Snowblower

[supton]

Well, I've got a spark plug and now a few feet of fuel line in this thing. Someone in Goffstown is advertising fuel tanks for $10/each and if I'm not careful I might hit $20 in this thing. Once its running and moving I'll see what I want to put into it.

I see an MTD for sale locally that looks good in the ad and is reasonable in price. I might buy that. Murphy's law says that this will break at the worst time--but as soon as I spend money on its replacement it'll last forever.

 

[jeepman3071]

That is an excellent machine to start with. The friction wheel will work even if it has a few cracks, as long as it has enough material on it to make contact with the drive plate.

To be honest, I wouldn't even mess with the old Tecumseh in that condition. I'd drop a Harbor Freight Predator engine on it for $99 with the online coupon and it will work like new. Those are strong machines and will make anything MTD look like a piece of garbage.

Don't buy MTD, they have a known weakness where the bucket connects to the drive, and they pretty much all crack in the same spot. I welded about 5 of them last year, the others were just too far gone and I told the customer to scrap it.

 

[supton]

Hmm, turns out the MTD is a friend of mine. I'll mull that info over. [Saw another Ariens on CL, but someone already repowered it, and somehow lost all but one speed?] This 1032 Ariens is at the moment a bit too big for me, as in I think it might be oversized for my driveway.

I see a 6.5hp Predator for $120 but this is a 10hp motor. Not sure if 8hp ($230) is close enough, or if I'd have to go to 13hp ($360) on a repower.

Honestly I'm a bit hesitant to spend even $100 right now on this, I'm not sure what will be found once it starts moving. The auger control is jerry rigged and at the moment isn't disconnecting properly--looks like a door spring and some low end chain was cobbled in there. The rod that controls the friction drive is messed up, but I can't put my finger on how. Other than someone really bent it. It rubs on the engine something fierce. I'm guessing it's all minor details but still.

 

[supton]

For some reason completely unknown to me I got a bug today to work on this again.

When I last worked on this, I did get it to run. Sorta. I slapped on a new carb but it wouldn't idle, and just didn't sound good. Loud as all get out also. Fall came and interests changed and that was that.

Today I pulled the motor off, FWIW it's a Tec HM100. I measured the mounting studs and then confirmed online (which I should have done first!) that the pattern is about 6.5" x 3.125" with PTO about 4" up (manual, assuming it's correct, says 3.125x6.375 and 4.13" PTO height). That brings a conundrum.

The Predator 6.5HP will drop right in by the looks of it, same measurements. Problem is, it's a 10HP motor on the blower. The Preadator 8HP and 13HP motors are 3.7" x 7.6" base with PTO up at 5.2".

I'm not sure if 6.5HP is enough for this application... ?

I suppose at $100 it's worth trying. My skills at modifying anything is best left untried, I just don't have the space to do it and my projects are better left on the small side.

Edit: did get the MTD, and after fixing it, it has been working ok. I don't expect it to last forever, but it makes for a good small machine.

 

[jeepman3071]

The Predator is rated for 6.5hp but it should have enough grunt. I have put them on 2 Ariens 10/32 machines and they have had enough power. Old Tecumseh snow kings are my worst nightmare here. Sometimes with a new carb from China they still won't run smooth. A Predator swap literally makes a night and day difference for using the machine, since it starts first pull, has gobs of power, runs smooth, and uses hardly any fuel in comparison.

 

[supton]

Good to know. I've about decided to go that route and see if it works as good as I think. I think I have a coupon for $100 somewhere...

 

[supton]

Signed up on snowblower.com and they recommended me to check out the engine more before condemning it--there's some thought that 6.5hp isn't enough. Which I worry about too, NH doesn't always have easy snows. I pulled the cover on the valvesprings and found the intake to be in spec but the exhaust to be tight. No adjustment found so I pulled the head. I suspect the exhaust has to come out to be ground down to open up clearance, and that it needs new rings anyhow--crosshatch is good on the cylinder walls but that seems like a lot of oily carbon.

 

[supton]

6.5 hp won't work, turns out while it is identical in all other dimensions, output shaft is 0.75" not 1". Rules that out.

Managed to sneak the exhaust valve out, despite not having a spring compressor. Cleaned off the valve, measure 0.022" of play. That seems like a lot, might explain why the valve was tight? Rocking around causing seat erosion?

 

[supton]

Gave in and swapped in a 212cc / 6.5hp Predator engine. Didn't want to mess with changing the belts. Found out that I missed the PTO shaft length (always miss something!), so I wound up having to remove the bolts anyhow from the blower deck. But the right set of holes already existed, so no drilling required. Dropped on, used a 3/4 to 1" adapter, original pulley and belts.

Started on first pull (after re-reading the instructions on the choke). Motor seems to start on first pull.

Blower is a beast, it seems to like coming around on me whenever it hits a rut. It's oversized for my driveway I think, but as a freebie project with little cost sunk into it, it's more of a toy.

Will say, 6.5 hp is too small. Go figure, it came with 10 hp for a reason.

 

[jeepman3071]

Originally Posted by supton
Gave in and swapped in a 212cc / 6.5hp Predator engine. Didn't want to mess with changing the belts. Found out that I missed the PTO shaft length (always miss something!), so I wound up having to remove the bolts anyhow from the blower deck. But the right set of holes already existed, so no drilling required. Dropped on, used a 3/4 to 1" adapter, original pulley and belts.

Started on first pull (after re-reading the instructions on the choke). Motor seems to start on first pull.

Blower is a beast, it seems to like coming around on me whenever it hits a rut. It's oversized for my driveway I think, but as a freebie project with little cost sunk into it, it's more of a toy.

Will say, 6.5 hp is too small. Go figure, it came with 10 hp for a reason.


Few things:

-When you say 6.5hp isn't enough does the engine bog down or try to stall, or does it just not throw far enough?
-Does the engine surge with the choke full off?

All of the Ariens machines I've refurbished benefited greatly from an impeller kit. Usually I buy a rubber paddle kit for a Toro 2stroke snowblower on ebay (20 bucks) and cut them up and bolt them to the impeller on the Ariens. this helps the snow go a lot further. Also, the Predator is an emissions engine, so in the cold it may surge at full throttle with no choke due to running too lean. You can either drill out the main jet for one size bigger or run it at 1/4-1/2 choke. I have a neighbor with an older Ariens 32" that I put a Predator 212cc on and it runs pretty good.

 

[supton]

It surged once, but it was out of gas.

Was running fine otherwise, choke fully off. Except when pushing snow, if it got too high the engine would slow down, seemed like it was still tossing at a decent clip but the engine was definitely loaded down. I'd back off the wheel drive when that happened to let engine speed climb back up.

 

[Clayslayer]

I have a 1995 John Deere 826D that had a cranky weezy Tecumseh 8hp HMSK80. I've been looking for an excuse to repower it for quite some time. My neighbor's MTD 26" locked up and I put a Predator 212 (non hemi) on it. Once I finished that I went and bought a Pred 212 (hemi) for the JD. This was Predator swap #5 for me and by FAR the most challenging. I even took the tins off the engine and painted them green and yellow to match. Plenty of power. Plenty. The Predator runs circles around that worthless Tecumseh. It's QUIET and burns a lot less fuel. I cannot recommend these engines enough. I absolutely cannot.