Forums Archive Index > Outdoor Power Equipment > Ready for the snow!! Almost

Author: launboy

Date: 10 Dec 2006 10:28 pm

Ok, She starts on the second or third pull almost every time, and the auger and all of the speeds work great. Just one thing weird, the engine only runs when fully choked :( ... But it runs great :? By the way the engine sounds in any position on the throttle , you'd think it was a brand new engine.

So, Since the engine runs great at any speed on choke, and starts to sputter and surge kind of, then die on any other setting for the choke, my guess is that the engine is running lean. Does this sound correct? if so, how do I adjust this, and would shooting some carb cleaner into the carb help? :? If any adjusting of skrews is needed here (which I'm guessing it will) could someone give me a step by step guide on how to do it? It would be much appreciated.

But for now my plan is to go my favorite little ope shop and get some shear pins, and some Snapper 00 grease to lube up the gearcase in the front, then to shovel some snow into my driveway just to try her out and see how she blows! 8) :D :wink: :wink: :P

Author: Majorxlr8n
Subject: Re: Ready for the snow!! Almost

Date: 11 Dec 2006 1:17 am

launboy wrote:
Since the engine runs great at any speed on choke, and starts to sputter and surge kind of, then die on any other setting for the choke, my guess is that the engine is running lean. Does this sound correct?
YES! Your engine is running lean on fuel. IF you use it like this, it will NOT have any power & will stall immediately when you attempt to blow any snow.

launboy wrote:
if so, how do I adjust this, and would shooting some carb cleaner into the carb help? :? If any adjusting of skrews is needed here (which I'm guessing it will) could someone give me a step by step guide on how to do it?
I would open the high speed needle on the bottom of the carb bowl. Turn it 1/4 turn COUNTERCLOCKWISE, start the engine, turn the choke OFF & see if that helps. If not, try a 1/2 turn counterclockwise. If that doesn't work, remove the bowl nut/screw & clean out the small holes with a fine wire & carb cleaner.


Rough settings for the mixture screws:
High speed: 1.5 turns counterclockwise from a lightly seated position
Idle (Low) speed: 1 turn counterclockwise from a lightly seated position

Marty

Author: launboy

Date: 16 Dec 2006 1:39 pm

Yeah I know, me again right? :roll: :x
Ok, the other day I finally went out and bought a grease gun and some grease to grease up the snowthrower. put some grease in the auger gearcase, the bearings for the auger and one of the augers. This is the one that moves. The other is as solid as a rock and it doesn't move at all, seperately from the shaft. and I cant' put grease in it.
So does anyone know how to unstick the auger?? I tried tapping it with a hammer to no avail.

Got the engine all good and running today!!! :D :) 8) All I did was turn the skrew on the bottom of the bowl a quater of a turn got me to run at one less choke setting!!! Purrs like a LOUD kitten now!!

For my FINAL question (at least for now) Does anyone know what kind of shear pins the snapper uses? just bolts were in it before.

Any and all help would be appreciated!!

Thanks,
Adam

NOW JUST NEED MORE SNOW TO TEST HER OUT ON!!! :P :wink:

Author: Yukon

Date: 17 Dec 2006 2:06 am

launboy wrote:
Yeah I know, me again right? :roll: :x
Ok, the other day I finally went out and bought a grease gun and some grease to grease up the snowthrower. put some grease in the auger gearcase, the bearings for the auger and one of the augers. This is the one that moves. The other is as solid as a rock and it doesn't move at all, seperately from the shaft. and I cant' put grease in it.
So does anyone know how to unstick the auger?? I tried tapping it with a hammer to no avail.

Got the engine all good and running today!!! :D :) 8) All I did was turn the skrew on the bottom of the bowl a quater of a turn got me to run at one less choke setting!!! Purrs like a LOUD kitten now!!

For my FINAL question (at least for now) Does anyone know what kind of shear pins the snapper uses? just bolts were in it before.

Any and all help would be appreciated!!

Thanks,
Adam

NOW JUST NEED MORE SNOW TO TEST HER OUT ON!!! :P :wink:

Well, I just happened to free my auger (same problem). I used a small pry bar and put it in one of the auger blades support welds (Don't know if you can visualize what I'm discribing) with one good heave I managed to move it 1/4 inch. From there I just rocked it back and forth (the pry bar) and each time it got a little more until I could grunt it a full rev. From there I manhandled it some more until it would rotate (but it still resisted).

Seeing that my machine was half apart in my kitchen, I split the machine completely and put the auger case on its side (bad auger up top) then I squirted some engine oil at the top of the shaft and let gravity and turning it do the rest (little squirt, little turn, little squirt...etc). It took a little patience but she spins freely now. It's important that it is freed up, shear pin can't break and protect your machine if the auger won't spin freely or at least relatively well by hand.

As for the shear pins... I put grade 2 bolts with nylon lock nuts (they are the bolts with no ticks on the head) I may be wrong so don't take this particular advice on the shear pins to heart. Maybe someone knows a better grade, but I was told these grade 2's will be fine by Brafasco for the use I need them for. Maybe they are even a bit too weak a grade?

Author: launboy

Date: 17 Dec 2006 11:57 am

Ok, I can sort of picture it... this is sort of how it looks in my head...
One end of the pry bar in the weld like you said, and the other end in a different weld and then just push down on it?? but wouldn't this mess up the gearcase?? I may be totally wrong in picturing this, if I am can you please correct my, I wouldn't want anything to get screwed up.

Author: Yukon

Date: 17 Dec 2006 12:15 pm

launboy wrote:
Ok, I can sort of picture it... this is sort of how it looks in my head...
One end of the pry bar in the weld like you said, and the other end in a different weld and then just push down on it?? but wouldn't this mess up the gearcase?? I may be totally wrong in picturing this, if I am can you please correct my, I wouldn't want anything to get screwed up.

I guess if it is so seized that it won't break free before screwing the gearcase. Obviously a little bit of caution is advised. Mine broke free, just slow and steady. I only used one end at the tip of the auger in the support weld and slowly rocked it until it gave.

I could kinda tell how much I was stressing the unit by the way the auger flexxed. All I can say is it worked for me, but please proceed with caution. The only other thing I can suggest is to remove the whole auger assembly and put it on a workbench with a vise, some heat and elbow grease.

Author: launboy

Date: 17 Dec 2006 10:20 pm

I'll try to get it free with some pb blaster and a pry bar tomorow... :shock: hope it works because I REALLY, REALLY DON'T :groan: want to have to take off the auger and all of that... I will have to ask at the ope shop what they would do or suggest when I go to get some shear pins. Maybe they will have an idea. Cuz I'm running out of them.

Good thing I have the good people on here to help me out :wink:


Adam

Author: Yukon

Date: 17 Dec 2006 11:11 pm

Here are a couple shots of the two places I used to pry on. Number two I found to feel the strongest weld wise, number one seems to have more "umph" being a longer stroke (like a johnny bar).



My auger is on it's side but this should give you a better idea. Good luck and just be patient. Once it breaks free it gets easier every crank.

I don't think you have to worry as much as you think with those gears, they're pretty tough and the impeller will turn a bit if you get right into it. I UMPHED it pretty hard and I didn't get any bad feelings about the gearbox. I'm also 6'4" 275lbs, so my umphs tend to need capital letters sometimes!

Author: launboy

Date: 18 Dec 2006 11:13 pm

Ok, well then i guess I'll go for it. Maybe tomorow if I have time. I just finished my christmas shopping for the most part today!!!! :D 8) :P

I don't know why I'm so worried about the gears, I know they are very strong.

This kind of amazed me when i found out, I always knew my grandpa's snow blower was old, but I didn't know it was 30 YEARS old!!! It's a Craftsman 2-stage, not sure of the HP, but it's a monster!! AND everything on it is origional! :shock: :shock: Still in use today, and starts right up!!! They finally got electric start because it was to hard to crank for my grandpa :wink:

Author: davidt
Subject: fyi

Date: 21 Dec 2006 1:47 pm

For what its worth, I have a craftsman 7hp which is about thirty years old and the augers were noticably bent and twisted (probably from a foreign object) but the gears are apparently undamaged. The augers are rusted to the shafts and wouldn't loosen up by soaking the shafts with light oil. I just use it as is being careful to avoid jamming the augers.

Author: launboy

Date: 21 Dec 2006 6:58 pm

I was kind of thinking the same thing when I found out that it was stuck... I would just run it without a shear bolt in it, and spray oil in it before every snowstrom, and hope it would free up by itself(which I doubt.

The blower was only bought for $25.00 so a new gear if i messed something up while trying to fix it would cost that much (maybe, not sure though) So, I'm going to try to free it up tomorow, but I'm not going to put a lot of effort into it... If it gets lose then great if it don't O well! :shock: 8) :wink:

Author: Majorxlr8n

Date: 21 Dec 2006 11:42 pm

launboy wrote:
I was kind of thinking the same thing when I found out that it was stuck... I would just run it without a shear bolt in it, and spray oil in it before every snowstrom, and hope it would free up by itself(which I doubt.

The blower was only bought for $25.00 so a new gear if i messed something up while trying to fix it would cost that much (maybe, not sure though) So, I'm going to try to free it up tomorow, but I'm not going to put a lot of effort into it... If it gets lose then great if it don't O well! :shock: 8) :wink:

Having or not having shear bolts won't make ANY difference if the rake tubes are rusted to the shaft. If you pull something into the augers, you WILL have a gearbox failure. I say to heat up the auger rake tubes with a good torch & use LONG 2x4's to get those freed. I put in a regular bolt (don't use a shear bolt!) & use a short piece of lumber to "jam" one rake, then remove the OTHER shear bolt & use an eight footer on it for leverage. Trust me, this job can be a bear! OH - grab some PB Blaster & keep spraying it into the rake tubes. Have fun! :roll:

Marty

Author: sonofjabba

Date: 22 Dec 2006 1:52 am

I can almost smell the PB Blaster cooking....









Smells like crap!

Author: newjerseybt

Date: 22 Dec 2006 9:35 am

Just leave out the shear pins......

As Marty says, it doesn't make any difference. Make believe you have one of those new Toros that don't need shear pins. :D IMO it is like putting pennies in a old style fuse box and hoping you never get a serious short circuit. :wink: (my friend did that one and smoked the wires behind his basement walls. I told him NOT to do it but he was hell bent on doing it anyway :shock: )

Anyway, you will soon find out how strong the auger gear case is the the next time you suck in a 1 inch piece of granite.

Sometimes I wish my impeller had a shear pin. I sucked in a piece of granite 2 years ago. The shear pin broke but the impeller dragged the stone around the impeller housing and made a "dimple ring" around the housing. :( Maybe my impeller kit will prevent that from happening again.


Good Luck!!

Author: launboy

Date: 22 Dec 2006 2:40 pm

how exactly di you get granite on anywhere you snowblow?kitchen remodel????? :? :? :?

Author: newjerseybt
Subject: Granite

Date: 22 Dec 2006 3:55 pm

I took it for granite that I knew what I was talking about! :D

Maybe the proper term is bluestone? The large igneous rocks underneath the road surface before they pour the fine version of the same rock on top then finally the asphalt.

When I was living in Jersey, my neighbor was redoing his sidewalk and stopped his project midstream for the Winter. Somehow his stones migrated to my side of the street and got lodged in my auger and impeller when doing my EOD. :evil:

Author: launboy

Date: 22 Dec 2006 5:03 pm

Ohhhhhhh, that doesn't sound good! :shock:

Anywho, I went out to the garage, and did what Marty suggested and took a piece of wood and put it in one side of the auger and jammed it against the cement, then took another 6 foot long board and put it into the other side of the auger. The auger wasn't stuck to much, so after maybe 4 full revolutions I could turn it fairly easily with the board, kept doing that and adding PB Blaster into all of the holes I could get it in. Kept turning it... After a while I squirted grease into it with the grease gun until it came out of the shear bolt hole, kept turning it and turning it... I can now turn it with my foot somewhat easily!!! :lol: :lol: :lol: and can turn it with my hand with some effort... that was an hour ago, going out there now to see if the PB Blaster did anything after an hour!!!???

I'm HAPPY it was barely stuck... I got lucky!!!!! :!: :P

THANKS FOR ALL OF THE HELP!!!! will report back when I get back in from turning it more!!!

Now, if only we had some SNOWWWW!!!! In the 40's here and light rain off and on for today and pretty much this whole week...

No white Christmas here!!! :evil: :shock: :cry:

OTO I got my christmas lights all up, found a cool light controller at Menards for $60.00 on SALE, 6 channels and 20 different songs...
Here's a link to it : http://www.improvementscatalog.com/product.asp?product=302358zz&cm_ven=youramigo&cm_cat=june04&code=macs=MP6SPDR Still adding more... Next year will be AWSOME!!!

Thanks,
Adam

Author: jubol

Date: 22 Dec 2006 5:11 pm

:D Launboy,

You are set now!!!

Just lube it every year, and you will have no other auger problems, I hope!!

Fred :lol:

Author: Majorxlr8n

Date: 22 Dec 2006 6:46 pm

Adam - GREAT JOB!! I hope you did this on BOTH sides! Those rakes can be BEARS to free. The long lumber really makes it easy. I'm glad it wasn't too bad of a job for you. Don't forget to get a few sets of shear bolts. It sounds like your Snapper is REALLY ready now! BRING ON THE SNOW!!

Now that we have you "hooked" on OPE repair, why don't you pull the front apart in the spring, disassemble the auger assembly, clean the shafts & put anti-seize compound on the shafts? :wink:

Marty

Author: launboy

Date: 22 Dec 2006 6:48 pm

Well, when I went out there the auger was a littel easier to turn by hand so I just squirted some more grease in there and put the shear pins in...

Yes, Marty I did grease up both sides, and new shear bolts to. But I only need to Unstick one side as only the left side was stuck!! Maybe, Just Maybe, I will take you up on that offer and take apart the front end, but then I would have to paint it to, and a million other thinks that I'll think of to do when its apart, and then I will run out of time to finish it (or procrastinate) and it won't be done next winter! :roll: :bh: :eeek: :pound:

Ready For The Snow that we're not supposed to get!!!
:doh: :cussing: :bh: :eek: :x :!: :!: :!:
Can You Tell I Like To Use The Emooticons?????
lol :D

Author: Yukon

Date: 22 Dec 2006 9:07 pm

Glad to hear your auger is free.

I have same issues with weather here too. Not one flake of snow, it's been raining all day... laugh. (singing) I'm dreaming of a wet, Christmas.

If I don't have to clear it.... I'm happy. :D I couldn't care less about a white Christmas. Do you think people in Arizona, New Mexico and other hot places are dreaming of a white Christmas? They would be dreaming of a tanned Christmas. heh heh heh 8)

Author: sonofjabba

Date: 22 Dec 2006 11:16 pm

I was going to suggest what Marty did with the anti seize. A doze of cheap paint wouldn't hurt either. Grease and Paint tend to keep things from rusting up. Be proud that you did it yourself!

I just gave the simplicity a second grease up. Since it had been sitting since I painted it I started it up. Second Pull and smooth as Glass!
I got some grease slung up on my nice new paint! :cry: But I wiped it clean. My letter carrier thought I was expecting snow.

If I could only get so lucky! :twisted: I'm itching to try this Simplicity out!

Author: launboy

Date: 22 Dec 2006 11:33 pm

How do you apply the anti-seize?? Is it something you put through the grease gun?? Or do you have to take apart the auger and stuff to do it???

Yukon, I bet some of the people down there would love it if they got to see snow, but I bet it would cause a lot of problems, especially with travel... Do they have plows and stuff, I wouldn't think so :?:

It is kind of nice to have it in the forties for working on the snow blower(which is in my unheated garage) :P But I WANT TO TRY IT OUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHH I'm going crazy!! :!: :!: :twisted: :twisted:

Maybe I can have some snow shipped to my driveway, just to try out the blower :twisted: :twisted: :wink: :D 8) heh heh heh