# Neighbor had an accident with his Troy-Bilt...



## PennSilverTaco (Nov 21, 2020)

He was using this welcome mat to cover an extension cord for the Christmas lights and forgot it was there...

















The machine is a 2009-2010ish 5.5hp; We couldn’t the mat out, and my other neighbor let him use his Cub Cadet...


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## aa335 (Jan 21, 2020)

Your other neighbor is a very trusting man to loan out his snowblower. 

I hope someone goes out and mark the location of the remaining mats and extension cords.


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## Ziggy65 (Jan 18, 2020)

I'm sure incidents like this are happening all across the NE today, unfortunately.


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## PennSilverTaco (Nov 21, 2020)

Ziggy65 said:


> I'm sure incidents like this are happening all across the NE today, unfortunately.


Better this than injuries to hands and/or fingers!


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## aa335 (Jan 21, 2020)

PennSilverTaco said:


> Better this than injuries to hands and/or fingers!


Be careful taking mat out of the snowblower. Lots of stored energy in that wound up mat.


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## crazzywolfie (Jun 2, 2014)

could be worse. best to unplug the spark plug and try spinning the impeller clockwise to get it out. best way to get it out is usually the opposite way of how it went in. the other option would be to cut most of it out and hope it is easy to get out or completely pull the auger assembly out which is really time consuming. i would guess it would likely take about an hour to take apart and put back together since it looks like the machine is fairly new


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## foggysail (Feb 21, 2015)

I would take that mat out with my sawzal and a 12’’ blade to keep my hands away from that auger. Cut just the mat, no metal


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## PennSilverTaco (Nov 21, 2020)

crazzywolfie said:


> could be worse. best to unplug the spark plug and try spinning the impeller clockwise to get it out. best way to get it out is usually the opposite way of how it went in. the other option would be to cut most of it out and hope it is easy to get out or completely pull the auger assembly out which is really time consuming. i would guess it would likely take about an hour to take apart and put back together since it looks like the machine is fairly new


It’s actually about ten years old; Will show this to my neighbor though...

Thanks!


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## Big Ed (Feb 10, 2013)

Ziggy65 said:


> I'm sure incidents like this are happening all across the NE today, unfortunately.


I just posted this in another thread.

The guy behind me does the ladies house next to his.
9 hp, 27" ( I think) Craftsman, he pulled into the driveway to blow and here a CLUNK then the smell of a burning belt and a POP.
He sucked up a conch shell that had some how rolled into the driveway. It came from the flower garden.
It got stuck in the chute and impeller, he had a hell of a time removing it. Then he had to put a new belt on outside, his machine you have to break the bucket.
But a conch shell,,,,,,,ha ha ha.
Newspaper yes.


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## crazzywolfie (Jun 2, 2014)

PennSilverTaco said:


> It’s actually about ten years old; Will show this to my neighbor though...
> 
> Thanks!


heck if it is that old your neighbor takes really good care of that thing or doesn't use it a lot. it definitely looks in really good shape for a mtd built machine


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## orangputeh (Nov 24, 2016)

i did this with a tarp 2 years ago.had to remove augers/impeller assembly

2hours.to do that and clean. brokeevery shear including bothboss pins.

very lucky no other damage


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## SweetD (Dec 6, 2013)

I picked up an oval-shaped rock about 6"Lx3"D today, scared the crap out of me. Motor shut right down. It was stuck in the impeller. Came out easily enough and I cannot believe I didn't break a shear pin or worse. Everything seems fine, I used the blower for another couple hours without incident. Lucky this time. 

The rock was from our retaining wall along the driveway. I double checked prior to the storm that there were no obstructions in the area, must've somehow fallen. Crazy.


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## Pauleastend63 (Nov 23, 2020)

PennSilverTaco said:


> Better this than injuries to hands and/or fingers!


Joe Sakic snow blower incident comes to mind.
Sakic breaks 3 fingers in snow blower accident


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## 140278 (Aug 27, 2020)

anyone doing EMS cringes when they get a call out for a snow blower incident


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## contender (Jan 18, 2018)

WOW..... when i first saw that housing picture, I thought Santa's sleigh had crashed!!!!!!!


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## tabora (Mar 1, 2017)

Reasons why I'm so glad I sprung for the extra $$$ for the Honda HSS1332AATD's Auger Shear Bolt Guard. It's saved me 1/2 dozen times already - mats, sprinkler head, stick and newspapers...




Edit 12/18/2020: And again today, when I snagged the corner of one of the woodpile tarps that had come loose!


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## Johnny G1 (Jan 28, 2020)

That's why I have the HSS928 with the same system, over the yrs have run into phone books and dog bones and it does break things etc. so looking forward to the bolt guard this winter, and then I might just stay in my own driveway's and not have to worry about it, poor neighbor's will have to look after their own this winter.


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## Pauleastend63 (Nov 23, 2020)

Johnny G1 said:


> That's why I have the HSS928 with the same system, over the yrs have run into phone books and dog bones and it does break things etc. so looking forward to the bolt guard this winter, and then I might just stay in my own driveway's and not have to worry about it, poor neighbor's will have to look after their own this winter.


Ain't that the truth......the only times that I have had issues and did damage to my blower is when helping neighbors out.....you know, the same neighbors who drive over the plowed snowbank and pack it down like concrete....them ones, lol.


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## cobra2411 (Jul 31, 2016)

Years ago I was running my 1961 Simplicity single stage and found a towel I forgot a dropped. It chewed it up, spit it out and kept going... But a 6.5hp swap and pullies turned up a bit will do that... It was a scary beast... I keep saying I'm going to fix it and start using it again...


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## dman2 (Sep 22, 2019)

A few days ago, I was blowing snow for one of my neighbors and hit a newspaper. I only noticed that when I slipped on ice and fell on my ass. That was when I saw the newspaper right behind one of the wheel. I picked it up and saw many holes in it. Clearly, it was hit by the auger. Luckily, there was no damages to my snow blower. I waxed my snow blower very well before used. Also, I had a very small impeller gap. Maybe that helped. Fell on my ass also helped.

From this, I learned to lookout for their newspapers before it snowed. For the newspapers delivers out there, don't throw newspapers out on people's driveways when it is about to snow. This happened a lot.


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## Shryp (Jan 1, 2011)

This is most likely fixed by now, but if a simple reverse doesn't push the mat out it looks like you could remove it by loosening the auger shaft. Remove the 2 bolts on each side and you should have enough play in the front gear box to tilt it up and away from the mat.


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## PennSilverTaco (Nov 21, 2020)

Neighbor’s nephew fixed his Troy-Bult, and he just used it to help us...


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