leave stuff as stock as possible because modifications s might improve performance but they almost never improve reliability. But if i can improve slush throwing performance I might make some reasonable changes.


I installed a baler belt impeller kit on 2 of my snow blowers and it really improves wet snow throwing ability. Once I hit some standing water in my driveway with it with my repowered MTD 5/22 and it even sprayed slush and water out of the chute for several feet. Plus a slightly larger top pulley for the auger will speed up the impeller and that really helps too to toss the wet slop out. A nice airtight impeller kit really improves a 2 stage machine and makes it much less likely to clog up on the sticky snow.


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## Hanky (Nov 14, 2014)

My Toro does the same it just out shines any other blower in the wet heavy snow. the plastic in the chute design must be the reason .


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## drmerdp (Feb 9, 2014)

I wonder how exactly the bypass in the impeller housing is effectively eliminating clogging. My mtd with an impeller kit has not clogged since I installed the paddles and I'm talking about 1-2" of translucent slush.


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## detdrbuzzard (Jan 20, 2012)

now if toro would combine the ACS with the drum auger it would be one heck of a snowblower


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## Kielbasa (Dec 21, 2013)

I know that I have mentioned this maybe 3 to 4 times, but... this is all you need to prevent your sno thro from clogging or blocking up if you do not want to do the so called impeller kit. 

This is my impeller kit... 




My machine gets wax on any painted or chromed surface. Yes it takes a little time and you do get some scratches and cuts on your hands, but to me... it is well... worth all of the time and effort. 

If you were to wax only the exit hole on a machine like on my Ariens 10000 series, you will not have any clogging or blockage. If you did more.. like underneath the exit hole, the impeller and the inside of the chute, augers and the inside of the bucket, you'd have this kind of result...


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## Mike C. (Jan 28, 2016)

hfjeff said:


> Has anyone else never ever EVER have a problem with clogging up?


Well,my poor old Toro 521(now a Harbor Freight 6.5) "China-Max" will handle wet slop without clogging 99.9% of the time.As long as the impeller doesn't stop while it has a mouthful,it doesn't clog.Other than the engine it's bone stock,no rubber flappers on the impeller or any other accessories.

I also used to use an old Snapper 824 at work that was the same way-I never had to ram anything down its throat to clear clogs.


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## SnapperInMA (Jan 24, 2016)

I've never needed to clear a clog on my snapper 8265.


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## 762mm (Dec 22, 2014)

My Toro 826 ('77 model) will pretty much eat it all and it takes a good 15 minutes of blowing wet snow before it starts choking on it. I don't know why that is, perhaps it struggles more as the metal gets colder and snow starts sticking to the side walls more (I store it in my garage at above freezing temperatures). The impeller kit seems to be the way to go to fix that though, as it is said to create more "pressure" in the drum to spit out the nasty wet snow more effectively and further... kind of like a water pump on a car does.

I'm just wondering if the impeller kit has any adverse effects on the engine though, since it potentially makes the engine work beyond its' intended limits...? The mod is so easy and cheap to do, it makes you wonder why manufacturers haven't been installing it themselves as standard equipment. There's probably a good reason for that.


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## GustoGuy (Nov 19, 2012)

762mm said:


> My Toro 826 ('77 model) will pretty much eat it all and it takes a good 15 minutes of blowing wet snow before it starts choking on it. I don't know why that is, perhaps it struggles more as the metal gets colder and snow starts sticking to the side walls more (I store it in my garage at above freezing temperatures). The impeller kit seems to be the way to go to fix that though, as it is said to create more "pressure" in the drum to spit out the nasty wet snow more effectively and further... kind of like a water pump on a car does.
> 
> I'm just wondering if the impeller kit has any adverse effects on the engine though, since it potentially makes the engine work beyond its' intended limits...? The mod is so easy and cheap to do, it makes you wonder why manufacturers haven't been installing it themselves as standard equipment. There's probably a good reason for that.


I doubt that it will hurt a mechanically sound engine. It may put a bit more strain on the engine due to the drag of the rubber paddles on the drum but I doubt that it would affect the longevity of the engine too much.


I am not sure why no manufacturers have not added replaceble rubber paddles to the inside of the impeller drum. I guess if the space is less than 1/4 of an inch clearence or so it may not add too much to the snow throwing ability. I found it to work well on my Predator 212cc re-powered MTD 5/22 since it really tosses the snow well up to 40 feet for the dry snow and 15+ feet on the really wet snow. Also I have not had any clogging of the Chute area no matter how wet the snow is since putting in the impeller kit.


Maybe forum Member Robert for Honda could provide an answer as to why no manufacturer has added a factory installed impeller kit to thier line of 2 stage snow blowers?


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## 43128 (Feb 14, 2014)

I'm just wondering if the impeller kit has any adverse effects on the engine though, since it potentially makes the engine work beyond its' intended limits...? The mod is so easy and cheap to do, it makes you wonder why manufacturers haven't been installing it themselves as standard equipment. There's probably a good reason for that.[/QUOTE]

it doesnt really put any stress on the engines once they have been broken in, but the break in period is easy. if you have a worn out belt however and you are breaking in an impeller kit breaking in the impeller kit may finish off your belt, which is why i always do an impeller kit BEFORE installing a new belt. once you overcome that initial force required to break in the impellers thouygh, i have never noticed bogging or any weird side effects, they run the same as before you installed the kit


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## Snowbelt_subie (Dec 20, 2016)

GustoGuy said:


> I installed a baler belt impeller kit on 2 of my snow blowers and it really improves wet snow throwing ability. Once I hit some standing water in my driveway with it with my repowered MTD 5/22 and it even sprayed slush and water out of the chute for several feet. Plus a slightly larger top pulley for the auger will speed up the impeller and that really helps too to toss the wet slop out. A nice airtight impeller kit really improves a 2 stage machine and makes it much less likely to clog up on the sticky snow.


i Made one for my 80's st724 with a straight rubber paddle and some self tapping steel screws and washers. cost about $12 never clogged in anything after that and threw the snow about 10 ft further.


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## albireo13 (Dec 30, 2016)

what thickness rubber did you use for the paddles? 
I have heard of using truck mudflaps perhaps.


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## FearlessFront (Aug 18, 2016)

The impeller mod they have will stop it from ever clogging and add distance. It's a great performance upgrade. You can buy the kit on ebay or make it yourself, I don't think they ever really wear out and if they did it is just a matter of replacing the rubber. Two stage snow throwers have a gap between the impeller and the impeller belly. They have too you can't have metal hitting metal. Every manufacture has a different size gap. The impeller kit is simply rectangular pieces of rubber that are screwed bolted onto each impeller wing/blade, the rubber hangs off the end of the impeller wing/blade and makes contact with the impeller belly which closes the gap 100% so when the impeller spins there is no gap, it comes around and wipes every bit of snow out from the wettest slush to the most powdery snow and makes the machine uncloggable and usually adds some throwing distance as well. Stock without the impeller mod the snow builds up in the belly because of the gap which ultimately clogs the machine. I highly recommend you add the impeller mod. Your machine most likely has the blades. On an odd number impeller you'll want to add the rubber to each blade. If you impeller had 4 or 6 blades you can put it n all the blades but you only have to put it on 2 of 4 of the blades add on skip one add one. The machine will never clog again and you can take the little clogger shovel on the bucket and toss it the side because you'll never need to use it. Or if you had to use you glove to unclog it you'll never have a wet glove from unclogging the impeller again. I highly recommend it and most people on here who have done it would say the same I'm sure.


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## FearlessFront (Aug 18, 2016)

SnapperInMA said:


> I've never needed to clear a clog on my snapper 8265.


I have, it's comes out in big round cubes for me when I get to the real slushy stuff, sometimes I have to punch it with my glove to break it up so it will get out of their. Although the snappers are in general a lot better when it comes to thick heavy wet snow, it still clogs up under the worst conditions. I haven't added the impeller kit to that machine yet, but I am, I can't be wasting time with clogs anymore. 2002 Snapper 8246 here. I use it commercially. I've also had newspapers get clogged in my machine several times and their a real pain to get out. I carry a torch with me now to burn it out. Otherwise those Snappers are great machines. They stopped making them in 2004. Briggs bought out Snapper the machines they make now can't hold a candle to ours and they have come way down in quality. 
Also my reverse does not work that well anymore. The one major issue I have had was that the frame holds the axle bushing in place. The axle bushing wore out on the left side (big gear side) the axle began to eat the frame. So now that round metal lip on the side of my frame is squashed and the bushing does not hold snug and the whole left side of the axle has play, probably one of the reasons reverse doesn't work to well. Now I have to grind off the lip drill holes and bolt a side mounted bearing to the frame to hold the axle in place snug. The only other way would be to buy a whole new gear box frame. That was the one design flaw on our machines. Their should have been real bushing supports not the frame being the bushing support.:bump9:


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## Smolenski7 (Nov 24, 2010)

I have a 6 year old (maybe 5 year old) 24" Ariens Deluxe. It has never clogged, not once. I have purposefully tried to make it clog, but have failed. Once I came home from work after several inches of snow melted through-out the day and the plow left a nice slushy mess at the end of my driveway. It didn't clog even once. It sure didn't throw it very far, but that was ok, it was a whole heck of a lot better than shoveling.

I am going to try to wax her up though. I can't help but think this will prevent some rust as the years go on. However, I do have a question, how often does it need to be waxed? Once a season, every few weeks, or before every storm?


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## hfjeff (Jan 24, 2016)

I mostly credit the anti-clog with the slippery characteristics of a plastic chute. I have never had plastic and was a bit leary as I have thrown my share of ice chunks at EOD. But with Toro's lifetime warranty, that took away any fear of breakage. Also I think the ant-clog bubble on the housing helps keep things flowing. Most of today's blowers seem to have a faster turning impeller to toss the snow out faster and further than those built in the 70s and 80s.


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## GustoGuy (Nov 19, 2012)

hfjeff said:


> I mostly credit the anti-clog with the slippery characteristics of a plastic chute. I have never had plastic and was a bit leary as I have thrown my share of ice chunks at EOD. But with Toro's lifetime warranty, that took away any fear of breakage. Also I think the ant-clog bubble on the housing helps keep things flowing. Most of today's blowers seem to have a faster turning impeller to toss the snow out faster and further than those built in the 70s and 80s.


 
More Horsepower and a slightly a faster auger with an impeller kit will lead to your snowblower becoming a snow geyser. I took a MTD 5/22 and repowered with a Predator 212cc and put on a 3 inch top pulley for the auger for a little more auger speed. Most older snowblowers impellers spin at 1000rpms. I would say go to 1300 rpms or so. If you spin it up way too fast you could blow out your augers gearbox. Here is my machine with Predator 212cc with baler belt impeller kit and 3 inch top pulley for the auger throwing 11 inches of snow also my machine was built in 2005 and has the original plastic chute.


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## Ariens hydro pro (Jan 24, 2014)

The snowbird would plug in slush. My sears Craftsman would also. The Ariens 30 platinum never. The pro seems to be fine in this dept as well, but I need more laps around the yard with it.


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