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GAS |
The top of the list. This is the 800 pound gorilla for all yard
equipment. You can get away with lax maintenance for a few years but
it always catches up. During long periods of non-use or off season
storage always drain the gas. What happens with gas? Gas dries
to a film. It's very thin but eventually builds as the film does not dissolve
in gas. It does not dissolve with many carb cleaner sprays. With
enough buildup it restricts carb passageways or internal parts to function
properly and eventually make starting hard or impossible. War stories
about "varnish" are endless. So here is some detail about
"varnish". The film buildup can take several forms depending
several factors.
1. The storage location can be dry, damp, cool, or hot. A cool damp
location will cause as much gas drying in the carburetor as a hot dry
location.
2. The carb design. Some are more susceptible to gas drying than others.
3. Gas tank with or without a gas shutoff. If you store with a full
tank in a hot location all the gas in the tank will eventually make it to
the carburetor and evaporate there. Tanks and what is in the carburetor bowl
should be run dry prior to storage.
The "varnish" residue can have several forms, white, green or
brown chalk like film which unlike chalk is hard to remove. It can
also be like a hard paste, gum or even almost glass like. Carburetor
sprays do a very poor job at removing buildup. About the only reliable
way to clean internal passages is with a can solvent with a dip
basket.
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OIL |
The 700 pound gorilla. Change oil every year. Every year you
don't you degrade future performance and total life of your equipment.
I know plenty of people who have cheap crap equipment that lasts for 20
years due to proper use and good maintenance. I have a very old 18
inch 2.5 horse power bottom of the barrel lawnmower that starts on the first
pull.
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Maintenance |
Maintenance, in
season
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| Maintenance, in season |
Check the oil level often and keep
topped off. Snowblower engines don't get used often but put work
under extreme back pressures because of the loads. Low oil is an
engine killer. |
| Brush off snow after use. Touch up controls and bolts frequently with a few drops
of oil, check the belts for cracks each year and keep a spare on
hand. |
| Buy small amounts of gas so you are using it up quickly and keeping fresh gas in the machine, use a gas stabilizer
close to the end of the season ( not needed if you drain your tank and
carburetor). |
| Oil all cables and external nuts especially the skid nuts. Drip
oil drops on seams. Alternately to rust inhibitor touch up bolts and
metal parts with a few drops of oil. It will spread itself
around. A good oil is BP-Blaster which is a penetrating oil and
better at it than WD-40. Be sure to get the skid bolts. |
| When dry touch up rust or bare metal spots with "Must for
Rust" or some other rust inhibitor. Get any exposed metal part
and especially inside the intake housing, impeller, chute, skid bolts,
engine, and any exposed metal. |
| Storage: Clean and store dry inside
if possible or if outdoors covered well. |
| Apply oil inside the chute
base. Let it drip between the chute and the base support.. Oil
or grease the chute crank worm. |
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Maintenance, off season.
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| Maintenance,
off season |
A few simple things will keep next years problems at bay.
Gas: Drain your gas instead of relying on stabilizers which are not
that good
The carburetor sits under a heater box cover. It is usually held
on with 4 screws.
Gas tank. Draining can be done with a siphon, removing the
carburetor gas line, draining from the carburetor bowl drain button on the
bottom of the bowl if available or loosening the nut at the bottom of the
bowl. Catch the gas into a container.
Run the engine to drain the tank, line and carburetor bowl as much as
possible.
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Pulling the spark plug and squirting a few shots of engine oil into the
cylinder is useful. Give the engine a few turns to spread the oil
around. Pull the starter rope slowly until the most resistance
is felt. That will be when the piston is on its compression stroke
and the valves will be closed.
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Wash the machine to remove dirt and any salt deposits.
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Fog the machine with a light coat of WD-40 or any other other similar
product.
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If stored outside set the skids and intake housing on a board off the
ground. Cover the machine against dirt splashes during rain.
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Change
oil at the end of the season. The oil is dirty, has contaminants and
will settle as sludge at the bottom of the of the crankcase. Storing
with fresh oil is best.
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| Grease and oils |
Engine oil: Generally 5-30
weight of the best quality. Synthetics are good to
use. Auger Gearbox: 90 weight EP rated, extra
pressure. See manual. For grease use high quality
grease with an EP, extra pressure rating. Try to get a moisture resistant
rated grease. Tractor internals: Marine or moisture proof grease EP if
available. Using a paint brush is helpful for spreading applying
grease. Spray cans with Lithium are available and good for hard to
reach spots. Remove wheels and grease axles. Nuts, bolts,
cables, seams, levers, chute controls, skid bolts, any and everything. Any
oil, 30 weight, PB Blaster, WD-40. |
| Rust |
There are liquid and jell rust remover/inhibitor/preventers that are very
useful. Must for Rust and Navel Jell are two that are good. For the
Navel Jell apply with a 1/2 inch paint brush. The rust removers leave
a white chalky film which looks bad but if left on will add
protection. Apply a remover until the rust is gone and bare metal
exposed. It's not always possible to reduce the rust fully but often
they will. The jell's leave a much thicker white file which can last
three to six months. This is great protection and worth the messy appearance.
If you don't like the white film then spray the cleaned areas with a light
oil like WD-40 or other fogging oil to keep the cleaned area from
degrading. Any oil would be ok and you can apply it with a rag.
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| Storage |
Storage should be in a dry place, covered which does not get overly
hot. If outdoors a board should be places under the intake housing to
lift it off the ground. The side cover should prevent rain from
splashing up on the snowblower under the cover. The machine should be
repositioned a few times during storage so the tires are not resting on the
same spot.
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| The factory maintenance position |
The snowblower is lifted onto it's bucket to access the
inside tractor and auger drive components. A board is placed under
the intake housing to prevent the snowblower from falling over. A
piece of carpet or thick cloth should also be placed under the intake housing edge to
prevent scraping the
paint. Turn off the gas line or drain gas from the system
before maintenance.
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| Setting the skid shoe height. |
The skid height determines how close to the
ground snow will be cleared. The skids are on the bottom of the left
and right sides of the intake housing. They are held on with two bolts.
There is a flat bar on the bottom of the intake housing is called the
scrapper bar. It's replaceable and meant to take the wear of
scraping the ground instead of damaging the intake housing. It's removable
with 4 to 5 bolts.
The blades are slightly higher than the scraper blade.
Loosen the bolts holding the skids in place. Put a thin board
under the scraper bar the
height to set the scraper off the ground, then lower the skids and tighten the skid bolts.
If your clearing area is not level, unpaved dirt or loose stones you
will want to set
the shoes higher to avoid scraping the auger blades on driveway high spots
and to avoid picking up rocks and twigs.
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| Manuals and documentation |
Manuals and parts breakdowns with part number
are available from most manufactures at their websites. Google
to get the to a makers website. Ariens, Toro, Snapper (now
Simplicity), Simplicity and MTD all have good websites and free
documentation.
Snowblowers have a marketing model name but there is almost always a
small tag on the machine with the factory model number and serial
number. The tag number must be used at manufactures sites to get
documentation.
Big chain stores sell various manufacturers snowblowers labeled with
their own name like Sears or Craftsman. Sears does not make
snowblowers. They purchase them from many manufacturers. Many
snowblowers sold by Sears were made by MTD, Murray or AYP. Sometimes
a Sears number is used and can be looked up at the Sears site. On
other machines the manufacturers name will be on the tag and those numbers
must be looked up at the manufactures site.
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