blew up my toro, got a bobcat

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Had a hand-me-down Toro 824, 1988 vintage. Worked okay. Was really eating belts near its endgame and had to rewire around all the handle-mounted killswitches. Carb gummed up half the time despite sta-bil. Okay it was a heap.
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Was out blowing last weekend and the wheel drive started acting funny: It wouldn't reverse, two of the three forward speeds worked, but at about the same speed. Tore into it.

It's supposed to have two belt driven pulleys with a 1/2" gap between: front pulley runs the auger, rear goes into the transmission. A rubber wheel rubs one side of the back of the rear pulley at different distances from center for different effective ratios. Well, a weld broke and the pulley busted off its central axle and the spring-loaded wheel pushed it into the front, auger pulley. Incredibly the two meshed and blowing was carrying on as usual with a semblance of forward motion... and a somewhat concerning noise under the belt cover.

Even though it's 21 years old I'll call this a design defect: Having a rubber tire load one side of the disc/pulley was causing metal fatigue at the weld. Started taking it apart then realized that even if I could weld it back together I don't have a jig to center the pulley and not have it wobble.

So I threw the pile of parts in a snowbank and went on craigslist. Found my dream* blower, a 1982ish bobcat with 24 inch cut (same) and 7 hp briggs engine with carb problems. Been without a pickup truck since october so I stuffed this thing in my saturn wagon with the seat down and the liftgate up. Clearance was tight, almost had to take the gas cap off to fit through the hatch.
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Have the same carb on my generator so I figured I could borrow it if I had to order a carb off ebay or whatever.

Got the carb blown apart, had some crud in the main jet, forced it out with a little red tube on the end of a can of brake cleaner.

She's running fine now (knock wood) in fact it has more pep than any other 7 hp motor I've had! Almost like a "ringer". Flings the snow several times further... 30 feet instead of 7 feet, no kidding! I did a real half-baked job with the toro and had remnants that this bobcat swept up no problem. It even scraped down to pavement, I didn't know they could do that!!
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Funny thing about the 'cat, I should get a picture, is the 2nd stage flappers parallel the tires. The engine & belts do too, 90 degrees off from "usual". The exhaust shoots straight at the operator and is LOUD.

Incidentally briggs recommends 30 weight, except if it's below freezing (do you think?) when they want 5w20.
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*in my price range
 
Whew... from a 1988 to a 1982 model????? You are a glutten for punishment my man!! Yes, the friction wheel drive system is what every (non hydrostatic drive) 2-stg machine I've ever seen uses. There are some odd-ball old schoolers with a real gear drive so I'm told. Anyhoo, that Bobcat sounds interesting!

Joel
 
Refreshing read, good luck with that new bobcat.
My question is on the 27 year old recommendation on the oil from B&S. Will you substitute? What's the choice?
 
Previous owner lived in the city and had a short driveway.
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Maybe they only plowed out for church on sundays.
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Running valvoline syn 5w30.

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This actually reminds me of my Dad, just by the color (if not the vintage)... his blower was an ancient ariens.

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There are some controls halfway down the handle that are completely unlabeled... eg the auger clutch.

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flapper second stage

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This is something all blowers should have, a giant wingnut so the chute angle stays were you want it! So sick of the snow's pressure readjusting it against my will!
 
For a guy living in Maine... you should know that the only snow-blower worth owning is an Ariens.
 
i use 10 w 30 SYNTHETIC oil ...in a cold climat 30 w is not right ..it gets cold in MAINE ...i just sold my COLUMBIA 1977snow blower to my brother ..it had a TECUMSEH motor ..i bought a new st1130 dle ARIENS 11 hp with a TECUMSEH motor [cast iron bore]
 
WOW that is an odd duck!! Never saw one like it. You'd think that narrow impeller opening could barely feed that impeller?!? Are the skid shoes worn that badly or is it the pic?? Ehh.. I dunno about the "only snow-blower worth owning is an Ariens" comment. Ariens is half the machine they used to be. Definitely better than an MTD, but not as good as a Honda, Simplicity large frame or even a high-end Toro IMO.

Joel
 
trouble in paradise... got 15 inches of fluffy snow today... runs good under load but cackles and spits blue flames out the exhaust at high idle... haven't touched the idle mix screw yet, the main screw doesn't seem to help it. Blue = lean right?

Also the gas line when it's disconnected from the carb at 1/4 tank won't flow, I have to dip it a couple inches. Odd. Blew some air backwards thru the line and got a gas volcano out the top of the tank so I think that's all okay. Filled the tank to the brim and it ran well enough to clear everything out... and it still shoots snow way the heck away so I'm
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there...
 
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