Forums Archive Index > Outdoor Power Equipment > pic of "split" older craftsman, for us rookies...

Author: Yukon

Date: 14 Dec 2006 1:45 pm

I have been doing a major winter prep for my old pig (as I think the guy before me didn't treat her that well). This will be my first true season with her and I want to do her good so she'll do me good.... errr hey :shock: this is starting to sound like a porno.... let's just call her... it 8)

Anyway, I scooted around and gathered infro from all the helpfulls here and seemed confused until I finaly decided to dive into it. Figured I would post a pic of my split machine and pass along a few do's and don'ts a first timer should be aware of.

First things first, unplug your spark plug (yellow circle), shut off your fuel cock if you have one and I put a male fin on a small bolt head to connect my ignition female paddle connection onto for a good quick saftey ground.

You're going to want to remove the chute and the directional shaft thingy-ma-bobber and also remove the belt guard cover. Next take the bottom plate off (brownisg orange outline). DON'T DO WHAT I DID :oops: I left the bottom on and when I actualy split the machine I bent the :cussing: out of the plate. It's been a pain staightening it up.

You will see (on my Craftsman and I think most Craftsmans from what I've been reading yours may be different but I think thay all split somewhat similar), anyway, you will see four bolts two up top (blue arrows) and two at the bottom (green arrows). Remove the top bolts (any any I guess if you have them down the side as well) and only loosen the bottom bolts (they will ack like a hinge). Now, you should be able to "split" it apart by pushing the auger shell and engine housing away from each other.

You can now access belts. I removed the belt guard from the engine side pullies and removed the auger belt from the engine and split the machine fully open (as seen in pic). I have two pin type guards on the auger pully so I just loosened them to swing them out of the way while removing belt.



Hope this helps the ones (like myself) who knew nothing about snowblowers until I found this place!!

Author: Yukon

Date: 14 Dec 2006 2:12 pm

Quote:
shut off your fuel rooster if you have one

:lol: :lol: :lol: I gotta laugh.... fuel rooster. I guess there is a cuss feature here? Fuel rooster... I love it... What I ment to say rhymes with sock. Heh heh heh.

Author: ramit

Date: 14 Dec 2006 2:31 pm

YUP.. it got "convertered"!

nice job, looks close to what my sears unit use to look like splite.

Author: OldToroOwner

Date: 14 Dec 2006 5:05 pm

Quote:
You're going to want to remove the chute and the directional shaft thingy-ma-bobber...
Yukon-
Do you write technical manuals for Sears??... :D

Author: Majorxlr8n

Date: 14 Dec 2006 5:26 pm

Yukon - NICE pic & description! You never know, someone may use your post to help themselves out of a jam. Nice job so far!

Marty

Author: Yukon

Date: 15 Dec 2006 12:33 am

OldToroOwner wrote:
Quote:
You're going to want to remove the chute and the directional shaft thingy-ma-bobber...
Yukon-
Do you write technical manuals for Sears??... :D

Heh heh... sorry, didn't mean to get too technical on ya's. I'll try to type in more laymen terms next time.

and thanks guys, I have always been a visual learning kinda guy. I can be told things a couple times and still wonder but shown it once and I'm good to go. I figure if it can help someone visualize the task at hand it may meke it easier.

Author: AJace

Date: 15 Dec 2006 3:15 am

Yukon, thanks. It even helped me understand better about the belt replacement process. Thanks.

Author: mellon1

Date: 20 Dec 2006 11:46 am

Yukon,
That's exactly what I had to do with my Craftsman blower as well.. Thanks to some sound advice from other members here on the Forum. :D

See my old post below...
mellon1 wrote:
Hello,
Just an update... I managed to install the new belt successfully yesterday... :D

I disconnected the aurger housing, as suggested by many of you.

I used a rachet strap to hold the the auger housing and other halve of the machine together, while removing the top nuts on the auger housing. I then just loosened the bottom nuts, there-by causing the upper portion to hinge open. This allowed me enough room to remove the old belt and install the new one.

The usage of the rachet strap proved to be an invaluable piece of advice, since I was alone when doing this job. Otherwise, I would have had enormous difficulty lining up the upper auger housing bolt holes when re-connecting the auger housing to the machine. Having said this though, it's preferrable to have 2 people, in case of problems.

The only down-side of all this, if there is one, is that I can never trust that damn Sears manual again. I've lost confidence in it. Then again, there's always this forum. :)

TM