# 8/26 Longer Skid Shoes



## Clutch Cargo (Dec 27, 2015)

As promised to Pamela, here are pictures showing the installation of new longer skid shoes. The part number is 784-5038B-0637. They are about $16 - $18 each but one set lasted me 9 years. As I mentioned, the longer shoe will stiffen the lower bucket and also protrudes slightly which will prevent damage if you run into walls or staircases made out of brick or concrete. The only items required are an additional carriage bolt for the very front (the hole is already there) and an "adapter" of sorts in order to use the wider slot on one side. For the latter, I simply cut out a piece of the old original skid shoe that contained one slot. This is a lot stiffer than trying to use a pile of fender washers. And as with everything I change, all fasteners are stainless and nylock nuts.


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## Vermont007 (Mar 29, 2015)

My MTD Blower came with similar shoes, and they lend themselves to being flipped three times before being retired: flipped upside down so that the rear becomes the nose and then taken over to the opposite side for the process to be repeated . . . . one of the few design features that defies product obsolescence.

In each of their four (4) positions, there's (for me) about 3 or 4 years worth of usage in those shoes before another change is necessitated . . . . so one set of shoes looks like it will last 15 years before being trashed. I doubt that the product engineers foresaw that pattern of usage. After 11 years of usage, my shoes don't look pretty anymore; but they're perfectly functional . . . . I just periodically slosh a little chemical rust converter on them and maybe a little paint.


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## Clutch Cargo (Dec 27, 2015)

Great idea! I hadn't thought of that and figured 9 years was pretty good. I had seen newer MTD large frame machines with a simplified bucket side stamping and the longer shoes. I think the change was made in the early 2000s, yes? Its what inspired me to do this modification. Also, when I bought the machine (it had been used and abused by a landscaping company) the lower front edges were dented, folded and generally pretty beat up.


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