Snow thrower help

[ab147]

I got a new to me QA42A snowthrower last spring, and not knowing anything about it or using one, I mounted it to an also new to me 149. We haven't had much snow this year and haven't had much use for it, but the last snowfall we got and the snow blowing from across the field left about 8in of snow in the driveway. I got the cub out this morning and made a few passes up and down the driveway. The thing worked ok, but only threw the snow about 3 or 4 feet away from the chute. I've read that you can change a sheave on the tractor or the thrower to make it throw farther, but don't know which one or what size to use. Can someone help me out. Thanks.

[Matt G.]

If it only throws it 3-4 feet, something is wrong with either the snowthrower or your technique. The tractor must be run at full throttle (verify engine is turning 3600 rpm at full throttle), the chute must be clean and free of rust (paint with graphite paint such as slip plate), aimed properly (set the adjustable part of the chute about halfway between all the way up and all the way down), and the thrower must be kept full of snow. This is done by maintaining your forward such that the engine is just tugging on the governor, before it lugs the speed down. That'll get you about 15' with the stock pulley, which is more than enough. I have never been in a situation where I needed to throw it further than that. Yeah, you could put a smaller pulley on, but there really isn't much of a point to throwing snow 30+ feet, and the bearings, U-joints, etc would need to be in PERFECT condition. The smaller pulley would also have less belt wrap, so slipping may occur.

[ab147]

Thanks Matt G. I checked the blower over when I bought it and everything was tight and spinning free, maybe it's just me. I used the 149 with a roto tiller last spring, and it worked ok in my garden, maybe I need to adjust the rpm's, I'll do that and see what happens, we got alittle snow last night so I'll go do some testing. Thanks.

[TEET]

To go along with what Matt advised...ground speed plays a big role. A lot of other factors play into it as well such as , surface, depth of snow, type of snow (wet, slushy, fluffy...). You cant attack snow the same way with a single stage blower, as you would a 2 stage. With a 2 stage, either front mounted or walk behind, they tend to work better going rather slow, letting the auger slowly feed the impeller. On a single stage like your QA42A, I found it works best to maintain a higher ground speed to keep the thrower full...if you try to slowly chip away at it, it tends to spit it back out the auger, and throw the remaining snow out the shoot a very minimal distance. Try different techniques...let us know how it works for you! When I fist tried my old QA42A, I was ready to can it until I figured out what technique worked for me, and now my old 127 will launch snow pretty close to 20'.

Good luck

Jeff (teet)

[Sugarmaker]

Interesting comments! Wish I could help! Haven't tried mine yet. Saving it
So keep the thrower full of snow, run at WOT, and let us know!
Regards,
Chris