New snow blower break in

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Ok, I'll admit I committed a sin by BITOG standards. I purchased a Troy-Bilt Storm 2410 snow blower. My drive way is approximately 45'L X 23'W, it's stone and uphill and 22 to 32 inches below the surrounding yard. For my usage it seems the best alternative, as I have very little storage space for a snow blower in my garage. I don't need an expensive heavy duty machine and don't have the time or ability to rebuild an used one. This unit seemed to get decent reviews overall and has a 2 year warranty. Ok! got that out of the way! So now does anyone have recommended ways to break in a new engine? My thinking is to run the engine at various engine speeds for an hour or two then change out the factory fill. The first fill will be with Shell Rotella T 10W-30, my garage is semi heated, then after 10 hours or so change to a synthetic 5W-30 such as Mobil 1 5W-30 HM and then run it the interval spec'd for the conventional 5W-30W spec's. Hopefully this will add to it's life span
smirk.gif
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Whimsey
 
use it as normal, change oil at 3-5 hours.
use syn 5w30

engine should outlast the rest of blower.
 
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Treating it like you suggest will help it last a long time. Have fun this winter.
Hope we do not get any white stuff this winter. We had plenty for the south last year.
 
Make sure the gears are greased. Adjust the skids up to accommodate the gravel. Use what the makers spec. Personally, I hope mine never leaves the shed.
grin2.gif
 
Most of those don't have air filters, so running them without snow on the ground holding the dust down won't really do them any favors.
 
Adjusted the skids was mentioned, due to the gravel. I hope you have a few extra shear pins on hand. Have a friend in the same situation and he replaces many pins due to the gravel.
 
I've bought 2 new (push) lawn mowers over the years.
Both engines were Briggs

Lawn Mower #1: I changed the oil after 5 hours and it looked like silver paint.
This was manufactures recommend.
I said I would never do that again.

Lawn Mower #2: I changed the oil every 1.5 hours. Dark & little silvery.
After 8 oil changes, the oil looked very clean.
Now I feel I can get by changing every 15-20 hours.

Why leave the (dirty) oil in while engine breaks in ? ? ?

Do frequent oil changes till oil starts looking clean.

Edit: I have an Ariens that my Father bought in 1977.
Like anything, don't neglect it.
With care, any Snow Thrower will last years longer.
 
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Originally Posted By: Whimsey
Ok, I'll admit I committed a sin by BITOG standards. I purchased a Troy-Bilt Storm 2410 snow blower. My drive way is approximately 45'L X 23'W, it's stone and uphill and 22 to 32 inches below the surrounding yard. For my usage it seems the best alternative, as I have very little storage space for a snow blower in my garage. I don't need an expensive heavy duty machine and don't have the time or ability to rebuild an used one. This unit seemed to get decent reviews overall and has a 2 year warranty. Ok! got that out of the way! So now does anyone have recommended ways to break in a new engine? My thinking is to run the engine at various engine speeds for an hour or two then change out the factory fill. The first fill will be with Shell Rotella T 10W-30, my garage is semi heated, then after 10 hours or so change to a synthetic 5W-30 such as Mobil 1 5W-30 HM and then run it the interval spec'd for the conventional 5W-30W spec's. Hopefully this will add to it's life span
smirk.gif
.

Whimsey


What about the gear oil for the machine?
 
Originally Posted By: eljefino
Most of those don't have air filters, so running them without snow on the ground holding the dust down won't really do them any favors.


Wow, no air filter, didn't realize that! It doesn't pay to assume. I'm still going to "break it in" for 1 hour then change the oil to the Shell T 10W30 and run that in the snow for 10 hours and change to synthetic 5W30 for the recommended usage after that. The 10 hours should get me through the winter with any luck.

Whimsey
 
Originally Posted By: Donald
I would use the factory oil and when its due for a change, junk the machine. Its an MTD. Why waste money on good oil for an MTD machine?


Ok, that's useful
grin2.gif


Whimsey
 
Originally Posted By: Donald
I would use the factory oil and when its due for a change, junk the machine. Its an MTD. Why waste money on good oil for an MTD machine?


This is a more common attitude than you would think....
 
Originally Posted By: Donald
Originally Posted By: Whimsey
Ok, I'll admit I committed a sin by BITOG standards. I purchased a Troy-Bilt Storm 2410 snow blower. My drive way is approximately 45'L X 23'W, it's stone and uphill and 22 to 32 inches below the surrounding yard. For my usage it seems the best alternative, as I have very little storage space for a snow blower in my garage. I don't need an expensive heavy duty machine and don't have the time or ability to rebuild an used one. This unit seemed to get decent reviews overall and has a 2 year warranty. Ok! got that out of the way! So now does anyone have recommended ways to break in a new engine? My thinking is to run the engine at various engine speeds for an hour or two then change out the factory fill. The first fill will be with Shell Rotella T 10W-30, my garage is semi heated, then after 10 hours or so change to a synthetic 5W-30 such as Mobil 1 5W-30 HM and then run it the interval spec'd for the conventional 5W-30W spec's. Hopefully this will add to it's life span
smirk.gif
.

Whimsey


What about the gear oil for the machine?


They use grease
 
Originally Posted By: Bluestream
Originally Posted By: Donald
Originally Posted By: Whimsey
Ok, I'll admit I committed a sin by BITOG standards. I purchased a Troy-Bilt Storm 2410 snow blower. My drive way is approximately 45'L X 23'W, it's stone and uphill and 22 to 32 inches below the surrounding yard. For my usage it seems the best alternative, as I have very little storage space for a snow blower in my garage. I don't need an expensive heavy duty machine and don't have the time or ability to rebuild an used one. This unit seemed to get decent reviews overall and has a 2 year warranty. Ok! got that out of the way! So now does anyone have recommended ways to break in a new engine? My thinking is to run the engine at various engine speeds for an hour or two then change out the factory fill. The first fill will be with Shell Rotella T 10W-30, my garage is semi heated, then after 10 hours or so change to a synthetic 5W-30 such as Mobil 1 5W-30 HM and then run it the interval spec'd for the conventional 5W-30W spec's. Hopefully this will add to it's life span
smirk.gif
.

Whimsey


What about the gear oil for the machine?


They use grease


I thought they normally had hypoid gears and used gear oil. My Airens does.
 
+1 on the shear bolts - lots of them - and some spare belts

Bought my MTD used about 10 years ago... I think it's a 1997 - 2001. Runs like a top and starts in 2 pulls without fail.

Of course, now that I just bragged about it, it will probably go buns up this coming season
 
Larryinnewyork said: "Lawn Mower #1: I changed the oil after 5 hours and it looked like silver paint.
I said I would never do that again.

Why leave the (dirty) oil in while engine breaks-in?
Do frequent oil changes till oil starts looking clean."


Exactly. Do frequent oil changes until the oil is rid of visible break-in debris. I will also use a little top oil during this period in every other tankful.

On the smallest machines, the front diff/auger box uses grease. On larger machines, they use gear oil. This doesn't need to be changed often ... just check to see if it is at the proper level.

I like the shear pins advice. Also, make sure both tires are inflated to the same PSI ... the machine will handle better and do a cleaner job as well.

Oh, and after one season, I took my machine's wheels off and wiped the axles down with grease. I was very surprised at the amount of rust on them.
 
Nothing wrong with the MTD blower, a true BITOG-er can make them last for many years
wink.gif


Shouldn't the motor be broken in under load throwing snow at different throttle settings ?
 
Originally Posted By: Whimsey
I'm still going to "break it in" for 1 hour then change the oil to the Shell T 10W30...


By " ...'break it in' for 1 hour..." you mean warm it up for 5-10 minutes, then run it under a heavy load throwing wet, heavy snow for 50-55 minutes right? Varying engine RPM under no-load conditions means the rings go faster and slower under 0 tension conditions... You gotta put a load on it to increase cylinder pressure (thus increasing ring tension) so it will "break in" instead of "burnish" the cylinder walls and ring faces.

If you change the oil every 3 years with either the cheapest thing you can find or the free "HD 30 wt" oil in the cardboard can you got from your grandfather's estate you're doing better than 98% of outdoor power equipment owners. I have a 4HP Tecumseh around 40 years old that runs good as new... Are you going to keep the blower 40+ years?
 
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If you're super-crazy-paranoid my recipe would be warm up 5 minutes and run factory fill under load for 1-3 hours, first oil change (hot oil) with recommended viscosity conventional oil (5w30?), second oil change 3-5 hours after the first OCI with recommended viscosity conventional oil. Mix up 1-1.3oz of 2-stroke oil or ATF or MMO in 5 gal of non-ethanol gas for 640:1-500:1 gas/oil mix and run that as the first and only fuel for 1 season or the 5-gal gas can worth (as an upper cylinder lube break-in fuel...if you have extra gas left in the can pour it in your car in the spring). After that run whatever Xw30 oil you want from $0.75/qt clearance oil to $75/qt Ferrari-Shell oil and change it once a year in the spring while prepping the blower for summer storage. The blower engine will out live you by several decades.
 
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I just bought Troy-Bilt Vortex 2490 277cc 24-in Three-Stage snow blower from Lowes. There is no manual for the engine. I assume I don't have to do any thing such as oil change or check the oil before I use it. It came pre-assembled from Lowes.
 
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