# Corrosion - repair or replace housing??



## canuck88 (Sep 12, 2011)

I have an 11-year old White (MTD) 28" 10.5hp (Snow King) blower that runs perfectly (love the 16" auger/impeller and the Snow King always starts first pull) except one big problem - corrosion on the front auger housing. The problem is at the front bottom, in front of the skids. It seems the design was meant for longer skids that would help give some rigidity to the metal, but because the skids are short (2 hole), the metal has bent in and corroded severely (several holes).

What do you guys think will be cheaper/better -

a) Have someone fabricate some metal to repair, then add a reinforcing piece and/or longer skids (I have no idea what this would cost)

b) Try to purchase a replacement front housing (which I believe is around $300-350)

I'm leaning towards b), but just wanted to see if anyone had an opinion


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## td5771 (Feb 21, 2011)

a good quality snowblower should last far more than 11 years. especially the housing. if you buy a new housing at a high cost you get what ....11 years more? if i understaand correctly you need a 28 or so inch wide piece of steel, curved by a shop to match the curve of your blower, then welded in place. i am sure a lot less than 300. and it will last a life time. plus 2--- 1 1/2 wide strips of steel 6-8 inches long welded to a set of new skids with bends at each end so they are reversable. cant be more than 25 if you cut with a hacksaw and bend yourself. 

i have a pic of skids made similar if interested.


i wouldnt buy the new housing, ,..........if i am understanding you right


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## bwdbrn1 (Nov 24, 2010)

I think I'd take it and have a fabricator take a look at it and shoot you an estimate of what it would take, and then decide which would be better for you.


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## Shryp (Jan 1, 2011)

I don't think your original question was clear. Are you saying the sides of the housing where the skids bolt on is bent up and rotted away? If that is the case I would just get some big fender washers and maybe some longer bolts and sandwich everything together. If you want, you could sand and paint it first to prevent it from getting worse.

If you are saying the inside of the housing is messed up then you do have a bigger problem.

If it comes down to buying a new front housing I would just look for another used blower. Maybe you could find another one the same as yours with a blown engine or gearcase and pick it up dirt cheap.


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## Wayne195 (Nov 16, 2010)

Another suggestion would be to keep your eyes open for another snowblower of the same model to swap off the parts you need.

If you can't find used replacement parts I'd reccommend that you get a quote from a metal fabrication shop; I'm sure you can find some alternative to the $300 option.


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## HCBPH (Mar 8, 2011)

*Auger issues*

First off, I'm not familiar with your machine so some of this is just swagging off general info. 

If the end panels are bent and rusted, bolt onto the main section of the housing, that should not be a major job. Unbolt them and take them off yourself and talk to a bodyshop, they should be able to weld in new metal for you.

If it's the main auger assembly down by the scraper bar that's bent and rusted, that's alot more work. If you can get the impellar pulley off, pull the ends and auger/impeller assembly out. You should then be able to unbolt between the auger and impeller and take that to a bodyshop and have some new metal welded in. More time and money, but doable.

Third would be if you drop the whole thing off somewhere and let them do it all. Had a guy ask me a couple of months ago about fixing the bottom of the auger assembly by the scraper bar where it's bent and rusted. I have not seen it in person yet but looks (based on pictures) like the machine was assembled with the scraper bar inside the housing and somewhere along the line the auger caught it and bent it up and it's rusted since them. I told him if I did it all, I'd charge him over $300 for the job because there's alot of disassembly/reassembly along with the actual repair. Then there's the matter of cutting out and replacing the metal on the bottom of the housing along with the scraper bar.

Having said that, on the local CL someone listed a 26" auger assembly for a MTD the other week for $50. If that would fit, it would be alot cheaper if you found something comparable in your area.

For my own machine, I took a 10 hp 32" 3 stage and swapped out the auger assembly for a 26" 2 stage this summer. Being they were from the same general model of snowblower it was a simple bolt on. I did create a thread on modifying a 10 hp snowblower on this site if you want to see what I did and how I did it.

In your case, if you actually have a 16" impeller (not the augers), that's going to be a tough one to find I would think. I have a couple of Murray/Craftsman units with a 14" impeller in them, and yours would be even bigger. Don't know how much luck you'll have finding a replacement. You might be able to swap out the auger/impeller assembly, but it would take alot more research and luck to find the right one for that kind of a switch.

If you have someone that does body work in restoring cars and is willing, most likely they can do a repair for you if you took them just the pieces to be repaired. How much it will cost really depends alot on how much of the disassembly/reassembly work you're willing to do. Good luck.


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