What is a scraper bar you ask?
It is a plastic strip that allows our snow blower to slide along the ground. It is meant to be replaceable but the part is $15.00 and isn’t available locally.
Our scraper bar had worn over time and broke in half. The remaining half still provided enough support to keep the snow blower operational, however, the snow sprayed backwards through the gap left by the missing half. We used it in this condition for a year or so, until the remaining half broke. This left the snow blower in an unusable condition. It left a metal surface which immediately dug into the concrete making it impossible to push.
The scraper bar is a wedged shaped piece of plastic. In the beginning I thought this was critical, because the wedge acted like the front of a snow shovel, lifting the snow into the blowers paddles. Turns out, it really isn’t necessary. The rubber paddles on our snow blower actually contact the ground making the wedge inconsequential.
So, how did we fix it? 1/2 inch pvc.
The concept is simple, make a slit the length of the pvc and slide onto the bottom edge of the snow blower. My first attempt ended in my hands being cut in multiple places and a cut too small to put the pvc onto the snow blower 🙂 . Ends up that pvc actually wants to pinch in on itself. The housing of the snow blower also makes the bottom edge considerably thicker for about an inch on both ends. The center has a ridge on the bottom side which holds the pvc in place once it is slipped on.
I had access to a router table with a straight cutting bit. This proved to be the perfect tool for the job. If you want a perfectly straight cut, I would recommend making a jig to hold the pvc. I did not make a jig and just held it as straight as I could. It ended up in a fairly wobbly slot. However, it ended up fairly straight after running it through for a second pass.
Last job was to clip it onto the bottom edge of the snow blower. Even with the fairly large slot, I still had to pry the ends open with a screw driver to allow the pvc to slide onto the housing. A reasonable fix for no cost assuming you have pvc laying around. If not, it can still be fixed for less than a dollar.
How long did PVC pipe last after you used blower?
I used an oscillating tool for the cut. Clamped pipe to work bench. Pipe does pinch back but was able to complete cut. Made one end a little wider so I could start pipe.