# Old Ford St526 seized



## papa_smurf49319 (Feb 6, 2011)

Long story short i have a long driveway and get lots of snow and drifts. I picked up this old Ford st526 at a yard sale before winter and it has been great all winter long so far. Well i was checking the oil and it was always full so the last two times i used it i did not bother to check it (my first mistake). Well i was using it today and all of a sudden it slowly quit and died, i tried pulling her over and it did slowly until i couldnt pull it anymore. So i checked the oil and of course i could not see the level. So i pulled the plug and filled the cylinder with oil hoping to free it up, i also filled the crankcase then as well. It would not roll over so i pulled the recoil off and spun it backwards and forwards and it fried up rather easily. Of course it was low on compression and would barely start, but once started seemed to work well, except it wont move forwards or backwards and it appears as if the friction drive wore out as well. 

So long story short it has a tekumse engine on it and it will start after lots of pulls on ether and i need a friction drive. 

Does anyone know where i can get engine parts such as piston rings and possibly a piston, and lastly where i can get a friction drive?

I am on a budget hence why i picked up such a old snowblower, i am willing (if it is not economical to rebuild this snowblower) to purchase a new snowblower but again am limited by budget so the cheaper the better, but also keep in mind that i have a **** of a driveway to snowblow so it must be tough. 

Just wish i woulda checked that oil, this snowblower was a beast and took everything i threw at it.


Thanks


Cody


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## papa_smurf49319 (Feb 6, 2011)

okay update, i went out there just recently and she fired right up cold and ran good. Oil of course looks like complete crap, and it still wont move forward or reverse. Found just one website that sells rings and they are at least 30 to 50 dollars. 


Any help is greatly appreciated, will be doing compression test soon.


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## CarlB (Jan 2, 2011)

If this is a single shaft engine it would be cheaper to just replace the engine with a harbor freight 6.5hp ohv engine. You can get them on sale for around 100 dollars. If the engine seized because of lack of oil I suspect it has done major damage to the connecting rod big end and or the crank journal. Carl


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## papa_smurf49319 (Feb 6, 2011)

The engine seems to be running fine right now, and am willing to take a gamble on leaving that alone for the moment. Anyone have a clue on where i can find a friction drive or a bandaid i can do to it to at least get me threw this winter.


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## Shryp (Jan 1, 2011)

+1 for Harbor Freight.

You are going to have to pull the bottom cover and the belt cover to find out what is wrong with the drive.


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## papa_smurf49319 (Feb 6, 2011)

i pulled the bottom cover, and it appears as if the friction drive is worn out, not engaging. It will spin the tires off the ground but as soon as you put a load on it, it will not move. I would rebuild this tecumseh before i thought about putting a harbor freight engine on it. I am extremly mechanically inclined, not to sound arrogant, but all i need to know is where i can get parts for this fine machine lol. If it would help i can get engine serial number. 


Thanks again


Cody


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## Shryp (Jan 1, 2011)

You could probably tighten the linkage to engage the drive if there is still rubber left on the friction disc. You might try partstree.com to get the part numbers. I think some of the old Fords were made by Gilson.


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## papa_smurf49319 (Feb 6, 2011)

thanks for the help lol, while waiting for a reply i figured id grab a beer go out there and see if there was any kind of adjustment, and there was, i was in the middle hole, and i moved it to the top hole( most pressure) and wiped all the nasty oil and crap off from the wheel she seemed to want to move a little more, and there appears to be a good amount of material on the friction disk. I then fired her up (first pull) to bring it back to the garage to change oil and clean friction disk and flywheel up good. After cleaning friction disk and flywheel up i went to fire her and it again fired up first pull.  But then started knocking and finally kaboom, i think it threw a rod lol, it was one **** of a rattle and bang until stop. I pulled the plug and it looks fine lol, but everytime i pull it over it rattles and clanks. So this engine is pretty much done for.


Now onto the tough question,i am seriously considering that engine from harbor freight, it is listed at 150 right now. Question is, is it worth the gamble of putting this engine on and then possibly having to try and buy or fix the friction disk that i have? Or will it be better in the long run to just buy something new?


Crappy thing is i just put brand new 40 dollar recoil on the engine


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## Shryp (Jan 1, 2011)

Return it? 

Definitely sounds like the rod broke. Did it crack the block too? Probably have a hole under the gas tank now. I would think instead of the holes you would have a cable or screw you can adjust as well that is more precise than only 3 stops.

Harbor Freight has lots of coupons. You can get coupons for the engine or coupons for 20% off. Usually the 20% off will get it cheaper, but I think there is a $109.99 coupon for the engine. Ok, mine expired and now all I have is $129.99 so the 20% off would still be best at $119.99. Depending on how much of a hurry you are in you could wait for another sale. They have had it as low as $89.99 I think.

One important think CarlB brought up earlier. Make sure your blower only has 1 shaft on the engine and not 2 shafts coming out the front.


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## papa_smurf49319 (Feb 6, 2011)

ya idk, i havnt looked it over real good, its to **** cold lol. Ill check out how much a new friction drive is and that will be the deciding factor for me, if its gonna be more than half the price of a new one then ill buy a new one, but if i can get that engine for 100 bucks or so like you said it may be worth it to go that route. I do kinda need it now, its michigan and my driveway is ****.


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## papa_smurf49319 (Feb 6, 2011)

also i checked for other adjustments and that seems to be all there is is the three holes.


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## Shryp (Jan 1, 2011)

I did some google searching and the few pictures I found do look like Gilson machines.

The Gilson SNOW BLOWER Shop, where the Gilson Snowblower Legacy Lives

I looked at the above site and they say the Gilson friction drive is the same as Ariens 00300300.


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## CarlB (Jan 2, 2011)

papa_smurf49319 said:


> But then started knocking and finally kaboom, i think it threw a rod lol, it was one **** of a rattle and bang until stop. I pulled the plug and it looks fine lol, but everytime i pull it over it rattles and clanks. So this engine is pretty much done for.
> />


 Saw that coming a mile away


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## CarlB (Jan 2, 2011)

Harbor freight february issue #4891 has the 6.5hp engine on sale for 129.99 but you need their coupon. here is a link to the coupon Coupon Display  carl


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## CarlB (Jan 2, 2011)

Here is the 6.5 harbor freight engine for 99 dollars Coupon Display


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## papa_smurf49319 (Feb 6, 2011)

wow for 99 bucks cant beat that, i was going to ask you guys about this tecumse i can get for 250 shipped

Small Engine Warehouse: OH195SA-72536 -


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## papa_smurf49319 (Feb 6, 2011)

okay picked up the harbor freight engine today for 99 (thanks so much for coupon) Also i added the 2 year warranty against anything for just 20 bucks, so i walked out spending 125 bucks and have a engine that is guaranteed to run for at least 2 years. I am very pleased so far. What are you guys breaking these engines in on for oil? Also is there any problems with icing having the air filter on there or do you remove it? The engine appears to be quality. Is there anything i should know before removing my engine and installing this one? 


Thanks


Cody


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## Shryp (Jan 1, 2011)

I just put whatever cheap 5w30 I have around in mine. Don't really do much of any break in, just put the oil in and put it to work. In my case though, I guess you can say both engines I have are overkill for the blowers they are on so they are not worked too hard. I never had problems with either icing up and both had the air filters left in them.

You will need to make sure your old crank was 3/4"or get new pulleys. You will also need to check the height of the crank, it is probably the same. The bolting pattern should also be the same. You might need to knock the old studs out and put longer bolts if the old engine had a flat plate on it. The new engine will need a new bolt for the crankshaft if your pulley is held on that way instead of a set screw.


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## CarlB (Jan 2, 2011)

This is funny. I was in a harbor freight store the other day in the check out line and there was a guy buying a gas log splitter. He purchased the extended 2 year warranty and inquired of the sales/checkout person if at the end of two years he could buy another warranty and was told no. The the sales person then told him to bring it back when the warranty was about to expire and tell the person in the store that it was broken. The store will then give him a new one at no charge and offer to sell him the extended warranty on the new one. Pretty good deal if you only have to pay for the extended warranty and get a new one. Carl


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## papa_smurf49319 (Feb 6, 2011)

nice! Well i ran into a little snag today with the pulley, the shaft that the tecumse had appears to be a 1 inch shaft. Just wondering where you guys think would be a good spot to start looking for a pulley.


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## Shryp (Jan 1, 2011)

Do you have a tractor supply company retail store nearby?
Tractor Supply Company - Home

Otherwise I would probably just buy online.
Pulleys & Idlers







pulley items - Get great deals on Lawnmowers, Outdoor Power Equipment items on eBay.com!
Sheaves - Sheaves and Pulleys - Power Transmission - Grainger Industrial Supply
Phoenix Mfg. Company, Inc. Pulleys
V-Belt Supplier - V Belts - Mower Belts - Kevlar Belts, Industrial Belts - Agricultural Belts.
Mowtownusa Lawn Mower Parts
Pulleys
https://www.surpluscenter.com/powerTrans.asp?catname=powerTrans







Amazon.com: Home, Garden & Pets - pulley: Home & Garden


Amazon and MFGSupply are the only 2 online places I have ordered from. The rest of the list is just aquired links I saved for future possible use. I bought some at TSC retail location before though.

Your other option is to sleeve it.
http://smallenginewarehouse.com/product.asp?PN=Sleeve-34-1x220
http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/DAYTON-Steel-Reducer-Bushing-2X775


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## Shryp (Jan 1, 2011)

To add to the above, if you are buying new pulleys you might be able to go with a slightly large one to spin the impeller faster if you need more throwing distance. It will add some wear to the front gearbox and bearings though since everything will be turning faster. 6.5HP on 26" might not be able to take much more though without bogging the engine down.


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## papa_smurf49319 (Feb 6, 2011)

Thanks for all your help. I do have a tractor supply about 15 mins away. Didn't realize they had much of a pulley selection but ill check there first. More throwing distance would be nice but I figure ill try the standard size first, and if I want more I can always buy another pulley seeings how there cheap. Also I found that the crank broke right at the nut and keyway that holds the fan and recoil hub on. The nut is still attached to the little chunk of crank so I figure I overtorqued that nut when I was freeing the engine. Also is that mtd on youtube that has the clone swap on it yours? The one with the twinshaft and having trouble with forward and reverse being opposite. If it is that's one **** of a machine. Looks nice. I will post pics of mine when done. Also is there any market for anything on my old 5 horse tecumse. I'm puttin the new recoil on ebay.


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## Shryp (Jan 1, 2011)

That youtube one isn't mine. TSC has their pulleys by the electric motors and not by the lawn and garden stuff. The pulleys I got are for 1/2 or 5/8 belts, so since the 1/2 belt rides lower in the pulley i had to get ones that were considerably bigger that what i was looking for. Just something to keep in mind. The up side to the deeper pulley is it helps hold the belt in when loose. You drive belt might only be 3/8, not sure how that will sit in the deep pulleys.

I was going to grab the belts they had with the elctric motors as well, then as I was looking around I found kevlar reinforced ones in a different section so grabbed those.


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## papa_smurf49319 (Feb 6, 2011)

Well I ended up with a pulley that works good. The engine runs great. I broke it in on 5w20 conventional and changed it I don't know how many times. The first drain after a 15 min run time had quite a bit of shiny in it, and slowly after I changed it more and more I got less and less. I ended up with 5w20 mobil 1 syn in it when all done. I can tell this thing is gonna throw the snow a lot better but the snow was to packy today and kept cloggin the blower up. One thing I did is take a piece of pipe and thread it for m10x1.25 and put it in the drain so when you change the oil you don't drain it all over the blower. I also brought it to a car wash ad cleaned the friction drive and all the oil off from everything and she moves great now. Also my blower had carriage bolts that bolted the motor down and those were a pain in the arse to get back up and in with everything in the way. I had to make the holes in the motor base bigger to ft the bolts. I tore down the old tecumse and the rod cap was broke. I also notice carb mounting screws were lose so I'm sure it had an air leak which explains why it didn't idle down good shot flames at night when idled down. So is any of the tecumse stuff worth sellin?


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## CarlB (Jan 2, 2011)

glad to hear you got it back together and it appears to be running well. I think you will find that this new engine starts on the first pull almost every time as long as you use the choke, and will run more quietly then you old TEC engine with more power and less vibration.


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## papa_smurf49319 (Feb 6, 2011)

Yes carl it does seem to start first or second pull everytime. But always requires a little choke. It is much quieter than the tecumse. I'm hoping to get outside and use it today on the driveway as long as the snow isn't to packy and want to clog the blower


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## papa_smurf49319 (Feb 6, 2011)

well as promised here are the pics, she ran really good and seemed to throw the snow alot farther. It was 40 degrees here today and the snow was quite packy but the engine just kept beggin for more, def need to figure out a way to get a taller shout though!


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## papa_smurf49319 (Feb 6, 2011)




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## Shryp (Jan 1, 2011)

Looks good. That is the first machine with a Greyhound that didn't look out of place on it. The blue matches the blue quite nicely. Looking at the background, I can't imagine why you don't want to shovel though.


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## papa_smurf49319 (Feb 6, 2011)

haha, ya now that i know its gonna be a good machine and last me awhile, ill pry do a little restore on it this summer, and sand blast and paint it. Is it fairly easy to change the auger belt?


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## Shryp (Jan 1, 2011)

papa_smurf49319 said:


> haha, ya now that i know its gonna be a good machine and last me awhile, ill pry do a little restore on it this summer, and sand blast and paint it. Is it fairly easy to change the auger belt?


If you changed the engine you had the auger belt at least half off...

Sorry, have no idea how easy it is to change on those.


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## papa_smurf49319 (Feb 6, 2011)

ya but its still wrapped around, hmm im trying to remember if i could slide it out that way or not, i was thinking id have to remove the front of the blower, but now thinking i think i may be able to get it out between the friction drive and the pulley.


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## papa_smurf49319 (Feb 6, 2011)

well long story short i had my first problem with the harbor freight clone! She would run and die, run and die, choke seemed to help, longer i let it set the longer it would run! Pulled the bowl screw out and with the fuel valve wide open i would get no fuel leaking from bowl. End up pulling fuel valve apart and essentially making it of no use by cutting the split between the two holes so it would have fuel all the time and bypass the valve. She runs great now, no surging and stalling.

Figured this may help others that could possibly have this issue.

Cody


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## Shryp (Jan 1, 2011)

Hmm, so something was clogged up in your fuel valve?

That is a new problem I have not heard of before.
Most problems are related to the low oil shutdown.


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## papa_smurf49319 (Feb 6, 2011)

Well for some reason the valve itself felt very sticky when moving it back and forth also. But I was not getting fuel. And as soon as I connected the passages via the seal I got fuel.


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