Your Cub Cadet Snowblower Is Leaving Behind Snow: SOLVED!

I love being able to use my snowblower after a big snowfall. It’s just fun to watch a small machine work so efficiently to clear the snow from my driveway.

Keeping the auger and housing parts in good condition helps ensure the snow is collected in the auger and pushed through the chute so snow isn’t being left behind.

A Cub Cadet snowblower leaves behind snow when the scraper bar or scraper paddles are worn or damaged; the skid shoes are worn or uneven; the auger blades are damaged; a wheel is damaged, or the tire pressure is low.

Keep reading for information on why your Cub Cadet snowblower isn’t clearing a clean path.

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Follow all safety instructions provided in your equipment operator’s manual before diagnosing, repairing, or operating. Consult a professional if you don’t have the skills, or knowledge or are not in the condition to perform the repair safely.

Reasons Your Cub Cadet Snowblower Leaves Behind Snow

Cub Cadet includes single-stage, two-stage, and three-stage snowblowers in their lineup of snowblowers.

There are some differences in the components of each type that can wear or become damaged so it doesn’t clear out all of the snow in its path.

Single-Stage Snowblower

Worn Scraper Bar or Cutting Edge

There is a bar located on the bottom of your Cub Cadet single-stage snowblower that is made of hardened plastic or rubber material. Some people call it a scraper bar while others refer to it as a cutting edge or shave plate.

This plate is mounted to the bottom of the auger housing to help scrape snow and ice into the auger.

Because this bar is meant to ride along the pavement, it wears down and gets gouged with use. This can leave strips of snow behind.

When this happens, take a look at your scraper bar and adjust it if allowable. If you find your scraper bar is very worn or has gouges in it, replace it with a new one.

Worn Scraper Paddles

You will find scraper paddles in your auger housing that are used to scoop snow and feed it to the chute. These paddles wear as they scrape along the ground.

As they wear, they won’t be able to gather as much snow into the chute causing some of the snow to fall back to the ground. This will result in your Cub Cadet snowblower not giving you a nice clean pathway.

Replace the paddles when they become worn. Many paddles have hole indicators. The are holes to indicate when it’s time to buy and install new paddles.

Don’t allow the paddles to wear so far that it reaches the metal and damage the snowblower.

Two-Stage or Three-Stage Snowblower

Worn Cutting Edge

The cutting-edge scrapes snow and ice into the auger on your Cub Cadet snowblower. On a two-stage and three-stage snowblower, the cutting edge is set so it doesn’t scrape the driveway.

It sits slightly above the ground. Even though it doesn’t have constant direct contact with the ground, it will still wear, get damaged, and have to be replaced.

You will want to make sure your skid shoes are set at the right height so the cutting edge doesn’t wear out so fast and the cutting edge doesn’t touch the ground.

Uneven or Worn Skid Shoes

The skid shoes are made from a metal or poly material used to create a space between the ground and your snowblower and cutting edge to prevent damage to the ground surface and to keep debris, like gravel from a gravel driveway, from entering the auger and blower chute.

You will find a skid shoe on the right and left-hand sides of your snowblower mounted to the bottom of the auger housing. These are items that will wear as they run along the ground.

Worn skid shoes or skid shoes that are not properly adjusted can cause your Cub Cadet snowblower to leave more snow behind than you want it to.

On a flat surface, check that each skid shoe is installed correctly so the cutting edge sits the same distance off the ground on both the right and left-hand sides.

I recommend adjusting the skid shoes so the cutting edge is 1/8″ off the ground for a level concrete or asphalt surface, 1/4″ for uneven surfaces, and 1/2″ for gravel surfaces. Adjust as necessary for the area you are using your snowblower.

With these adjustments, you are preventing the cutting edge from scraping up stones and sticks to be fed through the chute.

Replace your skid shoes when they are worn and definitely before you damage the auger housing.

Damaged Auger Blades

Auger blades on a two-stage Cub Cadet snowblower are made of steel to move through icy and heavy snow. The blades can become damaged due to impact with hard objects like rocks and must be replaced.

Damaged Wheel or Low Tire Pressure

When a wheel is damaged or has low tire pressure, it can cause the snowblower to not sit squarely along the pavement. This can cause an uneven clearing height leaving the snow behind.

Replace damaged wheels. Check tire pressure to bring pressures to those indicated on your tire or shown in your operator’s manual. Make sure tire pressures are the same for both tires.

Keep Up with Your Snow Blowing!

It may sound enticing to just wait until all of the snow has fallen so you only have to go out once to snow blow your driveway. It sounds like less work, but when you get a lot of accumulated snow, you will most likely be wrong.

Depending on the size of your Cub Cadet snowblower, it may not be able to handle a large amount of snow. Cub Cadet snowblowers work well up to a certain amount of snow according to the type of snowblower you own.

• Single-stage Cub Cadet snowblower: Clears up to 6″ of snow.
• 2-stage Cub Cadet snowblower: Clears up to 12″ of snow.
• 3-stage Cub Cadet snowblower: Clears up to 23″ of snow.

A few tips for using your Cub Cadet snowblower:

• Don’t wait until the snow is done falling if you are expected to get more snow than the snowblower can handle.
• Don’t wait until the snow is warm. Blowing snow after it has warmed up will make it heavier to blow. Your snowblower won’t perform as well. If you wait for it to warm and then freeze, you will have a harder time breaking up ice chunks for a clean path.
• Replace worn parts before each use. (Better yet, after each use as well so you can get replacement parts before the next snowfall). Inspect your auger paddles, auger blades, cutting edge, and snow shoes for wearing and damage.
• Avoid overloading the snowblower. Don’t operate at a speed that is too fast and will overload the blower with snow.