# Armor Skids or Ariens Polly Skids for Auto Steer



## Tom34 (Jan 26, 2016)

Hey Guys, 

Currently getting ready to install Ariens Auto Turn kit 72601300 in a mint 2005 11528LE. 

From everything I have read, the old small factory shoes create too much friction which causes steering issues. 

My big question is which are better, Armorskids (vs) Ariens Polly skids? The Armorskids seem to give more protection from jarring hits but do they do as good a job solving the steering issues? 

Any experiences/knowledge would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Tom.


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## Town (Jan 31, 2015)

I have the Ariens plastic skid shoes because they do not mark decorative paver surfaces and they work well with the Auto-Turn. They do wear more than steel shoes so I have to adjust back to 1/8" clearance during the season. The design has two wearing surfaces (top and bottom) so when the bottom wears out you just turn it over for double the wear life. Steel skid shoes wear far less. My skid shoes do not ride up on the snow, although others with this plastic shoe say it is wide and does ride up. May depend on weight on bucket where mine is quite a lot of weight.

I have not used the Armorskid but those who have praise it for good steering with Auto-Turn and ease of lifting bucket over uneven pavement. Down side is that some people complain of lifting up on the snow, perhaps due to the long length forward of the scraper blade and the forward ramp angle. The thick metal will make it last a long time.

I would buy the Ariens plastic skid shoes again since they seem a better compromise for me, and I need a non-marring skid shoe.

Good luck.


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## 1894 (Dec 16, 2014)

For me , I change the skids and or height adjustment depending on current factors that may be different from week to week , if not day to day. Another factor is learning as you go, how your machine works doing what you want with it and learning how best to work together to accomplish that. Trying to find out whether I or my machine is more stubborn wasted a bunch of effort on my part. You will have fun and figure out what works best for yourself and the blower to work together. Hint * If you are fighting the machine , step back and try another tactic . The auto-turn will want to dive into that whole bank you want to take a partial bucket full at a time . Instead of wrestling it constantly ( sore hip arms and legs experience from a first time user here ) Know it wants to turn into that snow , try putting some resistance by just pulling back on the opposite side handle.


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## uberT (Dec 29, 2013)

Tom, I'm comfortable suggesting the poly shoes from Ariens. I own both the poly shoes and ArmorSkids, but I've yet to install the later on a machine. They're just resting in the basement.

BTW, you can get the Ariens poly shoes at Home Depot, ~ $30.


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## uberT (Dec 29, 2013)

*OE v. poly v. ARMORskids:*


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## Tom34 (Jan 26, 2016)

Thanks.... Town/1894/Ubert/....for the quick responses. I am not too good at these computers. Fishing, hunting, marksmanship,repairing things, YES, electronic gadgets, no!

Based on what you folks have said the Ariens Composite shoes will definitely help with the auto turn kit I plan to install.

The orig factory metal shoes jolt me and the machine pretty good when I hit a raised sidewalk slab and also struggle with the "rolled" curbing at the end of driveway apron. Do the composite shoes help in these situations like the Armorskids claim to. 

Thanks for putting up with me! Tom


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## hfjeff (Jan 24, 2016)

I've heard such good things about them that I am thinking about getting them for my Toro HD which does not have auto-turn. The bolt spacing is the same and they are much cheaper than the Toro brand.


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## knu2xs (Jan 6, 2015)

Tom, I've used the Ariens stock & Poly Skids, as well as ArmorSkids 
(both styles) on my Platinum 24 SHO and found the stock skids "grabby."

For general use the Poly Skids are a good choice for the AutoTurn but the 
ArmorSkids are the way to go if you have to deal with rough, uneven, surfaces.

My first set of ArmorSkids (wide profile on both ends) did want to climb drifts 
but I have a good feeling that the new design (narrow profile on one end) will 
resolve this issue. While its still too soon to tell, the drifts I have dealt 
with using the new profile ArmorSkids posed no problems whatsoever.

What I really like about the ArmorSkids are the length. They allow the scraper 
bar to clear many rough areas , whereas the Poly Skids would allow the scraper 
bar to drop down, and hit, once they (Poly Skids) made it past the rough spot.

Bottom line, the Poly & ArmorSkids perform pretty much the same as 
far as the AutoTurn is concerned if only dealing with smooth surfaces.

Edited to add:
Below you will see the "new profile" ArmorSkids, 
which have the narrow profile (on the left.)

There is actually some dirt on the skid in this photo from 
when I was working the "step up" at the edge of our drive.


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## Kielbasa (Dec 21, 2013)

Is Ariens aware of this problem, or is anyone making Ariens aware of this problem and demanding them to give them replace skids to fix this issue? Or correct this problem to the machine before the machines even leave their plant? If I bought a new Pro machine it wouldn't even leave the building with out new skids of whatever brand. And Ariens never noticed this while testing the machine? :icon_scratch:


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## 88racing (Jan 20, 2016)

From what I've been finding out....there's so many variables to consider when running different skid shoes...

My experiences as follows

Stock steel skid shoe

Pros>>>great for EOD that's a day old and frozen. Their design helps to get the bucket into the hard stuff. Even works on hardened drifts

Cons >>>Grabby on coarse hard surfaces resulting in operator fighting AutoTurn. 

Ariens Poly Skid shoe

Pros>>>allows the buckets to go through fresh snow effortlessly and to perform turns quickly. Sometimes I'm able to turn with one hand. With them on there's no fighting AutoTurn. 

Cons >>>Their solid design makes them act like door stops not allowing bucket to get into the hardened snow. Compared to steel they are wearing a bit quicker also. The other thing I found is in uneven hard surfaces they will start to ride up on top of snow and not dig back in.

ArmorSkids

At this time no review as I'm waiting for them to come. 

Toro Poly Skids

I'm going to try these also

Universal Arnold's poly skids

I'm gong to try these too but they're not here yet

Another option out there I might try is the track kit...it seems from research that AutoTurn will not be effected by the Ariens steel shoes....


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## Shotokan1509 (Oct 28, 2015)

Imagine someone got crazy, did ArmorSkid size & design either fully in poly or with replaceable wear pads


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## LET-UT (Jan 5, 2016)

I've got both, and have used both on my Deluxe 28. While I liked the extra length of the Armor Skids, I found that I really didn't need them due to the relative smooth surfaces that I'm working on. That, and they were a little more prone to "grabbing" the surface than the Poly skids from Ariens. So, I just re-installed my Poly skids, but have no plans to get rid of the armor skids. Pavement changes over time, and it only takes 5 minutes or so to change them out. - Basically, there's no bad choices, it all depends on the quality of surface you're working.


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