Upgraded my broken 2005 snowblower to an 80s model - what do you think?

[chemman]

Replacement parts, either OEM or aftermarket, should not be too big of a problem. Start with these two places first:

Buy Discount Lawn Mower Parts, Echo Trimmers, Ego Batteries Online | RCPW

Buy discount lawn mower parts, Echo Blowers, Ego Batteries online. Genuine and aftermarket mower repair parts for Toro, Scag, ECHO, Honda, EGO, Kohler, Kawasaki and more.

www.rcpw.com

https://www.jackssmallengines.com/

Here is a website for a place that sells a lot of refurbished and still good parts for lots of older machines:

Ted's Mower S&S Inc. | Lawn Equipment Shop | Omaha, NE

402-731-7058 - Competitively priced high-end lawn equipment. Family-owned and operated store. In business since 1963. Mowers. Trimmers. Snow blowers.

www.tedsmower.com

 

[GSCJR]

What kind of work did you have to do it and what is it like getting parts?

I replaced the fuel lines, fuel shut off valve, carburetor, spark plug and the oil of course . @JC1 beat me to it.

 

[JC1]

If the OP is in Canada, it may be harder to get the parts shipped from the US. There are a lot of good guys at snow blower forum and they will be very helpful for what you need. Hopefully you can remove the wheels come spring and so some maintenance. I'd also treat the rust and paint it to keep the metal protected.

There are a lot of good videos on YouTube for maintenance and repair.

 

[350Rocket]

You can buy a reasonable Chinese adjustable carb off Amazon.cs for under $30. You just need to get the model number from your engine. Looks like a Tecumseh. There is a good Canadian website for parts C-equipment.

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www.c-equipment.com

I see your muffler glows red, mine does too. I adjusted the carb as per Donyboy73 and other YouTubers, so I doubt it's running rich.

Check snowblower forum for a lot of good advice.

Snowblower Forum

A forum community dedicated to Snowblower owners and enthusiasts. Come join the discussion about brands, maintenance, reviews, troubleshooting, repairs, accessories, classifieds, and more!

www.snowblowerforum.com

That machine looms pretty beat up, but what can to do when you need something. The Canadian market is a bit more expensive. I bought my Toro back In October.

When it gets warmer I'll see if I can clean out the needle and seat, it's been running better and better the longer I use it. I had the same issue with my 1981 11hp Briggs on my lawnfllite. A bunch of hairs were stuck inside causing it to leak fuel if you didn't shut the valve off.
This thing is no worse off rust wise than the 2005 craftsman it's replacing. No holes or anything, just surface rust. The starter is newer, fuel line and shutoff valve look fairly new, etc. I'm just crossing my fingers the belts hold up the next 2 months.
I just signed up for snowblower forum. Found a few posts with similar MTD from the 80s. Still trying to figure out what year this is. My lawnfllite is an 81 and I think this is around the same. I'll have to figure out if it's electronic ignition or points.

 

[350Rocket]

I replaced the fuel lines, fuel shut off valve, carburetor, spark plug and the oil of course . @JC1 beat me to it.

I drained unknown cleanish looking oil and refilled with m1 0w40 that's in all my machines right now.

 

[GSCJR]

I use SuperTech 5w-20 in everything because I like to live dangerously

 

[350Rocket]

I use SuperTech 5w-20 in everything because I like to live dangerously

I believe the engine says 5w20 below 0 degrees or something like that....lol
But that was in 1979, oil has changed since then and I'm sure there's some wear after 43 years of use. I think it would be fine with any fresh oil but it was working very hard in this thick stuff so it can't hurt to go a little thick.

 

[JC1]

I'm using 5w-30 Pennzoil Ultra.

 

[Fordiesel69]

To the original poster.....I do not want to cause any alarm but I had to sell 2 of the three of these exact models for next to nothing as the front gear box stripped out. Please inspect the fluid in yours and and make sure to keep shear pins and not graded bolts in them. I assume the gear box is kinda light duty compared to the rest of the machine. My two were in excellent condition. Use "00" grease if your gearbox seals leak. I was impressed with how heavy duty the machine was with exception to the gear box.

Also there is some incorrect advice on using thicker oil. Yes these engines need to work hard, but the oil will seldom come up to its full warm cSt viscosity. So a 5w-30 will always be operating on a thick side until the crankcase and oil reached full warm. Never use super think oil in these engine as the dripper will be unable to sling the oil up to the top of the engine. The top 3 reasons that tecumseh's fail is; 1. Valve failure due to clearance getting off, 2. Users overspeeding them = connecting rod failure, 3. Oil burning due to owners idling them to warm up, or using too thick oil.

 

[350Rocket]

To the original poster.....I do not want to cause any alarm but I had to sell 2 of the three of these exact models for next to nothing as the front gear box stripped out. Please inspect the fluid in yours and and make sure to keep shear pins and not graded bolts in them. I assume the gear box is kinda light duty compared to the rest of the machine. My two were in excellent condition. Use "00" grease if your gearbox seals leak. I was impressed with how heavy duty the machine was with exception to the gear box.

Also there is some incorrect advice on using thicker oil. Yes these engines need to work hard, but the oil will seldom come up to its full warm cSt viscosity. So a 5w-30 will always be operating on a thick side until the crankcase and oil reached full warm. Never use super think oil in these engine as the dripper will be unable to sling the oil up to the top of the engine. The top 3 reasons that tecumseh's fail is; 1. Valve failure due to clearance getting off, 2. Users overspeeding them = connecting rod failure, 3. Oil burning due to owners idling them to warm up, or using too thick oil.

I will check the gearbox oil this weekend. I had been planning on changing it this spring when I no longer need it until next winter, but I should at least look at it, especially after seeing the transaxle gear oil in my 81 lawnfllite 3 speed. I drained it the other night cause I realized it's the easiest access ever...the goop that came out looked terrible. The pictures don't quite look as bad as it appeared while draining. Makes me nervous about what it could look like in the snowblower.
Do you think a 0w40 like the m1 FS I have in there would be thin enough? I could swap it for a 0w30 or even a 0w20.
I'm aware of the overspeed issue causing thrown rods so I would shut it down ASAP if it sounded like it was revving too high. I think it's running around 3000-3600 rpm.
It's been running great, started it cold a couple of times just to test and it started with 3 or less weak pulls of the cord.