Shop Talk: Retrofitting my Snowblower
Our previous place was on a somewhat active bus route so in the winter, we would get fairly regular passes by the snowplows which would totally fill the end of our driveway with heavy, wet snow. After our first year of this, we got a gas-powered 2-stage snowblower to never have to struggle with this again (this was before battery powered snowblowers were really a thing). While our 2-stage snowblower is awesome, it’s right on the edge of being a bit too big/awkward for my wife to use.
I had an opportunity to get a cordless snowblower for ‘free’ which was so much easier for her to operate and also, very quiet by comparison (so I wouldn’t feel bad doing early-morning/late-night snow clearing) but I did find that it really struggled when it came to the super hard-packed, frozen snow that can accumulate at the end of the driveway. Surely there is a way to improve this?
Quick Links
Starting Point
For my outdoor power equipment (OPE), I happen to be invested into the EGO platform and for snowblowers (at time of writing), they offer five different units:
One 2-stage model, the SNT240# which is roughly what you might think of when you think of a ‘snowblower’
Three 1-stage models
A basic rubber-paddle unit, the SNT210#
A beefier unit that swaps the rubber-paddles for metal auger blades, the SNT211#
Their most recent model is a weird combination of the previous two: an auger-propelled unit, the SNT212#AP — instead of steel augers, it uses rubber augers which are in contact with the ground, allowing them to ‘drive’ the snowblower. Very weird.
One ‘broom-style’ snow blower, the SSA1200
I had the opportunity to buy the entry-level 1-stage snowblower last year for “free” so it was a no-brainer for me. I liked how lightweight it was (which can be a pro and con) and I really liked just how quiet the unit was (compared to a gas unit) — this meant that I wouldn’t feel bad if I had to do an early-morning or late-night clearing.
‘Free’? How?
By coincidence, I happened to be in the market for an extra charger ($200 approx) and two 5.0Ah batteries ($860 approx). At the time, the snowblower, as a kit, was on sale for $900 so it made sense to just to ‘buy a charger, a couple of batteries and get a free snowblower’. To sweeten the deal, there was a seasonal promotion that included a free leaf-blower (which I was able to sell for $180).
While it wasn’t strictly free in that I had to pay out of pocket, it was definitely a no-brainer. This ‘deal’ is very dependant on the buyer specifically looking to buy the charger/batteries independently anyways so it’s not their normal target customer, but if this applies to you, it’s an easy sell.
My only potential concern was whether or not the 1-stage would provide enough oomph. Spoiler: it’s got plenty of oomph to do most of the snow clearing — it bogs down a bit with the slushy wet snow at the bottom of the driveway but that’s expected (and it does eventually clear it, albeit a bit slower). Where the snowblower does fall short is when the snow at the end of the driveway gets hard-packed and frozen overnight; this shortcoming total sense though: the rubber-paddle just thwaps against hard, packed snow and ice at the end of the driveway and that just isn’t a very effective way of breaking it up. If only there was some way to slice, chop and break up the hard, packed snow - like perhaps, with some kind of steel auger like you might find on the beefier 1-stage unit…
Auger Swap!
It was really killing me how similar the SNT210# and SNT211# snowblowers were — it’s pretty much just the rubber-paddles vs steel-auger that was the difference.
Surely, I could just order the auger as a spare part and swap it out? I stumbled upon a support post from EGO indicating that this was not compatible, it wasn’t supported and that you’d totally jeopardize your warranty if you did this.
There’s a bit of ‘proceed at your own risk’ here but I was okay with that: at worst, I’m out a little bit of money and I learn a bit about how the snowblower is put together.
To get access to the rubber-paddle, you have to remove the side panel and remove the belt - thankfully EGO has a super informative video walking you through the process.
The belt-change video was super helpful in getting me a risk-free look at the insides- it seemed pretty straightforward so the first step is to (carefully!) take everything apart:
With the rubber-paddle removed, we can work on getting the steel auger installed. This is mostly just the reverse of the previous step (and making sure to add some threadlocker to the axle bolt!)
Ready for winter
After getting everything installed and closed up, I installed some batteries and gave it a quick test spin to make sure that everything moves smoothly as expected. At the time of writing, I haven’t had a chance to use this yet but I’m hopeful that this will make the snow at the end of the driveway a lot easier this year (ideally without negatively affecting the performance over the lighter, unpacked portions of the driveway).
Long term, I’d love to get the EGO 2-stage snowblower but first I need to sell my existing Toro gas-powered 2-stage before I can consider it.
To complete this swap, you’ll need:
T20 Torx
5mm hex
Needle nose pliers
Optional: threadlocker (I happened to use blue)
Optional: a scrap of wood (to keep the auger from rotating as you remove the bolt)
Update: so, how did it work out?
At this time, I’ve only used the snowblower a handful of times and although we haven’t had a particularly bad snow storm, my initial impression is that the modded snowblower works as well I could hope!
The serrated auger cuts through denser snow rather than trying to bash it (which was what I set out to address)
The snowblower is still able to clear the driveway right down to the surface
I think there’s only a small hit to battery life. At this time, it’s not substantial enough for me to really notice
I’ll keep an eye on this over the years but this appears to be a success!
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