# Honda Auger Protection System - It works!



## joeblowct (Nov 4, 2018)

I purchased a Honda HSS1332ATD last year to replace an older Simplicity wheeled machine for my gravel drive with a hill in the middle of it. Early this week we had snow, then followed a few days later by heavy rains that washed away the snow, but as the rain was ending overnight it turned back to snow and by morning we had 4" of new snow that covered very soft unfrozen gravel. Even with the bucket raised I picked up and threw more gravel this time than in the prior 14 years at this house combined. 

At one point when I started throwing some stones the auger protection system kicked in, the red light on the dash flashed and the machine stopped. After clearing snow from the bucket there was a stone wedged between the scraper bar and the auger. I used a long screwdriver and rubber mallet to remove the stone. I was back at work in about 5 minutes and was surprised to find that I didn't break a shear bolt!

So I can say with confidence that the system definately works as advertised. Of course, the inside of my bucket is beat-up after shooting gravel like a machine gun at times but buying this machine was still cheaper than paving my driveway by thousands.

WARNING: Upon dislodging the stone the auger shifted violently by a few inches like a spring that was unsprung. I can definately see how hands or fingers can get mangled in situations such as this. So please, everybody, keep hands and fingers away in situations such as this. I had a good long screwdriver to use and the stone was not lodged deep inside the bucket so my hands were far away. It will definately cause me to plan differently in the future if a stone is lodged further in the bucket.

That being said, the HSS1332ATD is a great machine. It throws snow much further than my old machine. It is more complicated to use given its many features but again, if throwing distance is important and you have a gravel drive I don't think it can be beat.


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## Honda n CNY (Nov 9, 2018)

This will be the one and only part of this machine that I will miss. It's an excellent system. It should be on all commercial grade blowers.


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## leonz (Dec 12, 2014)

I am glad that you did not suffer any injury from dislodging the rock.



The 2 cycle single stage toros I have in the brood herd are simple to take care of and very hard to plug with debris of any kind.

Of course being attacked by extension cord snakes being the rule its hard to remove them while you are being gummed by the extension cord snake.

The old 2 stage motomower snow sharks were/are set up so that in the event of a clog or a rock sticking in it the roller chain will break and all you need to do is replace the broken roller chain with a roller chain connector or half link. 

I would not hesitate to purchase a single stage toro walk behind(with a solid auger) if they made one as the higher auger speed of rotation being 600 plus rpm would be have no difficulty with any type of snow pack.


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## orangputeh (Nov 24, 2016)

gee , if i threw even ONE stone I would stop doing what I'm doing and readjust the bucket. trouble in the making no matter what system you have.


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## Oneacer (Jan 3, 2011)

LOL, ……. I have a son-in-law that refuses to adjust his blower properly … he shoots all his gravel onto his lawn …. he even went out and bought a Stihl rubber broom flap so he could sweep his lawn of all the stones and put them back in his driveway in the spring.

He is on his second snowblower already, and in a few years, probably his third.

I chuckle, but I see many people that prefer to destroy there machines … Oh well …


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## leonz (Dec 12, 2014)

joeblowct said:


> I purchased a Honda HSS1332ATD last year to replace an older Simplicity wheeled machine for my gravel drive with a hill in the middle of it. Early this week we had snow, then followed a few days later by heavy rains that washed away the snow, but as the rain was ending overnight it turned back to snow and by morning we had 4" of new snow that covered very soft unfrozen gravel. Even with the bucket raised I picked up and threw more gravel this time than in the prior 14 years at this house combined.
> 
> At one point when I started throwing some stones the auger protection system kicked in, the red light on the dash flashed and the machine stopped. After clearing snow from the bucket there was a stone wedged between the scraper bar and the auger. I used a long screwdriver and rubber mallet to remove the stone. I was back at work in about 5 minutes and was surprised to find that I didn't break a shear bolt!
> 
> ...



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The best advice I can offer you right now is go to a welding shop and have ski skids made that can replace the skids on the 1332 now as you will continue to have trouble with it over time as the cross augers will want to dig down even with the skids fully lowered and when the ground is soft they will really dig in. 

We have pictures of them here on the forum and on tractorbynet but a welder will know what you need as both ends of the ski will need to be curved up to glide over the snow in reverse as well as forward. 

The ski skid will need to be wider than the current ones too as you need to have it slightly longer than the side weldment of the cross auger housing to allow it to float more easily. 

I am not trying to spend your money, I just want you to have zero issues with pulling in rocks and gravel as as wet heavy snow will cause you more problems until the ground is absolutely frozen solid which no longer happens in many deep snow years; I also want you to keep all your fingers; My dear father inlaw that I loved very much made the mistake of trying to clear a jam on his ariens and well...………………….................. 


Like I said, I am not trying to spend your money but clearing snow on sod, dirt driveways or stone gravel can be very tedious and dangerous if you get a jammed up impeller and auger.


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## joeblowct (Nov 4, 2018)

I already have the ski skids, had them made last season. Had them on my older Simplicity as well. I'm well versed in the use of a blower on a gravel drive. This was a unique sequence of snow then rain/snow here in CT.

The issue was that even though I only have a very thin layer of stone that is well maintained and well packed in MOST places, it's not well packed in ALL places, mostly on the edges. And small crowns, ridges, or dips do develop through normal use. So even with the skids and bucket raised (and the unfrozen gravel that clung to the snow in spots), it's easier said than done to not pick up some stones here and there UNLESS you are willing to leave a LOT of snow over the gravel. Then it turns to ice when you drive on it. Not good if you have a hill in the middle of your drive like I do.


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## orangputeh (Nov 24, 2016)

Just saying i wouldn't treat a $3500 machine like this. to each his own.

good luck.


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## tadawson (Jan 3, 2018)

leonz said:


> I am glad that you did not suffer any injury from dislodging the rock.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Gotta say, though, that chain repairs on a snow loaded, ice cold Shark were a screaming PITA though. I'd much rather deal with shear bolts myself . . .


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## jrom (Jan 10, 2014)

joeblowct said:


> ...Even with the bucket raised I picked up and threw more gravel this time than in the prior 14 years at this house combined...the HSS1332ATD is a great machine. It throws snow much further than my old machine. It is more complicated to use given its many features but again, if throwing distance is important and you have a gravel drive I don't think it can be beat.


Welcome to the gravel drive club!...and with an HSS1332 no less.

There are a lot of opinions out there on what we should not be doing to our machines, but I say: _*We have a gravel drive, we have snow, we have to do what we have to do.* 
_
Ultimately, I don't care if I even wear out an impeller bucket, but I haven't in 28 years so far.

From the unofficial United States Postal Service creed: _"Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds"_


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## leonz (Dec 12, 2014)

tadawson said:


> Gotta say, though, that chain repairs on a snow loaded, ice cold Shark were a screaming PITA though. I'd much rather deal with shear bolts myself . . .


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If your MOTOMOWER SNOWSHARK had #80 chain for the augers and impeller the END OF DRIVWAY MONSTER would be no match for it and it would have voluntarily jumped in the moat for the moat monsters. 


I invested in my first kerosene fired space heater in 1994 to heat up the work area/the ground and melt off the crap from the END OF DRIVEWAY MONSTER and dry off the machines(snow pups) after I use them and also melt the ice off the truck when it comes home and heat it up in the morning too. I kept my previous truck for 15 years because I used a space heater to melt off the salt, ice and snow from under the body and preheat the engine and the 4 speed gear transmission and 4 wheel drive transfer case. 

I absolutely hate the JD/RAD 44 inch snow blower that came with my mule. I would rather have a JD318 with its beautiful single stage snow thrower than the junk I have now as it takes 4 hours to change the driven belt and the drive and driven belts are almost $400.00.

A box of #40 roller chain, #40 master links, #40 half links, chain breaker and chain stretcher might run me $150.00 for a forever repair and tool supply if I had a JD318 and an original JD single stage snow thrower.

This is the third year the jd la115 will not have the snow blower mounted on it due to the expense of the repair AND the fact that you cannot use a standard A115 V belt on it which makes it worthless and expensive to own and taking off the pulleys to machine them for the SAE belts would not be worth the money to do it due to the extremely poor construction of the snow blower.

The single stage snow blowers I grew up with in the 60's and 70's were better built and could handle anything they encountered. 


Its cheaper for me to just keep the battery maintainer plugged in and the seat up as a battery is almost $80.00 for the bloody thing now plus the disposal charge.


Maybe next year they will finally realize it and see how well the grasshoppers single stage snow thrower works and make a walk behind single stage for the home owner market as it would be simple enough to do.


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## SkunkyLawnmowers (Oct 18, 2018)

leonz said:


> If your MOTOMOWER SNOWSHARK had #80 chain for the augers and impeller the END OF DRIVWAY MONSTER would be no match for it and it would have voluntarily jumped in the moat for the moat monsters.


hahahahhaah I always enjoy reading your posts!


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## Nshusky (Jan 1, 2017)

Didn't want to create a new thread as this one is properly titled.
Check out this new video that I just saw on YT that shows how the auger protection system works in action.


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## STEPNOUT (12 mo ago)

OMG I can’t imagine doing this to m machine ON PURPOSE. Almost made me sick.


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## drmerdp (Feb 9, 2014)

ROTFL, I honestly like the guy and his videos. Little surprised to see him turn the machine into a chipper.


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## JJG723 (Mar 7, 2015)

STEPNOUT said:


> OMG I can’t imagine doing this to m machine ON PURPOSE. Almost made me sick.


Better him than anyone of us lol. The "views" must be worth it I guess. Cool to see the system in action but yup, I'd never do that on purpose.


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## Darryl G (Feb 5, 2017)

Yeah, I wouldn't have done that. I doubt that the system can entirely prevent damage from ingested debris.


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## STEPNOUT (12 mo ago)

He has a great informative channel. You Tubers make a lot of money if they have the subscribers but man at 64 I've never abused anything like that. Here in Canada my HSS928ACTD cost me just over $5000 with the taxes! I grew up poor and Dad kept us busy on the end of a pick, shovel and a snow shovel. I paid room and board while working part time in high school. I've paid for everything out of my own pocket. I keep all my vehicles 14-18 years. I just couldn't do that to something I paid that much money for. On the other hand it shows his great confidence in the product.


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## orangputeh (Nov 24, 2016)

more dollars then sense.......


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## tabora (Mar 1, 2017)

It's one of the best features of the HSS1332AATD, HSS928ACTD and HSS1332ACTD! The HSS928AATD should have it, too.


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## Ziggy65 (Jan 18, 2020)

He probably wouldn't have pulled that stunt if not for gaining views and $ on his You Tube channel.

I was surprised it did not shut down on his first attempt, after reading posts of how sensitive the system was for shutting down the machine.
Seems to have worked correctly, as no shear bolts were taken out or damage to the auger gears.


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## tabora (Mar 1, 2017)

Ziggy65 said:


> He probably wouldn't have pulled that stunt if not for gaining views and $ on his You Tube channel.


Having had mine activate 7 times now, I would feel pretty comfortable with doing a demo, but fortunately John beat me to it...


Ziggy65 said:


> I was surprised it did not shut down on his first attempt, after reading posts of how sensitive the system was for shutting down the machine.
> Seems to have worked correctly, as no shear bolts were taken out or damage to the auger gears.


I was cringing when I saw the two sticks pointing into the impeller; that's how I once broke my impeller shear bolt, which is not protected by the Auger Shear Bolt Guard System. I would have placed a single stick about that size sideways for a demonstration.


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## Jatoxico (Jan 6, 2018)

Could not bring myself to run a machine into a couple a couple splits of firewood. One thing I noticed is after he ate the boxes and branches he kept going until he was out of frame. When he backed up the augers were stopped and his hand was off the auger control. Then he took all hands off the controls the augers did a couple of revolutions. Is that some type of auto anti-freeze up mode? Couldn't tell exactly when the augers stopped since he was out of frame for that part of the demo.

Also, was that a hunk of paint chipped off on the outer impellor housing or a piece of cardboard stuck to it?


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## sledman8002002 (Jan 20, 2021)

Jatoxico said:


> Could not bring myself to run a machine into a couple a couple splits of firewood.


Nor could I, the branches were bad enough but I could see that happening. Good for a laugh tho, comical relief after the initial shock and 'wow' factor...


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## Jatoxico (Jan 6, 2018)

sledman8002002 said:


> Nor could I, the branches were bad enough but I could see that happening. Good for a laugh tho, comical relief after the initial shock and 'wow' factor...


Didn't realize I stuttered, must've been the shock


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## JFM88 (Dec 20, 2020)

Why don't you just run it over a wet rolled up newspaper. In nearly 60 years of operating snowblowers, that's the one obstacle that will consistently jam every blower I've owned or operated. Logs and branches - very infrequent.


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## tabora (Mar 1, 2017)

JFM88 said:


> Logs and branches - very infrequent.


This is the lovely little 10" stick that activated my Auger Shear Bolt Guard System during the last storm... You just never know what's lurking under the snow, especially at EOD. You can see where the auger bit down on it between the arrows.


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## Breckcapt (Jan 4, 2017)

Man, I love that auger lock protection. I hit a rock (trying to be nice to a neighbor who doesn’t have his border marked and thought I’d get his driveway and private road too) THREE TIMES! Not the same rock. However, the system shut down immediately. I thought I for sure I blew a shear pin but simply lifted auger and it restarted right away. I love that feature on my 1332 …….Anyway, it works. So glad I have it.


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## vmax29 (Oct 19, 2017)

Sprinkler heads do not set off the APS. They just come out in a nice spray of small plastic parts all over the lawn. This is from experience if you can call it that.


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## tabora (Mar 1, 2017)

vmax29 said:


> Sprinkler heads do not set off the APS.


One of mine did... Caught it just right.


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