# Sticky  NEW 3 x shear pins as of july 15 2019



## 3X or XXX (Dec 9, 2020)

Ok - So I bought a Cub Cadet 3X unit two years ago (Model # 31SH5DVA710 26" width). First year was fine; second year broke a few shear pins and had trouble with heavy wet snow. This year (2020) in the first snowfall (very heavy wet snow) it failed miserably!! I borrowed my neighbor's Ariens and it went through this stuff no problem. (My neighbor did say that he had a similar problem. The fix for him was a service tech who said the RPM was too low. He adjusted the carburetor to boost the RPM, and that solved the problem.)

Almost by accident I realized that the 3X portion of the Cub Cadet is not just one impeller, but a pair of impellers, one behind the other. The impeller in the back of my snow blower also had a broken shear pin. When I purchased a new set of shear pins at Home Depot, they came with the following on the back of the package:

"NOTE: All 3X Snow Blowers manufactured from July 15, 2019 forward will be produced using the new grade 8 hex head shear pin in the accelerators only."

The accelerators are the central pair of augers that make up the "3X" component for Cub Cadet. For those unaware, grade 8 shear pins are stronger that the normal shear pin.

The package of shear pins contains TWO types of Shear Pins - one for the central accelerators and another type for the side augers. Those for the central accelerators have a hex head with the letter "A" embossed on them. Those for the side augers have a round head with the number "3" embossed on them. Quite confusing and easy to put the wrong pins in the wrong locations.

However, I'm hoping that this is Cub Cadet's fix for the wet heavy snow problem. I have to wait until such another snow storm comes my way (Massachusetts) to find out. I will update all to let you know how it goes. Keeping my fingers crossed!


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## Kiss4aFrog (Nov 3, 2013)

Thanks for the info.







3X owners should be happy to hear this if they're having problems with breaking shear pins on the impeller and accelerator. Just hope no one substitutes the grade 8 to the augers !

.


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## deezlfan (Nov 8, 2017)

> Almost by accident I realized that the 3X portion of the Cub Cadet is not just one impeller, but a pair of impellers, one behind the other.


Yes and to make room for those 'accelerators', they deleted two auger sections. SO the real difference between a 2X and a 3x machine is a couple of inches of extra steel on the end of the impeller shaft. Quite a marketing gimmick that cost almost nothing in materials and raised the price of the machine substantially. As they say, the corporate board is laughing all the way to the bank...


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## 140278 (Aug 27, 2020)

the part number for the kit is 490-241-C062 
if any better time will tell


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## 140278 (Aug 27, 2020)

just received from 3x or xxx via a Pm are copies of both the package and printed matter on the back of the package 

a big thank you to him for sending to help us out


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## 3X or XXX (Dec 9, 2020)

Update: So, we had about a 5" snowfall recently (MA) with wet snow layer at the bottom. The 3X, (357 CC version, not the HD version with 420 CC's) now with the grade 8 shear pins and a fixed rear accelerator, performed only slightly better than its utter failure earlier this year. Afterward, I looked over the unit and found that the side augers were almost flat. I was able to push them out by hand to a much more expanded position. (See the attached photos). I hoping that this fix together with a liberal coating of "Snow Jet" non-stick polymer coating to all augers and inside surfaces of the front housing and chute will improve its performance to at least an acceptable level. Although, I'm beginning to think that the issue might be with the lite duty version of the 3X. Does anyone have similar issues with the HD 420cc version, or with at least the 30" width models that DO have two side augers PER SIDE? My 26" wide has only one Auger per side. 

My son has always complained that this unit never threw snow like any of our older snow blowers. Were the augers flattened when we received it? My bad for not checking it out then. Waiting for the next storm to provide another update.

One last thing... I had read that pushing "flattened" augers back to an expanded position will not solve anything. Well, yes and no. Yes, pushing the augers into a more expanded position will not increase the level at which the augers would ultimately break. However, by pushing the augers into the expanded position they become "work hardened" or "strain hardened" which means the it will actually take more force to bend them again. So, the force to break them does not increase, but the force needed to bend them again does indeed increase One of the few things I actually remembered from Engineering School!


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## RIT333 (Feb 6, 2014)

I didn't take that course, but the school of hard knocks has tough me that when you bend metal it weakens it, and want to return to earlier state. That is my complaint about an MTD I have that has the same flimsey auger blades. They have never bent yet, but I guess I should keep an eye on them.


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## 140278 (Aug 27, 2020)

for a note, we have had several members state the new bolts are causing other issues now, instead of the pin shearing, the accelerator shafts are breaking right at the drilled holes for the pins, the shafts were recently mid feb 2021 on national back order that many are breaking,

common sense is saying keep using the softer ones at least for now


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## 2point2 (Sep 20, 2014)

Just got off the phone with MTD.

There is a NEW parts number for the pins on the ACCELLERATOR. they are NOT the same of the Auger pins. The PN you want is: 738-06654

Here is the link on MTD Canada. Note that you don't get cotter pin clips with the pins (gee thanks MTD)
*(MTD Canada )Shear Pin for 3X snow blower accelerators (.25 x 1.5)*


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