UHMW Blower Shoes and Wearbars, Purchase deal, Important Information to be aware of
Please note, this listing is for the general information for blower shoes and wear bars combined in purchase. Its also to answer any questions about these products..
The price for this listing is the current price of ONE Snow Blower Wear Bar and (1) Pair of the UHMW Snow Blower wear shoes and all mounting hardware. If you purchase this listing, you will be buying the snow blower wear bar and the (1) pair of snow blower shoes at a 10% discount off their normal separate price.
If you purchase the wear bar and shoes using this listing. we will contact you to ask the following questions, to make sure you get the correct parts for your snow blower;
Is your snowblower a Standard Duty blower or a Heavy Duty Blower?
What width is your blower, 47”, 54” or 60”?
The heavy duty blower is identified with these characteristics.
The blower wear bar is FLAT with holes down the center of the bar
The is mounted on an angle under the blower housing front flange when you look inside the blower
and your blower has flange nuts inside the blower housing in a row across the blower, behind the auger, you have a HEAVY DUTY blower.
The heavy Duty blower is made in the 47”, 54” and 60” widths but the 60” wide blower or the 59” blower known as the “Chest Freezer Blower” is ONLY made in the heavy Duty version.
Any blower mounted on a front 3 point hitch is very likely the Heavy Duty blower, but always confirm the other identifiers such as the wear bar style, mounting location and the hardware inside of the blower housing in the row behind the main auger.
You have a Standard Duty Blower it is identified with the following features
It uses a “U” shaped wear bar which is mounted flat under the blower with the bottom of the “U” mounted to the bottom of the blower.
The blower has carriage bolt heads inside of the blower housing along the row behind the blowers main auger.
The blower is either 47”, 54” wide.
The blower is attached to the tractor with a front quick point hitch.
The UHMW blower shoes and snow blower wear bars are revolutionary products which are changing how snow blowers and other snow clearing implements are used. The majority of snow clearing implements, whether they are snow plows, snow blowers or snow pushers, all use mild steel edges to scrape the pavement and mild steel wear shoes to ride the implement upon. Mild Steel is very hard and abrasive and it scratches, gouges, scores and damages the pavement.
You wouldn’t clean the snow off your vehicle with a steel snow shovel, why would you use a steel wear edge or shoes on your pavement and cause damage, when you don’t have to?
Whether its asphalt, cement, brick pavers or some other type of surface, the steel shoes and the steel wear bars have been causing abrasive damage to the surface for decades or more. The steel damages the surface by damaging the asphalt sealer and even cutting groves and other damage into the surface.
This damage causes the pavement to degrade, including the surfaces to crack and allow water into the surface. When water gets down into pavement during freeze and thaw cycles, the water will freeze and cause the pavement to further crack and heave. This leads to potholes and further pavement decay and decline.
The start is to protect the surface of the pavement and the best way to do that is to stop using the abrasive shoes and snow blower wear bars. We designed and make these same components out of UHMW which are designed to work on the blowers to stop the pavement damage and also reduce the wear and tear on the snowblowers.
Some common questions about these components include the following.
Q.1. Why aren’t the blowers sold with UHMW shoes and wear bars when they are new?
A.= 1. Its all about money. UHMW is about 12× to 15x more costly as a material that mild steel, the material which the shoes and wear bars are made from.
A 4’x8’ sheet of mild steel 1/8” thick sells for about $160.
A 5’ x 10’ sheet of 1.25” UHMW is $1,890.
Prices change weekly but this is an average.
So the cost of the blowers would be higher when new. Also, selling the wear parts for implements is big business, the more the mild steel and shoes wear out, the more often people have to replace them.
Q.-2. How does the price of the mild steel shoes and the mild steel wear bars compare to the UHMW replacement parts?
A.-2. The steel wear bars are about $115 to $145 from John Deere where the steel blower shoes are about $75 to $90 each, or roughly $150 to $180 a pair. The UHMW wear bars are $225 to $250 and the UHMW shoes are about $225 a pair.
But the UHMW shoes have double the wear surfaces as they can be flipped over so they will last at least twice as long as the steel when used correctly. Also the UHMW wear bar is at least 25% thicker than the mild steel, not to mention several times wider, so it has considerably more wear surface material. The UHMW will last much longer than the steel when used correctly. But not causing the damage to the surface is another huge financial savings in the matter.
Q.-3. Is the UHMW more fragile or more likely to be damaged than the mild steel shoes and wear bar?
A.-3. The UHMW material is very tough and durable. The UHMW can’t rust, won’t twist or bend and also is much thicker. The UHMW is much thicker than the mild steel used on the wear bars. The wear bars use mild steel which is 1/8” thick where the wear bars on the snowblowers made of UHMW are 1.25” thick, considerably more dense and thicker than the steel. The shoes are also larger in size in every dimension. See the UHMW shoes listing for the details about the shoes dimensions as they are shown in the photos. UHMW is as much as 15x more wear resistant to abrasion that carbon steel in some applications.
Q.-4. Will the UHMW wear like normal plastic?
A.-4. In a word, NO. The UHMW is extremely strong and hard. In fact, when we mill the wear bars to cut the mounting holes in the material, we have to use Diamond tipped machine tools as the regular machine tools dull very quickly due to the hardness of the UHMW.
The UHMW material we use for making the wear bars and blower shoes is so dense and strong, it will stop a bullet from a 9mm handgun at 10 yards. I know, because I tried it. Its the most dense and hardest, toughest plastic material made in the world. It’s also used in the construction of bullet proof vests by being woven into some of them.
The UHMW is specifically designed to be a low abrasion surface with extremely strong characteristics which exceed carbon steel. Its sheer strength is very high as is its surface abrasion tolerance. I have used UHMW as a snow plow wear edge for an entire season on material 1.5” wide and 6” tall, with the material used on a 45 degree angle, with the edge cut to that angle to be square to the surface. After plowing the equivalent of 155 miles of distance in a single width pass, the UHMW material still had 5.35” of the original 6” of material remaining.
A 155 miles is 818,400 linear feet. Assuming the average driveway is 250’ and requires 6 side by side clearing passes with the snowblower, that would be the equivalent of 1,500 linear feet of plowing. That means you could clear 550 of those residential driveways and wear about half to 5/8 of the blower wear bar thickness.
Unless someone is clearing driveways commercially, they aren’t going to experience this level of driveway clearing for several years. These products should last a long time. But of course, we can’t prevent people from misusing them or abusing them by using excessive down pressure. Even then, they are still very tough and durable. They just won’t last as long as they could if they are used correctly.
Q.-5. Does the UHMW need any special maintenance, such as protection from UV rays or protections against the elements.,etc.?
A.-5. No, the UHMW is a complete product when its extruded and rolled. The strength in the UHMW comes from the chemical chain composition and how the product is created. Its surprisingly strong and is used in wear products where intentional friction is part of the design.
It’s used to support and provide machine chain tensions and countless other constant friction applications. UHMW is also self lubricating which is why its such a great wear surface material, especially when used for clearing snow. The benefit of the snows moisture dramatically extends the wear life of the UHMW.
Q.-6. How long should we expect the UHMW wear bars and the blower shoes to last compared to the mild steel shoes and bar?
A.-6. There is no reason why the UHMW wear bar should not outlast the UHMW wear bar hour for hour of use. First, the Steel wear bar is shaped steel only 1/8” thick where the UHMW material is 1.25” thick. That places the UHMW at at least 11 to 12 times thicker, not to mention the width and general density of the UHMW wear bar.
With normal residential use, the steel wear bars will last 7 to 10 years and there is no reason to think the UHMW wear bar should last any less. In fact, I would expect it to last much longer. The UHMW shoes have so much more material and they can be flipped to use the other side for another complete wear surface, these shoes are going to be the last shoes many people will have to buy for their snow blowers.
Just what’s involved in Installing the UHMW wear bars and the UHMW Shoes on the on snowblowers ?
The blower wear bars are easiest installed following these steps.
With the blower removed from the tractor, tip the blower forward so the auger is aimed at the ground and the drive assembly of the blower with the PTO Implement shaft is pointed at the sky. Support the blower so it can’t tip or fall while being worked upon. Safety First….
The blower steel wear bar will be “U” shaped under the blower and either have flange nuts heads under the blower wear bar or it will be FLAT and have flange nuts inside the blower housing behind the auger. Remove the flange nuts from whichever side they are on. Be careful as the steel wear bar is heavy and its also very sharp from wearing on the pavement.
Note in the photo array attached to this listing, there is a new UHMW wear bar, a new U Shaped mild steel wear bar and a used U shaped wear bar and the profound difference between them needs to be seen.
Once the blower wear bar is removed, align the new SBS blower wear bar depending upon the type of blower. Here is the distinction.
Heavy Duty Blowers use a flat wear bar which is mounted on a 45 degree angle. The HD blowers have flange nuts inside of the blower housing behind the main auger. If the blower is this style, you insert the hardware which is included with the wear bar, from the underside of the blower housing. Attach the nuts finger tight inside the blower housing.
Once all of the hardware is installed and the nuts tight, start tightening the bolts to the specs on the instruction sheet for your blower. Start in the center nut and tighten that one first, then the nut to the right of center, then one to the left of center. Keep using this alternate pattern until all of the bolts are tight on the wear bar.
If you have a standard duty blower, the blower will use a “U” shaped wear bar which mounts flat under the blower. The UHMW wear bar mounts so the recessed holes are under the blower pointing towards the ground.
Use a hand held nut driver, much like a screw driver to hold the nuts for the wear bar to install them on the wear bar. make sure to hold the carriage bolts on the inside of the blower and use the nut driver to start the nuts in the hole. Tighten starting in the center hole first and then left and right until they are all tight. Tighten to the torq specs on the instruction sheet.
Both the HD wear bar and the Standard duty wear bar are shipped with new stainless steel hardware to install the new bar. This hardware will not corrode and will also be easier to remove down the road when its time to replace the wear bar.
The blower shoes are very easy to install, just follow these directions
It’s very important to get the maximum benefit out of the UHMW shoes and wear bar, that they are replaced together. This instruction sheet assumes the wear bar and the shoes are being installed as a pair.
If you have just installed the UHMW wear bar, the wear bar now hangs down below the blower about 1/2” more than steel bar it replaces, Now its time to install the blower shoes.
Most people prefer to install the blower shoes in the center of the blowers outside sidewall. Make sure to position the blower shoes using the mounting holes or slots which permit the bottom of the shoes to be aligned with the bottom of the wear bar. Please see the photos for the details shown on the photos of a yellow blower with arrows pointing at the wear bar and shoes.
Once you have the blower shoes mounted so the long side of the shoe will be on the ground, position the shoes to the lower side of the shoe aligns with the bottom of the wear bar. There is an illustration with the yellow blower with white arrows pointing at the shoes and the wear bar, showing their position.
When the shoes are in position, tighten the hardware so the shoes remain in position. If the shoes are using the machined slots to mount on the sidewalls, you can use the 3rd bolt included with the kit to pin the shoes in position, using the 3rd bolt to lock the shoes in place so they resist sliding in the machined slots.
Make sure to always place the large flat washers under the bolt heads on the outside of the shoes to provide clamping force of the bolt heads. Also use large washers on the inside of the blower for the very same reason. If the inside of the blower has a ridged surface, use a smaller diameter washer under the larger washer to help keep the larger washer flat and secure inside the blower.
Make sure the bolts are tight and the shoes don’t move. As the shoes need adjustment, loosen the bolts and move the shoes accordingly. The shoes are going to wear slowly as the wear bar is very robust and supports most of the blower. The blower wear bar is going to wear very slowly and may not need to have the shoes adjusted for several years, depending upon use.
Always make sure to try and position the shoes in the center of the sidewall of the blower for maximum blower stability.
If you have any questions or problems, please contact us using the “Contact us” or at the email SulleyBearSolutions@Gmail.com
Thank you for your interest in our products. We are confident you are going to be very pleased with your SBS UHMW snowblower products. We have sold hundreds of these shoes and wear bars and the reviews have been extremely good with no complaints. In fact, many report after a full season of use, no measurable wear showing on the shoes and wear bar.
Please note, this listing is for the general information for blower shoes and wear bars combined in purchase. Its also to answer any questions about these products..
The price for this listing is the current price of ONE Snow Blower Wear Bar and (1) Pair of the UHMW Snow Blower wear shoes and all mounting hardware. If you purchase this listing, you will be buying the snow blower wear bar and the (1) pair of snow blower shoes at a 10% discount off their normal separate price.
If you purchase the wear bar and shoes using this listing. we will contact you to ask the following questions, to make sure you get the correct parts for your snow blower;
Is your snowblower a Standard Duty blower or a Heavy Duty Blower?
What width is your blower, 47”, 54” or 60”?
The heavy duty blower is identified with these characteristics.
The blower wear bar is FLAT with holes down the center of the bar
The is mounted on an angle under the blower housing front flange when you look inside the blower
and your blower has flange nuts inside the blower housing in a row across the blower, behind the auger, you have a HEAVY DUTY blower.
The heavy Duty blower is made in the 47”, 54” and 60” widths but the 60” wide blower or the 59” blower known as the “Chest Freezer Blower” is ONLY made in the heavy Duty version.
Any blower mounted on a front 3 point hitch is very likely the Heavy Duty blower, but always confirm the other identifiers such as the wear bar style, mounting location and the hardware inside of the blower housing in the row behind the main auger.
You have a Standard Duty Blower it is identified with the following features
It uses a “U” shaped wear bar which is mounted flat under the blower with the bottom of the “U” mounted to the bottom of the blower.
The blower has carriage bolt heads inside of the blower housing along the row behind the blowers main auger.
The blower is either 47”, 54” wide.
The blower is attached to the tractor with a front quick point hitch.
The UHMW blower shoes and snow blower wear bars are revolutionary products which are changing how snow blowers and other snow clearing implements are used. The majority of snow clearing implements, whether they are snow plows, snow blowers or snow pushers, all use mild steel edges to scrape the pavement and mild steel wear shoes to ride the implement upon. Mild Steel is very hard and abrasive and it scratches, gouges, scores and damages the pavement.
You wouldn’t clean the snow off your vehicle with a steel snow shovel, why would you use a steel wear edge or shoes on your pavement and cause damage, when you don’t have to?
Whether its asphalt, cement, brick pavers or some other type of surface, the steel shoes and the steel wear bars have been causing abrasive damage to the surface for decades or more. The steel damages the surface by damaging the asphalt sealer and even cutting groves and other damage into the surface.
This damage causes the pavement to degrade, including the surfaces to crack and allow water into the surface. When water gets down into pavement during freeze and thaw cycles, the water will freeze and cause the pavement to further crack and heave. This leads to potholes and further pavement decay and decline.
The start is to protect the surface of the pavement and the best way to do that is to stop using the abrasive shoes and snow blower wear bars. We designed and make these same components out of UHMW which are designed to work on the blowers to stop the pavement damage and also reduce the wear and tear on the snowblowers.
Some common questions about these components include the following.
Q.1. Why aren’t the blowers sold with UHMW shoes and wear bars when they are new?
A.= 1. Its all about money. UHMW is about 12× to 15x more costly as a material that mild steel, the material which the shoes and wear bars are made from.
A 4’x8’ sheet of mild steel 1/8” thick sells for about $160.
A 5’ x 10’ sheet of 1.25” UHMW is $1,890.
Prices change weekly but this is an average.
So the cost of the blowers would be higher when new. Also, selling the wear parts for implements is big business, the more the mild steel and shoes wear out, the more often people have to replace them.
Q.-2. How does the price of the mild steel shoes and the mild steel wear bars compare to the UHMW replacement parts?
A.-2. The steel wear bars are about $115 to $145 from John Deere where the steel blower shoes are about $75 to $90 each, or roughly $150 to $180 a pair. The UHMW wear bars are $225 to $250 and the UHMW shoes are about $225 a pair.
But the UHMW shoes have double the wear surfaces as they can be flipped over so they will last at least twice as long as the steel when used correctly. Also the UHMW wear bar is at least 25% thicker than the mild steel, not to mention several times wider, so it has considerably more wear surface material. The UHMW will last much longer than the steel when used correctly. But not causing the damage to the surface is another huge financial savings in the matter.
Q.-3. Is the UHMW more fragile or more likely to be damaged than the mild steel shoes and wear bar?
A.-3. The UHMW material is very tough and durable. The UHMW can’t rust, won’t twist or bend and also is much thicker. The UHMW is much thicker than the mild steel used on the wear bars. The wear bars use mild steel which is 1/8” thick where the wear bars on the snowblowers made of UHMW are 1.25” thick, considerably more dense and thicker than the steel. The shoes are also larger in size in every dimension. See the UHMW shoes listing for the details about the shoes dimensions as they are shown in the photos. UHMW is as much as 15x more wear resistant to abrasion that carbon steel in some applications.
Q.-4. Will the UHMW wear like normal plastic?
A.-4. In a word, NO. The UHMW is extremely strong and hard. In fact, when we mill the wear bars to cut the mounting holes in the material, we have to use Diamond tipped machine tools as the regular machine tools dull very quickly due to the hardness of the UHMW.
The UHMW material we use for making the wear bars and blower shoes is so dense and strong, it will stop a bullet from a 9mm handgun at 10 yards. I know, because I tried it. Its the most dense and hardest, toughest plastic material made in the world. It’s also used in the construction of bullet proof vests by being woven into some of them.
The UHMW is specifically designed to be a low abrasion surface with extremely strong characteristics which exceed carbon steel. Its sheer strength is very high as is its surface abrasion tolerance. I have used UHMW as a snow plow wear edge for an entire season on material 1.5” wide and 6” tall, with the material used on a 45 degree angle, with the edge cut to that angle to be square to the surface. After plowing the equivalent of 155 miles of distance in a single width pass, the UHMW material still had 5.35” of the original 6” of material remaining.
A 155 miles is 818,400 linear feet. Assuming the average driveway is 250’ and requires 6 side by side clearing passes with the snowblower, that would be the equivalent of 1,500 linear feet of plowing. That means you could clear 550 of those residential driveways and wear about half to 5/8 of the blower wear bar thickness.
Unless someone is clearing driveways commercially, they aren’t going to experience this level of driveway clearing for several years. These products should last a long time. But of course, we can’t prevent people from misusing them or abusing them by using excessive down pressure. Even then, they are still very tough and durable. They just won’t last as long as they could if they are used correctly.
Q.-5. Does the UHMW need any special maintenance, such as protection from UV rays or protections against the elements.,etc.?
A.-5. No, the UHMW is a complete product when its extruded and rolled. The strength in the UHMW comes from the chemical chain composition and how the product is created. Its surprisingly strong and is used in wear products where intentional friction is part of the design.
It’s used to support and provide machine chain tensions and countless other constant friction applications. UHMW is also self lubricating which is why its such a great wear surface material, especially when used for clearing snow. The benefit of the snows moisture dramatically extends the wear life of the UHMW.
Q.-6. How long should we expect the UHMW wear bars and the blower shoes to last compared to the mild steel shoes and bar?
A.-6. There is no reason why the UHMW wear bar should not outlast the UHMW wear bar hour for hour of use. First, the Steel wear bar is shaped steel only 1/8” thick where the UHMW material is 1.25” thick. That places the UHMW at at least 11 to 12 times thicker, not to mention the width and general density of the UHMW wear bar.
With normal residential use, the steel wear bars will last 7 to 10 years and there is no reason to think the UHMW wear bar should last any less. In fact, I would expect it to last much longer. The UHMW shoes have so much more material and they can be flipped to use the other side for another complete wear surface, these shoes are going to be the last shoes many people will have to buy for their snow blowers.
Just what’s involved in Installing the UHMW wear bars and the UHMW Shoes on the on snowblowers ?
The blower wear bars are easiest installed following these steps.
With the blower removed from the tractor, tip the blower forward so the auger is aimed at the ground and the drive assembly of the blower with the PTO Implement shaft is pointed at the sky. Support the blower so it can’t tip or fall while being worked upon. Safety First….
The blower steel wear bar will be “U” shaped under the blower and either have flange nuts heads under the blower wear bar or it will be FLAT and have flange nuts inside the blower housing behind the auger. Remove the flange nuts from whichever side they are on. Be careful as the steel wear bar is heavy and its also very sharp from wearing on the pavement.
Note in the photo array attached to this listing, there is a new UHMW wear bar, a new U Shaped mild steel wear bar and a used U shaped wear bar and the profound difference between them needs to be seen.
Once the blower wear bar is removed, align the new SBS blower wear bar depending upon the type of blower. Here is the distinction.
Heavy Duty Blowers use a flat wear bar which is mounted on a 45 degree angle. The HD blowers have flange nuts inside of the blower housing behind the main auger. If the blower is this style, you insert the hardware which is included with the wear bar, from the underside of the blower housing. Attach the nuts finger tight inside the blower housing.
Once all of the hardware is installed and the nuts tight, start tightening the bolts to the specs on the instruction sheet for your blower. Start in the center nut and tighten that one first, then the nut to the right of center, then one to the left of center. Keep using this alternate pattern until all of the bolts are tight on the wear bar.
If you have a standard duty blower, the blower will use a “U” shaped wear bar which mounts flat under the blower. The UHMW wear bar mounts so the recessed holes are under the blower pointing towards the ground.
Use a hand held nut driver, much like a screw driver to hold the nuts for the wear bar to install them on the wear bar. make sure to hold the carriage bolts on the inside of the blower and use the nut driver to start the nuts in the hole. Tighten starting in the center hole first and then left and right until they are all tight. Tighten to the torq specs on the instruction sheet.
Both the HD wear bar and the Standard duty wear bar are shipped with new stainless steel hardware to install the new bar. This hardware will not corrode and will also be easier to remove down the road when its time to replace the wear bar.
The blower shoes are very easy to install, just follow these directions
It’s very important to get the maximum benefit out of the UHMW shoes and wear bar, that they are replaced together. This instruction sheet assumes the wear bar and the shoes are being installed as a pair.
If you have just installed the UHMW wear bar, the wear bar now hangs down below the blower about 1/2” more than steel bar it replaces, Now its time to install the blower shoes.
Most people prefer to install the blower shoes in the center of the blowers outside sidewall. Make sure to position the blower shoes using the mounting holes or slots which permit the bottom of the shoes to be aligned with the bottom of the wear bar. Please see the photos for the details shown on the photos of a yellow blower with arrows pointing at the wear bar and shoes.
Once you have the blower shoes mounted so the long side of the shoe will be on the ground, position the shoes to the lower side of the shoe aligns with the bottom of the wear bar. There is an illustration with the yellow blower with white arrows pointing at the shoes and the wear bar, showing their position.
When the shoes are in position, tighten the hardware so the shoes remain in position. If the shoes are using the machined slots to mount on the sidewalls, you can use the 3rd bolt included with the kit to pin the shoes in position, using the 3rd bolt to lock the shoes in place so they resist sliding in the machined slots.
Make sure to always place the large flat washers under the bolt heads on the outside of the shoes to provide clamping force of the bolt heads. Also use large washers on the inside of the blower for the very same reason. If the inside of the blower has a ridged surface, use a smaller diameter washer under the larger washer to help keep the larger washer flat and secure inside the blower.
Make sure the bolts are tight and the shoes don’t move. As the shoes need adjustment, loosen the bolts and move the shoes accordingly. The shoes are going to wear slowly as the wear bar is very robust and supports most of the blower. The blower wear bar is going to wear very slowly and may not need to have the shoes adjusted for several years, depending upon use.
Always make sure to try and position the shoes in the center of the sidewall of the blower for maximum blower stability.
If you have any questions or problems, please contact us using the “Contact us” or at the email SulleyBearSolutions@Gmail.com
Thank you for your interest in our products. We are confident you are going to be very pleased with your SBS UHMW snowblower products. We have sold hundreds of these shoes and wear bars and the reviews have been extremely good with no complaints. In fact, many report after a full season of use, no measurable wear showing on the shoes and wear bar.
Please note, this listing is for the general information for blower shoes and wear bars combined in purchase. Its also to answer any questions about these products..
The price for this listing is the current price of ONE Snow Blower Wear Bar and (1) Pair of the UHMW Snow Blower wear shoes and all mounting hardware. If you purchase this listing, you will be buying the snow blower wear bar and the (1) pair of snow blower shoes at a 10% discount off their normal separate price.
If you purchase the wear bar and shoes using this listing. we will contact you to ask the following questions, to make sure you get the correct parts for your snow blower;
Is your snowblower a Standard Duty blower or a Heavy Duty Blower?
What width is your blower, 47”, 54” or 60”?
The heavy duty blower is identified with these characteristics.
The blower wear bar is FLAT with holes down the center of the bar
The is mounted on an angle under the blower housing front flange when you look inside the blower
and your blower has flange nuts inside the blower housing in a row across the blower, behind the auger, you have a HEAVY DUTY blower.
The heavy Duty blower is made in the 47”, 54” and 60” widths but the 60” wide blower or the 59” blower known as the “Chest Freezer Blower” is ONLY made in the heavy Duty version.
Any blower mounted on a front 3 point hitch is very likely the Heavy Duty blower, but always confirm the other identifiers such as the wear bar style, mounting location and the hardware inside of the blower housing in the row behind the main auger.
You have a Standard Duty Blower it is identified with the following features
It uses a “U” shaped wear bar which is mounted flat under the blower with the bottom of the “U” mounted to the bottom of the blower.
The blower has carriage bolt heads inside of the blower housing along the row behind the blowers main auger.
The blower is either 47”, 54” wide.
The blower is attached to the tractor with a front quick point hitch.
The UHMW blower shoes and snow blower wear bars are revolutionary products which are changing how snow blowers and other snow clearing implements are used. The majority of snow clearing implements, whether they are snow plows, snow blowers or snow pushers, all use mild steel edges to scrape the pavement and mild steel wear shoes to ride the implement upon. Mild Steel is very hard and abrasive and it scratches, gouges, scores and damages the pavement.
You wouldn’t clean the snow off your vehicle with a steel snow shovel, why would you use a steel wear edge or shoes on your pavement and cause damage, when you don’t have to?
Whether its asphalt, cement, brick pavers or some other type of surface, the steel shoes and the steel wear bars have been causing abrasive damage to the surface for decades or more. The steel damages the surface by damaging the asphalt sealer and even cutting groves and other damage into the surface.
This damage causes the pavement to degrade, including the surfaces to crack and allow water into the surface. When water gets down into pavement during freeze and thaw cycles, the water will freeze and cause the pavement to further crack and heave. This leads to potholes and further pavement decay and decline.
The start is to protect the surface of the pavement and the best way to do that is to stop using the abrasive shoes and snow blower wear bars. We designed and make these same components out of UHMW which are designed to work on the blowers to stop the pavement damage and also reduce the wear and tear on the snowblowers.
Some common questions about these components include the following.
Q.1. Why aren’t the blowers sold with UHMW shoes and wear bars when they are new?
A.= 1. Its all about money. UHMW is about 12× to 15x more costly as a material that mild steel, the material which the shoes and wear bars are made from.
A 4’x8’ sheet of mild steel 1/8” thick sells for about $160.
A 5’ x 10’ sheet of 1.25” UHMW is $1,890.
Prices change weekly but this is an average.
So the cost of the blowers would be higher when new. Also, selling the wear parts for implements is big business, the more the mild steel and shoes wear out, the more often people have to replace them.
Q.-2. How does the price of the mild steel shoes and the mild steel wear bars compare to the UHMW replacement parts?
A.-2. The steel wear bars are about $115 to $145 from John Deere where the steel blower shoes are about $75 to $90 each, or roughly $150 to $180 a pair. The UHMW wear bars are $225 to $250 and the UHMW shoes are about $225 a pair.
But the UHMW shoes have double the wear surfaces as they can be flipped over so they will last at least twice as long as the steel when used correctly. Also the UHMW wear bar is at least 25% thicker than the mild steel, not to mention several times wider, so it has considerably more wear surface material. The UHMW will last much longer than the steel when used correctly. But not causing the damage to the surface is another huge financial savings in the matter.
Q.-3. Is the UHMW more fragile or more likely to be damaged than the mild steel shoes and wear bar?
A.-3. The UHMW material is very tough and durable. The UHMW can’t rust, won’t twist or bend and also is much thicker. The UHMW is much thicker than the mild steel used on the wear bars. The wear bars use mild steel which is 1/8” thick where the wear bars on the snowblowers made of UHMW are 1.25” thick, considerably more dense and thicker than the steel. The shoes are also larger in size in every dimension. See the UHMW shoes listing for the details about the shoes dimensions as they are shown in the photos. UHMW is as much as 15x more wear resistant to abrasion that carbon steel in some applications.
Q.-4. Will the UHMW wear like normal plastic?
A.-4. In a word, NO. The UHMW is extremely strong and hard. In fact, when we mill the wear bars to cut the mounting holes in the material, we have to use Diamond tipped machine tools as the regular machine tools dull very quickly due to the hardness of the UHMW.
The UHMW material we use for making the wear bars and blower shoes is so dense and strong, it will stop a bullet from a 9mm handgun at 10 yards. I know, because I tried it. Its the most dense and hardest, toughest plastic material made in the world. It’s also used in the construction of bullet proof vests by being woven into some of them.
The UHMW is specifically designed to be a low abrasion surface with extremely strong characteristics which exceed carbon steel. Its sheer strength is very high as is its surface abrasion tolerance. I have used UHMW as a snow plow wear edge for an entire season on material 1.5” wide and 6” tall, with the material used on a 45 degree angle, with the edge cut to that angle to be square to the surface. After plowing the equivalent of 155 miles of distance in a single width pass, the UHMW material still had 5.35” of the original 6” of material remaining.
A 155 miles is 818,400 linear feet. Assuming the average driveway is 250’ and requires 6 side by side clearing passes with the snowblower, that would be the equivalent of 1,500 linear feet of plowing. That means you could clear 550 of those residential driveways and wear about half to 5/8 of the blower wear bar thickness.
Unless someone is clearing driveways commercially, they aren’t going to experience this level of driveway clearing for several years. These products should last a long time. But of course, we can’t prevent people from misusing them or abusing them by using excessive down pressure. Even then, they are still very tough and durable. They just won’t last as long as they could if they are used correctly.
Q.-5. Does the UHMW need any special maintenance, such as protection from UV rays or protections against the elements.,etc.?
A.-5. No, the UHMW is a complete product when its extruded and rolled. The strength in the UHMW comes from the chemical chain composition and how the product is created. Its surprisingly strong and is used in wear products where intentional friction is part of the design.
It’s used to support and provide machine chain tensions and countless other constant friction applications. UHMW is also self lubricating which is why its such a great wear surface material, especially when used for clearing snow. The benefit of the snows moisture dramatically extends the wear life of the UHMW.
Q.-6. How long should we expect the UHMW wear bars and the blower shoes to last compared to the mild steel shoes and bar?
A.-6. There is no reason why the UHMW wear bar should not outlast the UHMW wear bar hour for hour of use. First, the Steel wear bar is shaped steel only 1/8” thick where the UHMW material is 1.25” thick. That places the UHMW at at least 11 to 12 times thicker, not to mention the width and general density of the UHMW wear bar.
With normal residential use, the steel wear bars will last 7 to 10 years and there is no reason to think the UHMW wear bar should last any less. In fact, I would expect it to last much longer. The UHMW shoes have so much more material and they can be flipped to use the other side for another complete wear surface, these shoes are going to be the last shoes many people will have to buy for their snow blowers.
Just what’s involved in Installing the UHMW wear bars and the UHMW Shoes on the on snowblowers ?
The blower wear bars are easiest installed following these steps.
With the blower removed from the tractor, tip the blower forward so the auger is aimed at the ground and the drive assembly of the blower with the PTO Implement shaft is pointed at the sky. Support the blower so it can’t tip or fall while being worked upon. Safety First….
The blower steel wear bar will be “U” shaped under the blower and either have flange nuts heads under the blower wear bar or it will be FLAT and have flange nuts inside the blower housing behind the auger. Remove the flange nuts from whichever side they are on. Be careful as the steel wear bar is heavy and its also very sharp from wearing on the pavement.
Note in the photo array attached to this listing, there is a new UHMW wear bar, a new U Shaped mild steel wear bar and a used U shaped wear bar and the profound difference between them needs to be seen.
Once the blower wear bar is removed, align the new SBS blower wear bar depending upon the type of blower. Here is the distinction.
Heavy Duty Blowers use a flat wear bar which is mounted on a 45 degree angle. The HD blowers have flange nuts inside of the blower housing behind the main auger. If the blower is this style, you insert the hardware which is included with the wear bar, from the underside of the blower housing. Attach the nuts finger tight inside the blower housing.
Once all of the hardware is installed and the nuts tight, start tightening the bolts to the specs on the instruction sheet for your blower. Start in the center nut and tighten that one first, then the nut to the right of center, then one to the left of center. Keep using this alternate pattern until all of the bolts are tight on the wear bar.
If you have a standard duty blower, the blower will use a “U” shaped wear bar which mounts flat under the blower. The UHMW wear bar mounts so the recessed holes are under the blower pointing towards the ground.
Use a hand held nut driver, much like a screw driver to hold the nuts for the wear bar to install them on the wear bar. make sure to hold the carriage bolts on the inside of the blower and use the nut driver to start the nuts in the hole. Tighten starting in the center hole first and then left and right until they are all tight. Tighten to the torq specs on the instruction sheet.
Both the HD wear bar and the Standard duty wear bar are shipped with new stainless steel hardware to install the new bar. This hardware will not corrode and will also be easier to remove down the road when its time to replace the wear bar.
The blower shoes are very easy to install, just follow these directions
It’s very important to get the maximum benefit out of the UHMW shoes and wear bar, that they are replaced together. This instruction sheet assumes the wear bar and the shoes are being installed as a pair.
If you have just installed the UHMW wear bar, the wear bar now hangs down below the blower about 1/2” more than steel bar it replaces, Now its time to install the blower shoes.
Most people prefer to install the blower shoes in the center of the blowers outside sidewall. Make sure to position the blower shoes using the mounting holes or slots which permit the bottom of the shoes to be aligned with the bottom of the wear bar. Please see the photos for the details shown on the photos of a yellow blower with arrows pointing at the wear bar and shoes.
Once you have the blower shoes mounted so the long side of the shoe will be on the ground, position the shoes to the lower side of the shoe aligns with the bottom of the wear bar. There is an illustration with the yellow blower with white arrows pointing at the shoes and the wear bar, showing their position.
When the shoes are in position, tighten the hardware so the shoes remain in position. If the shoes are using the machined slots to mount on the sidewalls, you can use the 3rd bolt included with the kit to pin the shoes in position, using the 3rd bolt to lock the shoes in place so they resist sliding in the machined slots.
Make sure to always place the large flat washers under the bolt heads on the outside of the shoes to provide clamping force of the bolt heads. Also use large washers on the inside of the blower for the very same reason. If the inside of the blower has a ridged surface, use a smaller diameter washer under the larger washer to help keep the larger washer flat and secure inside the blower.
Make sure the bolts are tight and the shoes don’t move. As the shoes need adjustment, loosen the bolts and move the shoes accordingly. The shoes are going to wear slowly as the wear bar is very robust and supports most of the blower. The blower wear bar is going to wear very slowly and may not need to have the shoes adjusted for several years, depending upon use.
Always make sure to try and position the shoes in the center of the sidewall of the blower for maximum blower stability.
If you have any questions or problems, please contact us using the “Contact us” or at the email SulleyBearSolutions@Gmail.com
Thank you for your interest in our products. We are confident you are going to be very pleased with your SBS UHMW snowblower products. We have sold hundreds of these shoes and wear bars and the reviews have been extremely good with no complaints. In fact, many report after a full season of use, no measurable wear showing on the shoes and wear bar.