Outdoor Power Equipment (Lawn Mowers, Snow Blowers, Chain Saws and more) Discussions

This is my 4th plastic chute for my craftsman snowblower.  It is about 6 years old.  If a person  out there can make a metal chute for this snowblower,  he could become rich. If anyone has any ideas let me know  I have a 9 HP Craftsman snowblower.  Model # 536.887992   Thank You

To follow up: I picked up a thin metal tie at Home Depot, drilled out holes to line up with my "frankenstein" reinforcement bolts as described in my earlier post, bolted it to the one side that ripped out, and it is working for now. The metal tie reinforces the plastic chute, bolted at the bottom end to one of the bolts of the chute base, and at the top end to one of my new bolts drilled through the plastic chute about 1.5" above the base. The metal tie was about 2" wide by about 12" long, predrilled with a number of small holes, I cut it in half. BTW, I installed the new hex head bolt through the chute with the head on the inside, a nylon lined lock nut on the outside, to avoid snow buildup, etc.

The bolt on the chute pivot is not working very well either, it eventually slips when blowing snow wetter than can be "broomed". I think I'll look for a couple of washers with teeth, or some other "repair" method.

I have access to a somewhat similar vintage Craftsman 5hp 24" snowblower as well, and the chute on that one is still in pretty good shape. There may be some merit to the comment above about the greater force of the larger snowblower.

I run two different blowers, both 8 HP, and have blown the top of the chute practically off on each machine, but instead of just buying a whole new chute, I put them on a piano hinge instead of the internal wire hinge that they come with. So far so good, been several storms and frozen over snow, and they are holding up great. My problems were from blowing chunks of ice.