Snowblower & small engine maintenance and repair thread - brokeout of SNOW thread

CMNTMXR57

GM, Holden & Chrysler Mini-Van nut swinger
Sep 12, 2008
26,172
31,303
Elgin
The engine has nothing to do with it being an Ariens made in the USA. Arien's blowers themselves, with the ole Tecumseh snow king engines are snow-dozers. Unfortunately since Tecumseh no longer supplies any of these manufacturer's such as Ariens, Craftsman, Toro, etc... So they've reverted to sourcing engines from other manufacturers, and they just aren't as good at snow/winter hard work.

My Arien's (an ST724) is about 20 years old and is a bulldozer. Starts every year first pull and will take down mountains of frozen muck (it has many times) and ask, "is that all you got son?". Why? Tecumseh Snow-king.

The little Crapsman exactly like Carter's above, that my in-laws gave me this past spring, except it's on tracks, bulldozed through foot tall drifts at the other house tonight. It too... Tecumseh Snow King.
 

01Cobra

Johnny Cobra
May 3, 2006
8,662
3,099
Gas station fuel just ruins these small engines that don’t get run on the regular. Snow blower gets used so infrequent. I just put a new carb on my 250cc single stage and I’m running the ethanol free cans here on out. We don’t get enough snows to realize much in savings.
 

Outlaw

TCG Elite Member
TCG Premium
Jul 24, 2009
19,609
16,068
Johnsburg
Everything I own that isn’t a vehicle gets the same maintenance plan unless it’s something that REALLY gets used a lot.

One day in the spring I change the oil on everything. Mowers, blowers, generators, air compressor, scooter, quads... ends up being like 15 oil changes lol.

Pure 91 octane fuel always.

I also have fuel shut offs on everything whether it be from the factory or me installing it.

I RARELY have something not fire up by the 3rd pull after turning the fuel on. Pretty simple regiment to follow.
 

Outlaw

TCG Elite Member
TCG Premium
Jul 24, 2009
19,609
16,068
Johnsburg
The engine has nothing to do with it being an Ariens made in the USA. Arien's blowers themselves, with the ole Tecumseh snow king engines are snow-dozers. Unfortunately since Tecumseh no longer supplies any of these manufacturer's such as Ariens, Craftsman, Toro, etc... So they've reverted to sourcing engines from other manufacturers, and they just aren't as good at snow/winter hard work.

My Arien's (an ST724) is about 20 years old and is a bulldozer. Starts every year first pull and will take down mountains of frozen muck (it has many times) and ask, "is that all you got son?". Why? Tecumseh Snow-king.

The little Crapsman exactly like Carter's above, that my in-laws gave me this past spring, except it's on tracks, bulldozed through foot tall drifts at the other house tonight. It too... Tecumseh Snow King.

Old Ariens FTW. I have a 522 2-stroke single stage and a 1236 2-stage. Mice chewed the tanks on BOTH of them over the summer so I have to track down replacements.

35EAA233-7FEF-4448-8B19-A8B452D4AC24.jpeg


D343358E-5EC3-4889-9AC1-DFEDD71FC4D7.jpeg
 

Outlaw

TCG Elite Member
TCG Premium
Jul 24, 2009
19,609
16,068
Johnsburg
Ethanol free pump fuel or the VP or truefuel cans are the way to go. I run the 50:1 VP Premix in my chainsaws, weed eater, blowers and the 2-stroke snowblower.

I use Klotz oil and 91 ethanol free in my
Lawn Boys at 40:1 since they get used more than I care to buy fuel at $20/gal

1DDAFE9F-EFAA-4983-8FC4-63532B0C54A6.jpeg


2675C4EC-CB23-4B7A-920C-5D01BBC516C3.jpeg
 

Yaj Yak

Gladys
TCG Premium
May 24, 2007
122,223
87,871
Niche score of 2,363
Am I the only one that thinks it’s a bigger pain in the ass to plug the electric start in than it is to just pull start a snowblower?

If you’re up on your maintenance there’s no reason it shouldn’t start after a few pulls


i have an extension cord run into my shed.

it's fuckin easy breasy cover girl to start it with the cord.
 

Chester Copperpot

Unvaxxed Untermensch
TCG Premium
May 7, 2010
39,411
40,188
Blanco el Norte
Am I the only one that thinks it’s a bigger pain in the ass to plug the electric start in than it is to just pull start a snowblower?

If you’re up on your maintenance there’s no reason it shouldn’t start after a few pulls
for all the limp wristed soyboys who still need to prime and choke the thing regardless of pulling once or pressing a button
 

01Cobra

Johnny Cobra
May 3, 2006
8,662
3,099
Am I the only one that thinks it’s a bigger pain in the ass to plug the electric start in than it is to just pull start a snowblower?

If you’re up on your maintenance there’s no reason it shouldn’t start after a few pulls

even when my carb was about trashed just a half pull would turn over the 250cc Briggs. Has electric start never need it.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Outlaw

DanJ

>
Staff member
Moderator
TCG Premium
May 25, 2007
33,560
16,901
Aurora
Am I the only one that thinks it’s a bigger pain in the ass to plug the electric start in than it is to just pull start a snowblower?

If you’re up on your maintenance there’s no reason it shouldn’t start after a few pulls

It’s more of a hassle to plug it in to me. Nice for my wife though who I think has the strength but doesn’t completely understand the mechanics of pull starting something.
 

daturbosix

HNIC @ GoodFellas Garage
TCG Sponsor
Mar 2, 2008
16,372
15,216
Aurora
Real Name
Jeff
daturbosix daturbosix Do you guys do carb cleanup/swaps on snowblowers?
for the price of aftermarket parts these days it's hardly worth buying a kit to do a carb rebuild. I advise just buying a Chinese carb off of Amazon or eBay for your application. You may have to replace it every couple years but it's far cheaper than doing the rebuilds.
 

blakbearddelite

I'm not one of your 'shit-hole' buddies!
TCG Premium
Jun 28, 2007
29,203
9,026
FL
for the price of aftermarket parts these days it's hardly worth buying a kit to do a carb rebuild. I advise just buying a Chinese carb off of Amazon or eBay for your application. You may have to replace it every couple years but it's far cheaper than doing the rebuilds.

Yeah, I should have put the emphasis on replace. I saw that they're less than $20 on Amazon.
 

Shawn1112

TCG Elite Member
TCG Premium
Aug 4, 2010
34,901
104,516
Streamwood
People across the street have that. Our friend that’s in high end landscaping sales says it’s. $50K driveway without the heat. Seems like a weird thing to spend money on.
My uncle when he was alive had a home remodeling biz. When I was a garbage man and would get laid off in the winters I would go work with him for cash. He did a ton of insurance work. Anyway, we did an insurance job on a multi million dollar house in Barrington Shores iirc that had their basement flood. Not only did they have that on their driveway, but they had a HUGE patio that had it as well. This was like 20yrs ago lol. I understood the driveway to an extent, but not the patio.
 
  • Wow
Reactions: DanJ
Old Thread: Hello . There have been no replies in this thread for 90 days.
Content in this thread may no longer be relevant. Consider starting a new thread to get fresh replies.

Thread Info