# Better for EOD cutting off some of sides auger housing?



## JLawrence08648 (Jan 15, 2017)

As everyone knows, when doing the EOD after the plows have gone by is tough! 

The problem is mainly the lightness of the front of the machine which is enhanced by the front of the snowblowers being too light with the removal of cast iron gear cases and the replacement with aluminum, also thinner metal through out especially the auger housing, and a different balance to the machine.

The next problem, the snowblowers now tend to ride upward not only on the bottom sides of the auger housing but the skid plates act as sled runners.

Adding weight to the front such as a lead brick or barbell weight or dumbbell would help, possibly removing the skid plates when doing the EOD would help. However another thought.

One of two things or combination of both.

Why not cut off the bottom of the side of auger housing, raising it a few inches, thus you don't have the riding up sled effect.

Or cut some or the entire front of the side off the machine, in front of the auger bearing off course, exposing the auger on the side. This would allow the auger to bite into the EOD mess without having the snowblower ride up.

The machines in the 60s, some in the 70s, the auger was always exposed in the front. The sides did not extend further out. I think the reason they extended the side of the auger housing was for safety, leaving less of the auger exposed.

I wish I had an old machine that i could try this with. One that I was going to junk, or a 2nd auger housing I could cut and put on to see how it would work. Or would it be stupid of me to be daring and do it?


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## drmerdp (Feb 9, 2014)

I think exposed augers have gone by the wayside due to safety concerns. I’m thinking of the gravely dog eater in particular.

This is a Canada spec hs1336i


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## leonz (Dec 12, 2014)

A lot of it also has to do with the steel or lack there of as the fully enclosed cross auger housing lets them use a thinner steel.

The honda Canada snow blower in the above picture is exactly like many of the snow blowers used over there to clear to the pavement using side discs to add strength back to the assembly and slice into the snowpack as well bypassing the need to have side weldments and allowing them to have a reinforced rear plate to support the cross auger and disc assembly they use. 

You see this type of snow blower attachment on the two wheel tractors they use over there as well as snow blower trucks and tractors with snow blowers


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## JLawrence08648 (Jan 15, 2017)

*Canada spec hs1336i*

Are Canadian Hondas different than the U.S.? Is this particularly model the only one with the exposed auger? Not available in the U.S. that's why the Canada spec? Is the exposed auger still sold? And most important, does it work for the EOD?

On CL you can still find the Dog Eater. I have a 12hp Gravely convertible that needs a battery, ignition coil, and the carb put back on. I've been lazy. It's been like that for 20+ years.



drmerdp said:


> I think exposed augers have gone by the wayside due to safety concerns. I’m thinking of the gravely dog eater in particular.
> 
> This is a Canada spec hs1336i


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## orangputeh (Nov 24, 2016)

pardon me, but what is a EOD?

what i would do is find a free or cheapo machine to use as a guinea pig. i have honda's so really have not had this problem unless i let the berm freeze over night and then have to using a cutting shovel to break it down and apart.

good luck.


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## vinnycom (Nov 6, 2017)

orangputeh said:


> pardon me, but what is a EOD?


EOD = end of driveway


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## nwcove (Mar 2, 2015)

just a tip.......you can save yourself alot of frustration and work in that nasty eod by spending just a few minutes breaking it up into chunks with a shovel. if its just densely packed stuff, a typical aluminum snow shovel works ok, but if it froze, grab the dirt shovel. yes i know...we have blowers so we dont have to shovel, but this method for tough eod doesnt involve real shoveling, just breaking up the mess so the blower can quickly move it.


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## Town (Jan 31, 2015)

I think that removing material from the side of the auger will make the situation worse because the augers will be able to reach the frozen piles quicker and drive deeper in where they can slow down and cause the reaction with the bucket which goes up violently and the handles go down. A very unpleasant situation. The normal auger rotation is where the top of the auger moves forward and down.

To resolve the bucket lift you need to reverse the direction of the auger so the auger bottom moves forward and up so when it is slowed by the ice the reaction on the bucket is to force it down and not up. But you also need to swap augers from side to side so the snow is moved toward the impeller. The impeller would need to be reversed on the shaft and the discharge moved to the other side to compensate. So it is impractical to reverse auger direction and you are stuck with working slower in icy EOD situations. 

There are some examples of reverse direction augers. The machine bites in instead of lifting but allows a buildup of snow in front instead of pulling the snow in on a conventional snowblower. So the reverse direction augers would be good on icy EOD piles and in deep snow but perhaps not so good in more normal situations.

To help prevent the bucket from being lifted up the traditional solutions are to increase the weight on the bucket and to use skids that are shorter and narrower. Some machines move the wheels backward to increase bucket loading, and tracked machines can also put more load on the bucket. Very strong engines may still lift the bucket. 

Good luck with your changes.


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## DriverRider (Nov 20, 2016)

Machines that have the augers exposed in front of bucket is old school and the correct way of design. Machines that have concealed augers also leave windrows of snow, augers in front are pulling the snow inwards before the leading edge of bucket which leaves no snow trail.

Safety has nothing to do with it cheaper manufacturing is the driving force. Just because you can see rotating parts does not inherently make something unsafe or give cause to be afraid of it. Concealed augers allow light steel and pot metal gear boxes because augers are no longer exposed to the rigorous duty they once performed in snow removal. An old school blower will chomp on hard pack and the front will want to raise quickly but certainly nothing that cannot be managed or controlled.

Old school augers would nearly go the height of the bucket. You could try cutting a little off the sides to let augers stick out an inch or two, but what happens with all that dead space between top of auger and top of scoop? You would likely just be burrowing into a bank a small amount.


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## JLawrence08648 (Jan 15, 2017)

*Message for nwcove dog eater*

Nwcove, is your Gravely dog eater working? Have you used it for the EOD?



nwcove said:


> just a tip.......you can save yourself alot of frustration and work in that nasty eod by spending just a few minutes breaking it up into chunks with a shovel. if its just densely packed stuff, a typical aluminum snow shovel works ok, but if it froze, grab the dirt shovel. yes i know...we have blowers so we dont have to shovel, but this method for tough eod doesnt involve real shoveling, just breaking up the mess so the blower can quickly move it.


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## dbert (Aug 25, 2013)

Town said:


> I think that removing material from the side of the auger will make the situation worse because the augers will be able to reach the frozen piles quicker and drive deeper in where they can slow down and cause the reaction with the bucket which goes up violently and the handles go down. A very unpleasant situation. The normal auger rotation is where the top of the auger moves forward and down.
> 
> *To resolve the bucket lift you need to reverse the direction of the auger so the auger bottom moves forward and up so when it is slowed by the ice the reaction on the bucket is to force it down and not up. But you also need to swap augers from side to side so the snow is moved toward the impeller. The impeller would need to be reversed on the shaft and the discharge moved to the other side to compensate. So it is impractical to reverse auger direction and you are stuck with working slower in icy EOD situations. *
> 
> ...


An example of an auger rotation that tosses snow up and therefore keeps the front end down.


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## Kielbasa (Dec 21, 2013)

The eod is called the (apron) It is the area that connects the end of a driveway to the city owned part of the road. 



orangputeh said:


> pardon me, but what is a EOD?
> 
> what i would do is find a free or cheapo machine to use as a guinea pig. i have honda's so really have not had this problem unless i let the berm freeze over night and then have to using a cutting shovel to break it down and apart.
> 
> good luck.


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## cranman (Jan 23, 2016)

the Toro Powershift was designed to put extra weight on the front when needed for the EOD pile......one of the best blowers out there IMHO.


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## drmerdp (Feb 9, 2014)

cranman said:


> the Toro Powershift was designed to put extra weight on the front when needed for the EOD pile......one of the best blowers out there IMHO.



Agreed, it was a very clever solution.


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## YSHSfan (Jun 25, 2014)

JLawrence08648 said:


> Are Canadian Hondas different than the U.S.? Is this particularly model the only one with the exposed auger? Not available in the U.S. that's why the Canada spec? Is the exposed auger still sold? And most important, does it work for the EOD?


Canadian Honda HS1336 and also Canadian Yamaha YT1332 have partially exposed augers (IMHO this would help with the EOD or hard packed snow).










There are a lot of larger models with fully exposed augers (outside US).

Honda also has at least one model that has a 'cross-augers' design (_the augers are a two part auger where the outer parts of the augers have the capability or rotating the oposite way to keep the blower from riding up-I could not find the video that shows it in motion_) to help with hard packed snow

Honda Worldwide | Power Products - Snow Throwers


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## guyl (Jun 12, 2016)

That's one thing I don't understand about those poly skids; they present a rather thick cross section that I would think tend to make cutting into packed snow somewhat harder, or would bend the sides of the bucket inwards. I had them on a Craftsman machine that I got and the first thing I did was replace them with the much thinner steel skids.


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## help (Mar 3, 2015)

Honda has three cross augers models 1: HSS760n（JX） 2: HSS970ｎ（JX） 3: HSS1170ｎ（JX）.


HSS970ｎ（JX） in action. link youtube:


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## nwcove (Mar 2, 2015)

JLawrence08648 said:


> Nwcove, is your Gravely dog eater working? Have you used it for the EOD?


the dog eater is in working order, but the machine is just to fast to even try eod......if i had a set of gear reduction wheels for it i would think it would make short work of even the worst eod mess.


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