# Flimsy Augers on Cub Cadet 3 Stage



## ReRide (Apr 16, 2018)

Has anyone had trouble with their augers bending so that they don't cover the entire width they need to? On my Cub Cadet 26" 3 Stage, the side augers have bent so much, that they no longer cover the width they were intended to. I am thinking if I bend them back to original width and maybe add some reinforcement, or weld beads to give them more strength maybe they would hold their shape. Has anyone else encountered this? If so, how did you fix it? Also, it really doesn't seem to bit into deep wet snow very well at all. If I can make it work better, that would be great, but if not, I really need to replace it. Everything else about the machine is really good, other than it doesn't like deep wet snow, and it tends to plug up in shallow wet snow. Thanks.


----------



## tabora (Mar 1, 2017)

MTD augers are notoriously flimsy. I've had to bend them all back multiple times on my son's Troy-Bilt.


----------



## tdipaul (Jul 11, 2015)

Ive never seen this before. They look like ninja stars now


----------



## ST1100A (Feb 7, 2015)

It is a bad design to begin with. They are noted for clogging and it is very difficult to get a tool in there to unclog them. By their design, they were designed to clog in deep snow and wet sloppy snow, they cant intake the snow fast enough to the impeller because the shield brow behind the auger gearbox blocks everything and makes it hard to get at the shear bolt back there.
The augers were designed to bend easily, there is nothing to make them rigid enough by design being single pieces that they are.
If you bend them once, they are weakened, bend them back into place, they are bent twice and weakened even more, and will bend much easier the next/third time.
Wait till you get a newspaper jammed into them and the work involved to get that removed.
You have to disassemble the entire auger assembly and it is not an easy job, everything has to be removed all they way to the impeller.
Thank the College educated with no common sense what-so-ever idiot who designed that part.
But then again, MTD products are designed as "Home-owner" or "Residential" products and are not designed for heavier usage to keep the costs down on them.
Wait till you need engine parts or service support from the factory on them.
Honestly your best to get rid of it and replace the machine with a regular 2 stage machine. The "3" stage is nothing but a marketing gimmick that only give you 3 times more trouble than anything else and for what they are worth. They might work in light dry snow, but don't ram them into hard packed or icy chunked end of driveway snow, or you will destroy the center auger in a big hurry, besides it will spray the snow out the sides and not into the impeller housing if it doesn't bend the auger paddle first or break the shear bolt.
Also notice the snow stacked up on top of the brow that blocks the snow from getting into the impeller so it can be discharged out the chute, a very poor design there.
Note the tiny diameter auger paddles compared to how high the auger housing is with the little brow blocking entrance to the impeller housing, right there it will cause a major problem in deep snow with the machine not being able to exhaust all of the snow out quick enough by being blocked from the impeller, and the tiny diameter auger paddles not being large enough to break up deep snow piles enough to make its way back to the impeller, if it ever makes it that far in the first place.


----------



## ReRide (Apr 16, 2018)

Thanks for the replies. I figured this was a poor design after I've used it a few years. This unit replaced my snowthrower I used on a John Deere F525 Front Deck mower. The John Deere had a few issues but it was a tank and was leagues ahead of what I replaced it with. I now have a Grasshopper 725, 25 HP Diesel front deck mower. I didn't want to use it in the winter, but I believe the time has come to either put a snowblower on my Grasshopper or get a commercial walk behind machine. We own 4 properties and do the usual amount of helping friends and neighbors, and I see now I should have started with something different. I agree, the 3 stage is a marketing tool. Last spring we had a couple of wet 18 and 24 inch snows. The 3 stage would take 8 to 12 inches at a time and that was only by pushing down on the handles so it would raise the front of the machine to bite only a little bit of snow at one time. I may try to get through one more year with this, but I'll circle back and let you know what I replace this thing with, either yet this month or next fall. Thanks again for the responses.


----------



## tabora (Mar 1, 2017)

@*ReRide* - You can get replacement left & right augers for $24 each:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/MTD-22-Sno...:Ig4AAOSwlG5cdIhX:sc:USPSPriority!04074!US!-1
https://www.ebay.com/itm/MTD-22-Sno...:rZUAAOSwqaNcdIlN:sc:USPSPriority!04074!US!-1


----------



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

Yes, I've had the same problem with my CC 3X 26". I didn't realize the problem until the last snow storm. I have bent them back and also sprayed the augers, chute and whole inner housing with "Snow Jet" lubricant. I'm hoping these fixes improve its performance in heavy wet snow. Not too optimistic, but I'm trying to avoid having to buy a new snow blower.


----------

