# Fluid film on new machine



## Bondzy (Nov 4, 2019)

Good morning everyone. I just picked up a 2020 HSS1332ACTD yesterday. Very happy to say it has the modified shoot on it from factory. My question is about fluid film or looking for tips and tricks to maintain the machine and things to watch out for. This is my first snowblower. My thought with fluid film inside the housing and chute is to prevent any rust build up if the paint gets damaged during use. I'm just not sure if it will cause the snow to then stick to the film. Thanks in advance


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## Oneacer (Jan 3, 2011)

Morning,

I have seen many people that use and swear by Fluid Film. Me personally, I have never used it, nor really ever had the need to.

I will mention though, recently, while ordering parts, I noticed from an ad that Rain-X has a spray wax that you just spray on and is supposed to repel water. I know from personal experience, that the Rain-X for your windshield certainly works, and the rain is repelled off your windshield. Since I just restored an old Ariens, I am going to spray some in the chute and internal bucket area prior to snow blowing, and see what the results are. I am more curious than anything, and don't expect any great difference to be honest. But hey, you never know ?


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## Tony P. (Jan 9, 2017)

Fluid film is, perhaps, the best of many spray lubrication products. It can help to keep snow and ice from clinging to the housing, auger, and blades. To some extent it can also help to keep paint from chipping. Having said that, I don't think paint chipping is a major issue. I have some primer and paint I use after each season to keep the snow blower looking good.


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## 71Dragtruck (Oct 27, 2019)

I’d put checking skid and scraper bar height and maintaining proper adjustment on it throughout the year a number 1 thing on the list. As far as fluid film I can’t comment as I’ve never used any products like that on my blower, to be honest on this forum is the first time I’ve ever even heard of them, are they just a silicon or wax spray or is there more to them?


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## UNDERTAKER (Dec 30, 2013)

* Just Bust out the old NU-FINISH and have at it. Anyhoo, ALOHA From The Paradise City. :smiley-rpg027::smiley-rpg027::smiley-rpg027::smiley-rpg027::smiley-rpg027:*


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## leonz (Dec 12, 2014)

Hello Bondzy,

I have used Fluid film for years and its a godsend for my single stage Toro snow pups as it doubles the casting distance.

The snow away stuff that they sell at the hardware and equipment dealer shops is very nasty poison. Fluid Film is made from the lanolin taken from sheep wool.

Don't hesitate to coat everything that contacts snow with either the spray using the fluid film hand pumper or a paint mitt.

Its always a good idea to carry a can of the aerosol fluid film or the pump spray can with you to recoat the chute spout and impeller as they will heat up simply due to friction and we cannot have that under any circumstances especially when attacking THE END OF DRIVEWAY MONSTER and feeding the moat monster with its remains to add to their salt diet. 

Now the best way to handle salted snow is to make your first pass down to the municipal plow mess AKATHE END OF DRIVEWAY MONSTER.

Begin clearing THE END OF DRIVEWAY MONSTER a half cut at a time to avoid plugging and adding more ice to the cross auger housing as you work.

You can occasionally spray a little Fluid Film on the chute as it will be warm from friction and the snow want to build up on the chute and spout.

Taking a half cut at a time will quickly get rid of the crap and you will not load up the snow blower with ice on the cross augers which is what it will want to do. 

After you feed the moat monsters with the END OF DRIVEWAY MONSTER you can continue clearing snow and after each pass you will be flushing that dirty rock salt out of the snow blower and any road pebbles. 

By the time your done most of the salt will be flushed out the cross auger housing and if you have access to hot water all the better as you can flush it out even more.

With my snow blowers I just run the space heater until I know the metal is hot or the snow pups are all dried out.

Even the smallest kerosene fired space heater is your friend as you can warm your vehicles up in 20 minutes and have a very warm vehicle to use and the windows will have little to no ice on them. 

If you have a warm place to store the snow blower great, or if you have a salamander to melt off all the crap, salt and dirt even better as you can leave it there for 20 minutes or so to drive all the moisture from the snow blower cross auger housing and the V belt area.


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## TD-Max (Jan 2, 2020)

Before putting our two 928 machines into service I destickered and waxed them. I also used Amsoil MP-HD on areas like the aluminum auger gear case, and the sheet metal where there are lap joints. It's pretty runny but dries to a waxy coating. This was a few ears back. Overall the machines are holding up well, The places that I sprayed with the MP-HD look really well protected despite not getting the salt washed off regularly in spring. Brother seems to think that the rust is because Honda uses cheap steel. I don't run the machines he does, but to me they just need more TLC in the off season. Wash and let dry completely then Fluid Film, WD40 or whatever to get them protected.


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## penna stogey (Nov 25, 2019)

Welcome to the SBF from Gettysburg


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## LostinMaine (Dec 10, 2017)

I often spray Fluid Film liberally on the axle to try to prevent water from freezing the wheels solid (in addition to greasing during fall maintenance). I dont worry about rust during the season. Each fall during maintenance I grind any rust away with a wire wheel, spray a rust neutralizing primer, and then apply orange spray paint


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## johnwick (Dec 16, 2019)

Your new machine could greatly benefit from a nice coat or two of automotive wax on all the exterior metal surfaces to give it a great start. From there, fluid film is a great choice for the interior bucket, auger, impeller and chute. My machine works great with this approach. 

I personally wouldn’t want to spray fluid film on the exterior of the machine and that’s where the wax comes in. The snow and ice slides right off during and after use and makes the drying time faster for me.


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## kimber (Dec 19, 2019)

^^ +1 ^^ I did the same as Mr.Wick, waxed the exterior, inside of bucket, auger, everything, helped to keep the snow from sticking and gives protection against salt until the time I can give it a good wash, will prime and paint rock chips in the spring.


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## johnwick (Dec 16, 2019)

LostinMaine said:


> I often spray Fluid Film liberally on the axle to try to prevent water from freezing the wheels solid (in addition to greasing during fall maintenance). I dont worry about rust during the season. Each fall during maintenance I grind any rust away with a wire wheel, spray a rust neutralizing primer, and then apply orange spray paint




This stuff is absolutely terrific for axels. No one will ever have a problem when using this anti seize. Of course, we will all be taking the wheels off annually regardless.


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## Kielbasa (Dec 21, 2013)

:bowing: Thank you... thank you... thank you... Somebody is listening to me. 



kimber said:


> ^^ +1 ^^ I did the same as Mr.Wick, waxed the exterior, inside of bucket, auger, everything, helped to keep the snow from sticking and gives protection against salt until the time I can give it a good wash, will prime and paint rock chips in the spring.


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## Honda1132 (Sep 2, 2016)

I have never tried fluid film. I waxed the machine including the inside of the bucket with Nu Finish car polish this year and the snow doesn't seem to stick as bad and it is easier to brush off when I put the snowblower away after clearing the driveway.


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## Honda1132 (Sep 2, 2016)

johnwick said:


> This stuff is absolutely terrific for axels. No one will ever have a problem when using this anti seize. Of course, we will all be taking the wheels off annually regardless.


I use the copper version. Works great.


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## Oneacer (Jan 3, 2011)

Never seize is a must for any shop …...


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## WIHD (Dec 15, 2019)

LostinMaine said:


> I often spray Fluid Film liberally on the axle to try to prevent water from freezing the wheels solid (in addition to greasing during fall maintenance). I dont worry about rust during the season. Each fall during maintenance I grind any rust away with a wire wheel, spray a rust neutralizing primer, and then apply orange spray paint





Tony P. said:


> Fluid film is, perhaps, the best of many spray lubrication products. It can help to keep snow and ice from clinging to the housing, auger, and blades. To some extent it can also help to keep paint from chipping. Having said that, I don't think paint chipping is a major issue. I have some primer and paint I use after each season to keep the snow blower looking good.


this was a question I had- installing the poly skid shoes, the bolts chip the paint in the hole a little. what paint is best to fix that or touch it up? just plain orange? I have no idea what Ariens uses or what would be best to touch areas up?

Thanks.


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## WIHD (Dec 15, 2019)

Bondzy said:


> Good morning everyone. I just picked up a 2020 HSS1332ACTD yesterday. Very happy to say it has the modified shoot on it from factory. My question is about fluid film or looking for tips and tricks to maintain the machine and things to watch out for. This is my first snowblower. My thought with fluid film inside the housing and chute is to prevent any rust build up if the paint gets damaged during use. I'm just not sure if it will cause the snow to then stick to the film. Thanks in advance


speaking strictly from a rust prevention standpoint, I will never use Fluid Film again. It actually causes things to rust by keeping them wet. 
If its on a machine or vehicle where it gets worn and washed off over time, it may be fine, else I will never apply it to any vehicle again for rust prevention.

Applying to the chute for the snow to move thru it easier I'd prob try though....that is not rust prevention. Plus the wet snow will wash it off in time anyway.


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## LostinMaine (Dec 10, 2017)

WIHD said:


> this was a question I had- installing the poly skid shoes, the bolts chip the paint in the hole a little. what paint is best to fix that or touch it up? just plain orange? I have no idea what Ariens uses or what would be best to touch areas up?
> 
> Thanks.



From what i've seen, most dealers of Ariens equipment sell spray paint that is sold under the Ariens name for touching up - otherwise i've gone into tractor supply and gotten an orange tractor paint that is practically the same color. I also buy a rust converting primer from Krylon to lay down before hand to make sure surface rust doesnt bubble up down the road on bare metal and flake off more paint. The Jury is still out on how necessary that is, but its good peace of mind...


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## johnwick (Dec 16, 2019)

WIHD said:


> this was a question I had- installing the poly skid shoes, the bolts chip the paint in the hole a little. what paint is best to fix that or touch it up? just plain orange? I have no idea what Ariens uses or what would be best to touch areas up?
> 
> 
> 
> Thanks.



Chevrolet Orange, perfect match.


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## Tony P. (Jan 9, 2017)

WIHD said:


> this was a question I had- installing the poly skid shoes, the bolts chip the paint in the hole a little. what paint is best to fix that or touch it up? just plain orange? I have no idea what Ariens uses or what would be best to touch areas up?
> 
> Thanks.


It may take a few tries to get paint the way you want it, but there's plenty of good options for Ariens orange. First off, you can find Ariens own paint on Amazon or at several stores in either a spray can or a touch-up bottle. Beyond that, many believe Chevy engine orange or Rust-oleum farm equipment orange matches well. I suggest avoiding the spray if you only have a small area to touch-up. Finally, I also use black enamel where applicable.


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