Snowblowers and broken pins

It happens to me all the time. The snow around the house is too heavy or too thick to clear by hand with my shovel and I need the snow blower. 

As I run it against the edges of the driveway, I try to be “cute” and eventually get too close to the edges where I’ve placed some rocks, the machine’s auger seemed to feel them and get into them as if attracted by their shape and BAM! I hit one of them and broke the auger’s safety pin. 

It’s another cold morning and everything is snowy everywhere. I get down into my shop and find another replacement bolt and nut, and when I return to the blower, once again, I realize that the replacement pins bought through Amazon seem just a tiny tad too short to engage into the bolt. 

I struggle for an hour trying to tighten the whole assembly up to no avail, yet they worked last winter, the couple of times, even when I broke them then, but now I don’t understand. Evelyne, witnessing the commotion, does her best in trying to help me, but the two parts still won’t engage. So, that’s when I need to get creative. 

First, I decide to flat-file the face of the bolt A coming against the auger C, so I reduce the conical entry. I try it on the machine, the screw D that seem to stick 1 mm out of the auger still wont take, so I return to my workshop and file-flat the best I can the interior facing B of the bolt. 

When I return, I’ve removed enough steel that it finally begins grabbing into the bolt and I now can tighten the whole thing. Now, I just need to find longer bolts!