# Did we get screwed on a Toro 724?



## cdestuck (Jan 20, 2013)

My neighboe has a business which I do the snowblowing at. He bought a new Toro Power Max 724 about a month ago from Home Depot. I had seen it was advertised as have such good auger gearbox gears that it doesnt need shear bolt. Well I went to use it today and notice the auger box getting clogged up and chech to see what is going on. Well, low and behold, it has a snapped shear bolt on the left auger. This thing has shear bolts on both augers. Pretty po ed. Anyone else buy one of these models thinking it shouldnt have bolts and find out it does have them after all? Be talkin to someone tomorrow about this.


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## Shryp (Jan 1, 2011)

I have heard a couple scattered complaints. Basically they have regular bolts in them instead of shear bolts. They are a bit stronger, but do break if you hit something hard enough and / or often enough. I wouldn't be too worried about it, just get sine new bolts and keep a few extras on hand and be lucky you didn't break anything more expensive to fix.


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## td5771 (Feb 21, 2011)

If it was advertised to not have them it shouldnt. If your ok with the industry standard of shear pins. and happy with the machine keep it. If your not happy with it at all now is your chance to return it. it has shear pins whether you call them bolts or pins or whatever.

what does the manual say?


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## sscotsman (Dec 8, 2010)

I would be PO'd if a new snowblower *didnt* have shear bolts! 
regardless of what the manufacturers claim is..

any snowblower that doesnt have shear bolts is a bad design, IMO..
shear bolts protect the gearbox, and prevent costly repairs..
even if Toro claims their gears are SO strong that it doesnt need shear bolts, I would want them anyway! very bad idea to not have them..

Scot


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## sscotsman (Dec 8, 2010)

Found Toro's current 724 here:

Toro | Power Max 724 OE Snowblower

It says:

"The Heavy-Duty Auger Gearbox has special oversized hardened gears and shafts designed to withstand extreme stress, virtually eliminating the need for shear pins."

"virtually eliminating the need for shear pins." is the operative phrase there..
that doesn't say the machine does not have them! it just suggests that the gear box is so great, that you shouldn't have to change them often..its just a marketing statement, its perhaps a bit vague, but not really...it clearly does not claim the machine comes without shear bolts..

Despite the wording, Im with Toro on this one..
keeping the shear pins on any snowblower is of course the best thing to do.

cdestuck, you should be very *happy* this machine has shear bolts! 
if it didnt, it would be a very poor machine indeed..
in fact, if it didn't have them, I would recommend *never* buying such a machine.
shear bolts are the only way to go..

Scot


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## woodtick007 (Apr 9, 2011)

sscotsman said:


> I would be PO'd if a new snowblower *didnt* have shear bolts!
> regardless of what the manufacturers claim is..
> 
> any snowblower that doesnt have shear bolts is a bad design, IMO..
> ...


Ain't that the truth! Funny thing is I have hit things many times (helping neighbors out) bricks, firewood, chunks of asphalt, garden hoses, ash trays, 8Track tapes and I have never broke a shear pin...lol Gotta love those old cast iron Ariens gear cases


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## cdestuck (Jan 20, 2013)

Guess I should be glad but was just a bit miffed as within 5 minutes of using the blower for the first time, a bolt sheared. And there was nothing to hit. The only this I could think was that his drive is shale and as much as i try to keep the blower higher than the hale, some does go through the auger and impeller. 

And guess I do now understand their statement as to virtually emilinating the bolts. As I do have them. 

Boy I do hate the sound of that shale going throught the housing but that is why I refused to use my blower on his lot and told him to buy one for me to use.


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## cruisefor2 (Feb 12, 2013)

Be grateful your machine has shear bolts/pins...whatever you want to call them. The shear bolts serve as the proverbial "weak link in the chain"...they are designed to protect the more expensive elements of the blower.


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## td5771 (Feb 21, 2011)

I was a skeptic about the toro claim but I was at a dealer and overheard while he was on the phone and heard him say;

"toros claim to fame is their gearboxes are so strong shear bolts are not needed, I have the toros if you want them but just go to the hardware store and buy grade 5 bolts, thats what we will sell you anyway"

time will tell if they are good.


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## gerardw (Jan 3, 2014)

For what it's worth, I bought my 724 in 1995 and today is the first I had a problem with a shear bolt breaking.


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## Piedmont (Nov 13, 2013)

I had a Toro 824 I used for 5 years and sucked up my kids broom, a couple of frozen newspapers, a piece of wood, piece of road, and several times a year it seemed it would snow frequently... the snow would melt when I put it away and sometimes settle in the impeller and freeze the impeller in ice. Never lost a shear pin, when I engaged the auger the engine would just bog down and I'd go look in the front to see what I'd sucked up now. My kids broomstick was a nice one, wrestling the debris free it would engage and away I went. There was at least 5 instances I hit something that would've blown a shear pin, but the Toro would only bog down. 

I recently looked at getting a new Toro, I have in my mind that the cheaper Toro's stated they "virtually elminate" the need for them but the higher end model(s) which have HD state something to the effect they're built tougher and simply don't have them... at all... there isn't "virtually". 

Your story reminds me of a reason I switched from Ariens to Toro was because of how often I'd blow a shear pin on my Ariens, usually when I was coming in from the street doing the end of the driveway while a plow was coming up and then I'd have to abandon the blower and dive out of the way. Or when it was really wet and the last thing I wanted to do was be kneeling in slush changing them (I'm not a contortionist). There were many times my Ariens would shear them and I'd be dumbfounded what it was this time... the light puffy snow? That leaf that was blowing across that got sucked in? Shear pins is the #1 reason why I was looking at the Toro HD model, shear pins don't cost much but they always seemed to break at the worst time or in places I didn't want to be for long (like out in the road). Was the #1 reason that caused me to pause purchasing a Honda Snow blower but I did end up getting a Honda and so far no shear pins lost yet. 

I believe Toro has the highest resistance to shearing them, and believe it was just hitting something the right way. Be curious to know if you ever shear another.


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