Snow Blower Mods- High Tech!

[bigblockbuggy]

I inherited my dads old snow blower when it threw a rod... It sat outside for a year before it got snowy enough for me to want it working, so last year I picked it up and found that all of the track components just used plastic bushings on steel shafts, and they had all frozen solid due to no way to lube it. After about 2 days of dissassembaling and rebuilding the track components and adding grease zerts to every single bushing, I had it rolling again. I then rebuilt the motor used it to snow blow once and the whole time it pissed oil everywhere from a mystery leak. I ended the day by sticking my hand in the impeller to clear a ice/slush jam and breaking 2 fingers and splitting most of the skin off them (ouch!). Now I am not a total moron, the first 4 times I cleaned it out I walked around to make sure the auger drive had truly dissengaged, and it was safe to stick my hand in-- the 5th time I didn't.

So this year I need to get it going again, and to stop the mystery leak. Of course I procrastinated all summer when you could pick up the 8hp techumseh snow king motors on sale every where, so I had to find my leak. Turns out when it threw the rod, it cracked a silver dollar size chunk out of the block behind the starter, where it stayed in place and could not be seen, but leaked profusely. I tig welded it up, and then found it would no longer turn over. I took the whole damn motor apart again, and found that the aluminum had sagged into the crankcase where it was once again making contact w/ my brand new rod. So, I got out the carbide burr and die grinder and ground the crap out of it until it cleared again. Put it back together, and could no longer bolt the starter in place... Evidently my patch on the crank case was too thick. Out w/ the die grinder again. Finally got it all back together, and running again, and thank god, no more mystery leak...

Anyhow, enough with the background, here is the tech: This is the cheap plastic snow chute after snowblowing my gravel driveway once last year, and once this year.



I wonder if anyone ever told sears that plastic isn't worth a crap when it is cold out... Here is the new chute I hand made out fo 14g diamond plate I had lying around. You wouldn't believe how difficult it was to try and roll the bottom ring out of 1x3/16th flat bar (that was all i had around) w/o a ring roller, but it came out okay...



And here it is all installed and painted. The safety green is a reminder for me to never again stick my paws in it



So, you may be asking yourself, is this guy retarded, can't he tell that this freaking snowblower is cursed? And all I have to say, is it is still the cheapest snowblower I could have gotten, and when it is working, it is the best damn snowblower I have ever seen. The tracks will drive through anything, and it will blow the frozen plow ice/snow out of the end of my driveway, and even my parents new $900 blower can't do that. Now the damn thing seems to be haveing carb problems though, I have to adjust the needle to one place to start it, and another to make it keep running. Oh well, the $250 ER visit, $50 rod, and countless hours of my time are worth it, I think anyhow

Later,
Jason

[Davids78Bronco]

You need to stick an Evinrude V4 on there

I know, go nuts!

[90Beater]

Fixed it for you.



It looks good, you should paint the rest of it black.

[Swat]

It needs a lift!

Glad you kept your fingers.

The new snowblowers come with a stickers and a little paddle to reach in there with to clear it. I spray the auger and impeller/thrower part with WD40 before I use it and it helps mucho to keep stuff from sticking. Learned that in Flagstaff AZ where if often snows and is sticky wet (Allways reminded me of a girl I knew in high school, ha , ha ha).

[bigblockbuggy]

Originally Posted by Blown

The new snowblowers come with a stickers and a little paddle to reach in there with to clear it. I spray the auger and impeller/thrower part with WD40 before I use it and it helps mucho to keep stuff from sticking.

Well, this was my latest addition before heading in for the night. Not a nice bling paddle, just a piece of 1/2 pcv conduit, but it will do the trick. Thanks for the WD40 tip, I will try it.

Originally Posted by 90Beater

Fixed it for you.



It looks good, you should paint the rest of it black.

Dude, the blood is priceless. There wasn't really any blood when I did it. I was wearing heavy leather work gloves. My hand just went numb. At first I thought that it didn't do anything to me, then I thought, I better pull off the glove to be sure. That was when it started to hurt The ER doc said the gloves were what saved my fingers. They also told me that every time it snows they gt 3-4 people in that did the same thing. A old farmer was in the room next to mine with the same fingers, same hand, same dumb ass mistake...

I may paint the rest black, it would be pretty cool looking. I think I will wait to see if it makes it through one more snow storm...

[NDIXIE]

so how did you do it? Just weld it to a round hoop?

[Dustball]

You know, while we're on the topic of snowblowers...

The other day when I was using mine, I was looking at it and thought- that would be a very handy trailer mover if the everything from the wheels forward was removed and a ball mount welded in place. I may have to try finding a snowblower with a junk auger and try it out.

[bigblockbuggy]

I made a ring the correct diameter for the outlet on the top of the impeller. I cut 3 pieces of diamond plate, I just took approximate dimensions from the old chute, and plasma cut them out. Welded the back piece to the ring at the same approximate angle as the back of the old chute. Rolled the bottom of the back piece down to the ring w/ a BFH. Tacked the side pieces on at the top, and then rolled the bottom edge to the ring as well, welded it all up inside and out, and then took a flap disc to the outer seams and smoothed them out. I had made the top part of the chute from sheet metal last year when the plastic one originaly let go, and I just drilled holes for all of my bolts and tacked them in from the inside out. Wire wheeled the surface rust off my diamond plate, primed it, painted it safety green. Bolted it on. Sorry, I didn't think there would be this much interest, or I would have taken step by step pictures.

Later,
Jason

[bigblockbuggy]

So, I got inspired last night, and was bored enough to day to follow through. Ladies and Gentlemen, here she is in all her glory, I present to you The Mean Machine.









Man, I really have got to get a life...

[metal1313]

o dang u pimp'd yo sno blowwa hahahhaa looks sweet man

[MikE2]

Originally Posted by bigblockbuggy

I got a Craftsman too. There a piece of shit ain't they

[jackhart]

bigblockbuggy, if that thing was on ebay, i'd have to say i'd bid pretty high for it. that thing reminds me of the caddy in Animal House after they bust the parade with the cake...badass.

[SSgtTEX]

looks pretty damn good....wish i had a need for one.

[MikE2]

Originally Posted by Sgt. TEX

looks pretty damn good....wish i had a need for one.

You don't have to live in the snow to have fun with one. There also good for throwing weeds about 20 feet, and making a mess of other things too. With the track-drive its fun to take them up and over rocks and stuff too.

I drive mine up this all the time when I got nothing better to do

[90Beater]

sweet!

[Late Model Man]

I kinda want a snowblower on 35's

[amraam840]

:pauses after reading thread thinking of something to say... shakes head and smiles inside: