Where abouts are you?

 

Not aware of a commercial product. But if I recall the 55s have a foot lever that pivots, so there is some mechanical advantage. Just extending a bar upwards may not solve the issue as it could be too difficult to engage. Also, you want to ensure the tilt could be activated either by foot or by hand. I'm thinking of a U shaped bracket on the foot pedal big enough to fit a boot into, that travels to the round steel crossbrace between the two handles. Then maybe an acetal bushing with a hand operated lever on it. That way your dad could alternate between them to avoid fatique. But it would take some experimentation in a shop. Probably a better project for off season unless your dad has a backup machine.

I ask your location because I have a metal fabrication shop in Calgary and like to work on these machines. Depending on your location I may have another option for you, but neither is a quick fix (although both are free )

 

Not aware of a commercial product. But if I recall the 55s have a foot lever that pivots, so there is some mechanical advantage. Just extending a bar upwards may not solve the issue as it could be too difficult to engage. Also, you want to ensure the tilt could be activated either by foot or by hand. I'm thinking of a U shaped bracket on the foot pedal big enough to fit a boot into, that travels to the round steel crossbrace between the two handles. Then maybe an acetal bushing with a hand operated lever on it. That way your dad could alternate between them to avoid fatique. But it would take some experimentation in a shop. Probably a better project for off season unless your dad has a backup machine.

I ask your location because I have a metal fabrication shop in Calgary and like to work on these machines. Depending on your location I may have another option for you, but neither is a quick fix (although both are free )
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Not aware of a commercial product. But if I recall the 55s have a foot lever that pivots, so there is some mechanical advantage. Just extending a bar upwards may not solve the issue as it could be too difficult to engage. Also, you want to ensure the tilt could be activated either by foot or by hand. I'm thinking of a U shaped bracket on the foot pedal big enough to fit a boot into, that travels to the round steel crossbrace between the two handles. Then maybe an acetal bushing with a hand operated lever on it. That way your dad could alternate between them to avoid fatique. But it would take some experimentation in a shop. Probably a better project for off season unless your dad has a backup machine.

I ask your location because I have a metal fabrication shop in Calgary and like to work on these machines. Depending on your location I may have another option for you, but neither is a quick fix (although both are free )

Hi Pete,

Thanks so much for your suggestion; it makes sense.

The machine is located in Mississauga (a suburb of Toronto).

I will take some measurements to create a 'U' shape as you suggest and source a local metal shop.

Cheers

 

Really dumb question, but since I have never had a track drive blower, what is the purpose of the tilt? Just to tilt the unit up so you can move it and not be pushing snow?

 

Not dumb at all. Tracked blowers allow you to pivot the blower up or down, and ride the scrapper above the snowline. If you are wondering why anyone would want to do this, watch someone try to snowblow grass or a gravel driveway. Without the ability to make it ride above the snowline, you either tear up your grass, or shoot gravel like a machine gun out the blower. Technically you can achieve this on a wheeled model, but because it pivots on the axles, it will scrape the ground, only stopped by the skids. So you could lower the skids to snowblow on grass or gravel, but that's a pain because you then need to re-adjust them back for sidewalks. Tracked models can adjust up and down because they don't pivot on an axle—they balance on a support frame that allows them achieve clearance above the snowline if needed.

As to the unasked question: why would you want to snow blow grass? In addition to pathways, many suburban areas have homes close together. With the advent of recycling people have multiple bins. In Calgary we have trash, recyclables, and compost. When these reside beside a house (where most do), you need a path cut to get them to the street in winters. We've had 5 foot drifts between houses and my neighbours love it when I cut paths for them in the snow.

Another reason is in situations where you have hard packed ice you'll never remove with a blower, but it snows hard and you at least want to remove the top layer so it doesn't build up worse. A tracked blower can do this easily. Tracked blowers can also climb stairs; you need to tilt them to do this.

 

i think too much force has to be used by foot to fabricate some kind of hand control for the pedal. the only thing i can think of is greasing the pedal slots and collars so the pedal moves easier into positions.

this is a common problem with the older Honda's. when i service these machines the pedal is almost always difficult until I do this greasing.

 

Agreed. You'd definitely need a hand lever to get the mechanical advantage to do this comfortably, especially at 81. It would take some prototyping.

 

Oh I'm sure it's possible and pretty easy to fab once you've got a design solution. I wish I were near by. But it would take some shop time to figure out. I'd be cautious of a solution w/o some mechanical advantage for an 81 year old. Or for me, for that matter.