Cut 24″ and Cut 30″ Series
New for 2018/2019 season!
- PThe C.U.T. 24 and 30 series are designed for Compact Utility Tractors that typically feature blowers between 250 and 950 lbs.
- Designed to protect the auger housings on these bigger heavier machines from curbs, cracks, and bumps. They are also designed to provide much better float over gravel, grass, and dirt surfaces.
- Their larger and longer footprint distributes the weight across a much larger area, reducing the tendency of these bigger machines to dig into gravel drives.
- These skids come either powdercoated or unpainted raw steel. Right now all my time is going into development of new skids, and I don’t have the time to get many of them Powder-coat.
CUT 24″ Series:
C.U.T. Series 24″ Long (4.5″ Slot Spacing) UN-Painted
C.U.T. Series 24″ Long (4.5″ Slot Spacing) Painted
C.U.T. Series 24″ Long (4.75″ Slot Spacing) UN-Painted
C.U.T. Series 24″ Long (4.75″ Slot Spacing) Painted
Meteor 24″ 6-inch slot spacing Un-Painted
Bercomac 24″ w/3.5/7 inch slot spacing Un-Painted
Bercomac 24″ w 3.5/7 inch slot spacing Painted
24 inches long, and 2.5 inches wide, 1/2 inch thick steel. Ship wt ~26 lbs/set of 2. Fully welded tip-to-tip. Designed for blowers mounted on hydraulically-driven Compact Utility Tractors, 3-pt mounted blowers, and bobcats from 48+ inches wide. These skids have two different tips, one for maximum float over gravel and a narrower tip for maximum penetration. Best choice for machines weighing up to about 450 pounds. Use narrow tip forward if using primarily on hard surfaces. Use wide tip forward if using on gravel/grass/dirt. They are shipping out raw unpainted steel, or painted. I don’t have time to do the powder-coating on them during development. For people wanting to order a set, I’m asking that they send me photos of their whole machine, and also some closer pictures of the side of the auger housing,so I can see what might be in the way. When you get them mounted, please email me pictures and let me know what modifications you needed to make(if any) to get them mounted. Please do NOT order if you’re not o.k. with sending me photos before and after mounting. I’ve got a lot of bolt patterns in development, email me if you need a bolt pattern not shown below. My email is: bob@snowblowerskids.com
CUT 30″ Series:
C.U.T. Series 30″ Long (4.5″ Slot Spacing) UN-Painted
C.U.T. Series 30″ Long (4.5″ Slot Spacing) Painted
C.U.T. Series 30″ Long (4.75″ Slot Spacing) UN-Painted
C.U.T. Series 30″ Long (4.75″ Slot Spacing) Painted
30 inches long, and 4 inches wide, 1/2 inch thick steel. This skid is twice the shipping weight of the CUT24, at ~56 lbs/set of 2. Fully welded tip-to-tip. Designed for blowers mounted on hydraulically-driven Compact Utility Tractors, 3-pt mounted blowers, and bobcats from 48+ inches wide. Best choice for machines weighing between 400 to 900+ pounds. They are shipping out raw unpainted steel, or painted. I don’t have time to do the powder-coating on them during development. For people wanting to order a set, I’m asking that they send me photos of their whole machine, and also some closer pictures of the side of the auger housing, so I can see what might be in the way. When you get them mounted, please email me pictures and let me know what modifications you needed to make (if any) to get them mounted. Please do NOT order if you’re not ok with sending me photos before and after mounting. I’ve got a lot of bolt patterns in development, email me if you need a bolt pattern not shown below. My email is: bob@snowblowerskids.com
CUT 24″ Series:
C.U.T. Series 24″ Long (4.5″ Slot Spacing) UN-Painted
C.U.T. Series 24″ Long (4.5″ Slot Spacing) Painted
C.U.T. Series 24″ Long (4.75″ Slot Spacing) UN-Painted
C.U.T. Series 24″ Long (4.75″ Slot Spacing) Painted
24 inches long, and 2.5 inches wide, 1/2 inch thick steel. Ship wt ~26 lbs/set of 2. Fully welded tip-to-tip. Designed for blowers mounted on hydraulically-driven Compact Utility Tractors, 3-pt mounted blowers, and bobcats from 48+ inches wide. These skids have two different tips, one for maximum float over gravel and a narrower tip for maximum penetration. Best choice for machines weighing up to about 450 pounds. Use narrow tip forward if using primarily on hard surfaces. Use wide tip forward if using on gravel/grass/dirt. They are shipping out raw unpainted steel, or painted. I don’t have time to do the powder-coating on them during development. For people wanting to order a set, I’m asking that they send me photos of their whole machine, and also some closer pictures of the side of the auger housing,so I can see what might be in the way. When you get them mounted, please email me pictures and let me know what modifications you needed to make(if any) to get them mounted. Please do NOT order if you’re not o.k. with sending me photos before and after mounting. I’ve got a lot of bolt patterns in development, email me if you need a bolt pattern not shown below. My email is: bob@snowblowerskids.com
CUT 30″ Series:
C.U.T. Series 30″ Long (4.5″ Slot Spacing) UN-Painted
C.U.T. Series 30″ Long (4.5″ Slot Spacing) Painted
C.U.T. Series 30″ Long (4.75″ Slot Spacing) UN-Painted
C.U.T. Series 30″ Long (4.75″ Slot Spacing) Painted
30 inches long, and 4 inches wide, 1/2 inch thick steel. This skid is twice the shipping weight of the CUT24, at ~56 lbs/set of 2. Fully welded tip-to-tip. Designed for blowers mounted on hydraulically-driven Compact Utility Tractors, 3-pt mounted blowers, and bobcats from 48+ inches wide. Best choice for machines weighing between 400 to 900+ pounds. They are shipping out raw unpainted steel, or painted. I don’t have time to do the powder-coating on them during development. For people wanting to order a set, I’m asking that they send me photos of their whole machine, and also some closer pictures of the side of the auger housing, so I can see what might be in the way. When you get them mounted, please email me pictures and let me know what modifications you needed to make (if any) to get them mounted. Please do NOT order if you’re not ok with sending me photos before and after mounting. I’ve got a lot of bolt patterns in development, email me if you need a bolt pattern not shown below. My email is: bob@snowblowerskids.com
TESTIMONIAL:
Hi Bob,
Just finished snow blowing for the first time this season. The Armor Skids are wonderful. I can’t believe how great the snow blower floats and glides over the gravel road, no more digging in the ground. The blower doesn’t require as much force to move now and there is more horsepower available to spin the impeller, therefore snow removal is much easier and the unit throws the snow further. I’ve have three photos attached to show how I mounted the shoes. No problem at all attaching them. I have attached so the shoes are completely reversible with no problem. I attached using the 2 1/8″ Kubota Model #B2782 (63″) unit spacing with the 3/8″ bolts, then added a third 3/8″ bolt and a 1/2″ bolt. Skids are fully adjustable and do not move. I bang the blower around a lot and the skids hold firm. The storm I used them on was a 12″ wet cement snow—-no problems. Ground was still not frozen in some areas but the shoes still floated without digging. Sorry it took so long to get back to you, But this is the first time I used the blower this season.
Steve Tucker
Use the buttons below if you want to read about specific challenges to your brand. These are by no means exhaustive, but will give you an idea of some of the problems and solutions we were able to come up with for you.
Above is the C.U.T. 30 Skid on a WoodMax 72SS blower, mounted on a Deere skid steer.
Deere 48” Blower
Deere Blowers are easy, they typically have straight housings, no flares, and with no issues related to bolts, etc. On this Deere 48” the bolt spacing was easy to figure out. Thanks Roger!
Notice how the skid is able to mount with the nose slightly ahead of the blower. This skid also provides coverage for the back edge of the blower housing.
Deere 54″
Deere 54” Blower
Deere Blowers are easy, they typically have straight housings, no flares, and with no issues related to bolts, etc. On this Deere 54” the bolt spacing was easy to figure out. The deere 54″ blower has 4 1/2″ bolt spacing. Thanks Roger!
Notice how the skid is able to mount with the nose slightly ahead of the blower. This skid also provides coverage for the back edge of the blower housing.
Deere 59″
Deere 59” Blower
Deere Blowers are easy, they typically have straight housings, no flares, and with no issues related to bolts, etc. On this Deere 59” the bolt spacing was easy to figure out, The deere 59″ blower has 4 3/4″ bolt spacing. This skid has equaly spaced slots every 2 3/8 inches. Thanks for the pictures Adam!
Notice how the skid is able to mount with the nose slightly ahead of the blower. This skid also provides coverage for the back edge of the blower housing.
Kubota blowers have some unique features to be addressed:
1) Significant large flares are common on Kubota blowers. Skid needs to protect leading edge of machine that is not in line with mounting point. Flare is big, cannot be reasonably addressed with spacers of any kind. My unique vertical rib design allows the skid to slip under the flared housing right at the crease of the flare. This location of the skid protects the leading edge, and allows for the skid to be positioned correctly on the machine.
2) Only existing bolt location is significantly back from the leading edge. I’ve put additional slots in to allow for additional bolts to be added, if desired.
3) Kubota’s have two common bolt patterns, narrow: 2 1/8” and wide 6 1/4“.
Kubota Machines:
- Longer skid centered better to handle weight of machine.
- Slots are spaced to handle both the narrow and wide Kubota bolt patterns common to their machines.
- Click here to order:
These machines have a few unique features to address:
- They have a lip at the bottom from the stock skid. This skid comes with spacers that will compensate for it. A 1/4” spacer and a 1/8” spacer together will handle this issue.
- A bolt that would be in the way of the skid. This bolt needs to be cut off flush with the nut. Once it’s cut off flush, the skid will mount properly.
- This skid is designed extra tall to be able to use existing bolt hole locations. However it is my strong recommendation to drill at least one more hole further down to handle the leverage present on this skid. The spacers are designed with a second horizontal slot just for this to be done.
- The Meteor skid has an off-set slot pattern, to center the skid on the existing skid. This allows the skid to be mounted either flange-out or flange-in if desired. Note that flange-in will require you to have the skid further extended to sit under the existing skid.
- Important: The lower bolt that mounts the auger might need to be modified. The extra threads need to be cut off and ground flush with the nut. This allows the skid to mount over the nut if needed.
- Bolt pattern is: 6 inches Note: offset pattern to correctly position skid.
- To order a set of skids for your Meteor please click above.
Note picture below shows skid fully extended, which gives just a bit under 1.5” of lift off the ground.
Your order includes 2 skids with 6″ slot spacing specifically for Meteor, plus 4 spacers, all un-painted.
Engineering the Meteor Skid:
- Meteor blowers have some features that keep a standard skid from mounting easily:
- The existing skid is welded on and can’t be removed. It also sticks out from the side of the auger housing significantly.
- There are bolt holes to mount a replacement skid but they aren’t located optimally. Bolts that mount the auger itself may cause issues.
Working with Meteor owners, I got a pile of dimensions and measurements of various points. During this process several significant problems arose:
- Existing skid has virtually no ability to handle bumps and cracks. It’s got almost no tip to the skid.
- Replacement skid can’t mount up easily due to the existing skid which sticks out from the auger housing at the bottom.
- Existing bolt holes are up high on the housing. Mounting a skid will have to be taller to have adjustability.
- Bolt holes aren’t placed in the best spot.
- Skid needed to be able to be reversed if possible.
Step 1: Identification of mounting bolt pattern. Mounting bolt holes were spaced 6” apart, located higher up on the machine. Ideally I’d want them lower down, but they are workable. During this step two challenges were identified:
Challenge 1: The welded on stock skid protrudes from side of machine and can’t be removed.
Challenge 2: The leading tip of the welded-on skid (left side of photo) is totally flat. Direction of travel during snow-blowing is from right to left, in photo. It has zero ability to handle ANY crack. Trailing tip of skid has a very slight rise.
Challenge 3: Mounting bolt locations are high up, and near the lower auger shaft bolt. This significance was initially under-estimated, figuring a simple notch would fit around this bolt. That solution was not to be, but didn’t become evident until the solution to challenge 4 (not yet identified) was solved.
Engineering the Meteor Skid Step 2: (continued)
- Step 2: Position bottom skid: forward/aft.
Comparing the stock welded-on skid to the CUT 24 dimensions showed that the cut 24 would be a really good size. The CUT 24 is both longer and wider than the stock skid.
Much of the stock skid is on the inside of the machine. Owners may be interested in mounting Armorskids with the flange inward.
Note that if the skid is mounted inward, it will by default be lower than the stock skid, and proper fitment around the scraper bar and the actual tines of the auger will need to be to be checked.
Challenge 4: The Armorskid when mounted will not be centered on the bolt holes.
Engineering the Meteor Skid Step 3 (continued) –
CAD Drawings/Template Mockup:
With solutions identified, I made the first draft of the CAD drawings. I started by doing a rough drawing of the auger housing itself, and then drew the skid on top of it.
I decided to create a template mock-up to test fit, using 16 gauge steel.
The rough template needed to confirm several things:
- Test bolt pattern both sides properly positions skid forward/aft. If turned inward, curves of tip would not hit stock skid ends on either side.
- Skid with spacers would be able to be mounted firmly to auger housing without the stock skid forcing it at an angle, etc.
- No issues with auger shaft bolt at top, since I didn’t use a notch.
Template Mock-up Results:
- Bolt pattern was spot-on. Cutouts I put in the template showed the ends of the welded-on skid. Front and back fit exactly as anticipated. This should allow the skid to be reversed with outer flange sitting underneath the stock welded-on skid.
2. 1/4 spacer fills gap well. Skid should be able to be bolted on firmly without issue (left).
3. No issue with auger bolt just above the skid, however the skid is not quite level with original welded-on skid at full drop. because the bolt holes aren’t the same height off the ground. When the template is straightened out in line with the existing welded-on skid, it gets much closer to the auger bolt. (below). Also note that it’s not complely in line with the the 2nd slot.
Engineering the Meteor:
Solving the Challenges:
Quick Summary:
Challenge 1: : The welded on stock skid protrudes from side of machine and can’t be removed.
Solution: Spacers can be used to move the mounting plane outward. Measurements show a ¼” spacer will be enough. Spacer needs to be wide to give a large surface area.
Challenge 2: The leading tip of the welded-on skid (left side of photo) is totally flat.
Solution: The Armorskid in the right position would provide a good tip to handle bumps both forward and reverse.
Challenge 3: The Armorskid when mounted will not be centered on the bolt holes.
Solution: Create slots that are off-center in both directions. Regardless of which tip is forward, there are slots that positively locate the skid.
Challenge 4: To solve challenge 2, I planned on using two sets of vertical slots. They’d be spaced far enough apart to allow enough steel for a strong mount point. The second set of slots hit almost right in line with the lower bolt of the auger shaft. This meant that there could not be a notch to clear that bolt. There would be little ability to lower the skid to get additional height due to this interference.
I tried to raise the height of the rib a little and extended the slot to give more vertical adjustment, right up to that bolt, but it just wouldn’t give enough adjustment. I really wanted this skid to be able to be mounted flush with the original skid (flange out) if desired, or extended to give a bit more height than stock if desired. To raise the rib further, I needed to somehow remove the auger bolt, or space the skid out to clear the bolt.
- Use two spacers: First two spacers were tried. It moved the skid out a full ½” and it still wasn’t enough to clear the bolt. However what was needed in that spot was the nut, the end of the bolt beyond the nut was useless, and wasn’t needed. By cutting the bolt off flush with the nut, we could go over the bolt with just an 1/8” thicker spacer.
This did the trick. Using both the 1/4 and 1/8 “ spacers together with the cut and ground-smooth bolt, the taller skid now could go over the bolt, and provides about 1 inch of total additional drop vs the stock welded on skid. Pictures below.
Meteor – Final note: This skid has bolts very high up, which gets a lot of leverage as a result. I highly recommend drilling a hole and putting in a third bolt in further down. The spacers have two horizontal slots to allow a bolt further down, just for this purpose. Do this after using the skids, to make sure it’s positioned where you want it.
This lawn-tractor mounted Toro is amazing. Seems to be as large as the tractor itself. A customer was struggling with sinking into gravel, needed serious flotation.
This blower has a massive flare. We needed to come up with a solution that would work with this flare, protect it, and provide float for the entire blower.
The final skid is designed to slip under the flare, providing protection and flotation to the blower.
These are some pictures of the development of the skid, and cutting out the final version.
Woodmax 60: 3pt hitch
The Woodmax is a really big heavy machine with a significant amount of weight behind the auger housing.
I designed the CUT 30 skid for this type of application.
- Blower used on soft ground just digs in, needs significant skid surface to float.
- Flare at front required vertical rib design to slip under flare.
- Skid extends behind housing to better support weight of full machine.
- Note on this application we added bolt holes. Due to weight of machine, once positioned and tested out, we wanted ability to put a non-slotted bolt in, which would require drilling in housing. It’s important not to drill the hole until skids are used, and final positioning is chosen.
