Snow thrower needs air condtioning
 

we just had 8" of powder couple of days ago,temps in low 20s. I have two driveways about 150' each. qa42 powered by 149. First driveway did great rooster tail about 8 to 10 feet ,which i can live with. Second drive way not so good .chute began to plug. Melting snow on chute was causing me to stop and clear snow out a lot. I do spray with silicone.Here's my question . If i block the grill with something to keep the muffler from throwing heat forward on to chute , will it make my engine overheat ? Fins on head and engine are clear and all tin is there. Or maybe one driveway then one pot of coffee then other driveway ?

More likely it's the exhaust causing the problem. Put an elbow on it.

that's not a bad idea....aim it towards my frozen right foot.

149 muffler already shoots out the side of the tractor?

At 20 degrees I doubt that the engine will overheat but it will probably melt your grille.

Try mounting a deflector somewhere between the grill and the chute to stop the engine heat from blowing through the grille and onto the chute.

Insulate the chute with a layer of self adhesive insulation wrap?

Would flipping the grill help direct the air far enough away?

all good suggestions...I like the shroud idea , not a lot of room when tilted back .your probably right sam about melting grill , there is already some evidence of some slight melt over the years. If I can't find a way of mounting a deflector I may remove the plastic grill and make a solid winter grill in the shape of a hood scoop aimed to right to allow for some air movement . which ever way I go I'll post pics if I have good results.

Is it possible the second driveway was salted or something before the snow causing your troubles? Or maybe the driveway is heated? Direction of wind blow in relation to engine/thrower? Something to think about......:bigthink:

hey shotgun, I went out to the garage and turned the grill around. Now the vents are pointed up and away from the the chute in stead of down towards it ! Good nogin rubbin. Now I can't wait for more snow.

:IH Trusted Hand:

billy-o , both of my drives run east to west . the one i had good luck with is paved the one where heat started being a problem is gravel. (grrr i hate gravel). but i think the longer I ran it (about 45 mins ) the warmer the engine and the chute got .

Sorry. I was thinking quietline. Not enough sleep last night.

Good idea. You want to make sure you've got enough air flow around the engine regardless of outside air temperature. :beerchug:

I knew you knew the difference, I was trying not to smart you off too bad.

Flipping the grill made it better for me, but replacing the grill with a piece of aluminum sheet, bent at the top 3" to a 45deg. angle resolved my heat issues with the plow and qa36 thrower.

I've ran snowblowers on the front of Cubs for years. Used to clear business parking lots, including my own parking lot, plus about a dozen driveways. When it snowed I typically spent a 12-14 hour day on the tractor and sometimes half the next. I NEVER had any issues with engine heat affecting blower operation. If anything it kept the snow build up to a minimum and kept the chute free to turn. You guys that seem to think it's a hindrance are nuts. Besides, if it was an issue IH would have fixed it with a deflector or something. A hot chute doesn't cause it to plug. The snow type, and how fast you feed it does.

While I understand the enthusiasm to try it out - I can indeed, wait...

Is your belt tight??? Seriously verify that it is.

Years ago my 36" on a 129 kept plugging up with the heavy snow we had. I was on an off the seat more than 100 times from 5 am till 730 am. The last time i unplugged it, i got a ride to the ER from a former teacher.

Fatigue, stress, and haste resuted in a broken index finger and the finger nails of my index and ring finger being torn off when my left hand broke through the snow packed chute into the rotating auger. I was later told by a witness that my left glove went up over the power lines.

I had left the seat to un plug the chute which was rotated far left, approaching it from the rear i didnt see the auger spinning. Having unplugged it many times i thought i disengaged the pto. I was wrong.

Dad ended up finishing my jobs. He said that he tightened the belt and never had another problem.

I have moved alot ... alot of snow with a qa36 on a 129 1450 and 1864. It throws snow 20 feet easy. Never once has the exhaust been an issue.

[QUOTE=Rescue11;406172]Is your belt tight??? Seriously verify that it is.

checked belt on qa42 ,at most 3/8" side to side belt movement.but did notice s/g belt was loose so i tightened it.I had not checked this cub for rpm so I used a digital tach i got recently and it was set at 2900 rpm so i bumped it to a little under 3600. Turning the grill seemed to me to have helped ,I only had one clog last snow.But it was only 4 inches compared to 8 last time.However with a tightened s/g belt and 600 rpm increase my neighbor may be upset about the extra snow on his roof , we'll see .:biggrin2: