Free snow blower adventure

Mower trouble? Are 2-cycle engines the bane of your existence?
kevm14
Posts: 15200
Joined: Wed Oct 23, 2013 10:28 pm

Free snow blower adventure

Post by kevm14 »

Bryan calls me to tell me one of his neighbors has had it with his "old" snow blower. It stopped working last winter, he got it fixed, then it stopped working again. His next door neighbor was literally going to scrap it. Fortunately Bryan got my name in the hat first so I had first dibs. Went up to pick it up after work today. BTW, the trans cooler lines held up in the Ranger. Not sure how much fluid was lost but I didn't even check the level and I probably put close to 200 miles on it.

It fit into the Ranger with the cap, after we removed the chute and handle, which wasn't too bad. I do have a flat washer left over...

Turns out this is not an old machine, and looks to be a pretty nice model. Not every feature you can get in a snow blower today but nicer than anything I've used. 2 stage. 6 forward speeds, 2 reverse. Remote chute angle crank. Electric start (AC powered). Light. 26" swath. 7.75hp B&S engine with OHV (fancy).
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I pulled the cord and the engine's not seized. Then I primed it a few times and tried to start it. Nothing. But when I primed it, it sounded like I was just moving air, not fuel.

Curiosity got the better of me and I decided to pull the air intake housing (I'd say air cleaner but it only has a screen, which is also common - no dust is really possible to ingest, and water is not generally compatible with air filters - snow blowers get wet).
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Closer inspection revealed a pretty major issue! The primer bulb hose had broken away from the carb! I was, in fact, moving air.
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One from my phone:
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I also checked the oil and it looked low. Maybe it has a low level cut off?

Then I over filled the oil. Or Ed did. The drain cap was stuck to the drain pipe extension so I ended up pulling that right out of the block to drain some oil. Incidentally, there was a coating of oil all over the back of the machine, and that drain pipe was not that tight. That is probably where the oil went. Hopefully he never ran it out of oil.

My original plan was actually to use starting fluid to see if it was a fuel or spark issue. So after the oil adventure, I misted the air screen with some spray, choked it, pulled the cord and....fired right up. Then it stayed running. I didn't even add gas. The light even came right on.

So next step was to see if I could fix the primer hose. I pulled the broken end off the carb nipple and shoved the remainder of the hose onto the barb. This still resulted in pumping air.
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Better pic from my phone, maybe (if your criteria is number of spiders):
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See that white plastic thing in the hose? It's actually a very small T and the third end seemed to be leaking all the air, and not priming fuel. So I disconnected that whole plastic T, and plugged the black hose directly into the carb. That seemed to work because I started it again and when I primed it, the engine actually started to die for a moment, as they do when you squirt gas into a running engine. The bulb also has more resistance now (because it's moving fuel). So that seems fixed.

I tried the auger/screw and that seemed to work. What DOES still seem to be broken is the speed selector. No matter what speed I select (or direction), it always seems to be stuck in the same forward speed. I did reconnect the linkage when I installed the handle so something may be up internally. Or it doesn't matter. But I'd like speed selection. That will be for another time. For now, this was a huge win and I now look forward to both snow and a larger driveway in the future.
kevm14
Posts: 15200
Joined: Wed Oct 23, 2013 10:28 pm

Re: Free snow blower adventure

Post by kevm14 »

More pics.

Not sure I like this design, but I understand it's pretty common these days. Left lever engages the traction drive. Right lever engages the auger. It has a linkage/mechanism where once you actuate both handles, only a single hand is needed on either lever to keep both engaged. That seems fine except if you want to stop (either the auger OR drive) you have to let go of everything. This would work better if the levers were under the handles instead of on top. That means the auger will get engaged and disengaged a lot, unless I turn around without stopping. Seems odd to me.
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Model and serial number sticker. It is model # 536.887752, manufactured in 2003. Hard to believe it is 10 years old. Even if it sat around for a few years, it's much older than I thought it was.
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The air/choke/priming cover is attached. 2 primes is what is directed for a cold start. No primes for a warm start. The choke has like 3 or 4 detents which is pretty handy (as opposed to infinitely adjustable which means...you're infinitely adjusting it).
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Gas is flammable. Also, this has a good rating for air pollution and is approved for "intermediate" usage.
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AC powered electric starter. I see no real need for this. Maybe an elderly person?
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On board shear pin storage! I see two in here. I don't expect to need these but at least I know where they are.
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Dual stage. Gear reduction set in the middle. Watch out, small animals.
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Briggs & Stratton "Intek snow" engine. Adjustable throttle. I like the thumb screws on the carb cover. No tools required.
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Prime twice when cold. Don't prime when warm. Got it. You can also see the multi-position choke with diagram.
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In the grand youtube tradition, I decided to make a cold start video. I hadn't done cold start since I made my repair so I wanted to test it. As you'll see in the video, 2 primes, full choke and a pull of the cord gets it going. Fixed.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRnnaUk ... e=youtu.be

Link to the manual: http://www.managemylife.com/mmh/pd_down ... 312024.pdf

As is typical for Craftsman stuff, the manual is very good. Full parts blowups and I should have no trouble figuring out the issue with the speed selector. I even found a thing here that is probably the problem:
http://www.searspartsdirect.com/partsdi ... =536887752

Fun facts:
206cc
4 quart gas tank (that's quite large)
5W-30 recommended
Platinum spark plug
Recommended auger drive belt adjustment twice a season?
Each 10 hours, lubricate auger shaft. How? Grease zerks! Only B-body owners have those.
Lubricate chain w/ engine oil every 25 hours (once a season)
14-17psi tire pressure, for traction
The axles are locking but can be unlocked for easy maneuvering in light conditions. The manual correctly explains an unlocked axle as one wheel drive. I assume there's a differential.
kevm14
Posts: 15200
Joined: Wed Oct 23, 2013 10:28 pm

Re: Free snow blower adventure

Post by kevm14 »

Speed selector yoke: http://www.searspartsdirect.com/partsdi ... =536887752

Mine is probably bent and I think I will try to bend it back. Guessing the failure mode is downshifting while in gear, which puts stress on the yoke where it is weakest (near the cutout for the friction wheel). So when the max speed is selected, the yoke basically just falls off the shuttle. It should be retained by an end bolt, and fully circular. That would be a better design.

And the reason for the downshifting while in gear is because of the stupid actuation lever design where both stay engaged until you let go of both. So changing speeds would require full stoppage of everything, including the auger. Which just seems needless. Maybe I can modify it to not lock everything engaged. I'd like to leave the auger system engaged and run the traction lever independently. That would help a lot.
kevm14
Posts: 15200
Joined: Wed Oct 23, 2013 10:28 pm

Re: Free snow blower adventure

Post by kevm14 »

All fixed. Also changed the oil, adjusted the auger belt tension, oiled the drive chains and greased the auger zerks.

For the drive system, first put the snow blower on its end, which balanced well without any assistance.
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Next, remove the 4 3/8" bolts holding the bottom cover on.
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Once the cover pops off, you can see the transmission. As expected, the yoke has fallen off the friction wheel shuttle.
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And there are the washers, also as expected.
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The yoke forks actually didn't look bent to me. The job became simply to get the yoke back onto that shuttle (that's what I'm calling it).
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I tried forcing it on, and I had no luck. So I had to disconnect the shaft bearings on either side to be able to move around the shuttle and insert it back into the yoke. The left bearing with the 2 bolts removed.
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The right bearing.
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Then I was able to insert the shuttle back into the yoke, washers on the inside. Again, this is a little strange as the yoke is not captured in any way.
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I then decided to take a look at the spark plug. I cleaned it off and it seems fine.
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While I was lubricating the chains with engine oil, I made a mess on the wheel so I cleaned it off and it looks pretty good now.
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Sure enough, all speeds work again. I thought maybe the adjustment was out which caused the shuttle to move too far and the yoke to fall off. But that isn't the case. The current adjustment seems correct. The way to tell is basically if 1st gear creeps, neutral is neutral, and reverse 1 is reverse. Any adjustment would change the centering of all of that. I COULD have adjusted it to bias more towards reverse (and limit max speed in 6th), but that doesn't seem like the right thing, even if it would potentially keep this from happening again.

Surprise! Shear pins replaced with bolts. You can also see the grease zerks.
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Next, we have the auger belt adjustment.
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On the back of the tensioner you can see how it works. You just loosen the bolt and move the tensioner pulley inward until the tension is right. It is on a spring so I really didn't have a good understanding of how to check the tension. I ended up moving it roughly halfway through its travel. It had never been adjusted. Easy to get to it, also. Loosen two 3/8" bolts and the shear pin storage/drive cover pops right off. In fact, in all, this thing is very easy to maintain, imo.
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And my final pet peeve, the auger and traction drive lever mechanism. I just couldn't handle the way it was. You press both levers, and then both are locked engaged until you let go of both. That's no good, because that means if you let go of the traction drive (you know, to stop the machine) it keeps going until you let go of everything. Just seems dumb. Here's the mechanism.
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Traction drive engaged.
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Auger engaged, too.
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Annoying. So I popped that thing right out of there. Gone.
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This works better for me, and I can always put it back if I want it.

After that, I just ran out the remaining fuel in the tank (not sure how old), and filled it up with my standard gas + stabil mix. All adjusted, lubricated and ready to go for snow.
kevm14
Posts: 15200
Joined: Wed Oct 23, 2013 10:28 pm

Re: Free snow blower adventure

Post by kevm14 »

After receiving some peer pressure to look at my shear pin situation, I can now confirm that the previous owner did install regular bolts.

And they're pretty hammered, too. Stock on-board spare is at the top.
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And the on-board spare installed.
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The condition of the bolts I guess explains why the original shear pins may have let go. Hopefully I won't have the same problem.

Off to Ace to get some spare shear pins/bolts.
kevm14
Posts: 15200
Joined: Wed Oct 23, 2013 10:28 pm

Re: Free snow blower adventure

Post by kevm14 »

Interesting. They had a shear bolt that was the right size.
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But they also had the same style of what came in the storage compartment. Though they were out of 1/4" pins. Much easier to change in the cold, but I'm not sure how well these would shear.
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I bought 4 of the bolts and put one of the sets on. The pins and the second set of bolts are in the storage compartment. Plus I still have the messed up bolts if I really had to.
kevm14
Posts: 15200
Joined: Wed Oct 23, 2013 10:28 pm

Re: Free snow blower adventure

Post by kevm14 »

I guess I can post this here.

I finally got to try it on some real slush. With the tilt adjustment pointed as high as possible, it actually flung the slush 10-20 feet. Sometimes it did clog but it always unclogged itself if I kept going. I never had to manually unclog it. I guess this one is a good design. Pics:

It has a square outlet from the impeller housing.
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And here's a shot of the impeller itself.
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I think one thing that was happening was it would start to clog, and the outlet would neck down and let the resulting stream of slush exit at a higher velocity, which allowed the discharge to hit 10-20 feet. Either way, this seems about as good as you would expect on a machine like this.
kevm14
Posts: 15200
Joined: Wed Oct 23, 2013 10:28 pm

Re: Free snow blower adventure

Post by kevm14 »

Need to replace the skids.

OEM: http://www.searspartsdirect.com/Craftsm ... 07200.html

If that's just one, that's terrible ($25). The website says my local Sears carries it though so maybe I'll check that out.

eBay, better price (assuming the Sears one was for a single skid): http://www.ebay.com/itm/Sears-Craftsman ... 58905d48b8

On that ad, they suggest "red Toro skids" to save money. Well, this is them, set of 2 (for $17 + S&H): http://www.ebay.com/itm/Toro-3521-421-5 ... 589161206b

Need to double check that mine are 2" center to center (if I use the Toro part).
kevm14
Posts: 15200
Joined: Wed Oct 23, 2013 10:28 pm

Re: Free snow blower adventure

Post by kevm14 »

So my local Sears does stock the OEM replacement skid shoes. And they are, in fact, $25/ea. Even with $100 worth of gift cards, I couldn't bring myself to do it for some stamped steel.

I think I'll order the red Toro ones from eBay. I measured and mine are 2" on center.
kevm14
Posts: 15200
Joined: Wed Oct 23, 2013 10:28 pm

Re: Free snow blower adventure

Post by kevm14 »

Did the tune-up/maintenance on my thrower.

The highlights:

- Switched to M1 5W-30. I didn't notice any issues with the Napa 5W-30 I ran last winter but synthetic is supposed to be good for small engines, especially in the winter.

- Lubricated chain and cleaned friction wheel.

- Greased auger chute drive gear

- Cleaned spark plug. This uses a platinum plug (2003 era stuff). And it looked amazing. Modern engines and modern plug technology, I guess. No replacing the plug every year on this one, that's for sure.

- Set height of scraper blade and skids. The manual recommends like 1.25" for dirt/gravel. Best I could do was like half that. I have a Toro skid on one side and a factory skid on the other. The Toro skid cannot adjust as high so that's something. Really worried about picking up rocks. Maybe I will try to pick up all loose rocks...sounds like fun.

Manual says oil changes every 25 hours. I can probably go a full season on the synthetic with the (much) bigger driveway.
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