The Broken Snow Blower Blues

I broke what I think is called the cam shaft right where it joins the gear that is turned by the driveshaft's flywheel on my snow blower (inside the crankcase housing). This shaft drives the transmission belt not the blower impeller belt. It's a Craftsman model C950-52672 (Canadian). An old "Trac Drive" model. It's over 20 years old I think, pre 1987 is all I could find out. Bought used. Built like a tank in every other respect. (Interesting in that some of the warnings stickers on the outside are in German or Dutch). Looks like they don't use real bearings in these small 5HP engines that the crank case cover acts as bearing. I need to replace the shaft and the crankcase cover. That's where the problem originated dirt slowly worked it's way in there and wore down the shaft. It looks like a Briggs and Stratten (B&S I think), but I can't for the life of me find any model number on the engine! It's either painted over or under the housing somewhere. I called Sears Canada with their model number and had limited success with the operator/parts person (who knew nothing about engines). Any part I ordered they couldn't guarantee until mid February! I'd like to fix it. If I could figure out what engine it is there are local places that probably could source the part faster. Any advice? If I can't get it soon I'll probably bite the bullet and buy something bigger and brand new. I've got a soft spot for Husqvarna but Honda makes a pretty sweet engine too. Any thoughts there? Ariens? Deere? Toro? MTD? Other? Probably at least 26"er and more than 8HP this time as I have 100' of driveway to clean, plus sidewalks. Thx.

Reply to
Alan Smithee
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Most often now the fix for your engine is a shortblock which is usually not very cost effective for the age of your unit. There is a chance the model # for your engine is on the top of the blower housing hidden by an electric start button if you have one. Honda makes a nice snowblwer but very costly and Sears has some very poor models but some very good ones as well..

Reply to
Paul9901

Oh god and I just found out today it's a Tecumseh not a B&S.

Reply to
Alan Smithee

I tried a direct email but today it finally bounced.

I wonder if it could be the same as mine. I have a 5 HP Sears Trac Drive that is now about 15 years old. It has a TECUMSEH-MODEL-HS50-67291H engine.

From the owners manual I found it carries a Craftsman model number

143.794053

I got the Tecumseh number from:

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Northern Tool carries a nice selection of engines:

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Parts list available at:

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Reply to
Rich256

Did you try the Sears parts website? With the model of the snowblower, you may be able to figure out the engine and/or get a part # for the parts you need, which you could then possibly get from other sources.

Reply to
trader4

Thanks I had no idea sites like that even existed. I've almost dismantled the whole thing but I still can't see a number on the actual engine. Where do they hide it? I think the manual was long gone on this. Sounds like a very similar machine to mine. I've got the part numbers I need from Sears. They charge nearly the same price as a new engine for a cam shaft and a crank cover. Yikes. Thanks again.

p.s.

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> > Oh god and I just found out today it's a Tecumseh not a B&S. > >

Reply to
Alan Smithee

Reply to
Alan Smithee

Yeah, looks like the same blower. If you do a google you will find quite a few places that sell parts.

For example

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Just which part is it you need? Crankshaft? Camshaft?

I have the owners manual for that blower. Might be useful for you if you get it working again.

Alan Smithee wrote:

Reply to
Rich256

Ah ha. I cleaned the crud off the blower housing...what I didn't see hiding was the engine number 143 764042 which translates to Tecumseh's HS50-67268F -- got it! I think an earlier model than yours but not much. Yes now parts are popping up all over the internet. This DIY stuff is harder than it looks sometimes. Is there instructions somewhere on how to align the cam and the drive shaft to Top Dead Centre somewhere for reassembly? There's a hole in the cam gear does that mean anything?

Reply to
Alan Smithee

Nothing on engine repair.

Alan Smithee wrote:

Reply to
Rich256

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