MTD Gold Series 26" snowblower

[JTK]

My father-in-law dug this out of his pole barn/garage and brought it to me the other day. Oh she's GOLD alright. LOL! It's at least 20yrs old and he used it 2-3x at best. I could smell rodent on it and didn't even try to start it until I investigated.

Had to remove all engine and belt shrouding to blow nest material out. Nothing chewed thankfully.

The belly pan / frame cover was gross. There had been so many generations of mice living in there that mouse pee rusted the belly pan to the point it's paper thin and will literally crumble if you bend it. In fact, any rust on the machine is from mouse urine. Ugh..

Other than that, she's a gem and fired right up! It even idles down to a nice low thumping idle. As luck would have it, it's yet another unicorn twin shaft tecumseh. I seem to "luck out" with these every time.

 

[mrsilv04]

The problem is, I hear Rodney Dangerfield's voice inside of my head, while reading these posts...

And the line of "Oh, she's Gold alright" didn't help any.

 

[JC1]

Wow that's a lot of crap . Luckily those machines were sold under many brands including Sears craftsman. Hopefully you can find parts easily and cheap. You may luck out and buy another complete unit for cheap off of someone.

Plenty of good videos on YouTube as well for repairs.

Did the mice chew up the belts?

You should try and remove the wheels and put some anti seize in the shafts. I had a bugger of a time removing on of my wheels. Had to use the 10 to shop press to get one off.

 

[JTK]

Plenty of good videos on YouTube as well for repairs.

Did the mice chew up the belts?

Livin' in winter wonderland I've gotten decent at working on these over the years (unfortunately). The youtube is definitely a help. Dunno how we lived without it.

The belts and friction disk look miraculously new. The wheels slid right off the axles even. The skid shoes and shave plate have rust on them, but zero wear.

 

[simple_gifts]

I have the 5.5HP version of that; not the "gold one"

My father bought it when my parents lived in Western VA; for $1000 bucks he indicated that if he never had to use it it would have been worth every penny.

I believe the first OCI was @ about 10 years. Many years it was never used once.

 

[JC1]

Livin' in winter wonderland I've gotten decent at working on these over the years (unfortunately). The youtube is definitely a help. Dunno how we lived without it.

The belts and friction disk look miraculously new. The wheels slid right off the axles even. The skid shoes and shave plate have rust on them, but zero wear.

That's good news. I have the 24 inch 5.5 HP Sears which is similar.

Did you ever add the pieces of rubber to the auger to get the heavy snow to clear?

Here's a video that shows the upgrade. Personally I used rubber from old bike tires.

 

[JTK]

I have done the impeller mod. I did it to a 24" mtd 2-stage machine I have. I used some cut pieces off a rubber/plastic auger from an Ariens single stage thrower.

 

[tnt_motorsports]

I have done the impeller mod. I did it to a 24" mtd 2-stage machine I have. I used some cut pieces off a rubber/plastic auger from an Ariens single stage thrower.

my Yardman is identical to yours even with the Techumseh! Mine is 2004 era and still runs strong. Some of the steel parts are getting harder to find, not sure if it’s Covid related or just age of the machine. Belts and scraper bar generally can be found on Amazon.

Last spring 2020, I did the impeller mod. She has never thrown snow like that. I even blew some slush and water just to see! Couldn’t believe my eyes.

just my $0.02

 

[tnt_motorsports]

One more thing. The transmission on mine locked up several years ago. I changed some parts that looked suspect to no avail. I called the manufacturer and spoke with customer service. I told the guy on the phone I was having trouble and wanted to fix the problem but didn’t want to keep throwing parts at it, could he suggest a fix. Turns out there was a recall on mine. They sent me the whole kit free of charge and I put it in. It’s worked great ever since

just my $0.02

 

[Whimsey]

my Yardman is identical to yours even with the Techumseh! Mine is 2004 era and still runs strong. Some of the steel parts are getting harder to find, not sure if it’s Covid related or just age of the machine. Belts and scraper bar generally can be found on Amazon.

Last spring 2020, I did the impeller mod. She has never thrown snow like that. I even blew some slush and water just to see! Couldn’t believe my eyes.

just my $0.02

I have a 24" Troy-Bilt with the woefully under powered 179cc PowerMore engine. It runs great but just didn't have the oomph to decently blow our heavy wetter snow we seem to get more often than not. I added the impeller kit and it's a totally different machine now, it actually works well. The impeller kit closed the gap between the impeller and the impeller housing. It works really well now and was well worth doing for me.

 

[JTK]

I have a 24" Troy-Bilt with the woefully under powered 179cc PowerMore engine. It runs great but just didn't have the oomph to decently blow our heavy wetter snow we seem to get more often than not. I added the impeller kit and it's a totally different machine now, it actually works well. The impeller kit closed the gap between the impeller and the impeller housing. It works really well now and was well worth doing for me.

That's odd because my Ariens Snotek machine is 28" with a 180cc LCT ("Liquid Combustion Technology" LOL) engine and it's always had great throwing power even w/out an impeller mod. I do think the average Ariens or Toro has a bit more attention to the impeller. Tighter clearances, etc. The problem with that 28" is I blew through a friction disk in a matter of 4-5yrs. It's a bit too heavy for the wheel drive system. Luckily parts are cheap and friction drives are an easy fix.

 

[Whimsey]

That's odd because my Ariens Snotek machine is 28" with a 180cc LCT ("Liquid Combustion Technology" LOL) engine and it's always had great throwing power even w/out an impeller mod. I do think the average Ariens or Toro has a bit more attention to the impeller. Tighter clearances, etc. The problem with that 28" is I blew through a friction disk in a matter of 4-5yrs. It's a bit too heavy for the wheel drive system. Luckily parts are cheap and friction drives are an easy fix.

You hit the proverbial nail on the head. You pay less you get less .