yeh sometimes you don't get a second chance . Then again the brass gear most likely has been stressed prior on numerous other occassions before this last hit lol . These machines suffer through quite a bit of stress loads during their life cycle .

Maybe we should be using plastic shear pins on the auger. Just a thought.

more food for thought; maybe do an FOD inspection of the paths to be snowblown in question before it snows??

unobserved objects always find a way of causing this type of damage . I still recall back when I plowed commercially and asked quite clearly to a customer who wished their snow pushed into their back lot . Do you have any hidden obstacles or obstructions within the yard to be aware of . Seems that a 1 ft cement pier did not merit their consideration . Rather hard to detect under 2-1/2 feet of fresh snow . Fortunately I always plowed slow with the trip springs set light lol .