Agiatator Shaft Replacment

I would go with a thicker walled pipe with the same outside dimensions. You should be able to find a thick walled 5" pipe at plumbing supplier that handles drilled wells.

You may also want to sharpen the leading edges of the 'fingers' so it will cut through any ice.

Good suggestion - well casing is typically thicker walled than pipe - although 5" is not a standard size in my recollection. You may end up with 4" or 6" instead, but the other ideas (breaker bars, etc.) should help if that's not acceptable.

I am guessing that the auger is buried, Is there any way to free the auger up prior to shutting off.

Or if its cleaned out, some equipment lift the auger from one end only by about 1" or so.

It's quite common up here in Canada, where we deal with a lot of frozen stuff, to install what's called breaker bars. These are steel bars spanning your infeed hopper perpendicular to the main shaft and above or between the agitator fingers. When the frozen load is dumped into the feeder, the impact is absorbed by the bars not the agitator shaft. The frozen infeed should break around the bars and then get chewed up by the fingers. This method is also used in the Pulp & Paper industry when incorporating large pulp bales into their process. Another solution is an intermediate bearing to eliminate shaft deflection, but try the breaker bars first.

Very good suggestion. Thanks for the help.

Cryogenic treating of the shaft and blades will strengthen them, more resistant to abrasive wear, IF the material is a good steel of .4% carbon or above, i.e. a D-2 or A-2 steel or 400 series stainless. Dave@300below.com

Cryogenic treating of the shaft and blades will strengthen them, more resistant to abrasive wear,

When changing the characteristic of the metal there is compromise.

It may make it harder and more abrasion resistance, but it would also change the fracturability of the metal. (increasing it)