County Sheriff in California Has An Auger Problem

We got a call from a customer in Northern California that had an auger with shear bolts that snapped and forced the discharge screw vertical and out of the trough. They tried to get another company to come out but they were 6 - 8 weeks out before they could even get their hands on it. They called us and we were able to get out there within 2 weeks! We arrived on site and found exactly what the customer described, broken shear bolts and a screw that decided to leave the trough.

The first step was to remove enough lead to get the screw to lay flat back into the trough and then bring the screw forward toward the motor to line up the two flanges properly for new shear bolts. After manipulating the screw and the material enough we were able to get that done. Then, once the screw was close enough together we used some grade 8 sacrificial screws to get all the material cleared. With the material cleared, we replaced the grade 8s with shear bolts and was able to operate the auger normally. It turns out that the shear bolts broke because the barrel got too full and backed up into the trough with material and forced the screw to bend enough to break. That explains the slight wobble in the screw during operation.

This wobble can start work hardening the coupler enough to break eventually. I mentioned this to the customer and he asked us to send him a quote for replacement... to be continued. But, for now the auger is collecting material until the new screw is installed.