# 1450 shear bolts did not shear when needed!



## d3500ram (Feb 5, 2017)

Am more than a little frustrated when shear bolts on Craftsman 1450 shear bolts did not break when they needed to during a big snowstorm last winter... 

The shear bolt that needed to give way was the one on the impeller shaft, not the ones on the auger shaft. I took in a rock that went past the augers and got caught between the impeller shaft and the housing. With the 14 horses still charging, the weakest points took the brunt before it stalled.

...not sure if putting anymore money into it is worth it. The metal housing is really battered up:



















I do not have a welder (maybe a good excuse to buy one??) If I did I might try to reinforce the weakened area, but not sure if the gage is thick enough to accept a repair.

The impeller is really torqued!



















The images above are 2 of the 3 paddles. The area where the paddle is welded to the round back plate is cracked, the paddles are bent and part of the back plate is bent into toward and contacting the inside of the sheet metal housing (this is what I would like to beat back into a flatter, more normal shape.)

I tried to remove the impeller but as stuck as it was I broke open a small hole on the cast gearbox on the auger shaft so I wrapped it up and fastened it up tight as possible.

My driveway is gravel as is my road. I am very diligent to clear as many visible rocks before the snow flies, but the county plow will toss small rocks back into my driveway while clearing the roads. It is many of these that I pick up.

It is a shame that the shear bolts did not break away. The engine is a 14.5 HP and still running great. Too bad that I could not buy a complete assembled housing and auger assembly- that is, everything forward of the engine chassis for a decent price.

I have faithfully maintained this machine. It has new belts, cables installed before this fiasco. I had custom made v-bar chains made for it too. Not sure if it is worth spending money to fix up or buy a new one. Where I live I get 5+ feet of snow and a ready-to-go snow blower is a necessity. 

Thanks for hearing me vent a little.


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## Kiss4aFrog (Nov 3, 2013)

OUCH !! How old is the machine ?? Have you been looking over the summer for a donor machine with a shot engine or trans problem you could take the front off ??


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## Sid (Jan 31, 2014)

I am pretty sure that the impeller does not have shear bolts. The auger shear bolts are the first line of defense on most if not all machines. Many people on this forum have had everything imaginable that made it past the augers, and into the impeller and did a ton of damage, in in some cases really bad. It looks repairable. Good luck.
Sid


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## orangputeh (Nov 24, 2016)

looks like the impeller has a hole for a shear bolt. 

looks repairable to me. a good welder should be able to help. I've used locking pliers and vices and hammers to straighten things out and then weld.

did you mention that the impeller won't come off that shaft? if so a shear bolt would not help anyway. that has to be remedied.

donyboy73 has a video on you tube about getting frozen augers free from shafts. that may work for your situation.


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## unknown1 (Dec 13, 2015)

What a pity. Was the impeller totally rusted onto the shaft? 
I know from spending hours and days trying to free up the tracks on a Craftsman TRAC machine just how strong a "rust weld" can be.
But that is usually a problem when trying to slide things off a shaft... I'm not sure if the rust could have the same "weld strength" in a rotational shear situation.
In my case it was a plastic wheel hub on a metal shaft on a machine I picked up on Craigslist.. over time (with neglect) the rust built up super thick. I added zerks and marine grease to avoid that problem in future.
In your case I guess it makes sense to remove all shear bolts and grease the shafts from time to time and check for free-spinning.


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## UNDERTAKER (Dec 30, 2013)

*The thickness of that metal is not worth BULLSPIT!!! and it is made in china also. I would start looking for a old school machine with decent metal thickness. maybe you can find 1 that has no engine and transplant yours on to it. Good Luck Anyhoo, ALOHA from the Paradise City.:smiley-rpg027::smiley-rpg027::smiley-rpg027::smiley-rpg027::smiley-rpg027:*


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## jtclays (Sep 24, 2010)

You


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## HCBPH (Mar 8, 2011)

If your unit is like every other unit I've seen or worked on, those are not shear pins attaching the impeller to the shaft. Those are roll pins and they are not designed to shear off. The ones I've worked on are 1/4" o.d. and if you can find some 1/4" shear bolts I suppose you can replace the roll pins with those. Thing is, most times the impeller hub eventually rusts onto the shaft anyway so it's not likely they'll shear anyway.


If you disassemble it, you can straighten up the impeller using something like a mapp torch to heat it up, a heavy hammer and some form of anvil whether an actual anvil or some heavy steel. The back side of the auger housing can be welded up and even weld a patch over top of the tear to strengthen it up. I have a Hobart Mig welder I've used a few times to weld up tears and broke welds on auger housings before. You do have to watch your methods and heat range but it can be done. If you do it, also check out weld through primer.


Whether it's rocks, news papers, garden hoses or something else, they don't play well with impellers.


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## Shryp (Jan 1, 2011)

A couple tips for this if it gets fixed or maybe your next blower.

People with gravel drives usually try to leave a couple inches of snow behind so they don't pick up gravel in the first place.They just drive over it and pack it down. Once it freezes it holds the gravel down. That will work for your drive, but obviously you can not control the plow.

There appears to be a pretty large gap between the impeller and the housing. Something like one of the impeller kit modifications will close up that gap and if you do manage to get rocks in there again maybe next time they will be thrown out instead of getting wedged in the gap. Just be sure they don't get thrown towards something that will break.


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