RIP 44 years old snowblower

I got it home and finished up what I couldn't because of the other one breaking down. Then drained the oil which was pretty black, but full. Next I will grease everything.
 

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I got it home and finished up what I couldn't because of the other one breaking down. Then drained the oil which was pretty black, but full. Next I will grease everything.
Wow, that’s a 2009 model? It’s in great condition. The previous owner must have taken very good care of it. 👍
 
I believe the engine in that series had cast iron bore. I'd be pulling that cover off and checking them belts also tip up and pull bottom plate off to se friction wheel way easier before you fill back with oil.
 
That Briggs is 11.50 ft pounds torque , i guess around around 8 to 9 H.P.
i have the exact same engine on my 24" deluxe and it has been perfect !
the ariens are well built machine's dual auger and impeller drive belts ,mine has never slipped the belts even in the heavy wet snow, i can bog it out before they slip. Excellent machines !
I wonder how the newer ones are with the Chinese engines.
By the way where did you pick the blower up ?
Robertson small engines is in my neck of the woods.
 
I believe the engine in that series had cast iron bore. I'd be pulling that cover off and checking them belts also tip up and pull bottom plate off to se friction wheel way easier before you fill back with oil.
I will check that and also change the trans oil. Drive engages as soon as I move the lever, seems like a good sign for the friction disc.
That Briggs is 11.50 ft pounds torque , i guess around around 8 to 9 H.P.
i have the exact same engine on my 24" deluxe and it has been perfect !
the ariens are well built machine's dual auger and impeller drive belts ,mine has never slipped the belts even in the heavy wet snow, i can bog it out before they slip. Excellent machines !
I wonder how the newer ones are with the Chinese engines.
By the way where did you pick the blower up ?
Robertson small engines is in my neck of the woods.
I picked it up in Kingston. I figured it was a good sign that it was not bought at Lowe's or Rona.
The engine looks almost identical to the 9.5hp ohv snowtek? on the 05 Craftsman.
 
I will check that and also change the trans oil. Drive engages as soon as I move the lever, seems like a good sign for the friction disc.

I picked it up in Kingston. I figured it was a good sign that it was not bought at Lowe's or Rona.
The engine looks almost identical to the 9.5hp ohv snowtek? on the 05 Craftsman.
Yes i agree i don't think the orange ariens were available in box stores in Canada only the black snow tec line. which was available at home depot here. And they came with the chinese engine when i bought mine so i stayed clear of the snowtec line.
I'm going to look for my bill of sale and see what year i bought mine .
 
Yes i agree i don't think the orange ariens were available in box stores in Canada only the black snow tec line. which was available at home depot here. And they came with the chinese engine when i bought mine so i stayed clear of the snowtec line.
I'm going to look for my bill of sale and see what year i bought mine .
So i bought mine 19th ,Sept, 2011 from The Ottawa good time centre for $1005 taxes in....really did not think it was that long ago man time flies .
 
Sorry to hear as well. I have a 2004 Craftsman snow blower, green, 2 stage, no light, 9 HP and 29". Of course made by MTD and with a Tecumseh engine. The starter went at least 10 years ago, so I pull start it. I believe I paid around $629 for it. Believe it or not, my wife's cousin got the same model in 2020 during the pandemic for $299 brand new. I always wanted to have a lawn and garden store (as opposed to big box) Ariens. My uncle in MASS still has his from 1978. When it comes to these machines I did treat myself to a Honda mower during the pandemic, replacing my 2002 Craftsman, which started first pull every time, but lost the ring that keeps the grass from spraying out from under the deck...the honda I believe is only 4.8 HP but it kicks butt

Oh yeah always wanted a snow blower with a real differential, mine is the pin lock. With a lawnmower hardly necessary...and it was not until 2020 that I owned a self propelled one :ROFLMAO:
 
My chipper has a one of those BS slant cylinder OHV motors with the top gas tank on it but only 5.5 hp. I've run the crap out of it for the last 8 years since it was given to me, only this year the coil failed on it. I forget what year it is but other than the coil going bad it takes a licking and doesn't use any oil. Guy who gave it to me used it to chip up a big willow tree. He bought it from Home Depot and it's marked as a repaired unit. I don't think that motor will give you any problems on snowblower.
 
Sorry to hear as well. I have a 2004 Craftsman snow blower, green, 2 stage, no light, 9 HP and 29". Of course made by MTD and with a Tecumseh engine. The starter went at least 10 years ago, so I pull start it. I believe I paid around $629 for it. Believe it or not, my wife's cousin got the same model in 2020 during the pandemic for $299 brand new. I always wanted to have a lawn and garden store (as opposed to big box) Ariens. My uncle in MASS still has his from 1978. When it comes to these machines I did treat myself to a Honda mower during the pandemic, replacing my 2002 Craftsman, which started first pull every time, but lost the ring that keeps the grass from spraying out from under the deck...the honda I believe is only 4.8 HP but it kicks butt

Oh yeah always wanted a snow blower with a real differential, mine is the pin lock. With a lawnmower hardly necessary...and it was not until 2020 that I owned a self propelled one :ROFLMAO:
My craftsman was a 2005 (I think) made by AYP/Husqvarna. I hated the way it worked (will not roll without pulling the release cables, which sometimes froze), the new to me Ariens acts just like the old MTD did. I can pull it back by hand instead of having to switch into reverse if I just want to back up a little. The drive and auger engagements feel just like the old MTD, so it's easy to maneuver. And it's like a brand new machine compared to the old one with 44 winters of use. Very happy so far.
 
That ariens is a pretty good score for our times we are in now. I personally like the old cast iron arien ones but those are not exempt from their issues either......

Anyways those MTD's are built like tanks back in that era minus those gear boxes. I would attempt to salvage it as there has got to be a replacement somewhere.

PM me if you want a gear box. I will dig thru my stash.
 
That ariens is a pretty good score for our times we are in now. I personally like the old cast iron arien ones but those are not exempt from their issues either......

Anyways those MTD's are built like tanks back in that era minus those gear boxes. I would attempt to salvage it as there has got to be a replacement somewhere.

PM me if you want a gear box. I will dig thru my stash.
Yeah the engine is the only real downgrade to me...sure it has more power....but I think that Tecumseh hm80 was going to run forever. 44 years old and no smoke or oil usage. Plus the muffler was rusted out internally and it sounded badass. The ohv Briggs sounds boring in comparison.

For the new Ariens, I drained the oil for more than 24 hours plus put a litre of cheap 5w30 through as a flush, now it's filled with m1 0w40 like all my engines.

I might be interested in the gearbox if the shipping ends up not too bad..I hate to scrap this thing. My wife's uncle does have a wood chipper with the same Tecumseh hm80 on it, so I might ask if he wants it. But his looks restored, nice orange paint job on it. Probably unlikely to fail. He owns a 97 Silverado with 400k miles as his plow truck, so I think he takes care of stuff.
 
Yeah the engine is the only real downgrade to me...sure it has more power....but I think that Tecumseh hm80 was going to run forever. 44 years old and no smoke or oil usage. Plus the muffler was rusted out internally and it sounded badass. The ohv Briggs sounds boring in comparison.

For the new Ariens, I drained the oil for more than 24 hours plus put a litre of cheap 5w30 through as a flush, now it's filled with m1 0w40 like all my engines.

I might be interested in the gearbox if the shipping ends up not too bad..I hate to scrap this thing. My wife's uncle does have a wood chipper with the same Tecumseh hm80 on it, so I might ask if he wants it. But his looks restored, nice orange paint job on it. Probably unlikely to fail. He owns a 97 Silverado with 400k miles as his plow truck, so I think he takes care of stuff.
My old blower was a 1980 wedge field came from local shop it had the tecumseh hm100 .
i wouldn't trade the briggs for the 10 hp tecumseh ever ! briggs is way quieter much better on fuel, reliability is up in the air in 31 years the only thing the tecumseh needed is muffler and one carb rebuild .
Another thing the Ariens throws the snow way further then my old blower ever dreamed of .
 
My old blower was a 1980 wedge field came from local shop it had the tecumseh hm100 .
i wouldn't trade the briggs for the 10 hp tecumseh ever ! briggs is way quieter much better on fuel, reliability is up in the air in 31 years the only thing the tecumseh needed is muffler and one carb rebuild .
Another thing the Ariens throws the snow way further then my old blower ever dreamed of .
The Ariens was definitely blowing the heavy wet snow way further than anything I've ever used. It was pretty impressive.
I just added some gumout regane to the fuel. I might end up having to take apart the carb and clean it. It ran okay but needed a little more choke than it should have on the cold start...and when I throttle it down to fast it will backfire pretty loud.
I never replaced the muffler on the Tecumseh. I actually enjoyed the sound out of it, it made snowblowing more fun. But not knowing when the next breakdown was going to be wasn't fun.
The Briggs OHV engines seem to be really known for cylinder head problems, causing bent pushrods. Obviously it doesn't happen to all of them and hopefully it won't to mine.
After about 40 minutes using it around our house I find it feels exactly the same as the old MTD, as far as the driver and auger engagement and handling it. Way better tires though. It gets traction when the old one wouldn't. The chute crank turns the chute much faster than my old one also.
 
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