Arnold Universal Roller Skid Snow Thrower Shoes

Received the product ahead of schedule - pleasant surprise! I have a 24" Craftsman two stage snow blower/thrower (model: 247.88957)The rolling skid shoes ("Skid") is made of hard composite plastic, a great concept yet I see three (3) issues (use them with care so to last longer). In my opinion here are the issues:1. the Skid mounting slots are wider (so to fit more models from 2-3/4" to 3" on centers) than the OEM/standard skid mounting nuts, therefore, the Skids comes with 4 fairly thick/ok stiffness washers, make sure to use them (or if you have an even thicker/stiffest washers, use them) and tighten the nuts just enough without warping the washers which will loose the ability to hold the Skids in place...2. Before securing the Skids in place, make sure the bottom surface is parallel to the ground so the Skid wheels are the only point firmly on the ground. Check the Skids and adjust as needed after each use IF you happened to bump/run over cracked/uneven sections of sidewalk as that may bump the Skid out of adjustment...3. I think this is where most of the damage will occur to the Skid wheels; as you use your snow blower, make sure to lift the Skids off the ground (press down on the your snowblower handles) before making any turns, otherwise, by sliding sideways on those Skid wheel will likely cause flat spots and lead the wheels to become inoperable/useless... Good luck!

I have a 1979 ariens and it didn't line up. I had to drill a new hole for it to work. But, they're cool!Edit: They are a cool thing for one storm, then they jam up for no reason, and the wheel wears flat in no time. Cool idea, trash follow thru.

Nice concept, the skids themselves will probably work OK. Prepping my snowblower for this season, I put on a pair of these roller-shoes to replace the OEM metal skids that were worn out. Required sourcing a longer bolt as these are thicker than the OEM ones.After doing that and installing them, I was driving the blower under power back into the garage. Now I wasn't wrenching the unit sideways but was going in a little bit of an arc when one wheel broke off, the bolt holding it snapping. I can see if you were sliding it side to side, but a little arc? Clearing snow will not be done in precise straight lines and the unit will be arc-ing a lot.Will probably take off the wheel that didn't break and use the somewhat small skids for a season or two just to get some value out of what I spent on them.

I thought I'd get a jump on my winter snow removal machine maintenance, and started tuning up the snow blower, even though it's only the middle of October. My snow blower is a 4 year old, Ariens Platinum 30, with the "auto turn" feature. I noticed that my original skid shoes were pretty well worn, and I had heard that these roller shoes allowed the "auto turn" to work better, so I thought I'd give them a try. I ordered them through Amazon, and they arrived promptly.In theory, I agree that these roller shoes should work better than the original parts, but that's only if they're made properly. One of the roller shoes seemed to be OK, and coincidentally, that was the one that I took out of the box first, and installed on my machine. I then took the second shoe out of the box, and found that there was an excessive amount of "slop", up and down, between the roller itself, and the axle it rotates on. There was no way that this would allow me to accurately adjust the "riding height" of the snow blower.Secondly, there are 4 large flat washers included. They probably should be used to more evenly distribute the clamping force of the bolts used to secure the shoes to the frame of the blower. The mounting holes in these washers are too small, however, to allow the bolts to pass through them, therefore, they cannot be used.In short, I'm returning these parts.

The roller skid works well except when a foreign object wedges between the wheel and the housing jamming the wheel then grinding a flat spot rendering the device useless. The device worked great for the first snow fall and it was in good working order when I started clearing the second but sometime during the operation the wheel was jammed and there is no way you know it until you inspect when you are finished and then it is too late. The concept is good but the choice of material for the wheel is poor.

Gave 4 stars without using them yet. Look to be fairly well constructed for the price with the ability to disassemble them if needed.They are not a direct fit for my cub cadet 28” as you can see in the photo I included. Ended up mounting them to the factory blue shoe using carriage bolts in counter sunk holes to keep everything flush. I still have the ability to adjust the blue shoe or the wheeled shoe independently. Seems to roll and steer better on a dry run.

These skid shoes are shorter in length than my original factory installed skid shoes. This is disappointing !The item description is misleading because despite what the description states, they do not fit most MTD snow blowers because most MTD snow blowers have a 2 1/2 inch bolt slot and these skid shoes have a 2 3/4 bolt slot. You will need to modify the skid shoe bolt slot opening in order for these skid shoes to fit properly. Also when using the included washers with your existing mounting nuts and bolts the nut and washer does not have enough clearance next to the rollers and the rollers rub and drag against the mounting nut.

Have purchased these twice and both pairs have worn flat like shown in photo. Nice concept to allow heavy blower roll downhill without power on drive. I kept blower in reverse and engaged drive as needed to brake machine from getting away downhill. However, neither set lasted one season as they seem to freeze up in snow and ice and wear flat before you notice in a snowstorm. Manufacturer does not sell replacement wheels, even though they will unscrew from skid (See Photo) You have to purchase the whole new set of skids. I paid +$30 and I see now they are selling for $20. I suggest not to buy them until Arnold begins to offer replacement wheels for under $10/pair. You are better off buying regular skids because they will last more than one winter.

Bought these to install on my craftsman snowblower. Like a previous poster mentioned, the "universal" comment did not apply for my machine. I had to drill an extra hole in my snowblower frame and then attach the bolts. Not a great deal of work, but it definitely wasn't universal. The extra large flat washer is useful for holding the entire unit in place and once it was all tightened up nicely, the rollers work great! I have a very large cement driveway that has a slight slope down, and it takes approximately 50 minutes to clean. I've used my machine three times already, in snow as deep as 2" so far, and had no problems. These allow the machine to glide right along - much more efficient than the OEM skid plates. Very happy with these so far and would definitely purchase them again!

Purchased these for an old Eaton's company Viking snow blower that was given to me by my Dad a long time ago. The original skid shoes were worn out and I thought I would try these. They were easy to install and makes moving the blower around much easier and without marking up my new driveway. The real test will come when we actually get enough snow in order to use the blower with these new skid shoes. So far they look very promising and are also recommended by Amazon.

These were put on a Craftsman snowblower. Unfortunately the holes didn't quite line up with the old ones but were so close it wouldn't really work well to drill new holes on the snowblower. So instead I modified the holes on the snow shoes themselves. Although not a perfect solution it did work. It took a couple of tries to get the height set up but not a big deal. Once on the snowblower these are working great. The snowblower has never moved so easily. I am using them on an interlocking brick driveway. Recommend.

I have installed them with a modification to my 31" Craftsman Snow Blower. The hole alignment was too long so I used the leading hole and drilled a new one for the following hole. It works great. It seems to glide smoothly over bare payment without scratching the asphalt which was the reason that I purchased them. Problem solved thank you very much.

A great product for those of us getting up in years. Instead of fighting with skids trying to maneuver around. It could almost clear a driveway by holding the controls down and letting it roll down the driveway. Which makes it a problem when stopping, if on an incline turn your machine sideways so it won't roll out onto the street. Also recommend to go out and get stainless steel bolts for replacement.