Snowblower issue..

[Zack1978]

Hi everyone,
I am having an issue with my Craftsman 2 stage snowblower. It is a 26 inch blowing path, and it has adjustable skids on each side. The issue that I am having is that the machice will not glide smoothly over the pavement. It seems as if it keeps catching the ground, and making the (heavy track driven) machine skip, jerk, and jump as it moves along. I have adjusted the skids to no avail. The only thing that I can think of is the scraper bar on the botom of the machine. It has a few nicks in it, but overall it is not that bad. I ordered a new scraper bar from Sears this morning, so I will see what that does....Any ideas as to what the problem could be?


Thanks,
Zack

 

[shotgun]

are you hitting rough ice under the snow? or is it smooth concrete?

 

[Zack1978]

are you hitting rough ice under the snow? or is it smooth concrete?

No rough ice under the machine...It seems to do it on the concrete sidewalk or the black top driveway.....

 

[wxm]

Have you try to raise the skid? Also, if you raise the front, does it run smooth? (Just to make sure the drive train works properly)

 

[Zack1978]

Have you try to raise the skid? Also, if you raise the front, does it run smooth? (Just to make sure the drive train works properly)

Any idea as to how much the auger housing should be off the ground? 1 inch, 2 inches?


Zack

 

[wxm]

Any idea as to how much the auger housing should be off the ground? 1 inch, 2 inches?


Zack

No. Mine (Craftsman 8.5hp 27in" path) is set less then 1/2". If your is similar to mine, you might want to check the "sweeping" blade at bottom of the auger housing (back side). The idea is to adjust the skid plate on the side to the proper height so that the "sweeping blade" does not hit the ground. But you don't want to raise it too high either, then you'd leave a layer of left-over snow on the ground. No offense, you check the tire pressure, right? I never really need to adjust the height of the skid plate ever. In either case if the "sweeping blade" is hitting the ground (assume that's what you meant for the hitting problem, the wheel, blade and skid plate are not align properly. So you either have problem with wheels, tires and even worse - bent axle, or skid plate is not set to the right height.

In either case, have you try to push down the handle and lift the auger housing up, run the snow thrower to see whether the it can travel smoothly without auger housing touching the ground? At least you can eliminate the axle problem that way.

Good luck.

 

[Zack1978]

No. Mine (Craftsman 8.5hp 27in" path) is set less then 1/2". If your is similar to mine, you might want to check the "sweeping" blade at bottom of the auger housing (back side). The idea is to adjust the skid plate on the side to the proper height so that the "sweeping blade" does not hit the ground. But you don't want to raise it too high either, then you'd leave a layer of left-over snow on the ground. No offense, you check the tire pressure, right? I never really need to adjust the height of the skid plate ever. In either case if the "sweeping blade" is hitting the ground (assume that's what you meant for the hitting problem, the wheel, blade and skid plate are not align properly. So you either have problem with wheels, tires and even worse - bent axle, or skid plate is not set to the right height.

In either case, have you try to push down the handle and lift the auger housing up, run the snow thrower to see whether the it can travel smoothly without auger housing touching the ground? At least you can eliminate the axle problem that way.

Good luck.

My machine is track drive, so no go on the tires..When you say sweeping blade, do you mean scraper bar on the bottom of the machine?

 

[wxm]

Yes. The scraper bar is probably the right name for it. Though I don't have much experience on the track driver blower. Sorry.