# Shear Pins Breaking



## EnjoyLife

The seller that I bought my used snow blower from said that the shear pins will break often and I should expect that. He gave me a bag of shear pins.

Looking at the auger, he must have hit something really hard because one area of the auger is really banged up. I moved around the auger and it's not spinning by itself so I'm assuming that the gearbox is ok.

But, I'm also assuming that the shear pin shouldn't be breaking often. Is there something I can do to prevent the shear pins from constantly breaking during the winter while cleaning snow?


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## YSHSfan

It should not happen unless something (newspaper, rock, branches, or any solid object) jams in the augers or impeller. That is why it is good to clear the area you'll be cleaning prior to each snowfall.


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## Shryp

Could be he was over tightening them and weakening them or using the wrong size as well. Is the machine adjusted so low that the augers are hitting the ground?


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## EnjoyLife

Yeah, I thought it was unusual that he said that. I guess he didn't want me to get upset when the shear pins keep breaking during the winter. So, I'm assuming something is wrong with the snow blower.



hsblowersfan said:


> It should not happen unless something (newspaper, rock, branches, or any solid object) jams in the augers or impeller. That is why it is good to clear the area you'll be cleaning prior to each snowfall.


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## EnjoyLife

Maybe that's it. I'll check the size and see if it matches. The skid shoes aren't too low it seems but I'll try to raise a little bit, just in case.



Shryp said:


> Could be he was over tightening them and weakening them or using the wrong size as well. Is the machine adjusted so low that the augers are hitting the ground?


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## Big Ed

What brand are we talking about?


On my 5hp Craftsman, I just broke my first shear pin last season.
My blower is from around 2000 and I am not really that easy on it.

I broke it while trying to clear some hardened old snow/ice on the side of the street.
But I think mine might have been a little fatigued from all the years I had been chopping away at the hard stuff. I am surprised that the pin lasted as long as it did.

Now the guy behind me has a 9hp Craftsman and he goes through 3 or 4 pins a season. And compared to me he is gentle with his blowers.
He got the blower for free maybe because it goes through shear pins? 
So he just bought a big bag of them. 
So for whatever he paid for the pins is what he got the blower for. The machine looks like new, he can't figure it out. He does have other blowers and he just saves that one for the deeper snow.


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## Spectrum

Take a look at the hardware. Bolts for skids and drift cutters usually want to be installed for the lowest profile in the bucket, usually head in, nits on the outside. 

While your augers may appear to clear the hardware they may be enough slop and deflection under load for an auger tip to snag a bolt causing the machine to shear against itself. There may be a signature on the outboard auger tips if this is the case.


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## tuffnell

Remove the shear pins and spin the augers to see if there is any binding. If they spin freely then as mentioned previously, it is likely the tightening or the wrong type.


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## Kiss4aFrog

Did the guy you got it from have a gravel driveway ??


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## wdb

I went from an old BearCat, with a clutch which slipped when the augers bound up, to a Honda with shear pins. I broke a half dozen of the darn things before I adjusted my technique! I was used to being able to blow snow right up until the augers contacted the woodpile. With the BearCat the augers would simply stop turning; with the Honda, *plink*! There goes another shear pin. But then I'm a bit of a slow learner.


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## Big Ed

Enjoylife must have forgot this thread?:huh:

I wonder what make the blower is?:confused2:


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## Kiss4aFrog

Or as a lot of new people do (ME!) forget to set notifications in settings and you never get an email telling you that someone has replied to your post.


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## aggriffin3

Is there a preference on type of sheer pins? Bolt or relief groove style? My Gilson shows an OEM relief groove style that has a hole at the bottom for a clip.
Do I need to use this original style? and Which is better

Thanks


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## storm2410

My TB Storm 2410 has the groove type with a cotter pin holding it to the auger drive shaft. I go through at least one a season. Usually sucking something buried in the snow into the machine. I've pulled in slate, garden hoses, door mats, & newspapers. PITA to change, but I keep enough spare pins around just for such an event


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## Kiss4aFrog

IMHO . . . you should use the one's your specific manufacturer offers. They are designed to break before taking out the gearbox. Anything else and you may be breaking a lot of pins because they are weaker/softer or damaging the gearbox if they're too strong.

Not to say you have to buy them from the dealer, but to keep with the same style.


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## thomasthumb

EnjoyLife said:


> Yeah, I thought it was unusual that he said that. I guess he didn't want me to get upset when the shear pins keep breaking during the winter. So, I'm assuming something is wrong with the snow blower.


They break way too easily, my Ariens was much better machine at going though the berm of dense snow caused by the street plow after they clear the street. I spend a fortune on these pins, what number steel bolt is used so I can purchase them at a hardware store since I cannot find the blower stores open on weekends.. ALSO WHAT IS THE STORY WITH NO SHUT OFF FOR FUEL TANK ON THIS 250CC 11.5 HP SIMPLICITY BRIGGS AND STRATTON MOTOR????


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## DonnieBoston

EnjoyLife said:


> Maybe that's it. I'll check the size and see if it matches. The skid shoes aren't too low it seems but I'll try to raise a little bit, just in case.


So you can over tighten the shear pins? How tight or loose should they be???


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## BeerGhost

Nuts on the shear pins are self locking. so just snug enough so it wont wiggle around.


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## snowflitesly

hsblowersfan said:


> It should not happen unless something (newspaper, rock, branches, or any solid object) jams in the augers or impeller. That is why it is good to clear the area you'll be cleaning prior to each snowfall.



Oh, and watch out for those welcome mats, loll, they stall engines I hear, rofl


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## Kiss4aFrog

I have a thing about cars, always have too many and usually one is having a battery charge.

After the second time you'd think I'd learn. :icon-shrug:


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## all3939

DonnieBoston said:


> So you can over tighten the shear pins? How tight or loose should they be???


For one make sure you use OEM pins and not some other brand. Also tighten to the point where it doesn't rotate and then back it off so slightly that it rotates by hand. There has been instances when the OP snugged it to the point where when the auger had to shear the pin it could not spin free of the shaft and took out the gear case.


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## FearlessFront

EnjoyLife said:


> The seller that I bought my used snow blower from said that the shear pins will break often and I should expect that. He gave me a bag of shear pins.
> 
> Looking at the auger, he must have hit something really hard because one area of the auger is really banged up. I moved around the auger and it's not spinning by itself so I'm assuming that the gearbox is ok.
> 
> But, I'm also assuming that the shear pin shouldn't be breaking often. Is there something I can do to prevent the shear pins from constantly breaking during the winter while cleaning snow?


If something is bent out of shape in there than the shear bolt on that one side could be breaking faster under unnecessary pressure. So if the shear pin on the one side where its bent is breaking, but the other side isn't that should be a tell tale sign. Is that whats happening.

I broke 6 pins on one drive way. It was gravel and it kept jamming. The other problem with gravel is it tears up the paints in the bucket, auger, belly and chute and can dent and bend up the metal. Areas that are not paved are tough on snowblowers.
If the previous owner had a gravel driveway the machine took a beating, machines that deal with constant unpaved surfaced get beaten up a lot harder than those that stayed on paved surfaces..............


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## NEW HONDA 1332

EnjoyLife said:


> The seller that I bought my used snow blower from said that the shear pins will break often and I should expect that. He gave me a bag of shear pins.
> 
> Looking at the auger, he must have hit something really hard because one area of the auger is really banged up. I moved around the auger and it's not spinning by itself so I'm assuming that the gearbox is ok.
> 
> But, I'm also assuming that the shear pin shouldn't be breaking often. Is there something I can do to prevent the shear pins from constantly breaking during the winter while cleaning snow?


Just bought that honda 1332 used once broke 3shear pins on a ciment driveway wandering if i should have not bought a Ariens at a fraction of the price will see as the season goes


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