Please see the following post. It seems that others are having issues with those bolts. The impeller uses the same bolt as your augers and they are failing too. Please note that the replacement bolts from Toro are unavailable! Something is up!

Hec

Broken impeller bolts 2021 Toro Power Max 824 OE caused...

Hi. I am brand new to this forum. I am very excited and glad to be new member. However, I am not excited about a very dangerous situation that happened when operating my nearly brand new Toro Super Max OE #33798. Hello, I am knew to this forum. But I am glad I discovered it. I have a question...

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I have a Toro 824 OE model 37798, I believe a 2021 model. I recently posted about some of the issues I am having break the auger bolts Toro claims do not break. But I have broken about 2 dozen bolts now in maybe 10 hours of use as my snow in SW colorado at 6700 is very warm and thick. Yesterday I broke over a dozen in 6 hours of clearing over a ft high of snow. Local dealer sells me oregon 1/4" shear pins, $10 for 10 with the locknuts, so certainly affordable. But what a pain to be constantly breaking them and then having to stop, get on my old knees and hammer out the broken pin and sometimes go less than a minute in thick snow and break the bolt I just installed.

I do have the speed adjusted as low as I can go and I also am using the left side clutch drive lever to "stop and go" every ft or so through the thick packed snow, but I still break the bolts eventually even going at a snails pace. Truth is they just do not make the Toro 824 able to go slow enough, I am always in first gear, only time I use a higher gear is when I have a broken shear pin and I am going back to where I have my tools and new shear pins to install. Maybe there is a mod to make these go slower, I would do that as well.

I am considering drilling out the auger and auger shaft holes from 1/4" to 5/16" and then use the larger 5/16" shear pins that Ariens and many other blowers use. I figure some of the repair guys here will tell me either never to do that as it will transfer the impact to the pricey gearbox or damage the auger shaft/augers, or maybe go ahead and try it???? I am not hitting rocks or other obstructions, just heavy thick snow that has settled in place as the ground here will not freeze and we have been getting really heavy snow this year from the big california storms. It is really too much for this Toro 824 OE is my feel on the heavy snow I am experiencing, but it is what I have.

So what do you think, is it worth a try or not, or will I destroy the gear box??? No warranty issue as I bought the machine last year 2nd hand.

TORO Does NOT USE THOSE BLOODY SHEER PINS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Undertaker Is right no shear bolts here just grade 5 bolts. From Mcmars other posts he is even breaking Ace Hardware grade 5 bolts. Looks like he has tried everything to include shear bolts.

Hec

 

Yes, and when I broke my first auger bolt and had a s#*t ton of snow to remove and could not get out my driveway to find bolts, I installed a grade 8 bolt into the auger/shaft and it allowed me to clear out my drive, but it also broke. I broke the Ace Hardware grade 5 bolts I found in the isle that has all the specialty fasteners even faster than the Oregon/Ariens shear pins I am using now. I can't understand why these bolts and shear pins are breaking so fast. Maybe there is a sharp burr on the shaft or auger, but can't see that and one would think it might get smoothed out after some use.

But I did read the linked thread about the guy who broke both impeller bolts and his impeller slid forward violently into the augers, what a mess. And can't believe the impeller bolts are same crappy weak grade 5 bolts as the auger bolts??And no stopper device to prevent this catastrophic event form happen? What was Toro thinking??

 

I would try leaving the auger bolts a little loose Using a ny-loc nut. Maybe the bolts don't like to be in tension? Where do the bolts break? On the shoulder or threaded part. Post a pic of a broken bolt if you have one handy. Geez I can't believe you broke grade 8 bolts!

Hec

 

I am using nylock nuts and just barely tighten them, but will try loose as I saw Toro was recommending loose. Although local Toro dealer has asked me to tighten the really good, haha. They break so the shaft of the shear pin/bolt is trapped inside the shaft and has to be knocked out with a drift and hammer. I have tried spraying some tri flow into the auger holes, but seems that makes them break quicker really, maybe less friction and the shaft can move more freely and cut the shear pins I am using easier. But they do come out easier with the triflow. Out to go get the 6" from last night. Thanks everyone!

 

Keep us posted 🤞

 

Today we had cooler and drier snow, about 6", and the 824 OE did much better, blowing snow 25 ft or more at times and only breaking 3 shear pins in 2 1/2" hours. I was even able to widen my driveway that yesterday I had to hand dig. The machine chewed through the dense snow berm that was impossible just yesterday. I think the water in the snowpack had a chance to drop down overnight with barely below freezing and warm ground softening the snow a tad, enough to allow me to chew it up and spit it out and away from my driveway edge.

I talked with the owner of the local Toro shop by phone to see if he had more shear pins for me and he thinks my issue is the extreme heavy snow we have been getting. Even Cortez and Moab UT got big snows and local nearby mountain town Ophir had a huge natural avalanche slide into their access road and knocking down power. The avalanche slide left a 20+ft high pile almost 200 yards long. This is just a very unusual event, we are the next stop for the CA pineapple express and climate change is keeping the temps much warmer than the norm.

I did install the hose clamp into the impeller shaft this morning and I feel better about using the machine in case those bolts shear upon some kind of impact. After seeing the machine really perform today for the first time with more "normal" snow conditions, I have to say it did pretty good. If only I could figure out the shear pin issue, maybe if I could get the Toro OEM bolts it would do better???

 

Are you always taking full buckets of this heavy snow? Maybe back off a little and only fill half the bucket and see if that makes a difference? I've never heard of shear bolts breaking that frequently.

You also mention something about speed. Maybe your drive lever needs an adjustment to slow it down a bit more in first gear? It's a new blower but maybe the folks at the factory didn't dial it in correctly. I would be looking into that.

Is this the second year of ownership? Maybe the drive disc needs a good cleaning as well, it could be slipping a bit and underperforming with the heavy snow.

I know we all think that snowblowers make us feel like the incredible hulk, but sometimes we need to back off a little during big storms.

Slow and steady wins the race.

 

Are you always taking full buckets of this heavy snow? Maybe back off a little and only fill half the bucket and see if that makes a difference? I've never heard of shear bolts breaking that frequently.

You also mention something about speed. Maybe your drive lever needs an adjustment to slow it down a bit more in first gear? It's a new blower but maybe the folks at the factory didn't dial it in correctly. I would be looking into that.

Is this the second year of ownership? Maybe the drive disc needs a good cleaning as well, it could be slipping a bit and underperforming with the heavy snow.

I know we all think that snowblowers make us feel like the incredible hulk, but sometimes we need to back off a little during big storms.

Slow and steady wins the race.

Thanks for suggestions! I know not to overly push it either with speed or overfilling the bucket. I have adjusted the speed down to where it barely crawls forwards. I did just order the Toro OEM auger bolts on Amazon for 3 times the retail price just to see if that might make a difference, but kinda doubt it.

I think it is just the super heavy wet snow we have been getting with ground still warm and these warm wet storms from California rains. It did much better with the drier 6" of cooler drier snow I got yesterday. I lived for 17 years at 9400 ft in CO mountains and I never experienced heavy snow as thick and wet as what I have gotten here at 6700 this winter. Slowly winning, I got my handyman to help me yesterday and he raked the main home roof and various out building and carport roofs. We rescued a metal shed with 3 ft of snow that was starting to be damaged by propping 3 posts inside the shed and clearing the roof snow after hand digging a path through almost chest high snow for about 20 minutes. Today I need to get onto my 600 sq ft 3:12 pitched flat roof workshop and hand shovel 3 ft thick of packed snow then I should be good for a while. There will likely be a lot of damage in my area to people's homes and sheds from the last few weeks of these wet storms.

 

I don't think you should be shearing bolts at such an alarming rate, even in heavy snow. I have to go with one of your earlier guesses that it may be a sharp edge in the shear pin hole of the auger or the drive shaft itself. Just thinking out loud...is there any chance that when you put a load on the auger that it is binding in some way on the housing or scraper bar? It sure seems like something more than just snow load is causing the problem.

 

Thanks for your suggestions. The augers spin freely with plenty of clearance, so I don't think that is an issue. The local Toro dealer says everyone in my area is having problems with their blowers and they are totally sold out now of all sizes of shear pins due to the extreme heavy wet snow. I am not the only one breaking shear pins.

I just hand shoveled my 600 ft workshop yesterday with a low pitch roof. From the last 2 1/2 weeks of snow, it had almost waist deep of super dense thick icy thick snow that was very heavy, like it had been there for months. Glad I got that done as the snow load must have been multiple tons. I just think it is the crazy wet snow we have gotten from those California "atmospheric river" rain events and the ground never got a chance to freeze this year. I did way better the last time with dry cold 6" of snow last Wednesday. I still broke some shear pins, but that was doing my long driveway with the thick pile at the end of driveway from the county plow and also from picking up some roadbase rocks. It actually chewed away thick snow along edge of drive that the prior day I could not do at all. I think the water had some time to drop out of the snow towards the warm ground making the berms less dense (?).

All in all, I am glad I could move this snow with the small Toro 824OE, even with all the broken shear pins. Many of my friends and neighbors without a snowblower or plow have been stranded unable to leave their homes or have been working very hard to hand remove all the snow. One friend had their metal carport collapse on their SUV and then once they got the SUV dig out, ended up in a ditch and had to get towed out.

Thanks everyone! I really appreciate the help on this forum with my snowblower!