Shear pin on snowblower

[495man]

Ok, well that stinks!!
How would I go about putting one in?
Sorry I am such a newbie with this! I just want to blow snow!!

It will blow snow, you just risk major damage if you get something in the impeller. Like I said before, 99% of shear pin breakage is the auger drive which you still have. I'd run it before I'd shovel. I'd also get the right PTO shaft for it.

 

[Jim.ME]

If you want to add protection for the gear box one way is to add a slip clutch on the gearbox input shaft. A couple types are: the type that fits the spline shaft and uses clamp bolts so that the hub that slides over the gear box half clamps tightly to the shaft. Or you can get a slip clutch that slips on and locks on the gearbox shaft with a snap pin like your current PTO shaft. Either can be had withor without the shaft. In either case the length of the PTO shaft itself will likely need to be adjusted to fit properly to allow for the distance the slip clutch takes up.

You might search and find a shear coupler like centash showed in his pictures. If you find the right one you may be able to install that setup in place of the yoke with the snap lock on the gearbox end of your current PTO shaft.

I agree with 495man, I'd run it before shoveling. I have had snowblowers without a shear bolt or slip clutch on the input. The auger generally is the issue, and you have a shear bolt there.

 

[Jamelia]

Update!!
So the unthinkable happened, one of the tire chains came off in a bog drift, and lodged in the auger.
Yes, the photo shows the shear pin, 2 of them, and they both broke, and the chain snapped.
Today I replaced the shear pins with bolts, I went to 2 tractor dealers and they had no shear pins.
I put the bolts in, and put a new link in the auger chain, everything is working great. I did not replace the tire chain yet, that will get done in nicer weather.
So how do I find shear pins that are the right size? When I look on Amazon, they do not give sizes.
The main pin has been replaced with a 3/8 x 1 1/2 inch bolt, the other one is a 1/8” x 1 1/2 inch bolt.
Easy enough to replace now that I know where they are, but I would like to use the correct pins.