[BLUEGUY]

What height is best for keeping a two stage auger housing at above surface? Do you have to use the skids at all on smooth pavement?

 

[Ingersoll444]

I set mine just a little under a inch. Leaves a little snow, but thats fine for me.

 

[trdr]

What height is best for keeping a two stage auger housing at above surface? Do you have to use the skids at all on smooth pavement?

i adjust the skid shoes so that the scraper blade cleans right to the pavement,just like a hand shovel would do.i keep my walking speed slow so as not to hit stress cracks to hard as well as cracks in an old blacktop driveway. I clean to the pavement so when the sun hits the pavement it'll dry off quicker and better. but if you blowoff a gravel drive then you should raise the scraper blade so you dont throw rocks.

 

[bwdbrn1]

I lay a yardstick down on the pavement, sit the scrapper bar on it, and adjust the skids to that height, which I guess would be about 1/4".

 

[abumpa]

Ariens manual suggests 1/8-inch clearance for hard smooth surfaces and 1 ¼ inch for gravel or rough surfaces.

 

[dex]

I set mine at first about a 3/8 of an inch, but found that the residue would form into ice. I reset it with the width of a ruler (aprox 1/8) and it seems better. The key is what type of ssurface are you cleaning? Mine is paved driveway and concrete walks. I also keep a check on stuff in the driveway or walks like newspapers or sticks. I don't want them getting into my machine.

 

[Svenster]

Approx 1/8" here as well on a smooth concret driveway. I laid down three rulers equally spaced under the scraper bar and then adjusted the side skids so they hit the garage floor.

 

[BrianMcSouthJersey]

about 1/4" on smooth hard surfaces here due to concerns about auger contacting some raised and uneven sections of sidewalk and a concrete driveway that has that rough surface finish but this is first winter with a blower and still experimenting. 3/4" on grass working well for me when cutting paths for access to shed and clearing areas through the yard for little maltese to do her business.

 

[indypower]

I set mine at 1/4". 1 year I tried just using the scrapper. Wore out the scrapper that winter. Shoes are cheaper & easier & faster to replace than the scrapper.

 

[Oneacer]

Around 1/8" here on blacktop driveways. It all depends on the surface. Also keep an eye on your local big box stores, they will start reducing there winter stock soon, if there is anything left. Good time to pick up sales on shoes, scraper edges, etc....

 

[sscotsman]

You can set the scraper bar right on the surface as long as the skid shoes are taking all the weight..the scraper bar wont wear down any faster than the skids in that case, because the scraper bar isnt bearing the weight of the bucket.

Scot

 

[fronos4]

About 1/8", I set mine with either 1/8" wood shims or the height of 2 steel washers. I have some uneven slabs so I found this gives me enough clearance not to catch, leaves some snow but not so much snow to have to re-shovel.

 

[BLUEGUY]

I found a paint stir stick, like the ones you get for a 5 gallon bucket, is perfect. No more jamming into the sidewalk slabs and it is plenty close enough!

 

[fishingdan]

For my inclined driveway (street higher than garage entrance), I have to get down to pavement. I run my skids as high as they will go and protect the scraper bar/auger box from excessive wear.

 

[butchf]

I've had great success using a thin piece of cardboard (1/16") placed under the scraper and then setting the skids. Once in a while, the scraper may hit an expansion joint in the sidewalk, but for the most part this method has worked well. It does not seem to increase the wear of the scraper at all as long as the weight is on the skids.
I cleared about 4' drifts out of my drive and sidewalks yesterday. As soon as the sun came out my drive melted down to bare pavement in about 2 hours without using any salt.

 

[mecheng10]

Skid Shoe Adjustment

I set my skid shoes so the scraper blade is less than 1/8" off the ground on concrete. This way I leave very little snow that later gets packed into ice. I have beefed up polymer skid shoes that glide over any uneven areas such as joints between sections of my driveway or sidewalk.

Magnitude Engineering

 

[JerryJ]

I found a paint stir stick, like the ones you get for a 5 gallon bucket, is perfect. No more jamming into the sidewalk slabs and it is plenty close enough!

That's exactly what we do. It saves the scrappers but more importantly if you do hit a sidwalk crack with the scrapper, you don't end up getting hit in the belly and the neighbors laughing at you (they laugh at me anyhow because some of the Tim Allen stuff I come up with

 

[Simplicity]

Does it snow in Hawaii?

 

[SMFCPACFP]

Mine is set as low as possible. My driveway is gravel. The first time I use the blower I let it ride an inch above the ground by simply lifting it. After that I let it ride on the ground. We get a lot of snow and it seldom get above the freezing point so if I set the skids up, I would have quite a bit of snow built up by winter's end and a slushy mess when it melts.

Kubota B3030 Snowblowing on 1/02/2012 - YouTube

 

[Jammin]

I found a paint stir stick, like the ones you get for a 5 gallon bucket, is perfect. No more jamming into the sidewalk slabs and it is plenty close enough!

That feeling you get when the snowblower catches the cracks on the sidewalks, damn!