Snowblower impeller kit….great success!

[RhondaHonda]

I’ve had this Husqvarna 30” snowblower with a 10.5 Sno King for 10 years. It’s always worked fine but there was a pretty good gap between impeller and the housing. Finally got a cheap impeller kit off Amazon and installed
yesterday before the snowfall. It was a bit of a PITB to find a good spot to drill because the impeller is bent upwards at the ends and there’s a lot of support and bends on the underside of each paddle.

For those that don’t know, this is basically a rubber mudflap that seals the gap in the impeller housing. The snow today was very dry but it throws a good 30-40 feet now, significantly farther than before . Really wet stuff used to just barf out of the chute so I’ll report back with the next wet snowfall to see what kind of improvement I get there. Overall, a great mod, wish I’d done it sooner.

 

[TnT_M]

I did this to my walk behind yardman and my LT150 tractor mount blower. Both units will move water so slush is no problem. Powder snow flies 30+ feet. I think these should be standard instal on units!

 

[The_Jeff]

I did this when it was called the "Clarence kit" (named after its inventor, Clarence). Worked well but I'd get a little ice cube at the bottom of the impeller box that would lock the auger and smoke belts if I wasn't careful.

Would work better if I lived somewhere where it was guaranteed my garage would warm above freezing between storms.

 

[RhondaHonda]

My garage is always above freezing, so no issues so far and it’s usually weeks, if not months between snow events. I do need to get a new chute angle adjustment cable as mine broke and
I just clamped it in between the nut and chute deflector. It doesn’t throw as high as before but I always forget about it until we get snow.

 

[Ranger83]

Installed two on Ariens and one on a Honda. They work great! Really worthwhile in Boston, where we get heavy, wet, wind-blown snow and road salt turns the EOD pile to mush.

Used an extra-long drill bit and looped a string around the impeller to pull up on while drilling. Have to find a kit for an Ariens Compact.

 

[AdmiralYoda]

I did this on my 2004 27" Murray, made a big difference! I had up to a 1/2" gap in some places before the kit! It still doesn't throw the slush very well but it is 90% less likely to get clogged.

My HMSK90 snow king needs some love and loses some RPM under heavy load (like slush) and doesn't throw well. Combination of low power, lower than ideal RPM's, and low impeller tip speed. I need to go through it and get everything back up to snuff.

Been thinking of a Harbor Freight 459cc Predator Max replacement and an impeller pulley upgrade....more than enough power to NEVER bog down and an impeller tip speed similar to to the high end Honda's. Might make my snowblower a monster!

I have 140ft of sidewalks in front of my house that I am responsible for...so 140ft of dense, packed snowbanks to run through. When the snow is fluffy the snowbanks are manageable but when it is wet/dense snowbanks my blower pukes it out rather than throws it. If it wasn't for these sidewalks my existing snowblower would be plenty adequate.

 

[Ranger83]

I //

Been thinking of a Harbor Freight 459cc Predator Max replacement and an impeller pulley upgrade....more than enough power to NEVER bog down and an impeller tip speed similar to to the high end Honda's. Might make my snowblower a monster!

//

Thst would be a monster! Our Hydro Pro has a 420cc B&S rated 21 lb ft of torque. That 459 is rated for 24.5 lb ft at 2800 rpm! Their 420 is 18.4 lb ft.

How about the 670cc twin cylinder?

 

[Whimsey]

Years ago I also installed a "Clarence kit" after realizing my "mighty" 179cc Troy-Bilt 24" blower was lacking, to say the least. It improved the snow throwing performance a lot, especially in our usual wet snows. My driveway is stone that is hilly and rutted, not the easiest to snow blow and do to the lack of space between properties I am limited on throwing distances anyway. The original paddles got beaten up and I ordered new ones off Amazon. It made our recent 14"+ of snow removal a lot easier. At 72 I've gotten too old to shovel that much snow and heavy snow .

 

[JTK]

They do make a nice difference. I installed my own "Clarence" kit years ago to my now 26yr/old Yardman 7hp, 24" machine. I used cut up sections of a rubber impeller off an Ariens single stage machine along with some self tapping screws w/ fender washers. I used a very long extension to zip the screws in, down through the discharge chute opening.

I realize tightening up this gap this way can cause easier freezing and jamming, but why the manufacturers don't build them this way in the first place is beyond me.

 

[AdmiralYoda]

Thst would be a monster! Our Hydro Pro has a 420cc B&S rated 21 lb ft of torque. That 459 is rated for 24.5 lb ft at 2800 rpm! Their 420 is 18.4 lb ft.

How about the 670cc twin cylinder?

An appropriate upgrade from my old tired 8.5HP HMSK90 snow king would be a 10HP engine. Harbor Freight doesn't have one and skips straight to the 13HP 420cc. That really is more than enough....but for just like $50 more you get the 459cc Max engine. It has a number of upgrades over the 420cc like a hemispherical combustion chamber, higher compression, and a pressurized lubrication system.

The 459cc for $375 (when they have it on sale) is a no-brainer. Way overkill, but for the price...why not!

 

[RhondaHonda]

An appropriate upgrade from my old tired 8.5HP HMSK90 snow king would be a 10HP engine. Harbor Freight doesn't have one and skips straight to the 13HP 420cc. That really is more than enough....but for just like $50 more you get the 459cc Max engine. It has a number of upgrades over the 420cc like a hemispherical combustion chamber, higher compression, and a pressurized lubrication system.

The 459cc for $375 (when they have it on sale) is a no-brainer. Way overkill, but for the price...why not!

Any risk of that being too much for the gearbox?

 

[Ranger83]

Any risk of that being too much for the gearbox?

It would probably tear up the V belt(s) first. Folks have put Honda twins on them before. There is folklore about a BMW Airhead being mounted before, but never seen a picture.

Honda doesn’t sell their big V-twin walk behinds in the U.S.

https://www.honda.de/snowthrowers/range/snowfighter/overview.html

 

[nbpt100]

I did this to my walk behind yardman and my LT150 tractor mount blower. Both units will move water so slush is no problem. Powder snow flies 30+ feet. I think these should be standard instal on units!

I had a Simplicity Snow A way snow thrower made in the 70's and it had thick rubber wipers on the impellar. For some reason the manufacturers eliminated them.

 

[AdmiralYoda]

Any risk of that being too much for the gearbox?

A risk...definetely. But the caveat is that I'm already stuffing as much snow as the machine could possibly handle, my 160ft of sidewalks with slushy dense packed snowbanks.

The current gearbox handles it....though the engine governor can barely keep up with the load and it starts to lose RPM fairly quick. This requires me to slow the machine down even slower than "Speed 1" by feathering the speed engagement lever . It barely shoots the snow 3-4ft at this point. The assumption is the new engine wouldn't bog and would keep going through it in "Speed 1".

The only additional stress would be if I increased the forward speed to force more of the snowbank though it. I don't plan to do this.

Reducing the auger pulley size would increase its tip-speed to be in-line with modern snowblowers known to really toss the snow far like Honda's. I would have enough engine power to do this but there would be a risk to the gear box. On the more heavy duty units that have the bigger engine and throw snow really far the auger shafts and gears are a bit bigger.

 

[TnT_M]

Any risk of that being too much for the gearbox?

Most 2 stage blowers I'm familiar with are belt drive. I know I have heard the belt squeal on my old MTD if I let it eat too fast. I usually just slowed down and it was fine. If was usually very wet and heavy snow that caused this.

 

[Ranger83]

A ///

Reducing the auger pulley size would increase its tip-speed to be in-line with modern snowblowers known to really toss the snow far like Honda's. I would have enough engine power to do this but there would be a risk to the gear box. On the more heavy duty units that have the bigger engine and throw snow really far the auger shafts and gears are a bit bigger.

Ariens used to have an engineer on various OPE forums. He cautioned against increasing impeller speed as their tests showed that would “recycle” snow. Not sure if old and new machines have the same ratios and impeller speed.

Hondas throw far because they have a smaller chute. They move a lot less snow.

Honda 928 on left, Ariens Pro 28 right. The Honda has a 5” throat and a 270cc GX with 14 lb ft of torque. Current price is $3,599 with electric start. Honda claims 1,900 lbs per minute and max throw of 52 feet.

Our Ariens has a 6” throat and a 420cc B&S with 21 lb ft. Ariens claims 2,600 lbs/min and max throw of 60’.

The current model has a 389cc engine and throws 2,430 lbs per minute and 55 feet. Current cost is $2,999 with heated grips.

 

[AdmiralYoda]

@Ranger83 I will partially agree with you on the Honda's and that their overall design tends to throw snow further. But that Ariens 28" Pro with the 420cc engine is about as good as it gets!

Nerd alert....
Impeller tip speed is driven by two factors, the impeller diameter and the impeller pulley diameter to engine pulley diameter ratio. The larger impellers found on the commercial units can spin at a slower RPM and still have a high tip speed. Generally speaking for the best snow throwing performance you want a larger impeller but this requires more engine to handle the increases leverage of the larger impeller.

According to most internet experts the ideal impeller tip speed is around 50mph. You reach the point of diminishing returns after this. A common impeller speed is 1100-1300RPM depending on the machines design. 1300-1400RPM is about as fast as you want to spin it. And FYI, the larger machines often use a double v-belt pulley for the impeller so the belts don't slip at high loads.

The Honda HSS1332AT, the big 32" commercial one has an impeller diameter of 13.5", a tip speed of 51.6mph and an impeller speed of about 1380RPM. The snowblower forums call this one of the best snowblower out there. $4,000 and has their GX390cc engine. The largest engine Honda makes in this class. Honda uses sealed roller bearings on the shafts where most others use bushings. Their clearances are also very tight as well so they give you every bit of performance the machine has to offer.

The Ariens Professional 926 series with the 420cc engine has an impeller diameter of 14", a tip speed of 46mph and an impeller speed of 1100RPM.

My older Murray with the 8.5HP (318cc) Tecumseh Snow King has a 12" impeller, a tip speed of 42.8mph and an impeller speed of 1200RPM. Because it is a 12" impeller it is already spinning kind of fast to throw the snow. That is max engine speed. My engine loses RPM at high loads and that impeller tip speed becomes 30mph with an impeller speed of 850RPM. Not ideal and is the main reason it barfs the heavy snow rather than throws it.

If I were to install a larger engine capable of handling the extra load and were to install a smaller impeller pulley (7.75" vs current 9") the tip speed would increase to 49.7mph with an impeller speed of 1390RPM. That is about as fast as I'd want to spin the impeller and is on par with the impeller speed of the Honda.

 

[AdmiralYoda]

Since I've already hijacked the thread I'll keep going. The carburetor on my 8.5HP is an amazon replacement that is non-adjustable. I believe I'm running a bit lean and the governor also has a tough time keeping the RPM's up under significant load.

My upcoming weekend project is to install a new adjustable carb, do a full tune up and check the valve clearance. I picked up a small tachometer and am going to push it through some snowbanks to try and adjust the governor to keep up as much as possible. I'll give this machine its best shot and see what happens. If it still struggles, I'll grab the big Harbor Freight engine and toss on a smaller impeller pulley and go for it.

If it works....great! If it proves to be too much for the machine....well it looks like I need a bigger machine anyways so I'll find an older 90's heavy duty Ariens and put the new engine on it. I'll go through all the wear items and will then have a Franken-Blower!

EDIT. The easy way out is to drop some $$$ on a big blower with a warranty and be done with it. But I'm a tinkerer and would rather turn this into a project and have some fun with it.

 

[demarpaint]

I did mine three years ago and finally got to test it this year in deep snow. I have an old Craftsman snowblower with a 5 HP Tecumseh engine, it made quite an improvement. The impeller has 4 blades, I put it on two opposing blades to keep it balanced, it works perfectly and throws snow better than much bigger machines that don't have the modification. I wish I did it years ago.

 

[Ranger83]

Our Honda has an impeller kit to improve performance with wet snow and slush.

Since I've already hijacked the thread I'll keep going. The carburetor on my 8.5HP is an amazon replacement that is non-adjustable. I believe I'm running a bit lean and the governor also has a tough time keeping the RPM's up under significant load.

My upcoming weekend project is to install a new adjustable carb, do a full tune up and check the valve clearance. I picked up a small tachometer and am going to push it through some snowbanks to try and adjust the governor to keep up as much as possible. I'll give this machine its best shot and see what happens. If it still struggles, I'll grab the big Harbor Freight engine and toss on a smaller impeller pulley and go for it.

If it works....great! If it proves to be too much for the machine....well it looks like I need a bigger machine anyways so I'll find an older 90's heavy duty Ariens and put the new engine on it. I'll go through all the wear items and will then have a Franken-Blower!

EDIT. The easy way out is to drop some $$$ on a big blower with a warranty and be done with it. But I'm a tinkerer and would rather turn this into a project and have some fun with it.

Don’t have any pictures but we found quite a mismatch from the carb mount to the block on a Tecumseh 8hp. Templated it and cleaned it up with a Dremel abrasive spool.

Not sure if it made any more power but I felt better about it!