# Auger rotation direction.



## dbert (Aug 25, 2013)

Starting a new thread for this. It's impractical as can be, so this is just for the sake of discussion. I found a video of a snow blower very similar to mine, but it had been modified to rotate the augers the opposite of what is normal. Snow was tossed up and over into the impeller. At first I had no idea why anyone would do this. Sometime later the light came on. 
For normal snow removal you want the snow to simply be swept back into the impeller. 








If however, you were attacking deep heavy snow (say end-of-driveway) and you could reverse this direction, the augers would dig and shovel the snow up and over into the impeller vs trying to climb on top of it. 
Make sense?








The Toro PowerShift uses a CG shift to reduce the EOD climb. If there was a way (and I cant for a moment believe anyone would bother to engineer such a thing) to reverse the auger rotation, attacking that end of driveway would be easier.
That's all.


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## YSHSfan (Jun 25, 2014)

Whatch this Zaugg Snow Beast, at the beginning of the video you can clearly see that the augers are turning in the "opposite" way, but later the augers are rotating in the "proper" way.
I guess this blower is capable of reversing the augers rotation independently from the impeller rotation (which would be a fantastic feature for normal snow removal and EOD use).


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## dbert (Aug 25, 2013)

I tried watching the whole thing for a time other than the opening scene where they were without a doubt rotating opposite of normal.
Those things are beasts. I'll bet they use 1/2 inch grade 8 bolts for shear pins. 
It is rumored my machine spent most of it's life at a ski resort here in Utah. It's a small make that a tiny toy compared to those Zaugg's.


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## Spectrum (Jan 6, 2013)

I need to go play with some visuals but I don't think that's going to happen by reversing rotation.

The auger halves are opposing hand screws and when operating normally they pull snow to the center. If you reverse it then it will drive snow from the side to the center.

If you swap the augers *and* run them in reverse you might get the "feed down from the top" effect but my head is starting to hurt.:dizzy:

Unfortunately my downloader found the video protected so I couldn't save it to play it slow. I think the reversals seen are probably for debris ejection.

Pete


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## YSHSfan (Jun 25, 2014)

Actually I just realized one more thing, If you want to reverse the augers rotation you also need to swap the augers left to right or the snow will be moved from the center to the sides of the auger housing (normally snow moves from the sides to the center).


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## UNDERTAKER (Dec 30, 2013)

And how in the name of* ZEUS *are you going to bolt them down. it would never work on the old TOROS. you would have to fabricate new augers.k:k::facepalm_zpsdj194qh:smiley-confused009::smiley-confused009::question:mg::emoticon-south-park


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## dbert (Aug 25, 2013)

hsblowersfan said:


> Actually I just realized one more thing, If you want to reverse the augers rotation you also need to swap the augers left to right or the snow will be moved from the center to the sides of the auger housing (normally snow moves from the sides to the center).


Doh!
Yep.
So a dedicated EOD setup, or normal. pick one.
The video that started all this nonsense


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## Kiss4aFrog (Nov 3, 2013)

With the reverse rotation it seems to have a bunch of snow out front where the "normal" rotation machines pull it in and feed it to the impeller.

The reverse rotation would be handy in really deep stuff helping to keep the front of the machine down but other than EOD for most of us I don't think it's worth the trouble.
I would like to see how well it clears on a second or third pass where there isn't snow on each side to keep the stuff getting pushed out front from spilling out the side.


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## dbert (Aug 25, 2013)

Kiss4aFrog said:


> With the reverse rotation it seems to have a bunch of snow out front where the "normal" rotation machines pull it in and feed it to the impeller.
> 
> The reverse rotation would be handy in really deep stuff helping to keep the front of the machine down but other than EOD for most of us I don't think it's worth the trouble.
> I would like to see how well it clears on a second or third pass where there isn't snow on each side to keep the stuff getting pushed out front from spilling out the side.


No argument. The "sweeping in" effect for normal everyday removal will be better. That downward direction on the auger inlet however is what makes the handlebars want to head for the ground when you hit hard deep stuff.
Life is full of compromises. 
You know how the old snowbird chute rolls the whole impeller housing? Make the entire bucket flip over instead.:icon-hgtg:


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## YSHSfan (Jun 25, 2014)

POWERSHIFT93 said:


> And how in the name of* ZEUS *are you going to bolt them down. it would never work on the old TOROS. you would have to fabricate new augers.k:k::facepalm_zpsdj194qh:smiley-confused009::smiley-confused009::question:mg::emoticon-south-park


It should work on pretty much any 2 stage snowblower where left and right augers have the same length. I know for sure it will work on a Honda, Yamaha, and looks like also on the DeLorean.
And it would also work on an Ariens snowblower.


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## Kiss4aFrog (Nov 3, 2013)

That's just cruel. Geno was tired from all the modifications and fabrication and he did an "opps" and put his augers in backwards.
Will he never live this one down ?? :facepalm_zpsdj194qh:facepalm_zpsdj194qh


I love the rotating bucket idea. It would be a problem making it strong enough so nothing flexes but it could be done. Would need a new design for the auger drive gear box so it's centered.


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## dbert (Aug 25, 2013)

Keep in mind Todd, we are only discussing this for the sake of conversation. 
Reversing the direction of rotation would be the hard part. Your impeller needs to continue to rotate the same direction. Unless you want to connect a hose the the chute outlet and make a leaf shreader. 
I've never had them off, but Toros with drum style augers can probably still be installed backwards (swap left and right). 
Again, just fun to talk about and ponder. Were not trying to cure cancer, just reinvent the wheel.


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## dbert (Aug 25, 2013)

Kiss4aFrog said:


> That's just cruel. Geno was tired from all the modifications and fabrication and he did an "opps" and put his augers in backwards.
> Will he never live this one down ?? :facepalm_zpsdj194qh:facepalm_zpsdj194qh
> 
> 
> I love the rotating bucket idea. It would be a problem making it strong enough so nothing flexes but it could be done. Would need a new design for the auger drive gear box so it's centered.


Yanmar Ronins bucket rotates (rolls), but only like 15 degrees CW/CCW. If they can move that far...someone could figure out a way to keep going.


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## YSHSfan (Jun 25, 2014)

Kiss4aFrog said:


> That's just cruel. Geno was tired from all the modifications and fabrication and he did an "opps" and put his augers in backwards.
> Will he never live this one down ?? :facepalm_zpsdj194qh:facepalm_zpsdj194qh


By no means I wanted to pick on Geno, I have a lot of respect for him and his MONSTER MACHINE as for any other members, I just wanted a visual that the augers could be swapped left to right and this happened to be the perfect example.


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## Zavie (Sep 23, 2014)

POWERSHIFT93 said:


> And how in the name of* ZEUS *are you going to bolt them down. it would never work on the old TOROS. you would have to fabricate new augers.k:k::facepalm_zpsdj194qh:smiley-confused009::smiley-confused009::question:mg::emoticon-south-park


That's exactly why Toro's "drum" type augers were historically ahead of their time. I mean as far as snow handling weaponry had evolved they are capable of stuff that other machines could not even think about doing. Even if machines could think.


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## Noreaster (Feb 9, 2015)

Zavie said:


> That's exactly why Toro's "drum" type augers were historically ahead of their time. I mean as far as snow handling weaponry had evolved they are capable of stuff that other machines could not even think about doing. Even if machines could think.


The drum concept was to use the distance between the drum and the ground as a meter to keep from too much snow from entering the auger housing / impeller. I did like how they made the auger stronger. But this metering effect made the blower "plow" the snow, unlike the ariens which just sucked in the snow.


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## Noreaster (Feb 9, 2015)

Get a husky if you want to try a reverse auger design:
Husqvarna Snow Blowers ST 224









[ im fairly certain this was a mistake as all other husky machines have the traditional auger rotation.]


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## dbert (Aug 25, 2013)

Ha ha. That's awesome Noreaster. 
I'd no idea they are still embarrassing themselves with that. 
I remember somebody here contacted them to tell them the photos on their web site showed an incorrectly installed auger assembly. 
Actually I now slightly remember the thread actually questioning the possibility that they did the reverse auger rotation. In the end, they just had some bozo that incorrectly installed the augers on the machine that they used for their photoshoot.
______
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## HCBPH (Mar 8, 2011)

hsblowersfan said:


> Actually I just realized one more thing, If you want to reverse the augers rotation you also need to swap the augers left to right or the snow will be moved from the center to the sides of the auger housing (normally snow moves from the sides to the center).


 One more thing to think about - the rotation of the impeller is wrong then also. If you want to attack the piled up stuff, look for an older Craftsman 3 stage, they have a beater bar that will knock down the tops of drifts.


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## Geno (Nov 29, 2011)

hsblowersfan.. you are 'mean'.. but I forgive ya. I deserve the ribbing after that blunder!


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