# DIY Drift Breakers!



## Snowmann2011 (Apr 5, 2011)

Heres a few pics of my new set of drift breakers I made and a few pics of the process.









































































I made these in just a few short hours from start to finish. I was tired of the puny one that was on there that was all bent up. So thanks to HCBPH suggesting that I make a set of my own, I have a set to be proud of. Let me know what you think.

Cody


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## mcbnh (Oct 14, 2011)

NIce job, no drift will ever be able to withstand these. I made a "loop" type drift cutter last week end as that is what the parts blow up showed for my machine and I wanted to approximate the OEM look. Is that a lawn boy in the background? I have a few of those. My favorite is the 19 inch.


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## Snowmann2011 (Apr 5, 2011)

mcbnh said:


> NIce job, no drift will ever be able to withstand these. I made a "loop" type drift cutter last week end as that is what the parts blow up showed for my machine and I wanted to approximate the OEM look. Is that a lawn boy in the background? I have a few of those. My favorite is the 19 inch.


Thanks, yeah the drifts that we get around here in the winter are ridiculous, so these ones are going to hold up real nice. Now that I made them, I have 2 friends of mine that want me to make them a set for their blowers, they say "They are just too cool to not have a set of their own" LOL. You should take a pic of the one you made and post it up here, Id love to see it. As for the Lawn Boy, yes it is. I was doing some work on it for my neighbor. Not sure what size it is, 19 or 20 I would imagine.

Thanks for stopping
Cody


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## mcbnh (Oct 14, 2011)

Made the driftcutter from old bar stock I had laying around. Cut 5 feet then made a jig to bend it. Had to do it 2 times as I forgot to account for the 1 inch you lose in the radius! It is super strong, I could hang the snowblower with it.

Also picked up a snowcab for the JD. It was laying beside a barn in Maine so I stopped and the old man let me have it for $30!


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## Snowmann2011 (Apr 5, 2011)

Looks very nice, Id never know you made that if you hadnt told me. You did a nice job on that. Good buy on the JD cab, you got a good deal on that.

Cody


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## HCBPH (Mar 8, 2011)

*Drift breakers*

Couple of nice sets there, well done. I personally think many times the shop made items are better than the purchased ones. Better materials, better built and gratifying to having done it yourself.

On the issue of bending, have a suggestion. I have the same issue with electrical conduit when making multiple bends. I lay the stuff on the ground and tape a line where the bend ends and put my conduit bender on the pipe with the end where I want it to end. Roll the conduit bender down the pipe, hook it on and then make the bend. I probably end up in the high 90% accurate doing it that way. Subsitute some form of buck in place of the conduit bender and the same principle should work for you.

Paul


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## kb0nly (Sep 22, 2011)

Some nice looking machines there! I have never seen a Yamaha until on this forum, just none around these parts.

Snowmann... Good job on the drift cutters. I went to my local scrap yard today and using your measurements i dug around and low and behold some nice lengths of flat stock on a shelf. What length was it you made them, 19" or?


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## Snowmann2011 (Apr 5, 2011)

kb0nly said:


> Some nice looking machines there! I have never seen a Yamaha until on this forum, just none around these parts.
> 
> Snowmann... Good job on the drift cutters. I went to my local scrap yard today and using your measurements i dug around and low and behold some nice lengths of flat stock on a shelf. What length was it you made them, 19" or?


Mine are 24" each.


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## kb0nly (Sep 22, 2011)

Ok thanks! I will fab some up after i get done repowering the Ariens.


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## djturnz (Feb 2, 2011)

So what do drift breakers do for you exactly? My blower doesn't have any, but I'm not sure I need them.


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## Shryp (Jan 1, 2011)

Drift cutters are for when the snow is higher than the bucket. Basically it knocks down snow in front of the bucket before you get to it so it doesn't fall behind the blower and make a mess in the spot you just cleaned.

They also double as a stand for tipping a blower up on the front housing if you have an older blower with the rounded front bucket.


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