# Poly Shoes on my Pro 28



## hallm (Feb 9, 2014)

So far my plan for the purchase of a new replacement snow blower has worked out well. Purchase a new blower = no snow fall!

So while I have been waiting for it to snow I have been tweaking the new machine. On my previous MTD machine I fabricated some poly shoes for the concrete driveway. With the purchase of the new Ariens I thought that it should also have a new pair of poly shoes as well. I had access to some ultra high molecular weight polyethylene plastic however the plastic was only 3/8” thick. I used 2 pieces 10” x 5” per side to create a 3/4” thick shoe and then used 10-32 stainless screws to hold them together. 

The last set of these that I made for the MTD lasted over 10 years so it will be interesting to see how these hold up on the new machine. I have two segments of UHMW polyethylene that are 12” x 5” x 3/4” that I am planning to use to make into poly shoes in the future but I am waiting to see how this pair performs first, if it ever snows!


poly glide 1


poly glide 2


poly glide 3


poly glide 4


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## jermar (Dec 10, 2014)

Nice buy, and great work on the skids. They lasted 10 years? Is your material much different from the plastic in poly cutting boards?


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## bwdbrn1 (Nov 24, 2010)

10 years! Wow! Ever consider marketing them?


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## Coby7 (Nov 6, 2014)

Haven't been able to try my experiment either yet, still waiting for snow.


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## hallm (Feb 9, 2014)

*Was it Polyethylene or Polypropylene??*

If I remember correctly the last pair were backed with a segment of ¼” aluminum plate. The auger housing on my previous blower was made from a thinner gauge metal and was easily bent when it stuck a solid object in its path so I used the ¼” aluminum as a means of reinforcing the shoe area of the housing to keep it from bending. Perhaps the aluminum plate also added to the longevity of the poly shoes which were approximately 12” to 13 “in length. 

 I will have to check the materials I used as well, there is a chance that I may have used UHMW_ polypropylene_, not polyethylene as I had previously posted.

If it is polypropylene then that would produce a better wearing shoe.


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## scrappy (Dec 7, 2014)

I'm considering using Delrin. It's pricey but would last longer than cheapo cutting boards. Machinist use this stuff all the time to fab up stuff.


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## detdrbuzzard (Jan 20, 2012)

I've got a pair of micah68kj skids I plan to use on my 824 powershift, here is a pic of an armor skid the micah skids and a stock skid


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## hallm (Feb 9, 2014)

scrappy said:


> I'm considering using Delrin. It's pricey but would last longer than cheapo cutting boards. Machinist use this stuff all the time to fab up stuff.
> 
> 75" x 3 5" x 12" Natural Color Acetal Sheet Delrin Plastic | eBay


scrappy - the Delrin would make excellent shoes as well. Too bad the eBay shipping is greater than the cost of the material from California.



detdrbuzzard said:


> I've got a pair of micah68kj skids I plan to use on my 824 powershift, here is a pic of an armor skid the micah skids and a stock skid


detdrbuzzard - how does the longer shoe perform for you over the much shorter stock shoe?


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## detdrbuzzard (Jan 20, 2012)

i haven't used the plastic skids yet but joe patterned them off the armor skids. I've used armor skids before and they work great for me, I hope to have the same results with the plastic skids


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## jermar (Dec 10, 2014)

I'm confused. The Arnold skids acted like skis on my 20" track Craftsman, and rode above the compact snow. I made cutting board skids the same size as the factory steel versions. Will this wear too quickly? Is Lexan an appropriate material? What material will offer the best wear?


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## hallm (Feb 9, 2014)

jermar said:


> I'm confused. The Arnold skids acted like skis on my 20" track Craftsman, and rode above the compact snow. I made cutting board skids the same size as the factory steel versions. Will this wear too quickly? Is Lexan an appropriate material? What material will offer the best wear?


I have never noticed a issue with the poly shoes on my old machine causing the auger to ride up when clearing snow. I think that when this occurred it was due to very densely pack snow at the end of the driveway preventing the auger housing from biting into it.

So your question caused me to go back and measure the stock shoes that came with my machine. You can see by the photos that the sock shoes are 1” wide and the contact area is approximately 3 ½ ” long. My new poly shoe is a ¼” narrower than the stock shoe but the contact area is approximately 6 ½ ” long. 

I don’t think that I would switch to Lexan as a shoe material as I think that it would be too brittle in low temps. Plastic is softer than metal and I use the poly shoes because it they do not mark the concrete driveway. If that means I replace them sooner than I would a metal shoe then I am ok with that. 

Run with your single layer of your cutting board material and if need be you can always fabricate a new set. You certainly should get a couple of seasons out of them. Perhaps you may need some additional front end weight added to the auger housing to control the riding up you were getting.


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## jermar (Dec 10, 2014)

Thanks hallm. I think the problem was that my machine is smaller & lighter than many that are using the Arnold skids.


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## hallm (Feb 9, 2014)

jermar said:


> Thanks hallm. I think the problem was that my machine is smaller & lighter than many that are using the Arnold skids.


You might be correct Jermar. The image you posted was almost identical to the first machine that I owned about 25 years ago. The only difference was mine had wheels instead of tracks. It was a nice little machine but I found I had to move the snow twice in some situations just to get the area cleared. I refurbished it and sold it for what I paid for it and then I upgraded to more horsepower and capacity.

I bet some of the floating issues you could be experiencing might be related to the way the track drive system supports the front auger unit. Just a thought.


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## pwsharpe (Jan 20, 2015)

*Amazon Polypropylene*

Here is another source (untested by me) for Polypropylene, Amazon.com. It seems pretty reasonable in 1/2" thick, 12" x 12".

http://www.amazon.com/Polypropylene-Standard-Tolerance-D4101-0112-Thickness/dp/B00CPRE77I/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1424662279&sr=8-1&keywords=polypropylene+sheet

A nice project for a rainy day.


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## jermar (Dec 10, 2014)

That material looks like cutting board poly. I've been getting poor wear from it. 1/4" down after two hours. I bought UHMW poly from EBay. !/2" X 7" X 26" for $21.00 I'll make the new skids a little larger & hope for better wear.


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