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How low you can lower the scoop depends on how smooth your pavement is. If your pavement is smooth, you should be able to see asphalt through whatever snow remains, which should be minimal.

Hup

The shoes on the side are adjustable. Sometimes easily, sometimes not. They are there to wear out and be replaceable, protecting the the bottom of the blower. If you have a flat cement or blacktop surface, you should be able to adjust them so you are about 1/8" off the surface (most folks use 1/4"). You'll likely wear the shoes down to maybe 1/16" gap before readjustment. Any smaller gap and you could start to wear away your blower housing. If you have rock or gravel, you need to be at 1" to keep from picking up and throwing rocks everywhere (which can hit things but also break a shear pin on the auger blades). Sometimes the blower is not dropped down all the way. Usually the knob or mechanism used to adjust to mower deck is the same as the one you use to adjust to blower drop. Make sure you are down on the ground.

I keep mine adjusted to a low setting so that there's about 1/2" left of snow when I'm done.

The strategy up here in Canada, is not to clear the snow down to the asphalt but rather to to lave a small coat of snow. Too little snow can be dangerous because of black ice, and too much is dangerous because the cars have swerve too easily. That said, the weather here sometimes spends months below freezing, so that probably affects our strategy.

I prefer fine gravel (1/4") to salt (again because of the cold weather) to ensure proper grip on drive ways and pathways.

In your case, I'd lower the guides down to lowest settings (it would probably leave you with 1/4" of an inch left). On mine, I basically loosen the bolts and then push up the shoes and then tighten the bolts.

But, If you want to clear all snow down to the pavement, you need a plow a snowblower will always leave a little bit.

nworbekim wrote:Thank you... I assume the deck is down since the "shoes" leave marks on the pavement. The pavement is newish, 3 to 4 years old and smooth. However, gravels do appear from time to time. My mower will flip gravel from the shoulders up on it, or delivery trucks might track them in from the main road.

I see there are bolts on the shoes that are probably used to adjust the height. I'm going to see if there's a manual on line. My dealer is usually great, but he failed to get me a copy. I have a plastic bag full of stuff but no operating manual. I've had it all under cover in the garage for 2 years until Saturday.

You can probably get a copy of the manual online--just google the make and model.Also, make sure you have spare shear pins in case you hit anything like a newspaper, small limb, etc. It is designed to protect the motor. If you have warning, police the area before it snows and remove debris. A delivered newspaper will jam up your rotor like no one's business!