# Advice please on 2017 HSS724A impeller removal



## SkunkyLawnmowers (Oct 18, 2018)

Hi,

Typical of me, I try and solve one problem and create a bigger one!! 

I was working on my snowblower today, try to fit an impeller kit, the rubber paddles. I believe I dropped a self drilling screw behind the impeller housing. The impeller will only now move about 45 degrees in either direction. As far as I remember, it wass moving freely before I was working on it today, because I recall turning the impeller to check the gaps between it and the housing in preparation of my impeller kit install. 

So my question is, how easy is it to remove the impeller? My blower is only a year old and I've kept it well greased over summer, so I don't anticipate any seizing issues. I just need to know the mechanical steps. 

I tried to very gently engage the impeller / augers with the right hand handlebar lever but an grinding noise started whicgh confirmed my worries that I have dropped a screw behind the impeller. 

So any advice is welcome, thanks. Once I have the impeller out I am going to take advanatge of that and fit my rubber paddles with the impeller in a vice, rather than trying to drill through the chute housing wihich was a royal PIA. 

Thanks for any help / advice. I checked Donyboy73's Youtube channel but I could not find my scenario on there.

Edit / add - I have ordered the HSS724 Honda shop manual.


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## leonz (Dec 12, 2014)

If you have the time tonight wander over to harbor freight if you have one nearby and pick up one of their hand held inspection cameras; it has a long grabber that you may be able to grip the screw with 
BUT if you do not have room for the camera head taking some really stiff fence wire or 12 gauge solid copper wire and making a wide hook on one end to try to pull the screw up to grab it with a magnet would be the best way.

Taking off the cross augers and the worm to spur gear drive are best left to a wet, your stuck in your garage Saturday after you get the shop manual. Your going to need some more tools unless you have a very well stocked tool box and a big bottle of blue loctite to secure the set screws and nuts on the snow mule.


"Tiny places that love to vacuum up small parts into the unknown abyss are not the best of friends for either the layperson or the journeyman mechanic".


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## SkunkyLawnmowers (Oct 18, 2018)

Cheers Leonz for your reply and tips.

Funny, I was thinking of one of those cameras the other day......

I checked as best I could behind the impeller using an inspection mirror but couldn't see too much. I'm assuming the screw is in there because I know exactly how many I used and I am one missing, plus I dropped it into that general area.

I'm thinking I have the tools to do this; no special tools, pullers, etc needed from what I've gathered so far. 

I'm looking at this postively - it'll be a chance to give the auger shafts a good greasing AND be able to drill my rubber paddles into it while it's held in a vice. I'm thinking of using stainless bolts / nuts now for my impeller mod rather than self drilling screws.


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## SkunkyLawnmowers (Oct 18, 2018)

leonz said:


> "Tiny places that love to vacuum up small parts into the unknown abyss are not the best of friends for either the layperson or the journeyman mechanic".


Indeed. A bit like when I used to work work on my motorcycles in the UK. I would drop a nut on the garage floor and, automagically crossing multi dimension, it would end up in the corner of a random garage floor 5 miles away :blink:


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## SkunkyLawnmowers (Oct 18, 2018)

leonz said:


> Your going to need.........a big bottle of blue loctite to secure the set screws and nuts on the snow mule.


Is this something Honda recommends or a personal preference of yours?


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## leonz (Dec 12, 2014)

Using blue Loctite is a personal preference of mine. 

I use the blue loctite as it lets you remove the nut or bolt without filling the swear jar, using an impact wrench, using the smoke wrench to heat the nuts up to remove the nut or bolt as it holds and holds well.

After you have the bolt in place with the paddle secured in the vise push the washer on and then apply 2 drops to the threads near the washer and then run the nuts up and hand tighten them to the required torque-if you have a torque wrench as the coarse bolt will break if you do not use a 3/8" torque wrench. A grade five bolt only needs 33 foot pounds of torque to properly set it.

With the impact of the snow entering the impeller housing and the vibration created by the impact of the snow against the paddles I would want to use the blue loctite as a fall back measure to avoid spitting out a rubber paddle and the sheet metal plates and losing them.

You are on the right track(forgive the pun) and installing the rubber impeller paddles is not a mistake. 

It is just something that will take a little more time to do, provide you with huge dividends and blow the crap across the road to feed the other moat monsters-Just avoid hitting the mail boxes with the crap. 

The use of Fluid Film spray to coat everything that contacts snow will make the chore even easier for you. 
Use of Fluid Film on a lawn tractors snow plow is something to be avoided as it will cause you to spin 180 degrees when plowing and trying to push snow back -don't ask me how I know this as I was nearly thrown off the wheel horse when I did that.
The Fluid Film sheep that sell the lanolin from their wool were laughing all the way to the bank by the way.



I am not trying to complicate your work, I just want you to succeed as I HATE PROBLEMS-Been there done that for the last 51 years and I am still upset that pop traded in 1967 IHC 12 horse cub cadet with the single stage snow thrower for a larger 1968 Cub Cadet Lowboy with the 4 IHC cylinder engine and the stupid snow plow that was not worth the money as it was worthless in heavy deep snow even with chains as he did not have tires loaded.


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## RIT333 (Feb 6, 2014)

SkunkyLawnmowers said:


> I'm looking at this postively - it'll be a chance to give the auger shafts a good greasing.



I think you'll be pleased to find out that Honda's auger shafts do not go all the way through the auger sleeve, but are only stubs. So, even if the auger does got rusted to the shaft, it if fairly easy, or much easier, so remove than a full length shaft. Seems like a great idea, IMHO.


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## SkunkyLawnmowers (Oct 18, 2018)

Although I think I'm reasonably mechanically minded for a girly girl, this is my fist snow blower. I did have a Cub Cadet 3 stage for a few weeks (unused) but I decided it was far too big for me, so I got the Honda. I love Honda stuff, I have a Honda generator and tiller. 

So my snow blower learning curve is quite steep. One thing I have learnt thus far with the impeller rubber paddle mod, is that it is an absolute PIA to try and drill through the chute opening. That, and also when you drill in there you get the metal swarf going everywhere - that is very bad and will find its way into all sorts of metal on metal crevices. Bad.

I honestly believe a lot of people who have done this mod have taken the impeller off to do it, for the aforementioned reasons. Looking at it, once I familiarise myself fully with the auger internals, I think I should be able to get it all out in about half hour or less. I'll take some photos later and ESPECIALLY one of that pesky screw who has taken up residence behind the impeller!!! At least I'm hoping that's the reason the impeller suddenly won't turn..........


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## SkunkyLawnmowers (Oct 18, 2018)

Update

Firstly, thanks for the replies and tips given in this thread. 

So today I had a go at removing the impeller, I should have waited for the manual but got impatient!!

I can't believe how easy it was!! 8 bolts to remove and that's it. It took 25 minutes to do - 15 of which was spent trying to remove a very badly factory installed split pin (cotter pin). So without that hitch it would have taken under 10 minutes to remove the impeller, prbably less. 

*For anyone reading this down the line and you're thinking of installing impeller paddles - take the impeller out. It's so much easier to drill the holes into the impeller with it out of the machine. *

It was a joy to work on, top notch Honda engineering, apart from the cotter pin. 

I never found the screw - that's because I miscounted and there wasn't one behind the impeller after all. <blush> BUT - I'm glad I took it out anyway. It's given me confidence with the machine and I was able to locate the impeller shaft shear pin, which up until that point was a bit of a mystery. The screeching from the impeller that I thought was a stuck screw was the rubber paddle catching and jamming on the blowewr housing. 

Some videos online show the need to remove the motor cover to access the 4 bolts holding the vertical gearbox support bracket. Not only is not necessary to remove those 4 bolts (you can just remove the 2 bolts holding the gearbox to the lower part of the bracket inside the auger housing) it is also not necessary to remove the motor cover, either. Maybe the videos I watched were for HS models. Still, it gave me a chance to inspect the internals and see where the belts are, etc.


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## 1132le (Feb 23, 2017)

SkunkyLawnmowers said:


> Update
> 
> Firstly, thanks for the replies and tips given in this thread.
> 
> ...



All due respect
ive installed 10 or so kits
never removed the impeller
only drilled the 1st kit and found that a waste of time
# 10 self tapping screws with washers on top
45 min on a 3 blade imp 

1 hr on a 4 blade working alone


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## orangputeh (Nov 24, 2016)

skunky ,

what cotter pin are you speaking of.? there is one somewhere on the HSS?

glad you figured it out. it is fairly easy. grease the shafts and all? should be done anyway as Honda does not have grease fittings on the augers and impeller.


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## orangputeh (Nov 24, 2016)

1132le said:


> All due respect
> ive installed 10 or so kits
> never removed the impeller
> only drilled the 1st kit and found that a waste of time
> ...


I've always taken mine out so I can check bearings, repack if necessary and grease all the shafts. sometimes I have had to use a wire brush to clean the rust out the auger ends.

what kind of drill bit do you use? is it a 12 inch or do you use an extention ?


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## 1132le (Feb 23, 2017)

orangputeh said:


> I've always taken mine out so I can check bearings, repack if necessary and grease all the shafts. sometimes I have had to use a wire brush to clean the rust out the auger ends.
> 
> what kind of drill bit do you use? is it a 12 inch or do you use an extention ?


Ive never measured it its and extension bit
my tip for doing it without removing is
put screws into the pads install until both start to drill remove pad so you can see *** you are doing
after they both catch remove install rubber pads and washers they will then go right in
start machine run for 1 min on max rpm
wash rinse repeat when all are done
start machine run 5 min on max rpm
smile at those who dont have a kit while you blow heavy wet snow and slop 35 feet like powder


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## Zavie (Sep 23, 2014)

I use the Irwin speedbor 12" extension #88601. Just pick up the size bit you need with a 1/4" quick change hex fitting. Most big box stores have many size bits now with the hex fitting.


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## SkunkyLawnmowers (Oct 18, 2018)

orangputeh said:


> skunky ,
> 
> what cotter pin are you speaking of.? there is one somewhere on the HSS?
> 
> glad you figured it out. it is fairly easy. grease the shafts and all? should be done anyway as Honda does not have grease fittings on the augers and impeller.


Hi,

Once you slide the gearbox / transmission shaft off of the impeller shaft, you next encounter a bolt with a cotter pin through the bottom. That was the PIA. Behind that sits the 10mm impeller shear bolt, which you don't have to remove to slide off the impeller and its shaft.


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## SkunkyLawnmowers (Oct 18, 2018)

1132le said:


> All due respect
> ive installed 10 or so kits
> never removed the impeller
> only drilled the 1st kit and found that a waste of time
> ...


Good for you  You're evidently quite xperienced with this mod. 

For me and maybe similar lesser experienced snowblower peeps, it's a no brainer taking off the impeller, 10 mins work, followed by easy precision drilling. I'm going to be using bolts when I come to do the updated mod, much easier to remove and more options, I feel.


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## orangputeh (Nov 24, 2016)

Zavie said:


> I use the Irwin speedbor 12" extension #88601. Just pick up the size bit you need with a 1/4" quick change hex fitting. Most big box stores have many size bits now with the hex fitting.


thanks. just ordered it from Amazon


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## orangputeh (Nov 24, 2016)

1132le said:


> All due respect
> ive installed 10 or so kits
> never removed the impeller
> only drilled the 1st kit and found that a waste of time
> ...


sounds good. maybe you could post a video in your signature. it would be real popular . the ones I have seen on you tube are generally not that good.


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## 1132le (Feb 23, 2017)

SkunkyLawnmowers said:


> Good for you  You're evidently quite xperienced with this mod.
> 
> For me and maybe similar lesser experienced snowblower peeps, it's a no brainer taking off the impeller, 10 mins work, followed by easy precision drilling. I'm going to be using bolts when I come to do the updated mod, much easier to remove and more options, I feel.[/QUOTE
> 
> ...


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