# Is chunks of hard snow bad for snowblower?



## Craftsman 8hp (Nov 28, 2010)

After the city cleans the streets they usually leave a nice big mess of hard compacted chunks of snow possibly even Ice on my driveway my question is, is it okay for me to use my snowblower on this stuff? When I use it on this stuff it does seem pretty rough on the machine. Is this stuff bad for the machine?


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## indypower (Oct 28, 2010)

It is ok to blow what the city plows leave. Just make sure you have some extra shear pins on hand as the ice can snap the auger shear pins.


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## trdr (Nov 27, 2010)

Craftsman 8hp said:


> After the city cleans the streets they usually leave a nice big mess of hard compacted chunks of snow possibly even Ice on my driveway my question is, is it okay for me to use my snowblower on this stuff? When I use it on this stuff it does seem pretty rough on the machine. Is this stuff bad for the machine?


in my opinion, the eod stuff should be done with a quality 2 stage blower vs. a single stage with rubber paddles. its the job of the augers to "chew up" the chunks of snow/ice.Make sure you have extra shear pins..its also a little easier to get that stuff cleared off asap so it wont freeze and harden over time. i still use a ice scraper by hand sometimes. good luck


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## Ingersoll444 (Nov 20, 2010)

My cheap MTD two stage spent the first 10 years of its life chewing up chunks of ice from my old house. It was old twofamley houses. House, drive house drive etc... all the snow would slide off the roofs, and bury your drive. It lived, and I have NEVER popped a shear pin.


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