Snow blowers: A love/hate relationship

[Brian Elfert]

I live in Minnesota and have a good size snow blower. I love it when it works, but I h ate it when it dies. I was blowing snow today and half way through I started to hear a squeal. A while later the auger assembly seized up and killed the engine. Either a bearing or the gear box seized up.

I'm hoping it is just a bearing as the gear case is no longer available. Troy-Bilt went bankrupt and MTD bought the company, but MTD doesn't have all the parts.

[Myk Rian]

I have an MTD 24" that's worked great the last 11 years.
Anyway, try CL for a parts machine.

[Jason Roehl]

I've got 3 snow throwers that run on hot chocolate. ;)

[Mac McQuinn]

If it's a bearing, You might try a Industrial bearing Supply/Warehouse, they can usually match up things. If it's a gearbox item, CL might be your only choice unless you can locate something in the back room at a Lawn & Garden/Implement dealer.
Good luck!
Mac

[Brian Elfert]

I've got 3 snow throwers that run on hot chocolate. ;)

I'll let them come over and shovel my 200 foot driveway. We've had more than a foot of wet heavy snow so far. It is 30 degrees now and it is supposed to drop to 3 degrees by morning. The snow from the plow tonight will probably be frozen by morning.. It is going to be hard shoveling by hand.

The problem I am having now is I bought a 5/16" 12 point socket to remove a 5/16" square head bolt. Apparently I need a 3/8" socket and all my sockets are 6 point. I might break down and let a repair shop fix it, but since we just got the first real snow of the season a shop will be backed up probably close to two weeks.

[Brian Elfert]

If it's a bearing, You might try a Industrial bearing Supply/Warehouse, they can usually match up things. If it's a gearbox item, CL might be your only choice unless you can locate something in the back room at a Lawn & Garden/Implement dealer.


Going to a bearing place is my plan if I need a bearing. The bearing is $54 if I buy the Troy-Bilt part. The gearbox was $190 when it was available so I might l lean towards a new snow blower if the gearbox is bad. I checked CL and nothing right now. I can't wait too long to get this fixed as it could snow again any day.

[Dick Latshaw]

I live in Minnesota and have a good size snow blower.

What is a snow blower?

Oh, wait. I remember those. I grew up in Minneapolis. I feel your pain, Brian. Just to rub it in, it was 79F here today. :)

[David Weaver]

Going to a bearing place is my plan if I need a bearing. The bearing is $54 if I buy the Troy-Bilt part. The gearbox was $190 when it was available so I might l lean towards a new snow blower if the gearbox is bad. I checked CL and nothing right now. I can't wait too long to get this fixed as it could snow again any day.

Ariens or simplicity from a dealer that services them. That'd be my choice.

[Brian Brown]

There is a cheaper easier solution. Just wait a few months. It will melt.

[Brian Elfert]

Ariens or simplicity from a dealer that services them. That'd be my choice.

Troy-Bilt wasn't a bad brand when Gardenway owned them. The Troy-Bilt stuff from MTD is basically the same snow blower they sell under many brands.

I bought the Troy-Bilt from a local hardware store with a huge power equipment section. They do sell Simplicity and Ariens so I'll probably go there again if I need a new one.

[Kent A Bathurst]

I've got 3 snow throwers that run on hot chocolate. ;)

Very reminiscent of my Dad - raised on a depression-era Kansas farm.

"Teenage sons are machines designed to convert room & board into mowed lawns, raked leaves, and shoveled driveways."

He says from his Lazy-Boy...............

[Rich Engelhardt]

I've got 3 snow throwers that run on hot chocolate. ;)Problem w/that is they have a very "limited life"..sooner, rather than later, that model figures out $20 bills are better than hot chocolate.... :D
Been there/done that ;).

[Brian Elfert]

The good news is I found that the problem with my snow blower is not a mechanical issue. It turns out there is a black machine screw jammed between the housing and the 2nd stage impeller. The impeller is black and the screw is black so I didn't see it after I melted all the snow out yesterday. It was just luck that I ever saw it. The problem is going to be getting the screw out. I think I will try getting a screw hook from the hardware store and pull it out that way after I stick the hook in a board.

[Jerry Bruette]

If I were you I'd check the blower out real close to see if that machine screw might have worked loose and fallen off the machine. I've had things like this happen, you think you've found the problem then you realize the problem is bigger than a rogue screw you pcked up off the driveway.

Good Luck

Jerry

[Brian Brown]

A few years ago, the wife put out some Christmas decorations. She put up some of those spiral trees that collapse flat for storage. The trees have a string of lights that go all the way up the spiral; about a 35 ft string. We got about 6" of snow one night, and a lot of wind. I went out to blow off the driveway, and the wind had blown the light extension cord into the driveway, and it got buried in snow drift where I couldn't see it. Let me tell you, when the snow blower caught that cord, it stripped the lights off that little tree in about a half second. Sorta like slurping a spaghetti noodle. The tree spun for about three minutes after and the snow blower was hopelessly jammed. It took six hours to strip that snow blower down. Partly because I didn't know what I was doing, and mostly because the cord and lights blocked access to the screw heads that allowed me to take the thing apart. I used a hammer and chisel to remove tiny little chunks of electrical cord and lights bit by bit because they were so badly jammed in around the bearing. Foreign matter and snow blowers don't get along well. I finally got it all out, and the snow blower recovered nicely. As for the lights, there were no survivors. Moral of the story, Christmas lights and snow blowers do not belong in the same universe.

[ray hampton]

and to think that I almost bought a snow -blower, some of the blowers use a rubber arbor which could be cut -up by the bolts or screws