# Convert a 3x snowblower to 2x?



## RJR70 (Dec 11, 2017)

Purchased a 26" 3x Cub Cadet snow blower last winter. I do NOT like the 3x arrangement of auger disks -- constantly breaking shear pins on the center disks. I was much happier with the tried and true 2x format with my old MTD 5hp Storm Series -- tried and true for 11 years and now wish I hadn't replaced it. The 3x machine itself is very solid and has a lot of power. I'd really like to replace the auger axles and gear box and replace with two stage parts. Any thoughts on whether this is worth trying to do?


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## Cardo111 (Feb 16, 2015)

I think you would probably be better off selling your current unit on CL and purchasing a 2 stage machine.


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## Dauntae (Nov 10, 2016)

Would probably be cheaper to sell and buy another


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## stromr (Jul 20, 2016)

*Actually...*

Looks like it's possible, might have to make a spacer or two, looks like you could easily take off the front piece (#11), the other #11 is a little more fiddly but easy enough. But really, why not sell it or trade it in on a 2X?


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## alylea (Nov 21, 2017)

Greetings from Tarrytown. I'm wondering if you have the crappy shear pins I've read about on the site? Have you tried ordering new ones? We had about 3" of wet snow yesterday and my brand new last year's model 3x 30 HD laughed at it. I purposely went after the plow Shi* pile in front of my house. I live where 2 streets intersect in an L and the pile was about 14" high and 20'+ long. No problems with any aspect, and I hit it from the end that allowed me to grab a full chute wide and go the entire 20' length. Thoughts?


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## RJR70 (Dec 11, 2017)

Thanks for the info!


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## jtw1979 (Mar 14, 2017)

I would try different pins. I hear some are easier to break than others. Might be worth a shot before looking at the expense of replacing augers. I think it would be easier to sell and get a different blower than buy parts and convert.


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## bp0416 (Jan 1, 2018)

alylea said:


> Greetings from Tarrytown. I'm wondering if you have the crappy shear pins I've read about on the site? Have you tried ordering new ones? We had about 3" of wet snow yesterday and my brand new last year's model 3x 30 HD laughed at it. I purposely went after the plow Shi* pile in front of my house. I live where 2 streets intersect in an L and the pile was about 14" high and 20'+ long. No problems with any aspect, and I hit it from the end that allowed me to grab a full chute wide and go the entire 20' length. Thoughts?


What shear pins have you had the best luck with? After reading all the "horror stories" of how the 3X units eat accelerator shear pins I've now noticed that users are saying that all pins are not equal - seems like some aftermarket pins only break when they should. Comments?? Thanks!


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## 2point2 (Sep 20, 2014)

What are the conditions like? 

The impeller tunnel extends into auger housing so it's more than swapping the auger assembly.

In my experience they break when they're supposed to break. I broke pins from ingesting newspapers and branches. Im on 6 most of the time. 

I would try new pins before giving up on the machine.


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## alylea (Nov 21, 2017)

bp0416 said:


> What shear pins have you had the best luck with? After reading all the "horror stories" of how the 3X units eat accelerator shear pins I've now noticed that users are saying that all pins are not equal - seems like some aftermarket pins only break when they should. Comments?? Thanks!


My machine is new so I'm using the OEM's that came with the machine. Have you tried calling CC and discussing this with a Tech? My experience is that 3 out of 4 were very good to excellent. One was a dud and belonged back in shipping.


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## Tacoma18 (Dec 27, 2020)

Three years later and the same This is a snowblower, right? It's used to throw snow right? So why do these pins break from snow?????? I paid almost $1500 for an attachment that can't do its job? I'll be calling cub cadet on my next day off, either they come up with a remedy or I want my money back! So three years later, wonder if anyone checks comments after this much time has passed. What engineer put 1/4 sheer pins on a 20+hp machine? My 10hp 28 inch walk behind has 5/16 pins and it chews up packed snow, wet snow and snow from the road the snowplow dumped in my driveway and doesn't sheer pins..!


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## RIT333 (Feb 6, 2014)

Sell it, and get a Toro or ariens. Time to cut bait, and move on.


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## 140278 (Aug 27, 2020)

first off they have changed the part number and design of the accelerator pins only, for the 2020's second a first post and complaining about something 3 years latter.


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## sscotsman (Dec 8, 2010)

A theory on the really weak shear pins of the 3-stage MTD's..quoting myself from three years ago:



sscotsman said:


> Im sure this has already been mentioned, but the light-bulb just went off for me..
> It would seem the reason these MTD (Troy-Bilt, Cub Cadet, and others) shear pins break so often is that the shear pins are intentionally designed to be very weak, because the gearbox is so weak. So a very week and poor quality gearbox needs very weak shearbolts to protect it..Which explains breaking ten Troy-Bilt shear bolts in a season.
> 
> seems obvious now!  but I honestly never made that connection until now.
> ...


From this thread








3-stage Vortex... any opinions?


Anyone have any experience or comment on the 3-stage Troy-Bilt Vortex snowblowers? I need to have a back-up plan to my current one which is being held together with bailing wire and lok-tite (LOL.) I can get a 357CC TB Vortex for just under 1K but am not too familiar with the 3 stage models...




www.snowblowerforum.com





Probably impossible to confirm, but it does make sense..and it does explain the breaking of the many pins..

Scot


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## 140278 (Aug 27, 2020)

cub cadet has finally realized the issue and changed the shear pin for the accelerator 3x section

("NOTE: All 3X Snow Blowers manufactured from July 15, 2019 forward will be produced using the new grade 8 hex head shear pin in the accelerators only."

The accelerators are the central pair of augers that make up the "3X" component for Cub Cadet. For those unaware, grade 8 shear pins are stronger that the normal shear pin.

The package of shear pins contains TWO types of Shear Pins - one for the central accelerators and another type for the side augers. Those for the central accelerators have a hex head with the letter "A" embossed on them. Those for the side augers have a round head with the number "3" embossed on them. Quite confusing and easy to put the wrong pins in the wrong locations. )


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## Tacoma18 (Dec 27, 2020)

RIT333 said:


> Sell it, and get a Toro or ariens. Time to cut bait, and move on.


Wow, that's your response? I thought forums were to come up with solutions to problems and help out fellow neighbors.
For your information, the walk-behind I have is a 20+ old MTD product which also makes the cub cadet snowblower and has outlived Aries, Toro, and John Deere machines of the same era. Oh... I didn't realize I could buy an Aries or Toro attachment for my X3 Cub!!! Both the Mower and snowblower are 2020 models bought in the fall so selling and buying a different brand is not financially responsible or fesable. Do you throw money away?... if so I'll send you my address.


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## Old Jeremiah (Feb 4, 2021)

captchas said:


> cub cadet has finally realized the issue and changed the shear pin for the accelerator 3x section
> 
> ("NOTE: All 3X Snow Blowers manufactured from July 15, 2019 forward will be produced using the new grade 8 hex head shear pin in the accelerators only."
> 
> ...


captchas;

Thank you for the information regarding the new grade 8 shear pins. I've been struggling with my 3X Cub Cadet for 2 1/2 years with breaking shear pins on the central accelerators. The dealer I bought it from in Sept 2018 just shrugged his shoulders. I bought a dozen replacement shear pins of the original design, because that's what customer service said was the correct one. I had a 6" snowstorm 2 days ago and went through 2 pins. I have a flat, paved driveway, so no reason for them to fail. My unit has the 420 cc engine with 14" augers. I fought with customer service 3 times today and asked about the new shear pin you mentioned. The third customer service person looked at what is supplied with 2020 units. Low and behold, he agreed that they now supply different pins for the central accelerators. FYI, the CC part number is 738-06654. I'm including a link to their web page showing the item. Thanks again for leading me on the right path.






Shear Pin for 3X snow blower accelerators (.25 x 1.5) - 738-06654 | Cub Cadet US


Read reviews and buy Shear Pin for 3X snow blower accelerators (.25 x 1.5)738-06654. Free shipping on parts orders over $45.




www.cubcadet.com


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## ST1100A (Feb 7, 2015)

I am working on one of those 3 Stage' 26" now.
Since the man put the 'Grade 8' shear pins in the Accelerator augers that Cub Cadet says to do, he broke the Worm Shaft that drives the auger shaft.
That happened when it hit a hard pack of E.O.D. snow/ice with the front center accelerator disc and the 'Grade 8' shear pin did not break like the old pins did.
It broke the shaft right behind the gearbox right at the hole for the shear pin for the rear accelerator disc ahead of the impeller.
Cub Cadet is afraid to admit to the fact that the '3 Stage' design was a major mistake with constant problems/failures/breakage and did not perform well. Their service and sales representatives will admit to it but tell everyone not to let the public know. They admit and suggest to go with the '2 Stage' and stay away from the '3 Stage' units because of the problems and unsatisfactory performance with them.
As for people who want to convert them to a 2 stage machine, they will have to change out the auger housing from the 3 stage back to the 2 stage because they are totally different and do not have the 'Brow shield' where the snow enters the impeller. That 'Brow' would get in the way of the auger paddles and would be hit and jam them, plus they would not even fit in the first place.
That 'Brow' causes many clogs and jams, it gets in the way of snow entering the impeller causing it to limit its intake of snow.


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## 140278 (Aug 27, 2020)

Old Jeremiah said:


> captchas;
> 
> Thank you for the information regarding the new grade 8 shear pins. I've been struggling with my 3X Cub Cadet for 2 1/2 years with breaking shear pins on the central accelerators. The dealer I bought it from in Sept 2018 just shrugged his shoulders. I bought a dozen replacement shear pins of the original design, because that's what customer service said was the correct one. I had a 6" snowstorm 2 days ago and went through 2 pins. I have a flat, paved driveway, so no reason for them to fail. My unit has the 420 cc engine with 14" augers. I fought with customer service 3 times today and asked about the new shear pin you mentioned. The third customer service person looked at what is supplied with 2020 units. Low and behold, he agreed that they now supply different pins for the central accelerators. FYI, the CC part number is 738-06654. I'm including a link to their web page showing the item. Thanks again for leading me on the right path.
> 
> ...


Old Jeremiah . the part number credit goes to the site member who sent us the information about the new pins placed in a sticky at the top of the cub cadet section,
sadly the new pins are causing other issues explained in post # 18 written by st1100a who is a OPE dealer tech/mechanic  seeing the issues first hand .


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## ST1100A (Feb 7, 2015)

I know it is upsetting to many of the owners of the 3 stage machines when they find out how much it would cost them to switch their machines back to the 2 stage.
For the price, they find it better to replace the unit with either a new or used 2 stage machine than to spend that much money on the conversion.
The worst part is how disappointed they become when they find the value of their new or newer 3 stage is not much for re-sale or trade-in, then they fell betrayed by Cub Cadet for advertising it in the first place. They then realize it was a sales 'Gimmick' that got them to purchase it, thinking it would out-perform 2 stage machines.
They may work great in lighter amounts of snow, maybe up to 8 inches of fine dry powder type snow, but then they got into the deep snow that was up close to the top of their auger housings, it couldn't remove the snow quick enough and loaded it up and bogged it down. They also realized they had problems with hitting hard packed type snow and icy chunk type and End Of Driveway piles that the snowplows would pile up. They saw too many shear pins breaking, auger discs being bent, and clogging issues that upset them.
Cub Cadet now has equipped their new models with a much stronger shear bolt only for the center/accelerator auger paddles. That was good for not breaking them as quickly, but it ended up doing more expensive damage to other parts of the machine, like broken shafts and stripped out/broken brass pinion gear in the auger gearbox, but most of the time it was a broken shaft.
People made the mistake of putting the wrong shear pins in the wrong spot many times and broke more than what they expected. The major problems were when they would hit something hard and the pin didn't break from the front center accelerator paddle was a bent/broken paddle and the worm gear drive shaft that the drive belt runs to spin the impeller and all of the auger paddles.
Once that shaft breaks, besides the noise it makes, the only thing that will spin besides the belt pulley would be the impeller. The shaft breaks right at its 'Weak Spot' where the hole is drilled for the shear pin before the shaft goes into the auger gearbox. Some of them break at the front after the gearbox, but most break between the gearbox and the impeller.
Either way, the worm shaft has to be replaced which requires the unit be separated with the auger housing to the 'Tractor Frame' to remove the worm shaft, then the gearbox requires disassembly so they are not only looking at somewhat expensive parts replacement, but also the labor involved in the job, and the 'Down-Time' of not having a machine to use when needed.


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## Old Jeremiah (Feb 4, 2021)

Do I hear class action lawsuit? Unfortunately, we mere consumers have no recourse. The right thing for MTD to do would be to recall all unit's and beef up the shafts/drive train. Obviously that's not going to happen. Disappointing.


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## johnnj (Feb 10, 2021)

I bought a 26" Cub 3X in the fall of 2018. We had no snow in Northern NJ that winter, so I didn't get to try it until last winter, when it snowed once, about 4". I was able to finish my driveway (1 car wide with a double wide dogleg in the back), but snow kept getting jammed between the two accelerator augers. At that point I kind of had an inkling the thing was not so good.

This winter we've had 3 storms so far. The first was about 8 inches of normal NJ snow (wet but not slush) and both of the accelerator pins broke, as did the 2 spares it came with. I called Cub and they basically just told me to get more pins and the thing was operating as designed. Maybe I was using it wrong. Mind you this was just fresh snow on pavement with no ice or rocks. 

My old 24" SnoTek that I had for 10 years never broke a pin once. It wasn't the greatest with severe storms, but it got the job done.

After reading on here about the stronger pins, I called them back to confirm this. I then got into a 10 minute long argument with the woman about how the only pins my model was designed for were the ones it came with and that the stronger pins were for a different model number, even though that was just a 2 year newer version of the same unit. I bought a bunch of what I thought were the newer pins, but they didn't have the octagonal heads.

The 2nd storm was pretty bad for NJ, about 14", and I went through 8 pins in total, and along the way the hook on the end of the captive spring on the auger cable broke off. I fashioned a new hook on the end and it held, but eventually I got tired of stopping every 10 minutes to change pins and borrowed my neighbor's 30 year old 24" craftsman. It's small and weak, but it didn't break every few minutes.

The Cub Cadet was probably the worst thing I've ever bought in my entire life. I can't in good conscience sell it or give it to anyone. I was going to have a junk company come and get it for $150, but the local dealer I'm buying a new one from offered to cart it away for free.

What an absolute piece of junk and a waste of money. A snow blower does one thing and one thing only. If it can't do that it's an oversized paperweight.

Thanks to this forum I knew it was a problem with the 3 stage and it wasn't just mine, so at least I didn't waste time trying to get it repaired. At least there's that.

Friday I should have my new Ariens 28" Deluxe SHO.


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## 140278 (Aug 27, 2020)

welcome to the SBF from the site and another of the many jersey boys.
what part of jersey? fully nw for me, look at mountain creek all day long 

understand your issues with the 3 stage MTD branded cub, a all so common issue, why they keep making them is beyond thought.


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## johnnj (Feb 10, 2021)

captchas said:


> welcome to the SBF from the site and another of the many jersey boys.
> what part of jersey? fully nw for me, look at mountain creek all day long
> 
> understand your issues with the 3 stage MTD branded cub, a all so common issue, why they keep making them is beyond thought.


Hey, Charlie. Thanks!

I'm in Millburn, SW Essex Co. I look at my neighbor's house all day long. 

What's interesting is that I know a guy through ham radio who got a Craftsman branded 3 stage last year and he says his works fine.

John


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## foxbat (Feb 24, 2019)

johnnj said:


> eventually I got tired of stopping every 10 minutes to change pins


So do I. My solution is to run the system without the 3rd stage, most of the time. That front accelerator shear pin's life is measured in minutes, even when I'm taking a third of a bucket of 3" of sidewalk snow at F2 speed (as happened yesterday). The rear accelerator pin dies rapidly too, but that is much more of a PITA to replace.

Regardless, my 3rd stage/accelerator still spins after the shear pins are destroyed, and at incredibly high speeds too. Naturally, without shear pins it can only accelerate light fluffy stuff, and I've already established I this machine can't tolerate more than F1/F2 speeds (shear pins in place or not). Essentially the machine functions like a crappy 1 stage.


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## johnnj (Feb 10, 2021)

[QUOTE="foxbat, post: 1767705, member: 135387"
Regardless, my 3rd stage/accelerator still spins after the shear pins are destroyed, and at incredibly high speeds too. Naturally, without shear pins it can only accelerate light fluffy stuff, and I've already established I this machine can't tolerate more than F1/F2 speeds (shear pins in place or not). Essentially the machine functions like a crappy 1 stage.
[/QUOTE]

Another satisfied customer! My thought is that the problem with the accelerators is that they spin so damn fast. The regular augers have reduction gearing and I think if the accelerators ran at that speed instead of the the impeller RPM it might actually have a chance. But then they'd have to put another gearbox between the accelerators and the impeller. I also had set the speed selector cable to the maximum slowest. I'm surprised it didn't snap the cable, actually. At the factory speed setting pin life was extremely brief, to say the least.

But thankfully this is all just a bad memory now. The new Ariens Deluxe 28 SHO showed up on Friday and whoa, what a difference. I tested it by double widening the dog paths in my yard, which at some points had 2.5'+ of already blown compacted snow and then I widened the entrance to the driveway and then along my curb. That snow was extremely dense. It cut through it all like butter. It might actually have too much power (if there is such a thing). Even with the chute angle at its lowest setting, the snow still goes pretty far and at great velocity. I'll have to adjust my strategy when doing sections that are close to my neighbor.


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## Fed up with 3X (11 mo ago)

Tacoma18 said:


> Three years later and the same This is a snowblower, right? It's used to throw snow right? So why do these pins break from snow?????? I paid almost $1500 for an attachment that can't do its job? I'll be calling cub cadet on my next day off, either they come up with a remedy or I want my money back! So three years later, wonder if anyone checks comments after this much time has passed. What engineer put 1/4 sheer pins on a 20+hp machine? My 10hp 28 inch walk behind has 5/16 pins and it chews up packed snow, wet snow and snow from the road the snowplow dumped in my driveway and doesn't sheer pins..!


I have the same machine as you and I can't keep shear pins in it either. I finally got so fed up with it that I put 1/4" grade 8 bolts in it instead and it even breaks those for a joke. Very light fluffy snow is no problem for it but as soon as I get into a little heavier stuff where the governor kicks in, it's game over.


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