Update: Picked up a mud flap for a dump truck about 3/8" thick and very rigid and a 1/8" flat bar 1" wide and some 3/8" bolts with washers and nyloc nuts.
Cut 4 pieces roughly 4 1/2" long and drilled the flat bar and blades on the blower.
Installed the rubber by checking the clearance at the bottom of the drum (6 o'clock) and then bolted them in. They were a little tight after tightening the bolts so I took a reciprocating saw and trimmed the rubber till is just lightly scraped the drum.
Reinstalled the chute with some polar grease and reinstalled the winch and cables.
Tried it last night with a very small snowfall and there is definitely a difference but tonight we are getting 30 cm (about a foot) with 50km (30mph) winds so the real test will be late tonight early tomorrow.
There was approx 1/4" of a gap at the 6 o'clock position of the blade/drum.
Happy camper now