[alleyyooper]

Was coming home from a day of checking bee yards and saw this machine sitting beside the road. Even if unfixable the scrape money would have been a lot as it is heavy. So glad I had my ramps and block in tackle in the back of the truck.







Lots of missing parts on the engine but every thing else seemed fine. I held off doing any thing to it hoping to find engine parts that were missing with no luck. Finally decided on a new engine. A Harbor Freight 6.5hp hemi head Predator.
I cleared the deck of the old engine.



Did the easy shaft check to make sure they were the same.



Every thing on the deck lined up perfect including the holes for the engine hold down bolts, looks good mounted.





I did have to lower the chute crank rod to clear the OHV cover which is cart so is the hemi head model. the non Hemi model has a stamped steel valve cover.





Removed the chute so I could get into the Impeller and drill holes for the impeller kit.



Still waiting to do the kit and install the new tires I bought.

Al

 

[jd.rasentrac]

Great find, Al! So: let the heavy snowfall bigin (maybe later, when you've fixed it). :rolling:

 

[KennyP]

Wow! A Hemi-powered snow blower!

 

[alleyyooper]

This is the non hemi Predator Idem number 69730, note the stamped steel valve cover. It is on my log splitter.



This is the hemi Predator Item number 60363, Note the cast alum valve cover.



Al

 

[MH81]

Nice that so much of it lined up for you.
When things like that happen to me, I start looking around for what is going to go wrong.
Hope the rest of the job goes that smooth.

 

[holdenboy1960]

sweet find , will be a handy unit for you

 

[HANKG]

Nice switch out, and hey its blown

 

[Trav1s]

Love it!

 

[Auburn David]

So thats what a snow blower looks like huh?I thought it was some kind of odd/new tiller when I first looked at the pictures..still dont get how they work..but it seems they do.Nice looking setup..and great find!

 

[LilysDad]

In Alabama they're called leaf blowers.

 

[alleyyooper]

So far every thing is going good except the wheels are froze to the axels so I may have to put the new tires on with the wheels frozen in place. Got them soaking so in a few days will see.

Al

 

[KennyP]

Get some Acetone/ATF! That will work real well for that!

 

[alleyyooper]

Have them soaking so in a few days we will see.

Al

 

[alleyyooper]

I got the new tires on but had to do one install with the wheel on the axel. Just got tired of fooling with it and it will give me some thing to do this summer.



Installed a impeller kit on the impeller so it closes up that gap.





We had a 10 inch snow fall and the ground was so warm it has 2 inches of slush under 8 inches of snow when I blew the drive out the first time I used it.

It was throwing the snow a good 30 feet and never plugged the chute once even when I had it in high gear. then we got 4 inches of snow that turned to slush and I decided to try the blower on it rather than the shovel. Again it did a great job with no plugging. I did find out the impeller belt was a bit to long so had to get a shorter one and change it out.

Finally I got Kare to get pictures of it in use. Of course it isn't much snow more like a heavy frost.





Really couldn't go fast enough to put the engine to work and throw the snow like it can.

Al

 

[alleyyooper]

I Parked this in the Mother in Laws back yard garage dad built for his lawn and garden stuff the last time I used it. I had the Idea I would go over later and change the oil and drain the fuel out and run some of the expensive stuff in it for storage. Well none of that happened because in April I went in for knee surgery and in early June pushing things I got tangled in some deep grass and fell. Landed right on a fallen tree branch with a stub sticking up. Spent 3 hours in ER getting E rays to make sure I didn't ruin my NEW KNEE, got 6 stiches to close up the insistion I ripped open.

Kare put me on a very short leash after that then I went in again in August for another NEW KNEE. So I was again on that short leash for almost 90 days. Next chance I got we had ten inches of snow so we drive to mom's so I could clean her drive, I took my trailer so I could bring the machine home after to change the oil and drain the fuel and add some new good stuff since I had to prime it to start it down the carb throat. Back at home I relished how nice it was to have that machine to clear paths here rather than the big tractor with a back blade.

Just before Christmas I got my self a New Ariens Sno Tex 208cc 24 inch snow blower. I kept looking for another thro away MTD but couldn't find one.

Al

 

[alleyyooper]

I bring the new Sno Tex home added gasoline primed per instructions after I had checked the oil. fired up on the first pull. Cleaned up some of the old snow just to play with it. Waited a week and we got 5 inches of wet snow, while I was at moms cleaning her drive it started to rain. When I got home I broke out the new blower, cleaned the drive around the mail box and all the paths. It blew the snow decent and a decent distance yet it was wet. It did not plug ever despite that wet stuff.

Neat can lock the right side impeller drive handle bar so you can rotate the chute.

The crank to rotate the chute is on the left side of the handle bars.

Finish and start cleaning machine off to park inside. Big ring of frozen stuff at the start of the impeller housing. Will do a impeller kit job on it this summer so that area gets cleaned or wiped if you will.

Tires do not give much traction if you need a little extra. Figured I would just stud them like the ATV.

Prices for studs are just crazy high now. Tire chains are as bad for a tiny snow blower tire. Have some old car tire chains I will cut down this summer for it.

All in all I think it is a OK machine starts good isn't hard to turn it at the end of the run, controls are handy except that dumb thought out chute crank.

http://www.sno-tek.net/files/images/home/sno-tek-24.jpg

Al