# Auger design



## bcjm (May 29, 2015)

I see the older Toro (524, 824) have a drum like augers. Are they more efficient? For me, the drum takes most of the space. It is not going to move much snow. What is the point?


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## LET-UT (Jan 5, 2016)

I've thought the same thing, but I have no experience with the "drum-type" auger. I've also noted that same augers have a "serrated edge" like my Ariens Drift-Crusher 4000 (aka Deluxe 28") while others are smooth. I can say the serrated edge is nice when biting into crusty snow.


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## bcjm (May 29, 2015)

Serrated or not is another thing I am interested to know. I have never had a serrated auger. I don't see that provides much help


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## YSHSfan (Jun 25, 2014)

To my knowledge, the "drum" style augers used on older toros is designed to keep the impeller/chute from clogging up (the "drums" would take space and only let so much snow into the impeller so that it does not get overloaded and clogg).

The serrated augers make a huge difference (specially the ones that have "off-set" serrations like Honda and Yamaha) when dealing with hard packed snow (EOD mainly), they would "cut" thru it instead or wanting to ride over with non-serrated augers.


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## Kiss4aFrog (Nov 3, 2013)

:sigh: The serrated are also more likely to "grab a hold" of a chunk of ice or frozen snow and break or crush it into smaller parts rather than a smooth auger just feeding it whole into your impeller !!


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## detdrbuzzard (Jan 20, 2012)

my old neighbor ( he moved ) had an ariens and then a troy built and all I can say is that my drum style toro 521 blew snow as good as either of those machines, only problem I had with the 521 was a lack of traction on ice


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## mikeinri (Mar 16, 2015)

Wow, learn something every day. I always thought the drum style meant it was single-stage.

I would hazard a guess that the open style is MUCH easier and cheaper to produce, even if serrated.

Mike


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## bcjm (May 29, 2015)

If the drum is to limited the amount of snow into the second stage then the blower can never travel fast. All the "extra" snow will just be packed in the same spot. Maybe there are other reasons they designed that way.


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## SNOWJOB1125 (Apr 4, 2015)

my buddy has a drum toro powershift 9hp and it heaves snow..also harder to bust a shear pin


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## RAYAR (Mar 7, 2015)

Looking at things a in a different mind, the drum type auger would feed more snow into the impeller as it doesn't have the void in the center of an open auger to just tumble around in and wait to eventually get fed into the impeller. I don't have experience with a drum type auger, this is just seeing a picture in my mind as to what is actually happening with the auger working or moving the snow and feeding the impeller. So in my mind, the drum type auger would be more rugged and do a better job as to what the auger should be doing. It turns fast enough to chew through the snow. I can't see this being an obstacle to not being able to move the blower as fast through the snow as an open auger design.


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## Spectrum (Jan 6, 2013)

RAYAR said:


> Looking at things a in a different mind, the drum type auger would feed more snow into the impeller as it doesn't have the void in the center of an open auger to just tumble around in and wait to eventually get fed into the impeller. I don't have experience with a drum type auger, this is just seeing a picture in my mind as to what is actually happening with the auger working or moving the snow and feeding the impeller. So in my mind, the drum type auger would be more rugged and do a better job as to what the auger should be doing. It turns fast enough to chew through the snow. I can't see this being an obstacle to not being able to move the blower as fast through the snow as an open auger design.


I think we have a winner here. 

If I were building a feed screw it would not be centerless. The unconstrained snow in the center has no value. In wet snow the arms can load up like dough hooks creating a wasteful drag on the system. As long as the working volume of the screw fills the impeller cavity that is all you want or need. Any more and you are plowing.

Toro's general design philosophy as I know it is to build a gear case that does not rely on shear pins, it is made to absorb a stall on overload. This dilutes the hardship of the shear bolts being difficult to access. The downside is if the jam hard it's a project but.... those models had bolt on collector side walls so you are not trapped in a weldment.

Mounting the auger leads to a cylinder affords much more potential support than 2 or 3 arms on a side.

I'm guessing that cost drove them from the design as steel rose in price.

They were a tough competitor to Gilson in the day.

Pete


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