# Freeing Rusted Frozen Augers



## woodtick007 (Apr 9, 2011)

I don't know how many people have ever purchased a used two stage and found the augers frozen/rusted/stuck from old hard dried grease to the shaft. I have found that short of a miracle they will not come off the shafts. I took my 1972 823 Ariens and remove the shear pins from both sides of the auger shaft. Then I proceeded out to the 36" roll of hard frozen snow left by the county plow trucks and gave it ****. It took about 30 minutes for the right side for free up and another 45 minutes for the left side to break free. 

So, for anyone who has changed their shear pins and thought boy this auger is stuck.... this might be an excellent time to free it up with a little hard work.


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## Shryp (Jan 1, 2011)

Is this the same blower with the trashed auger gear? If it is that could explain why your gear failed. It is nice to find out about it before you have an issue and the idea of running without the shear bolts to break them free is a good one. Often times it is too late by the time people realize it though. I originally got that idea by reading about peoples experiences with old troy bilt tillers and the wheels being frozen to the axles. They were reporting taking the wheel pins out and using the tiller was a good way to break them free.

My Ariens had one stuck and I used PB Blaster, 2 jack stands and a sledge hammer to get the other one free.


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## Toro-8-2-4 (Dec 28, 2013)

Heat usually works. But you need a good size torch.


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## woodtick007 (Apr 9, 2011)

The one with a stripped worm gear is a st724 1979 vintage with an aluminum gear case that I picked up for $60 with a blown rod. I replaced the 7hp Tec with a 208cc Greyhound Lifan. Nice machine until that gear failed . No tellling what happened to that machine in the 30 years before I bought it. 

Your ariens has the cast iron gear case.... when I spoke to a guy at Ariens he pretty much said the old cast iron gear case machines are 99% bulletproof. My next machine will be an older 24" with a cast iron gear case somewhere around 1973ish.


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## motorhead64 (Dec 15, 2013)

What if the auger doesn't break loose even with the pins removed? MH


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## woodtick007 (Apr 9, 2011)

Toro-8-2-4 said:


> Heat usually works. But you need a good size torch.


I tried heating it with an oxy-acetylene rosebud....I pretty much tried everything...I even put it in a shop press... the thing that freed it up was removing the sear bolts and the resistance of the snow..... Just making a suggestion.


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## woodtick007 (Apr 9, 2011)

motorhead64 said:


> What if the auger doesn't break loose even with the pins removed? MH


Just put the pins back in an hope you never need to remove the augers from the auger shaft to service the gearbox . I tried to remove them because my gearbox was leaking out the lube and I wanted to replace the seals.


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## HCBPH (Mar 8, 2011)

*Stuck Auger Rakes*

That's one I've not tried, but then again most times I'm working on them in the summer months. I usually take out the auger assembly, put it on end and work in penetrant, hit it with a hammer every so often and keep doing it for around a week. Then it goes into the 12 ton press, add some heat to the outside of the shaft on the rakes and put some pressure on it. I will rap it with a hammer and usually they will break the rust loose over time.
I also have a driver I put together that can be used to drive the rakes back onto the shaft a little, so once it begins to move I'll try working it in and out a little at a time till it's loose and will press off the shaft. I use alot of penetrant but unless you have another auger assembly available it's one of the few ways I've found to get them off.


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## woodtick007 (Apr 9, 2011)

HCBPH said:


> That's one I've not tried, but then again most times I'm working on them in the summer months. I usually take out the auger assembly, put it on end and work in penetrant, hit it with a hammer every so often and keep doing it for around a week. Then it goes into the 12 ton press, add some heat to the outside of the shaft on the rakes and put some pressure on it. I will rap it with a hammer and usually they will break the rust loose over time.
> I also have a driver I put together that can be used to drive the rakes back onto the shaft a little, so once it begins to move I'll try working it in and out a little at a time till it's loose and will press off the shaft. I use alot of penetrant but unless you have another auger assembly available it's one of the few ways I've found to get them off.


It places a lot less violent shocks on the gearset than hammering with a heavy hammer....It worked for me so I thought I would share it and possibly help someone else.... I was at wits end trying to get the augers free.


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## td5771 (Feb 21, 2011)

The last set of frozen augers one side came off on about an hour. The other side about 4 hrs.
I have use heat plenty of times to get items apart but found this time that I was using too much heat. The auger would heat up and eventually the heat made its way to the shaft and that expanded as well.

I drilled 2 small 3/8 holes in the cross braces so I could use a steering wheel puller bolting it through the cross braces and the center was on the shaft.

I found that when cold I could heat the auger with the puller as tight as it would get. then rap it with a hammer as I heat it. At a certain temp it would budge about 1/16 or less. If I kept heating it would tighten up again.

This was my proceedure. 

tighten puller
heat and tap till it budged a little
tighten puller, let cool a few minutes
heat and tap till it budged
tighten puller
heat and tap

etc etc etc

Some times it was hard to tell if it was moving but you would know because you would be able to tighten the puller.

And lots of penetrating oil again and again.

Seem real tedious but after it moved an 1 and 1/2 or 2 inches it came freeand the puller worked by itself


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## Shryp (Jan 1, 2011)

Spectrum the Gilson guy has a good setup with a picture over in this thread.

- View topic - breaking rusted rakes loose..


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## greatwhitebuffalo (Feb 11, 2014)

this is a good thread, and I was amazed how badly the one auger was seized on a Gilson recently. It was impervious to PB blaster, oxy-ace heat and a huge sledgehammer. I got a bad case of tennis elbow swinging the hammer trying to knock it loose. How it eventually came off, i removed the other side auger, removed the entire axle with frozen auger on it from the gearbox, then put it in a press, it pushed right out. The problem is, with it still in the gearbox, there is a risk of damaging the gearbox in the press. 

those frozen augers are a BEETCH !!


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## db9938 (Nov 17, 2013)

Electrolysis, plain and simple.


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## gibbs296 (Jun 22, 2014)

Thanks for the video link db9938. Very cool stuff.


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## greatwhitebuffalo (Feb 11, 2014)

db9938 said:


> Electrolysis, plain and simple.
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54ADeB6V1rQ


that would work if the fluid could get between the axle shaft and auger center axle tube, but when they seize together the ends become sealed and nothing can get in there to penetrate it.


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## db9938 (Nov 17, 2013)

greatwhitebuffalo said:


> that would work if the fluid could get between the axle shaft and auger center axle tube, but when they seize together the ends become sealed and nothing can get in there to penetrate it.


I thought the same, and I tried it on my Hondas impeller/auger input shaft. Fell right off. And this is after numerous attempts with a torch and PB Blaster soakings.


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## HCBPH (Mar 8, 2011)

*Electrolysis*

I seen electrolysis work in getting some parts of old old woodworking machines apart that have sat out in the elements for decades. It can do amazing thing but make sure you don't have any pot metal parts as they can dissolve.


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## Normex (Feb 21, 2014)

Hi all,
Besides electrolysis here's another trick.
One has to heat the tube (not red hot) then pour plenty of cold water over the works. You'll see you will be able to budge it in a very small amount but keep budging and it will loosen up to where it becomes loose again.
Now this trick (learned from pipeline people) I used many times with real bad rusted bolts and it worked every time with no breakage. Mind you I didn't try it on frozen augers and it is much easier than setting up pullers or press.

Good luck all

Norm


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## db9938 (Nov 17, 2013)

HCBPH said:


> I seen electrolysis work in getting some parts of old old woodworking machines apart that have sat out in the elements for decades. It can do amazing thing but make sure you don't have any pot metal parts as they can dissolve.


I'd also mind the transmission case. 

What I found was to submerge the part, into a half filled bucket, then add water accordingly.


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## greatwhitebuffalo (Feb 11, 2014)

db9938 said:


> I thought the same, and I tried it on my Hondas impeller/auger input shaft. Fell right off. And this is after numerous attempts with a torch and PB Blaster soakings.


 electrolysis on a snowblower auger drive, with impeller and auger shafts and tines all together, that is going to be one BIG electrolysis tank, if it's the method I think it is, submerging the entire part.


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## db9938 (Nov 17, 2013)

I did one half at a time, and was able to do it in a five gallon bucket. It may involve some cribbing to make it work, I used two by two's to make it work.


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