Snowblower Questions

Well my LIFE SUCKS SHIT right now.......
Sorry dude, but I read the first line of your post and laughed out loud for like a minute straight. I feel your pain, you put all that work into the thing after deferring a new purchase because you spent your cash on your kid & then the thing shits the bed for no reason. What the fuck are you gonna do lol.
 
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Sorry dude, but I read the first line of your post and laughed out loud for like a minute straight. I feel your pain, you put all that work into the thing after deferring a new purchase because you spent your cash on your kid & then the thing shits the bed for no reason. What the fuck are you gonna do lol.

 
:mad:I'm right there with you, @Wildman . Ran my blower tonight (kind of a shakedown run) and shredded the blower drive belt after two passes. I found a washer in the driveway while shoveling, so something came loose.

Stupid old shit. It looks cool... But I think it's time to upgrade...
 
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:mad:I'm right there with you, @Wildman . Ran my blower tonight (kind of a shakedown run) and shaded the blower drive belt after two passes. I found a washer in the driveway while shoveling, so something came loose.

Stupid old shit. It looks cool... But I think it's time to upgrade...

Well I am going to make this old shit last a while longer. I have to repair the clutch in my daughters car AGAIN.


I need to find someone to take this hex off me before I try to start this new engine I'm building for my Jeep.
 
I'm not sure what this bracket is made out of. I bought the one I found on Ebay but I also might try to repair the broken one.

Here is the bracket mounted on the engine.

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You can see where it broke right where the bend was.

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The part on the starter itself.

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I'd have to make most of the weld on the outside of the bracket. Not sure how it would work out since my welds aren't that great.

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Will look at it more tomorrow.
 
It looks like just stamped mild steel. Vise grip it to a piece of angle iron to hold its shape and gas weld it.
Save it for a spare.
 
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After trying again with my tractor (plowing this time)...I'm giving up on my old stuff. Bought a brand new Ariens Deluxe28. I've been using used lawn and snow equipment my whole life. I decided it was time to "grow up" and be more responsible with my time. I need to get the snow cleared when it falls and get on with life, instead of spending the time working on my stuff, then getting to the snow removal stage.

I bought it at Lowes and ended up getting a pretty good deal. I have a builder's card, somehow, so I automatically get a 5% discount. Then, when I went to pick it up (buy online - pick up in store) I noticed a scratch on the headlight lens. They gave me an additional 10% off (which was 120 dollars)! Pretty happy with that deal for a brand new blower, that I don't have to assemble.

https://www.ariens.com/en-us/power-equipment/snow-products/snow-blowers/deluxe/deluxe-28
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After trying again with my tractor (plowing this time)...I'm giving up on my old stuff. Bought a brand new Ariens Deluxe28. I've been using used lawn and snow equipment my whole life. I decided it was time to "grow up" and be more responsible with my time.
That's the decision I made back in 1996, when I bought my Ariens. So far, it hasn't let me down.
 
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yeah I broke down a couple years ago and had a Ariens 28 SHO with the 306 displacement engine shipped to me from a dealer in IL. cranks through wet snow way better than all my neighbor's Troy-bilts.
 
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Damn I HATE wet SNOW. It dumped on us about 3" last night and then this morning it has started to rain and the snow is just a mess.


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Snowblower got clogged up 3-4 times. Got me a stick to clean it out with each time. Don't feel like losing any fingers. Of course I shut it off also before I'd try to clean it out.

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Damn I HATE wet SNOW. It dumped on us about 3" last night and then this morning it has started to rain and the snow is just a mess.


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Snowblower got clogged up 3-4 times. Got me a stick to clean it out with each time. Don't feel like losing any fingers. Of course I shut it off also before I'd try to clean it out.

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Did you do the impeller upgrade with the rubber paddles? It would prevent this. (y)
 
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:mad:I'm right there with you, @Wildman . Ran my blower tonight (kind of a shakedown run) and shredded the blower drive belt after two passes. I found a washer in the driveway while shoveling, so something came loose.

Stupid old shit. It looks cool... But I think it's time to upgrade...
I run a small engine repair business on the side (weekends) and it really depends. Older well made shit will always win in my book, you just have to maintain it and repair it with good parts. Upgrading old snowblowers with newer more reliable engines and putting in the impeller kit makes them way tougher and better performing than any of the new stuff. Unless you buy top of the line Ariens, Honda, or Toro (which are expensive) the new box store shit will be WAY worse in 5-6 years than any of the old shit I work on. The metal is flimsy, and instead of dealing with broken starters (which are 20+ years old anyway and need maintenance) you have major problems like broken flimsy gearboxes, snowblower frames that crack around the POS welds, transmissions that fall apart and cost more to fix than an entire new machine, etc. If you own an older machine that is well made from a good brand, you'll have to do some maintenance and repairs to get it up to par, but it will be worthwhile and outlast any of the new box store stuff.

A lot of the new stuff I've had to tell customers to just go buy a new machine, because the repair cost exceeds the value.
 
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I run a small engine repair business on the side (weekends) and it really depends. Older well made shit will always win in my book, you just have to maintain it and repair it with good parts. Upgrading old snowblowers with newer more reliable engines and putting in the impeller kit makes them way tougher and better performing than any of the new stuff. Unless you buy top of the line Ariens, Honda, or Toro (which are expensive) the new box store shit will be WAY worse in 5-6 years than any of the old shit I work on. The metal is flimsy, and instead of dealing with broken starters (which are 20+ years old anyway and need maintenance) you have major problems like broken flimsy gearboxes, snowblower frames that crack around the POS welds, transmissions that fall apart and cost more to fix than an entire new machine, etc. If you own an older machine that is well made from a good brand, you'll have to do some maintenance and repairs to get it up to par, but it will be worthwhile and outlast any of the new box store stuff.

A lot of the new stuff I've had to tell customers to just go buy a new machine, because the repair cost exceeds the value.
I agree with you on this, mostly. I have had a number of old simplicitys (pre briggs and Stratton ownership), and for the dollar, its very tough to beat them. They are heavy duty and for the most part, you can still get parts. My particular post above was because I was trying to use a "hot Rod" modified tractor, with a modified blower, and depend on it when I needed it. I tried...and failed. I'm getting to the point in my life that my time is more valuable to me than the cost of a snowblower, so I bought a new Ariens. Its very nice, and I shouldn't ever have to worry about it again.
 
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I run a small engine repair business on the side (weekends) and it really depends. Older well made shit will always win in my book, you just have to maintain it and repair it with good parts. Upgrading old snowblowers with newer more reliable engines and putting in the impeller kit makes them way tougher and better performing than any of the new stuff. Unless you buy top of the line Ariens, Honda, or Toro (which are expensive) the new box store shit will be WAY worse in 5-6 years than any of the old shit I work on. The metal is flimsy, and instead of dealing with broken starters (which are 20+ years old anyway and need maintenance) you have major problems like broken flimsy gearboxes, snowblower frames that crack around the POS welds, transmissions that fall apart and cost more to fix than an entire new machine, etc. If you own an older machine that is well made from a good brand, you'll have to do some maintenance and repairs to get it up to par, but it will be worthwhile and outlast any of the new box store stuff.

A lot of the new stuff I've had to tell customers to just go buy a new machine, because the repair cost exceeds the value.

For the Snowblower I have can you point me towards a good replacement engine that has a electric starter or the ability to have one added. It's a Toro 5/26 model.

Thanks
 
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I agree with you on this, mostly. I have had a number of old simplicitys (pre briggs and Stratton ownership), and for the dollar, its very tough to beat them. They are heavy duty and for the most part, you can still get parts. My particular post above was because I was trying to use a "hot Rod" modified tractor, with a modified blower, and depend on it when I needed it. I tried...and failed. I'm getting to the point in my life that my time is more valuable to me than the cost of a snowblower, so I bought a new Ariens. Its very nice, and I shouldn't ever have to worry about it again.
You made the right choice, by buying once and crying once and getting a quality machine. I've had customers replace an older Ariens that could've been fixed up with a Predator 212 repower with a home depot special, and the thing has a cracked blower housing and goes to the scrapper after 5 years.
 
For the Snowblower I have can you point me towards a good replacement engine that has a electric starter or the ability to have one added. It's a Toro 5/26 model.

Thanks
If you can get me the model number of the current engine and a picture of the drive belt orientation I can send you a few links to exact replacement engines. I just need the drive belt pic since some snowblowers have a odd set-up where reverse runs off and additional pulley on the camshaft of the engine. These are rare, but are harder to find replacement engines for. Electric start will add probably $100 to the cost of a new engine, and I highly recommend the Predator 212 Honda Clones from Harbor Freight. They can be had for $100 with a coupon and start first or second pull.
 
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Took me a LITTLE while to find the model # because it was painted over.

Pulley assembly

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Model #

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Serial # if it matters.

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Took me a LITTLE while to find the model # because it was painted over.

Pulley assembly







Serial # if it matters.
Perfect, I'll look up some for you tonight since all of my reference info on those engines and what will fit are on my garage computer. The only issue I can see with yours, and it's hard to tell, is that a lot of Toros have really short studs that the current engine bolts too. You might need to punch out the studs (cut them off and drill them out works too) if they are too short and welded directly to the frame. I can't quite tell from the pics, but yours might have a separate platform on top of the frame that the engine is bolted to, which will make putting in longer bolts easier. The reason is the engine block is thicker on the newer engines. Other than that it looks like a pretty straight forward swap, you will just need to swap your pulley over to the new engine's crankshaft, and you can re-use your current belts because the dimensions will all be the same.

Start spraying the belt pulley allen key set screws now with PB Blaster haha.
 
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