is the auger still turning & cutting into the snow? broken shear pins are pretty common, but it shouldn't hardly work at all if that's the case.
Be cool, Longshot
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- posted
19 years ago
Weak auger mechanism on snow blower
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- posted
19 years ago
I have an older, but still strong snowblower (8 1/2 HP) that has been running great up until our 3 foot snowstorm this winter. I was able to get everything cleared out during that storm effectively, but haven't been able to clear even smaller accumulations (6-8") since. The problem is that while the drive mechanism still works great and the engine seems to run at full RPM, the auger and blower mechanisms seem to not be running at full throttle...when I drive the machine even slowly through moderate snow, it looks like snow is entering too fast for the machine to clear itself. The snow just kind of dribbles pathetically out of the chute instead of being flung out with any momentum. Even if I stop the forward motion to give the machine time to clear itself, the speed with which the snow comes out of the chute isn't what it used to be.
I'm planning on doing some exploratory surgery this weekend...any advice on what I should be looking for? Can anyone point me towards cutaway drawings / diagrams on the web so that I can get a sense of what's what before taking the knife (OK, the wrench) to it? It's an 8 1/2 HP Tecumseh, probably mid
90's vintage. Red, if that helps.- Vote on answer
- posted
19 years ago
The auger mechanism is turning with no problem. I suspect what's wrong is the impeller in the chute that is supposed to throw the snow that's running slow.
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- posted
19 years ago
Two things to check.
- Enlarged prostate
- Loose drive belt.
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- posted
19 years ago
This sounds a lot like a belt which is slipping. Open the unit and look for the belt(s) which drives the auger and the discharge. Check them and adjust or replace if needed. If you examine a belt and notice that it is extremely glazed on the portion which makes contact with the pulley, then you can get some temporary improvement by lightly sanding the glazed surfaces. Then go buy a replacement belt.
Hope this helps, Gideon