# ST824 auger usted on shaft



## bcjm (May 29, 2015)

The augers and sheer pins of my ST824 are rusted. I can't take them off from the shaft. The bolts of the sheer pins are broke off. I can't punched them out with a hammer and puncher. I can still use the machine just hope I don't hit anything hard. Any recommendations to remove the broken sheer pins and augers?


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## Kiss4aFrog (Nov 3, 2013)

Soak in PB Blaster, soak again, again, ... heat with a torch, soak with Blaster some more, if necessary dismantle and try to press them off, drill holes along the shaft to allow more places to apply penetrating oil (weld up later) and lastly cut them off by slitting them lengthwise with a grinder or cutoff tool.


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## bad69cat (Nov 30, 2015)

^^^ That's pretty much what you have to do. Heat can be your friend. May take multiple cycles of heat and penetrating oil..... patience is required too. Something I fall short on! ;>P I did notice HF sells a motrocyce chain breaker the other day - not sure if it's big enough to try an use as a pin/bolt press? I thought about that just now.....


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## Kiss4aFrog (Nov 3, 2013)

Thank you for mentioning patience. I didn't because I don't have any and haven't found a link to get any :facepalm_zpsdj194qh


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## RedOctobyr (Mar 2, 2014)

I like the idea of a chain breaker, if it was big enough to fit around the auger shaft (it might not be). 

I bought a used snowblower whose shear pins had bent and deformed, but neither one actually sheared off. So they looked kind of like this: 

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The augers were not rusted to the shaft, in my case, but I still couldn't drive the bent pins out. So I used a Dremel to cut off one end of the shear pins, then used it to grind away what was left. I ended up also opening up the holes in the augers (not the shaft), until I ground them down low enough that I could drive the pins out. 

It was a pain, but it worked. 

If your pins are rusted into their holes, you could try to drill them out. I guess I'd be a bit surprised that they're rusted tight into the holes, since normally they have a slightly loose fit in the holes, as I recall. But that doesn't mean they can't rust in place. 

I haven't had a machine whose augers rusted to the shaft. But if I had that problem, I was thinking of just running the machine for a while, with the shear pins removed, and driving it into the deepest snowbanks I could find. It's possible that the torque from moving the snow could help spin the augers on the shaft. Probably unlikely, but hey, it would be easy to try if there's snow around.


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## gsnod (Sep 2, 2013)

I agree that the best thing to do may be to simply run the machine without the shear pins and let the vibration work to break the rust free. While I doubt this idea would work to break free wheels rusted onto a shaft, I do believe it will work on the auger, due to the force put onto the auger. 



RedOctobyr said:


> I like the idea of a chain breaker, if it was big enough to fit around the auger shaft (it might not be).
> 
> I bought a used snowblower whose shear pins had bent and deformed, but neither one actually sheared off. So they looked kind of like this:
> 
> ...


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

Try heat and then hitting them with a Big Ass hammer. Or if available you could use an air hammer with a punch tool. But get the out side hot first before beating on it.


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## RIT333 (Feb 6, 2014)

It's funny because the only people that know that their auger is rusted to the shaft is people like is us. 99% of the population probably has their auger rusted to the shaft, and they don't know it, and 90% of the time it never comes into play, and then that 10% of the time, it ruins the gearcase, and then they buy a new snowblower. And we fret over the small stuff ! But, it's what we like to do ! Agree ?


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## conwaylake (Feb 6, 2014)

*Hammering will crack the auger gear case...*



Toro-8-2-4 said:


> Try heat and then *hitting them with a Big Ass hammer*. .


OMG NO !!!!! 

the worm gear case is aluminum, it cannot take the shock. 

I had the impeller blocked up, suspending the main shaft in the middle, with the worm gear case hanging free, so I thought it was safe from excess vibration and shock. WRONG. 

Just took a few swings of a 2 lb hammer (to the 'pulley end' of the main shaft), and it *broke open the worm gear case.* That was a year ago, before I found worm-gear shells on ebay, so I just tossed the lot, and now I have new cast-iron gear set...

Generally, either long-term soak/heat cycles, or an arbor press is the only way to go. (I finally found a shop with a 20-ton press... )

I agree that it is only folks like us with this problem. I was dumb to try and BASH the impeller from a perfectly good working auger gear-set.


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## Zedhead (Jan 1, 2016)

To each their own. But, in my 40 years of wrenching, I've never found a penetrating oil that works better than Kroil. 

Google Deal


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## bcjm (May 29, 2015)

I have never found any penetrating oil that works period! If something is rusted tight it is never going to break loose without the heat. Penetrating oil might help once the parts can be moved slightly.


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## LET-UT (Jan 5, 2016)

Another vote for Kroil. Get it at a good gunshop. 

I haven't seen any recomendations to shoot a little grease through the grease fittings. The shaft isn't all that long, and the grease gun can put lots of pressure behind the grease helping it to spread. Good luck and keep us informed of your outcome.


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## RedOctobyr (Mar 2, 2014)

LET-UT said:


> Another vote for Kroil. Get it at a good gunshop.
> 
> I haven't seen any recomendations to shoot a little grease through the grease fittings. The shaft isn't all that long, and the grease gun can put lots of pressure behind the grease helping it to spread. Good luck and keep us informed of your outcome.


That seems like a great idea! Pump it with grease, as hard as possible. Maybe it helps separate things just a bit. It couldn't do much harm, I'd think. The only thing I can think of would be trying penetrating oil first, before grease possibly blocks access by the oil. 

I've tried PB Blaster, Kroil, ATF+alcohol (or whatever that "home remedy" suggestion was), and a propane torch. Nothing has really seemed terribly effective to me. I'm using Kroil now, due to the reputation, and the fact that I bought it. 

But it's hard to do useful, controlled testing to compare methods and products.


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## bad69cat (Nov 30, 2015)

You need a Mapp gas torch - way hotter than propane. Get it hot and shoot some around the areas it can get sucked into as it cools off..... keep at it. You shold notice it pulls more in every time if your making progress.... otherwise a press might be the last resort.


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## bcjm (May 29, 2015)

I have acetylene/oxygen torch. The penetrating oil evaporates right away when the metal is too hot. I guess we all need to deal with the rust from time to time.


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## Georgegn (Feb 17, 2015)

*Auger rust*

One side of my auger was frozen,I didnt want to hit it with a hammer because Murphys law always comes in when I do something like that..Decided to run it without shear pins and hoped it would break loose on its own..Ran that old 32 inch Ariens for a good couple of hours without a problem..It wasnt till I got into deep slushy stuff that it finalley came un done..The worst of it was digging all that frozen stuff out of the chute..I guess that little bit of spinning on shaft when it did break loose ,took care of any rust that was in there,it spun easily before i put new shear pin in... Harbor Freight motor never skipped a beat...


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## bcjm (May 29, 2015)

Since the shear pins are rusted in the holes I can't event take them out. The augers are not going to spin freely even they are separated from the shaft. I just noticed the auger gear is leaking, Sigh!


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

bad69cat said:


> You need a Mapp gas torch - way hotter than propane. Get it hot and shoot some around the areas it can get sucked into as it cools off..... keep at it. You shold notice it pulls more in every time if your making progress.... otherwise a press might be the last resort.


I have used them all (Kroil, PB, Liquid wrench et. al.) I cant say for sure which is better. Kroil sure is expensive relative to the others. Does that mean it works better?  They market heavily to industry and don't sell to the Wal-Marts and Auto Zones. You can usualy get it at a gun shop or some NAPA's. Or on line as the link above shows.

I would say it is always worth trying. But as said above nothing competes with a good torch. The only problem is you cant always apply it in every case.

Keep in mind that Kroil has a pretty low flash point so if you apply heat to it expect it to flame up. It is a proprietary formula but many have speculated it is kerosene and acetone. You can make your own penetrating oil with ATF and acetone.


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## bad69cat (Nov 30, 2015)

try using paraffin wax instead of oil's and see if it will suck some in... I have seen that work on some things. I wonder what the inside of that gear case looks like? Time to take a peak I guess.... good luck!


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## RedOctobyr (Mar 2, 2014)

bcjm said:


> Since the shear pins are rusted in the holes I can't event take them out. The augers are not going to spin freely even they are separated from the shaft. I just noticed the auger gear is leaking, Sigh!


I would suggest drilling out the shear pins, or, as I described previously, grind them down enough that you can try again to drive them out.

If you can remove the pins, even just one of them to start, you could try blowing heavy snow to try and spin the augers on the shaft.


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## LET-UT (Jan 5, 2016)

I broke a shear pin the other day and had to "drive" it out using a punch to initially break it free. It just took a minute (first time one had failed) and the new one went in without a hitch. I followed it up by hitting both grease zerks with a fresh dose of marine-grade grease.


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## bcjm (May 29, 2015)

I agree. I just need to grind the protruded portion off from the shear pins. I can always drill new shear pin holes if I need to.


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## skutflut (Oct 16, 2015)

Usually better to grease the zerks first, then spin the auger on the shaft to spread the grease around, then grease the shear pins and stick them back in the holes.

I take mine out every year to check for bent, and do the auger greasing and spinning while I'm at it. Nothing has seized due to rust so far.


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## Zedhead (Jan 1, 2016)

The biggest problem with heat is the fact that the augers usually rust the most near the end, and at the gearbox. Heat the end near the gear box too much, and the seal is toast.


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## HCBPH (Mar 8, 2011)

Here's an old thread I make some time back that included means of getting rusted auger rakes off a machine: Auger Housing Repair/Rebuild in Project How To's Forum


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