# Can't punch out broken shear bolt



## takba

I've been blowing with an 1128 for 7 or 8 years on a gravel driveway. I haven't broken a bolt in years, but this year I'm breaking them left and right. I made the mistake of buying a couple shear bolts at Paris Farmers Union - the were grooved but seemed like just white metal. Of course it instantly broke again and now I can't punch the thing out for the life of me. It's in my garage, well lit, holes should be lined up but it sounds and feels like I'm punching on a bench mounted vice. And the more I punch, the more scarred the shaft is getting so now I can't even tell where the **** broken bolt is.

Questions:
Are the shear bolt holes lined up exactly on both augers? 
If I'm certain things are lined up, should I be more aggressive with the flat end punch and 4 pound hammer?

Thank you. Just got another 8 inches and two feet coming tomorrow (NH).

Edit: Thank you for all the replies (especially the fellow who said "you don't have it lined up" - that was the my issue, undoubtedly).

I got home after work and it took all of 45 seconds to punch it out. Maybe it was because I had some daylight instead of a headlamp, who knows. All cleared out ready for the storm they call Orson.

It is a wonderful thing to be at peace with your machines.


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## JLawrence08648

Not that you can do something about it now except on the good one, you should always grease your shear pins, preferably with synthetic grease and they should be removed and reinstalled annually.

If you have 2 shear pins on the same side they will be lined up. If you have 1 shear pin on each auger they will not be lined up. Maybe about a 1/4 off. Plus the auger should slide a little sideways. You don't have it lined up. You also want to use a punch the same size as your shear pin, 1/4" or 5/16". I would turn the impeller so the shear pin faces the front but a little down angle. It will be easier for you to see it and get the most power. A long punch might be easier and keep in mind the punch may get wider.


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## drmerdp

If you are scaring up the one side you
Might want to switch to the other side and take extra caution. Spin the impeller over until your looking at the other side of the auger shaft. Line up the auger blade carefully and try to start with a center punch as dead middle of the bolt as possible. If you drill a hole to start then use a smaller diameter punch the sheared over metal that's keeping it stuck in place should deform right back straight and come out.


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## Kiss4aFrog

:welcome: to SBF takba

If you have the auger's hole lined up with the shaft's hole it shouldn't take much to knock the remains out of the shaft. If it had been in there for years we could be talking about you fighting a seized with rust bolt but it sounds like it hasn't been but month(s) since you replaced it.
I would have to guess you're not lined up over the bolt. Maybe rotate the shaft 180 degrees and try from the other side. Might have a better look at where the hole with the bolt is.

Off the top of my head I'm not sure I remember is the shear bolt holes are lined up on both augers but I'll go out and take a look.


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## outrag1

When it happened to me on my JD 828D a couple years ago, I needed to bring it in my basement and clean out the area where the pin goes. The share pin shaft was stuck inside with no head or protrusion on either end. I used some liquid wrench to clean the area so I could see the diameter of the broken share pin. Once I did that I was able to calmly punch it out. My issue was I couldn't see the share pin remains because the area was so clouded with dirty old grease that I wasn't punching in the right spot even though I thought I was.


As previously mentioned, greasing the new pin is a good idea, which I will do myself now going forward.


Bob


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## orangputeh

I would spray some blaster in it and try. Then maybe you will have to heat it up.

Make sure to yell at it , swear at it , and kick it a few times to let the beast know you mean business.

It will cough up that pin, guaranteed.


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## Shaw351

Im pretty sure on most Ariens the auger shaft has all drilled holes on the same center line. Two things to check.... look at the opposite auger and line up holes, get a qtip and clean hole of broken shearpin, rotate auger slightly and you should see outline of broken pin and auger shaft. Second is to look at where the roll pins go through the auger shaft at end of auger near the bushing flange on the bucket where it is bolted. Im guessing they all line up on the same center line. If you drill be extra careful as most people are not lined up properly and drill into the shaft, which will now leave you with an oblonged shear pin bore causing slop and movement of new pin.... which will cause premature pin breakage in the future. Let us know how your repair goes. Good luck


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## Kiss4aFrog

I went out and checked two Ariens, two JD's and a troy and they all had the shear pin holes drilled at the same angle.


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## GoBlowSnow

orangputeh said:


> I would spray some blaster in it and try. Then maybe you will have to heat it up.
> 
> Make sure to yell at it , swear at it , and kick it a few times to let the beast know you mean business.
> 
> It will cough up that pin, guaranteed.


No swearing unless you don't mind your mouth being washed out with lava soap. :icon-deadhorse:


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## Town

If you have a center auger support, sometimes it can be misaligned and put a bit of side pressure on the auger shaft so the holes do not align. You may want to loosen the center support to give some play to the auger shaft. Then try removing the shear bolt. If that fixes your problem then carefully position the center support so there is a little play on each side and the holes are in alignment. Check after tightening the support bracket.

Ariens will have the correct shear bolt for your machine so replace both.


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## Kiss4aFrog

GoBlowSnow said:


> No swearing unless you don't mind your mouth being washed out with lava soap. :icon-deadhorse:


I don't think so. Lava will remove all the dirt and a layer of skin but it takes soap with lye to get out swear words. That's according to my grandmother and she's never wrong, just ask her :icon_smile_blackeye


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## RoyH

Town said:


> If you have a center auger support, sometimes it can be misaligned and put a bit of side pressure on the auger shaft so the holes do not align. You may want to loosen the center support to give some play to the auger shaft. Then try removing the shear bolt. If that fixes your problem then carefully position the center support so there is a little play on each side and the holes are in alignment. Check after tightening the support bracket.
> 
> Ariens will have the correct shear bolt for your machine so replace both.


Town, thanks for the idea of loosening the center auger support. That allowed me to wiggle the auger enough to get the shear bolt holes aligned with the auger so I could punch a dead one out and replace it.
~ Roy NH


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## GoBlowSnow

Even with Ariens supplied sheer pins I've had considerable difficulty removing broken pins just like the original poster. Not fun. Your tips on taking them out yearly and lubing things up there is a good idea.


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## RedOctobyr

I've had one that distorted, but didn't fully break, and was kind of a bear to remove. Couldn't punch it out, had to use a small stone on the Dremel to grind it back enough to get it out. Including opening up the hole in the auger tube a bit. 

I do keep my auger shafts greased now, and try to at least rotate the shear bolts annually, if not actually remove them and spin the augers. Which is really what I *should* do, to help avoid things rusting together. An ounce of prevention...


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## Edmondo

Town said:


> If you have a center auger support, sometimes it can be misaligned and put a bit of side pressure on the auger shaft so the holes do not align. You may want to loosen the center support to give some play to the auger shaft. Then try removing the shear bolt. If that fixes your problem then carefully position the center support so there is a little play on each side and the holes are in alignment. Check after tightening the support bracket.
> 
> Ariens will have the correct shear bolt for your machine so replace both.


Thank you sir! You saved me a lot of aggravation today. This was exactly my problem. The auger blade was slightly offset from the shear pin hole. Just enough to hold the bottom part of the pin fragment in place while I pounded it from the top. Loosening the center support and little bit of "English" applied to the auger blade moved it enough to the side and let me then remove the busted pin.


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## JLawrence08648

Maybe you could have pounded from the other side?

You should be using a punch the same size or almost the size of the shear pin.


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## Edmondo

JLawrence08648 said:


> Maybe you could have pounded from the other side?
> 
> You should be using a punch the same size or almost the size of the shear pin.


I did try from both sides. The misalignment was the issue.


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