Forums Archive Index > Outdoor Power Equipment > The first Snowfall Adventure
Date: 11 Dec 2005 9:22 pm
Continuing my on going snow blower saga, finally the first snowfall. My machine was not fully prepped, needed 2 new skid plates, and possible carb work. The new snow blower cover arrived the night before the snowstorm, but having the flu, did not put it over the machine thus it got snowed over. Saturday morning I get up, driveway filled with snow. The first thing I had to do was to remove 2 big trees that fell across the drive way so a good part of the morning was chain sawing the trees and removing them. After that, party time. Time to flash up my new used Craftsman 10/28 Track blower. I used the electric start and she cranked up just fine. The driveway is long, and a lot of tree bits, gravel etc. was under the snow. The blower threw the snow nicely to the side along with any debris it encountered. A lot of gravel due to not setting the skids properly, it was scraping right to the bare driveway. Reaching the EOD the plow did the usual, the snow bank hard packed with all debris a non paved road has to offer. I started to attack it, and then the blower died. Checked the gas, empty. Went back to the house, brought the gas and poured it into the tank. The gas looked dark, and I soon guessed it was the chainsaw mixed gas. Well, back to the house, got the right gas, dumped the mixed gas and refilled the tank. The plow compressed the snow into an "ice" like bank and my blower made slow progress removing the bank. Suddenly the blower started vibrating and an oily like substance dripped from the engine housing. Then a big cloud of smoke, engine stalled, machine knocked out. Restarted it and auger seized. Because of the oily substance I thought the transmission was blown or the block cracked. Neither, just the v belts melting down due to the impeller seizing. Re started the machine and finished the driveway. I installed the new skid plates. I noticed at full power, after about 30 minutes of hard use the engine kept stalling. Figured it could by 1. carb float setting? Or 2. Engine loosing compression after hard use. I am very surprised I didn't break any shear bolts as the machine threw small rocks, wood, and gravel and tree debris along the way. Nonetheless, the 10 hp L head surprised me power wise as I put a kicking to it. When I rebuild the machine this spring, going to get 13 hp OHV Snowking, and see if I can gear the speed of the machine down a bit as all I used was 1st gear (a bit too fast) and 6th to transport. The blower moved a lot of snow, and did a good job for what it is. I didn't expect to take that kind of abuse but it did and still works. It being steerable wasn't as great a feature. I found out I like to man handle the machine more than I thought. Going to get my old 10/32 unit working just to see how a wheeled unit works. I enjoyed the day allot, being outside, sawing trees, snow blowing. Later that night re sharpened and cleaned the chainsaw. Was thinking of this forum as I snowblowed the drive way, and enjoy the forum. Thank you.
Date: 12 Dec 2005 6:19 pm
Sounds like a lot of fun Drums. It seems a little funny that first gear is too fast. First is usually almost useless it is so slow. You might want to make sure everything is adjust correctly. The only thing that has caused my stuff to shut down or run bad hot (besides no oil or antifreeze or just overheating) is a bad coil that pitched a fit once it got hot.
Date: 12 Dec 2005 7:16 pm
My Craftsman 8/25 machine is really screwed up, the previous owner changed engines so reverse is forward and etc....LOL...For what reason I'm not sure and I haven't had a chance to look at it yet. :roll: 6 speeds of reverse and 2 forward speeds. I went in to the Sears parts place today and got some shear bolts "just in case" and the nice lady behind the counter gave me a bunch of pics of the running gear for my machine. :D seeing as how I don't have a manual. Turns out my old heap is a 1988 model. I'm going to try and look at it this week to figure out what in the hell he did to it.