# Plastic impellers now?



## tdipaul (Jul 11, 2015)

available for only $499 :sarcasm:


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## micah68kj (Oct 8, 2011)

Explanation?


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## GoBlowSnow (Sep 4, 2015)

"Gotta save money, gotta save money, gotta save money.. We don't care what others think we just gotta save money!"


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## Dauntae (Nov 10, 2016)

Well with today's entitlement generation, Everything is disposable, It breaks so toss it out and buy another. Sad sad world this is becoming


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## sscotsman (Dec 8, 2010)

yeah, they have been out for a few years now..I saw one on a new low-end 2-stage Craftsman probably 5 years ago. 

Scot


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## caddydaddy (Dec 10, 2014)

One of my wife's relatives has a small MTD that has a plastic impeller. It's got to be nearing 10 years old, so this isn't something new.


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## micah68kj (Oct 8, 2011)

Ss blowers been running rubber or plastic for years. 
If it works it works.
Lots of people dissing plastic chutes.. I have seen, have personally owned blowers with plastic chutes that have been clearing gravel driveways and no problems. I can still hear those rocks blasting up the chute and flying over to the corn field. Chute never broke or cracked.


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## bad69cat (Nov 30, 2015)

I guess it depends on how tough it is...... some plastics can take a lot of abuse. Others, not so much. In a way it makes sense with less weight and rotational mass, you could have it spin faster with same HP input. It also won't suck up the cold, which is why it works well for chutes - less stickage that way. Being that the impeller is the hardest part to replace, I hope it's very durable though! Like you guys, I have my doubts.... I don't think it would hold up well to doing the mod to I bet - which kind of turns me off right away, unless they have tighter tolerances in there (which I doubt). I'll wait a bit and see what the jury says......


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## GAR (Nov 7, 2014)

Plastic impellers........I can one better you...Plastic Cams in some of the newer small engines as well...Yep, more cost saving and more throw away engines when they fail....There was a thread talking about old vs new. Some of these new machines are really fancy and all but they will never see 30-50 years of use like the ones they used to build. I can keep an older engine running without having to spend more then the engine is worth for a part when it breaks. The newer ones....LOL good luck doing that.


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## caddydaddy (Dec 10, 2014)

GAR said:


> Plastic impellers........I can one better you...Plastic Cams in some of the newer small engines as well...Yep, more cost saving and more throw away engines when they fail....



It's funny you mentioned that. This past weekend I took apart a B&S engine from a small generator. The cam gear and lobes are plastic! The shaft itself is steel, but the rest is plastic. 
This engine was built in 1994. If it wasn't for the fact this generator had low hours, I'm sure the plastic would have crumbled by now.
Another old use of plastic in engines was the 1972 Cadillac 472 engine I took apart. They used nylon on the steel camshaft gears. It had all crumbled off and was in the bottom of the oil pan when I took it apart in 1997 or so, with only 98k miles. If I remember right, the valve seals had a plastic piece that crumbled as well.
Still, those old 472's were some of the best engines GM ever made!


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## tinter (Apr 20, 2014)

I bet it will work awesome at the end of the driveway. I really wish sarcasm would transfer in type.


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## micah68kj (Oct 8, 2011)

In a past life back in the early 80's Generous Motors was using nylon timing gears. They lasted a way long time. Hundreds of hours and thousands of miles. They eventually did strip but so did metal gears. Back then cadiddiliac experimented with plastic pistons and electronically pulsed valves. Those were the days of the infamous V 8-6-4... Boy what a nightmare that was.


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## guyl (Jun 12, 2016)

Well, some plastic parts on snowblowers sure were a failure:

http://www.snowblowerforum.com/foru...aftsman-professional-transmission-issues.html

As noted in another thread, it was often one of the metal bearings that flew apart inside the plastic transmission housing. That was the case for the one in the machine that I converted to friction disk. My own theory as to why that happened is that the otherwise standard metal bearing was mounted in a plastic case, thus providing poor heat conduction and cooling for the bearing. So the bearing would overheat and ultimately fail.

Btw does anyone know what became of all these machines that failed repeatedly?


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## ChrisJ (Nov 27, 2014)

Late to the discussion but as has already been said, some plastic is more durable than steel.
For example some time Kirby vacuums switched from metal to lexan fans because they take more abuse. I think they're now Kevlar but I'm not 100% sure, mine is lexan and original from 1997.

I doubt the cheap snowblowers are using lexan impellers, but if they were I'd bet they hold up fine.


Look at all of the durable plastics used in power tools now. Who in their right mind would want an aluminum or steel housing on a cordless drill now?

PVC drain lines work better than cast iron ones. 

I'm not saying the cheap snow blowers are better, I'm simply saying just because they chose plastic doesn't necessarily mean it's inferior. It probably is in this application, but I don't feel that can be assumed.


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## sscotsman (Dec 8, 2010)

tinter said:


> I bet it will work awesome at the end of the driveway. I really wish sarcasm would transfer in type.


There is a smiley/emoji for that! 

I bet it will work awesome at the end of the driveway. :icon_whistling:

I bet it will work awesome at the end of the driveway. :wacko:

I bet it will work awesome at the end of the driveway. :banghead:

I bet it will work awesome at the end of the driveway. :facepalm_zpsdj194qh

I bet it will work awesome at the end of the driveway. :sarcasm:


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## Elfiero (Apr 9, 2019)

IMHO, There is nothing wrong with the use of plastic per se, it is more about the engineering(or lack of it) that tends to go along with it. I had an MTD blower with a plastic chute that never broke or cracked. However the plastic retainer clips were severely under engineered and would not hold the chute on, causing it to "pop off" while in the EOD crap. on a different note, the use of plastic on timing gears of cars was so they would run quieter, not for any other reason that I know of. You are right about the GM 8-6-4. That was a real debacle.


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## ou2mame (Dec 23, 2019)

micah68kj said:


> Ss blowers been running rubber or plastic for years.
> If it works it works.
> Lots of people dissing plastic chutes.. I have seen, have personally owned blowers with plastic chutes that have been clearing gravel driveways and no problems. I can still hear those rocks blasting up the chute and flying over to the corn field. Chute never broke or cracked.


I buy a lot of snowblowers... Come across many broken plastic chutes. Never a broken metal one lol


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## ChrisJ (Nov 27, 2014)

ou2mame said:


> I buy a lot of snowblowers... Come across many broken plastic chutes. Never a broken metal one lol


Challenge accepted!


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## ou2mame (Dec 23, 2019)

ChrisJ said:


> Challenge accepted!


The worst is when they try to fix it with wood, scrap sheet metal, deck screws, duct tape. When all it needed was a door hinge and some rivets to look decent.


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