New Snowblower

[jkust]

Re: New Snowblower

I purchased one snowblower in my lifetime. I did so, on may way home from Fargo as the Minnesota "Storm of 91" was blowing in. We got 29" of snow in 24 hours.
.

I remember that storm well because the main bit of snow fell on halloween but started snowing several days prior. That is still one of our benchmark storms we compare all others to. I had just bought my first snowmobile a few weeks prior to the storm (I was in high school) and also it was the first and only time I had to just leave my car in the middle of the road and hope to God I made it home alive on foot. Front wheel drive cars were just getting to be in my price range and I was driving an Aries K car which did fine until the snow got up to the hood and could go no more. Sadly I had just dropped my girl friend off and ended up stranded at a buddies house for several days instead of the other way around. Anyway, my Yard Machines, Menards snowblower doesn't have any of the plastic parts you all mention. The ergonomics just aren't as good as they could be and obviously it could have been built to better tolerances due to the things that have gone wrong.

By the way, I'm out of sheer pins, where the heck do you buy them? Menards certainly doesn't carry them neither does the brand website. They look like simple bolts to me.

 

[dwco5051]

Re: New Snowblower

By the way, I'm out of sheer pins, where the heck do you buy them? Menards certainly doesn't carry them neither does the brand website. They look like simple bolts to me.

I make my own. Mine uses just standard low grade 5/16 bolts with a groove just under the head and one just below the threads. Don't use grade 5 or 8 bolts but buy the cheap ones with no head markings. I have a lathe so it is easy to chuck them up and make the grooves with a cutoff tool. I imagine you could also chuck them in a drill press and cut the grooves with a hacksaw. Keep one of the factory ones as a pattern. I clear over a thousand feet of gravel drive each storm so I go through about a dozen in a bad year with ice chunks, fallen pieces of branch, or ballast stones that now and then work up through.

 

[DJ]

Re: New Snowblower

ANY farm supply house carries those pins. They were "standard issue" on many farm implements, particularly PTO drives. They are ususally RED in color to distinguish them from standard bolts for obvious reasons.

I had a All Wheel Drive Ford Aerostar, in that storm. That vehicle was the "designated gas/beer/groc. getter". You could not stick it. I have old pic's of me coming down the street with snow going over the hood and windshield. I plugged up, the air cleaner a couple times but NEVER got stuck.

 

[DJ]

Re: New Snowblower

I make my own. Mine uses just standard low grade 5/16 bolts with a groove just under the head and one just below the threads. Don't use grade 5 or 8 bolts but buy the cheap ones with no head markings. I have a lathe so it is easy to chuck them up and make the grooves with a cutoff tool. I imagine you could also chuck them in a drill press and cut the grooves with a hacksaw. Keep one of the factory ones as a pattern. I clear over a thousand feet of gravel drive each storm so I go through about a dozen in a bad year with ice chunks, fallen pieces of branch, or ballast stones that now and then work up through.

I've never done that but I have used Aluminum nails as outboard shear pins. They break easily (the whole idea) and are dirt cheap.

I suppose an aluminum bolt would work, without having to grind anything, and NO rust.

 

[scipper77]

Re: New Snowblower

Roger,

I have the 27" Craftsman w/ the 8 hp Briggs, pull / electric (120V) start. It is a bit older, but I use the heck out of it.

I do multiple properties with it, it lives in my van during a snow event. It is about 7 years old, and gets used several hours per snowfall. I can do my 500+ feet of driveway in about an hour.

My repairs thus far:

So far no engine problems,

Many, many axle shearpins...

Rebuilt auger gearbox 2 years ago. Bevel gear was toast. Added a grease zerk to the housing, so hopefully it will be longer lived now. Note to self- when clearing a construction site, check for bricks first.:redface:

Also, the Poly chute takes a beating, and cracked in half last year. It does not like ice chunks, which I have plenty of in multiple driveway aprons I do. See my repair below.

My now gravel drive would chew up those poly/nylon skids ( the one you linked to) in a heartbeat, but are really nice for an asphalt driveway.

That's the same blower I have. As I described earlier, I've had minor issues but never had a failure. I think the oil leak from mine may have actually been from the breather tube.

 

[rogerwa]

Re: New Snowblower

If you remember we had another similar sized one on thanksgiving the same year..

I was just newly married and there is nothing like a snowday out of work when you are just married, much less 2..

 

[DJ]

Re: New Snowblower

You're right!

29" on Halloween and 22" on Thanksgiving. I remember seeing snow piles in June, the following year.

 

[Fl_Richard]

Re: New Snowblower

What's a snow blower?

 

[MTboatguy]

Re: New Snowblower

What's a snow blower?

A life saver if you live in the north!

 

[windsors03cobra]

Re: New Snowblower

Tecumseh is indeed dead and gone, the snow king was a good engine but I think emission regulations made it go away ? Didnt use to be a Briggs & ScrapIron fan but have 2 of them that do work darn fine and one is 40 years old.
I would rather have a Briggs over the China engine but MTD is the biggest game in town and has their own China engine line to replace the venerable snow kings.
I have a 3 year old 5-26 MTD that I work pretty good and I love the dang thing and think I should get 10-15 years from it.
My SnowKing has been dormant for 6 months. I changed the oil in it today and primed it ten times, full choke and throttle and halfway through the first pull it was running strong on old crappy gas. Same way my 6hp Briggs lawnmower with a primer started this spring. Love the raw gas primer for easy starting.

 

[rogerwa]

Re: New Snowblower

I think I found the one.. If only I could find it in stock..

http://www.husqvarna.com/us/homeowner/products/snow-throwers/924hv/

It has a variable speed chain drive, Non-poly chute, headlight, etc... It has the LCT engine, but that is what my budget will allow.

Any experience with this line of products??

 

[dwco5051]

Re: New Snowblower

I have owned over six or seven brands of chainsaws in my life time and would never buy anything but a Husky when it ever came time for a new one. I also have one of their self propelled lawn mowers and it has been trouble free. Parts have always been available when needed (I dropped a 22 inch diameter hickory plumb square on my 359 a couple of years ago). Bent the handle up a bit which I straightened and also damaged the trigger assembly which I had to replace. Two dealers within 10 miles of me and both are excellent.

 

[scipper77]

Re: New Snowblower

I think I found the one.. If only I could find it in stock..

http://www.husqvarna.com/us/homeowner/products/snow-throwers/924hv/

It has a variable speed chain drive, Non-poly chute, headlight, etc... It has the LCT engine, but that is what my budget will allow.

Any experience with this line of products??

That looks like a good unit just from first impression. I'd imagine that if you take care of the blower from new even a crappy unit will last a long time.

I wonder if it uses the same parts/design as the craftsman. I bought a craftsman riding lawn mower because it was built in the same factory as the husky. Basically the same unit with the speed control in a different location. Sears had a better warranty for the same price.

Anyways, my point is that in my experience most things with small motors like mowers, snow throwers, chain saws, string trimmers etc.. have three companies or so that puts out like 10 brands. Kinda like how GM builds cars.

One thing I can pretty much guarantee is that if you buy that unit you will be very happy with it for at least the first year or two. With that metal chute you will have to abuse it to have problems during the warranty period.

I looked at that unit some more, it has the chain drive where the next model up is gear driven. I wonder if the gear drive is worth the extra $$$

(Just hit 1000 posts, yay )

 

[dolluper]

Re: New Snowblower

Thats funny today I was picking up some tecumseh carb parts and they had those in the show room from what i figger they are 6hp but look solid....the industry looks at gross lbs torque by this formula {correct me if you know better} that machine you looked at ( lbs gross torque
industry says rpm is 3060 not normal 3600 go figure
so 9X 3060=27540 ft lbs per minute
divde that by 5.252
eguals5.244 hp @3060rpm in real time 6hp @3600 rpm

 

[windsors03cobra]

Re: New Snowblower

Very nice looking machine and Husqvarna is a global leader in outdoor power products.

 

[jkust]

Re: New Snowblower

Just from the picture it looks like it was engineered well. I can see some of the shortcomings my machine has are not on the Husky. We are sitting at about 6" of snow right now and it's coming down heavy so I'm heading out to desummarize the snowblower in a bit.

 

[rogerwa]

Re: New Snowblower

Well this worked out the way I thought I would.. I sold my old one and planned to pick a new one up this past saturday and wouldn't you know it I ended up waking up to about 10" of snow before I could get to the store..

I couldn't find the husky model anywhere locally so I opted for the Sears model. I took the trusty suburban to the store and picked it up and beat about 5 others to the 3 units they had left.

It worked well on the very heavy wet stuff so I assume I will be more pleased when it goes throught the normal snow.

 

[kenmyfam]

Re: New Snowblower

We are still using the same snowblower that we have for many years now. My neighbor 3 doors away. I maintain his outboard.......he plows the driveway !!
Always enjoy watching him clear the snow from my warm living room !!!

 

[Lone Duck]

Re: New Snowblower

We are still using the same snowblower that we have for many years now. My neighbor 3 doors away. I maintain his outboard.......he plows the driveway !!
Always enjoy watching him clear the snow from my warm living room !!!

How did you get snow in your living room ??

 

[dwco5051]

Re: New Snowblower

We are still using the same snowblower that we have for many years now. My neighbor 3 doors away. I maintain his outboard.......he plows the driveway !!
Always enjoy watching him clear the snow from my warm living room !!!

If the living room is that warm why don't you just wait for it to melt?