john deere snowthrower

[breimer]

Blew snow yesterday wit a fairly worn out snowthrower (47inch Deere for a 400 tractor.) It worked very poorly. I noticed that the auger is worn badly making a lot of clearance at the center where the chute comes up. Probably need to replace the auger or weld it up. Does someone know how much clearance there is supposed to be? Currently it just blows the snow round the auger and not much comes out the chute unless I get a lot deeper or heavier snow.
 

[steve_in_mo]

A single-stage snowthrower needs to run with the engine at wide open throttle and full of snow to do much good. Reducing the clearance between the paddles and the sheet metal would help. You only need an eighth of an inch if things are round. If it's all beat up you need an eighth inch clearance at the tightest spot. Cleaning up the rust inside the thrower and painting and/or spraying with wax or cooking oil helps too.