Shear pin for snow blower question

[Brian]

Instead of learning the hard way by experimentation, i figured i would ask and see who may have tried something else.
I have a BX2750A snow blower for my BX 25. If you have one you know that Kubota has special pre cut bolts that have a groove in them to facilitate shearing.
Have any of you who have a 2750 used regular grade 5 colts instead and if so do they shear okay if you get a rock.
I know that the main shaft with the throwing blades used regular grade 8 5/16 bolts now. That came right from the service manual at the dealer.

Do you know a source for shear bolts that you can order in quantity. I live about 50 miles form my dealer and it isn't always handy to drive there in the middle of the winter.

Since this is my first year with the blower , the learning curve has been pretty steep so far. i am sure I will get the hang of it and eventually not use so many shear bolts. Or at least i will have blown away all the stones after a fashion!!!

 

[Babyfat]

I would stick to the factory shear bolts, we have a guy that buys the 15-20 at a time to start he year. If a grade 5 does not shear it could cost you alot more to repair.

 

[Mingy]

I gave up on special shear bolts a long time ago.

I just go with Grade 5's. If you are concerned, try something a little weaker (like a chinese 'grade 5' ).

 

[Kubota_Man]

I go to the local Lowes/Home Depot type of store and buy the grade 5 bolts alot cheaper than the dealer place. Carry a punch a wrench and a socket/ratchet with ya.

Adjusting the skid plates to just above the rocks will greatly reduce the time you are spending replacing the bolts and increasing your paly time

 

[Mingy]

I tell you, what costs me shear pins are newspapers & advertizing. The geniuses throw them on the driveway or the snowblow brings them. The instant the propeller hits a soggy newpaper, its a half hour job to extricate it and replace the bolt. They don't come willingly!

 

[Brian]

I just found out by breaking one; there is a shear bolt that's a plain Grade 5 1/4" bolt that connects the blower to the gear box for the cross screw augers. Its a plain old 1/4" bolt. So, reason would say that a 1/4" on the auger would work but that since they are 5/16, that's why Kubota cores them down to 1/4". So, I could probably get away with a reg bolt if it was 1/4". But alas, it is not to be

 

[tiredguy]

Brian,
do you have a hacksaw and a vise? You could always buy the cheap Chinese
grade 5 bolts and make your own "groove" in them using the metal cutting hacksaw.You could clamp the hacksaw in the vise and chuck the bolts in a
drill and use that to do the work to quite easily.You'd just have to be sure the groove you make is in the correct spot so that it's weakened there the same as your store bought shear bolts.
If you don't have a hacksaw a flat metal file would work to cut the groove by using the 'corner" holding the file at an angle to make the edge bite in.
Al

 

[Babyfat]

Are you guys really that cheap? The Kubota shear bolts are only $1.34 with the nut!

 

[Brian]

For the price they are, i am sticking with factory shear bolts.

 

[tiredguy]

Babyfat,
I'm not that cheap nor have I sheared the first one yet personally,
but sometimes when people run into a problem like Brian has you look
for a more economical solution,or sometimes a temporary solution.If
he went through a dozen a day $1.34 adds up quickly to an unreasonable
amount of money to be wasting.

If I used up my stock during the weekend for instance,I'm sure not
going to try and contact one of the people at the dealership at home
then drive the 100 mile round trip to get more.I have seen others
grenade gear boxes on rototillers because they put the wrong bolt in
without thinking about the consequences.Brian ask a legitimate question
and we all pitch in with our two cents worth of opinion.
Al

 

[SoCal Kubota]

I have a BX24 with a BX2750D blower. I go though about 6 auger bolts and 2 fan bolts a year. These blowers for their size are vary high performance. I had a problem getting the bolts at first. The local dealer said the bolts where $13.00 a Bolt. I told them that it was $13.00 for a bag of 10. He didn't agree.

So I called around to other dealers and found one that would ship them to my house from his ware house. I got 40 grade 5 for the auger 10 grade 8 for the fan for about $55.00.

If I had to I would use a none shear bolt but I would change it as soon as I could. The cost of any drive train part is far more then the bolts.

If there is a dealer on the board how about a price for 100?

 

[Mingy]

Are you guys really that cheap? The Kubota shear bolts are only $1.34 with the nut!

Money is something I have a lot of. However, paying 10x the value of something really bothers me. It should bother people with much less money.

I have been using off the shelf bolts instead of shear pins for year. No problems yet.

Look if I had a business which allowed me to sell a $0.01 bolt for $1.34 instead of $0.10 I'd do it. I'd even sell extended warranties and gift cards if I didn't have a tiny shred of human dignity.

 

[KennyV]

...if I had a business which allowed me to sell a $0.01 bolt for $1.34 instead of $0.10 I'd do it. I'd even sell extended warranties and gift cards if I didn't have a tiny shred of human dignity.

Have to agree..
It is usually not the big ticket items that will anger people when they buy from a 'dealer'' it's the small things that almost everyone knows the real value & price...
Almost no one likes to be taken advantage of..., and this is a perfect example of why folks will, many times, go out of their way to buy things from anyone else, but NOT their 'dealer' ... KennyV

 

[skeets]

Krist all mighty,,, It sounds like the Bota dealers have been taking lessons from the MoCo,, (thats Harley Davidson for them that dont know)

 

[eserv]

The reason for the undercut bolts is so they don't get jammed when they shear. On older snowblowers (like mine) when the shearpin breaks it is often hard to get the auger and shaft lined up properly to drive the piece out, with the undercut bolts ,when you get it lined up properly the bolt usually will just drop out. I have seen quite a few snowblowers in my shop to get that bolt out after a "cheap" hardware bolt was put in. Ended up not being so cheap after all!
Ed