# ST227P Running Blog



## dr bob

Coming into the third snow season for our no-longer-new ST227P, I decided to give it its own thread. Previously, info was piggybacked on the http://www.snowblowerforum.com/forum/husqvarna-snowblowers/71922-new-st-227p-some-questions-some-issues.html here.

Picking up where we left off last spring with storage prep, I decided yesterday to pull the cover off, blow the dust off and do the pre-season ritual stuff to it. Temps in the low 70's, seemed a perfect time to do everything, vs. on a frozen morning with inches of snow accumulating.

-- Retreated all the painted parts with paint sealant. I use a pro equivalent of Mequiars NXT 2.0 sealant, same stuff that protects the paint on the cars. It may help some with abrasion damage, but for sure it helps keep snow slush ice fro sticking. I do the impellers too.

-- Topped up the air in the tires. I'd max'd the pressure at 20 PSI in the spring, but it had drifted down to about 10 PSI over the summer. Between uses the machine sits on a little 4-wheel mover's dolly so the tires didn't "go flat" -- there's no weight on them. the dolly, incidentally, makes moving it around a LOT easier, keeps the scraper and shoes off the floor (no rust from sitting in water...), and was <$10 at the neighborhood Harbor Freight store.

-- Removed the spark plug (was finger tight) and cycled the engine a few times with the pull starter cord. This clears any remaining ATF and fogging oil from the cylinder. Plug is back in and tight, with teh wire reconnected.

-- Fill the tank with fresh treated fuel. the LCT manual for the engine recommends running the system out of fuel (fuel valve off) after each use. With treated fuel they say it's OK to leave fuel in the carburetor. Turns out that Sta-Bil is cheap enough to just dose the gas can at fill-up and never worry about it.

-- Check the oil level. It was just filled with fresh oil prior to storage in the spring, so this is a formality. Double-cautious, just in case the oil was stolen from it over the summer. Or I forgot to refill. Cheap and easy insurance. Oil level is good.

-- Drum roll... How quickly will it start? Last fall during the same effort, it started on the soft pull when I was trying to roll it up towards compression. This year it didn't. It actually took a full starting pull to bring it to life this time. Either the engine or the owner must be getting tired with age or something. Note that I've never considered using the electric-start capability. It starts so easily with the rope, why bother getting out and recoiling an extension cord for the electric start? I guess it works...

-- Let it run and warm up some, listening for funny noises, looking for leaks. None noted, so closed teh fuel shut-off, let the engine run to stall. Let it cool off, rechecked the oil level out of habit, rolled it onto its dolly, then rolled it all back to it's spot by the workbay door. Cover is folded and stored away.

I'm trying to decide if I should treat myself to a matching-orange balaclava this year. Neoprene or knit? Toughest decision so far.

Next duty: clean and wax the snow shovels.


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## jesdog2

dr. bob,

always a pleasure reading your informative posts. likewise, I will get my st227p ready for its maiden voyage this winter this week while the weather is nice in Redmond. Who knows, my golf buddy bought a new Troy Bilt from Lowes a few weeks ago. Maybe with our combined maidens, there will be little snow compared to last year. That will be wishful thinking. Anyway, I put a new leading edge (steel bar) on my snow shovel (Costco) that I bought in 2005, our first winter here. It looks stout and mean. I will delegate to walkways only instead of my driveway.

I'll keep posting on how the Husky performs. I followed your postings last winter and got the Harbor Freight dolly to store the unit. So easy to move.

Thanks again.


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## litteringand

dr bob, can I ask what size (LxW) the Harbor Freight dolly you use to set the machine on is?

We don't have Harbor Freight in Canada, but I'm about to pickup a snowblower in a couple days (Either an ST227P or ST230P it's beginning to look like), and really like the idea of setting it on the furniture dolly when not in use. Just want to make sure whatever I pickup is the right size!

Thanks in advance :smile2:


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## jesdog2

litteringand said:


> dr bob, can I ask what size (LxW) the Harbor Freight dolly you use to set the machine on is?
> 
> We don't have Harbor Freight in Canada, but I'm about to pickup a snowblower in a couple days (Either an ST227P or ST230P it's beginning to look like), and really like the idea of setting it on the furniture dolly when not in use. Just want to make sure whatever I pickup is the right size!
> 
> Thanks in advance :smile2:


The dolly is 18"x12" for $7.99 US. a larger size is 30"x18"

The smaller size works perfectly for the ST227p.

Good Luck and welcome.

Check out other dr.bob postings.


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## litteringand

jesdog2 said:


> The dolly is 18"x12" for $7.99 US. a larger size is 30"x18"
> 
> The smaller size works perfectly for the ST227p.
> 
> Good Luck and welcome.
> 
> Check out other dr.bob postings.


Thank you! Not sure if he posted that info already and I missed it, but much appreciated :smile2:


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## dr bob

Sorry guys I'm a couple days behind. A neighbor's 70-ish wife had knee surgery and needed a ramp and some handrails installed before the hospital would release her to come home. That rolled into doing some emergency plumbing for them when I saw a puddle of water in the garage. While I was there assembled his new little single-stage snow-flinger that had arrived in a box on a brown truck.

Anyway... The dolly dimensions shared already are correct. I just tilt in back onto the handles, slide the dolly under the front, then a pull while holding the dolly with one foot. Leaves the tires off the floor, also the scraper and the bottom of the bucket are out of the melt-off water after use. I dosed the swivel bearings and the axles/wheels with some spray lithium grease so it all goes a little smoother. Makes the machine really easy to move around the workbay when needed. Easy one-person on and off the dolly too.

I'm sure that other sizes/brands of snowblower could use a similar dolly. It's rated for a lot more than what the ST227P weighs, so worth a shot. If I had a tracked machine this would be a day saver.


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## dr bob

For those playing along at home in the US, here's a link to the little Harbor Freight furniture dolly. 1000lb Capacity, mine isn't showing any signs of failure after a couple years of snowblower duty.

They are very regularly on coupon sale for $8.

A quick search for the same item at Canadian Tire and Princess Auto finds listings for a larger version; There's nothing matching the 12x18" Harbor Freight version. It looks like PA and CT have a lot of the same "bargain" imported pieces that H-F carries in the US. The pictures of the larger version are identical to the pictures of H-F's larger version.

Meanwhile, the carpeted 12"-wide dolly section fits nicely between the tires and under the center section. At 18" long, it ends up with the front end just behind the scraper bar, supporting the impeller barrel.


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## jesdog2

Second Start Up (after initial start in March 2017/brand new-then stored).

Successful Start. Fresh fuel, checked oil level from first drain/refill with Mobil 1 5w-30 after I got it new in March.

Here's a tip that maybe helpful regarding spark plug seating. After I followed dr bob's posting on hand tightening plug for storage, I removed the 4x 10mm heat shield(muffler) bolts for easier access to the plug. I just didn't want to take the chance and cross thread the plug into the head. Worked well, easy to access the plug.

Moment of truth. Turned on all systems (choke, run switch on, fuel flow, red key insert) and pulled twice. First pull, pops, second pull, started. Not bad for a novice. The ST227P is on the dolly from Harbor Freight and I checked the transmission gears and auger. All operating normally.

So hopefully, a little tip on the heat shield will help others in not having a plug cross thread. I'll post after the first use. Ha, I bought a second snow shovel for my grandsons as they were fighting over the only one they had last winter. Now they have two. No snowblower in their future until they go through some life experiences.


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## dr bob

jesdog2 said:


> Second Start Up (after initial start in March 2017/brand new-then stored).
> 
> Successful Start. Fresh fuel, checked oil level from first drain/refill with Mobil 1 5w-30 after I got it new in March.
> 
> Here's a tip that maybe helpful regarding spark plug seating. After I followed dr bob's posting on hand tightening plug for storage, I removed the 4x 10mm heat shield(muffler) bolts for easier access to the plug. I just didn't want to take the chance and cross thread the plug into the head. Worked well, easy to access the plug.
> 
> Moment of truth. Turned on all systems (choke, run switch on, fuel flow, red key insert) and pulled twice. First pull, pops, second pull, started. Not bad for a novice. The ST227P is on the dolly from Harbor Freight and I checked the transmission gears and auger. All operating normally.


That should delay winter here by at least two weeks. Snow comes earlier the times we aren't prepared.



> Ha, I bought a second snow shovel for my grandsons as they were fighting over the only one they had last winter. Now they have two. No snowblower in their future until they go through some life experiences.


Nothing like having the kids hand-shovel the EOD frozen slush pile as a critical step towards adulthood. :devil: I can remember when those piles were well over my head. Of course I was in kindergarten at the time...

----

Out today doing yard and garden prep for winter. Needles and cones... Cleaned gutters again yesterday. K was in Salem yesterday and came over the pass last evening. Clear for most of the ride, snow on the sides, road wet. It's coming. I can feel it.


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## litteringand

dr bob said:


> For those playing along at home in the US, here's a link to the little Harbor Freight furniture dolly. 1000lb Capacity, mine isn't showing any signs of failure after a couple years of snowblower duty.
> 
> They are very regularly on coupon sale for $8.
> 
> A quick search for the same item at Canadian Tire and Princess Auto finds listings for a larger version; There's nothing matching the 12x18" Harbor Freight version. It looks like PA and CT have a lot of the same "bargain" imported pieces that H-F carries in the US. The pictures of the larger version are identical to the pictures of H-F's larger version.
> 
> Meanwhile, the carpeted 12"-wide dolly section fits nicely between the tires and under the center section. At 18" long, it ends up with the front end just behind the scraper bar, supporting the impeller barrel.


That is some *excellent* information, thank you for that!


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## dr bob

Just visiting with new moving-in-today neighbors next door, we gave thanks to the fact that there's no snow at all on the ground here. It's headed towards a balmy 45ºF or so today I think. Maybe I'll go vacuum the cobwebs out of the impellers later. Last year at this time we were well on our way to a record snow year. This winter so far, nothing more than a few dustings that melted off in a day or three. As much as we all love to say how much we like playing with our snow toys, we are counting our blessings so far this season. We need the snow in the mountains for water next summer, and a chunk of the local economy depends on snow at our local ski areas and snow parks. But I'm very happy not having to shovel/plow/blow or drive in snow as we wind down the last day of 2017.

I --may-- put the cover back on the machine and put shovels away, just to see what happens. Not until a few days into the week though, after the neighbors are moved in.


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## paulm12

Dr Bob and the other Husky fans: 1st of all I am enjoying the blog, a little story-tellin with the snowblowin. I am wondering what you see as the pros and cons of the Husky machines vs Airens and Toro? I am not looking to buy any in the near future, I still get by on fixing up inexpensive ones. But I never even looked at Husky until I saw some this season at my local shop (also has Toro). Just wondering what features, materials, etc you may favor on these. Thanks.


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## dr bob

My last snowblower was 40+ years ago, and let me say that there is no real comparison. Otherwise, I've used some others in the intervening years, but haven't owned/maintained one until this one. In a nutshell, I'm hardly in a position offer comparisons with other current models. I suspect that many owners are huge fans of the ones they own, fierce defenders of their brand of choice. Ford Vs. Chevy vs. Mopar? Sure -- The best one is the one you own. Especially if it starts on demand and gets the job done. 

My purchase choice was opportunity-driven. A few years ago now, we had an inconvenient early-season dump of snow that diddled with some holiday travel plans. We were already disappointed with our little private community's habits, and the lack of snow clearing was rotten icing on a bad cake, so to speak. The local stores were pretty much sold out of decent machines, so I did what many do -- search-and-click, and in less than an hour the Husky was set up for delivery. As you can read from this blog and comments in the previous related thread, everything has been fine with it so far. Last year we had record snowfall, starting with a dump that received "extra attention" to help the HOA manager gain some perspective on "proper" snow removal. Where they had merely plowed a lane and a half, all the way down to a 4" crust; meanwhile, our street was cleared edge to edge, down to pavement. But it kept snowing heavily through the rest of the season, so we kept clearing it. Others in the area noticed, and soon we had a new snow clearing contract for this winter, and dumped the incompetent and fraud-prone HOA Management company.

Fast-forward to the current snow season. There isn't any. While the areas to the north and certainly the bunch of the country towards the east of us are digging out from massive snow dumps, it's cold but bare here. The machine is ready to go, serviced and polished, cleaned, fueled up, ready to go. Snow shovels are cleaned and waxed, but not yet used. Our local economy depends on winter sports activities like downhill and cross-country skiing, so not having snow is a little tough. Mt. Bachelor ski area nearby is reporting 40" of base, enough to ski on but not enough to brag about and draw in non-local enthusiasts. Freezing fog today has everything looking spectacular. But there's no snow yet.

Good news from that is no worries about driving and folks that can't but do anyway.

I spent the afternoon working on bird feeders for mrs dr bob, repairing damage done by hungry squirrels. The back yard is a minefield of mule deer droppings, as they like to graze on the exposed grass. She won't let me hunt in the driveway -- vegetarian.


Anyway, that's the news from mount woe-be-gone. Where all the snowblowers are above average.


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## Sprocket024

As I see you all are from central oregon I thought I'd say hello. I live in sunriver. Let's hope we get some snow huh. At least up in the mountains


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## dr bob

We are a few miles north of you in SE Bend. No snow, 50º high today, sunny and clear after barely freezing overnight. We should get some mountain snow in a few days, but today is a great day to work outside on the house. As much as I'd like to have snow to play in, I'm also thankful we don't have to drive in it. Meanwhile, the mountain s reporting a base depth less than 20% of what we had last year at this time. I'm sure your Sunriver economy is suffering even more than the Bend area with the lack of winter tourist activity.

Let's see what the rest of the week brings. Shows rain for the most part, but there's always hope that temps will drop 10º from expected and it all goes white.

Meanwhile I have a diabolical plan to go pull up all my snow stakes, drain the fuel from the machine, add a thick coat of wax and put the cover back on it. Maybe wax the suspension in the car. That should pretty much guarantee a blizzard.


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## jesdog2

Meanwhile I have a diabolical plan to go pull up all my snow stakes, drain the fuel from the machine, add a thick coat of wax and put the cover back on it. Maybe wax the suspension in the car. That should pretty much guarantee a blizzard.[/QUOTE]

dr bob, please keep that ST227P ready to rock. My golfing buddies appreciate the somewhat mild winter we are having here in central Oregon/Bend/Redmond area. This time last year, locally, a school roof collapsed and another was damaged because of the snow load and/age or design problems. 

Several residents in our community bought snow blowers at the end of last season and in fall of this year (2017) in anticipation of another taste of last winter. I used mine once this season just to get a feel of how it worked clearing the driveway (great!).

So, keep your Husky ready to go and we can all look forward to an early spring. :smile2:


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## Sprocket024

Lol. I bought a new blower this year so I feel I'm partially responsible for the mild winter we are having this year. Looks like some snow in the forecast for later this week. But ya been nice hanging out in the yard and Riding the Moto this late in the season


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## dr bob

The look-ahead for the rest of the week shows chance of a rain/snow mix late and into the weekend. It still takes an inch or two of accumulation to make it more than a push-and-scoop exercise with a shovel. Shovel is tanned, rested, waxed and ready. I left the gas in the machine and the snow stakes in the ground, and it looks like it won't take a full summer prep to get at least a little snow to play in.

Our little community golf course has trees dropped across several fairways, so no play available even if they were open. BGCC has mid-day times open, but I've been busy doing other things so the clubs are still in my locker. 

Crossed fingers for some snow! Not much, just enough so we can say we had some.

*** I did clean and detail the car, including cleaning and sealing the suspension. Just in time for some rain and mix this week. That should be good for a at least few hours of flakes.


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## jesdog2

I hear you. If you could do the suspension sealing one more time that should guarantee a snow event. On the second hand, no don't. lol.

We got in our 18 here at Eagle Crest yesterday. Today, I have to go into Bend to do some home projects at our daughter's abode.

Yes, weekend looks iffy but who knows.


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## dr bob

*Redemption from our no-snow curse!*

After a few stutter-steps in the [lack of] snow situation over the last week or two, this morning there was marginally "too much" to just push off with the broom. That's my story anyway. Maybe 3" of dry powder snow, temps in the low teens when I started so no risk of it turning to mush. Machine came out anyway. I managed to clear half a dozen driveways and the couple hundred feet of our private street, plus a thousand feet of neighborhood sidewalk.

As always, the machine performed flawlessly. One click from full choke, one click up from idle speed setting. Two primer pumps after turning the fuel on. Started easily on the first pull of the rope.

My driving technique wasn't as rusty as I thought it might be after almost a year of snowblowing withdrawal.. Focus now is on maintaining only the most delicate touch on the controls whenever possible. The exercise for this is to avoid closing my hands on the handlebars as much as possible. I still need to wrap the fingers around to use the trigger steering. Otherwise it should be pretty much left hand only, and that hand needs to be just holding the drive handle down. Right hand does the other adjusting for chute direction and throw, and that once-in-a-while when I'm forced to make a right turn instead of left. The strategy still needs some polishing but I'm getting there.

I still need to come up with a better skid-shoe solution. The ones I made are either wearing too fast or are just not staying in place even when tightened pretty snug with the clamp bolts. The bolts on the right side need to be replaced where I rubbed them up against the driveway retaining wall. I -may- move up a size so I can tighten them tighter, plus a plate to distribute the clamping force on the outside may be in order. I'll take some pics when I come up with a better solution than what I have now. There's always Armorskids if I don't find a good plastic solution on my own.


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## jesdog2

Well, that groundhog back east may have been somewhat correct. Managed to fire up on ST227P on Wed and Thursday am and it performed flawlessly. I too, will perfect my steering controls, etc. I do have to back up on some occasions and the slow reverse doesn't bother me. I'm not in a race. I "learned" to take may left hand off the power control to disengage the auger. I was holding and releasing the right hand control with the thought of disengaging the auger but still saw snow blowing. Quick learn, with release of the left hand control stopped the blowing action.

Possible more snow accumulation this week. Temp this morning was 1 deg here at Eagle Crest(Central Oregon)but our driveway was bare.

So the golf course remains closed, Olympics is winding down, and anticipate more uses of the Husqy before it is a wrap for the season. Happy with my purchase.


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## dr bob

Jesdog's "possible accumulation" prediction was good. Over the last five days or so there's been enough snow to pull the machine out a few times. I try and get out early while the snow is still fluffy light powder. Scoop shovel followed by the push broom is enough until there's more than an inch. Then I push it into rows with the boom to shovel.

In the past week I've cycled a couple gallons of fuel through the machine. I didn't look at run hours on the Hobbs but guessing four or so all in this season. The first couple uses had me down on the scraper bar by the end of each use. I adjusted my DIY skid shoes down but they were wearing too fast. Yesterday I broke down and put another pair of the Delrin shoes on, then added an hour or so more hours on them this morning. New shoes show virtually no wear, getting back to what I experienced early in the life of the first pair. They lasted two years in my use. I have two more sets in the spares box plus the new set I just put on. Meanwhile, Mobildynamics PM'd me with mention of the Armorskids he has listed in the classifieds. I may grab those just to experiment with. We have concrete paving stone driveway and walks, and the Delrin pieces have been very kind to them.

Just looked out my office window here, and see that the sun has done a stellar job of drying the remains left from this morning's snowfall and the predawn cleaning effort. Same results late last week, when some visitors for a meeting Friday asked if we had electric heating under the drive and walkways. I explained how we installed that big solar collector out there (dark-colored driveway) and it was working well. One of the guests mentioned that he'd been taking calls from irate homeowners in other parts of the neighborhood asking when -their- streets and driveways were going to get cleaned. Apparently the association has a 4" threshold before they get any clearing done. And when folks drive on the snow even at 4" raw, it gets packed and no need to plow they say; they only plow down to the hard-pack layer, not to pavement. So we have the only street in the development that's clean dry pavement this morning. Trying to set a Good Example.

Machine sputtered but didn't fire on the first pull this morning. Fired immediately on the second pull. Engine must need an overhaul...


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## jesdog2

"Machine sputtered but didn't fire on the first pull this morning. Fired immediately on the second pull. Engine must need an overhaul... ". lol.


I have used the machine 5x this season(this morning it's latest venture) having bought it new last Feb (after vowing no more shoveling the asphalt driveway for me). So after the initial prep work, new oil added, waxed and shined, it proved to be a fortuitous investment. I still have the shovel and broom handy for light duty. I'll look at the shoes at the end of this season and see what kind of wear has occurred.

I average 30-35 minutes of use per session Anyway, looks like another 2 weeks before the golf course hopefully re-opens.

Spring can arrive anytime....


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## dr bob

*End-of-Season Update - Planetary Gearsets noises?*

Spring officially arrived, so I decided it's safe to do the off-season prep on the machine before sending it off to hibernation heaven. We had absolutely no issues this season, so beyond draing the tank and carburetor and changing the oil, nothing out of the ordinary to do at this time. The spark plug comes out for a few squirts of ATF and a bit of fogging oil. The belts sill look fine, tracking true, nothing to get even a little excited about.

There is a bit of noise coming from the little planetary gear cases on the wheel-drive shaft. I don't remember them making much noise in the past, but now when I roll the machine it it's more noise than I remember. The little gear cases don't appear to be serviceable (yet...), but it would seem that a bit of grease inside would be a Good Thing. Anybody have any experience with these? They are cheap enough to replace as PM, just want to know if I just didn't notice the noises before or if others have experience with them. 

A bit of cleaning and a coat of paint sealant and she'll get covered for the summer nap.


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## dr bob

Darn thing is still sitting on the little roller dolly, covered and waiting peacefully. It's September but still in the 80's, plus the fuel in the gas can is from last winter. It's StaBil'd but I just haven't been using enough other power equipment this year to use up that last gas. Will probably end up in one of the cars this month, and some fresh will go into the cans for a pre-season start-up sometime in the next month or so.

I really should wait until the relatively ethanol-free pump premium shows up for winter here. Maybe I'm just itchin' to make some noise in the driveway or something.

---

Over the winter we swapped in new neighbors next door on both sides. California mid-coast transplants on one side, 60'ish and he 80'ish. He started a discussion today about leveling up some of the sections of his driveway. I mentioned that it's pretty important to get that done so a snowblower will work there. Eyebrows rolled up -- We don't get any real snow here, do we? Hey, maybe we won't get much this year, you can never tell. After the previous winter and the one before that and the one before that, there's always the chance we'll be as light as last year. Tiny chance, based on history. But it could happen. I've been leveling the brick pavingstone ribbons in the shared driveway apron, so at least the last twenty feet of his will be cleared when I do mine.

Other-side neighbor just returned home after some serious lung-cancer surgery. Guessing he won't be doing a lot of shoveling or pushing this year either. He was here starting in early January, from Detroit by way of about 30 years in Florida. Enough snow to clear with the machine a couple times, but nothing serious really. He's talking about getting a push-blade for his riding mower.

Gonna be a fun season in the neighborhood. I can hardly wait!


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## Hanky

Sounds like you could be a very busy boy on a snow day. Have fun I know I do.


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## dr bob

There's still plenty of house chores to take care of prior to getting any real snow. Gutters need to be cleared of pine needles, but I usually save that for after the first serious fall rainstorm. "Fall rainstorm" of any size has yet to happen here though; All the good rain has been in other parts of the country. If that trend continues we'll be snow-free and in a serious drought condition come spring. Last night there were predictions of scattered rain possible in the local mountains, with temps at the ski area in the mid twenties overnight. I exercised the German touring car yesterday with a cruise through the Cascade Lakes Scenic Byway tour that includes the ski area. I was watching clouds and temps for hail (bad on aluminum cars...) but there was nothing. Just a few clouds. 

Poured the last of the last-winter stored gas can fuel into the pressure washer, so it's soon time to go get fresh stuff for the coming winter. Cans are ready, dosed with Sta-Bil, just need an excuse to carry them over to the gas station. We don't commute (lazy semi-retired white-hairs) so getting gas only happens every month or two for the "regular" cars. Temps will peak in the 60's today, and are still just above freezing over night.

I know that if I decide to finish the pre-season prep on the machine now, it won't snow until after Christmas. I may have to revert to last season's magic methods, including polishing the cars' undercarriages and waxing the suspension again. It's like "spring cleaning" on steroids, and usually lures some wet weather out into the open. I'm leaving the winter survival gear in storage for another month or so before stocking the cars for the season. Doing our little part to get some rain and snow here a bit sooner.


The machine watches out the door, hoping for some playtime soon.


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## dr bob

New from-California neighbor wandered over yesterday, and chuckled (laughed!) at the idea that the machine gets waxed inside and out to keep snow and ice from building up. It still looks brand new under the cover. Laugh while you can monkey-man!

----

The gutters are cleaned. Foam winter plugs will go in the basement vents in the next week or two, as we get overnights closer to freezing. The summer car is still out, and will get used until the state decides to start using deicer on the roads here. Typically that's been late November to mid-December, so there's still some touring time. If we weren't ready, it would probably snow next week.


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## dr bob

*Dismal Operator Failure*

For those who have been following my spellbinding Ownership saga, I have news to report... Read on at your own risk!

We managed to get less than an inch of snow at the end of a rainy period over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend. I'd been trying to induce snow for a while now by not pulling the machine out and un-hibernating it. But with a little snow dusting fused to the driveway, it was all the inspiration I needed. I put fresh fuel in it after spinning it a couple times by hand with the plug out, so it would clear any remaining ATF or fogging oil left from the spring prep. Then fuel on, two pushes on the primer bulb, just off lowest throttle position, one click from full choke. Same drill as any normal use. It usually starts on the first full compression pull on the starter handle, but this time - nothing. More pulls and more nothing. Key is in it OK. A couple more pushes on the primer pump. A couple more pulls and a couple more nothings. Check the plug wire, and it's fully seated and OK. 

Then notice that the rocker is in [headslap] the "off" position. I never leave it in the off position, as it always gets run until the float bowl is empty. Switch to run, and it starts on the next pull. This time no choke, so the fuel already sucked in there will have a chance to burn. I turned the fuel off after it ran at a little above idle for a few minutes. Verified that it motates and the auger spins when appropriate levers are squeezed. All is OK now. Lesson learned though. Check the switch.

---

Cover is off, dust removed, tank is full, everything is ready. Just need snow. And a handy and obvious switch for activating the operator brain. Stand by for Season 4 episodes due to air in the next month or so.


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## Hanky

Your not the first person to do that, or will you be the last.


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## jesdog2

Finally some decent snow here in Central Oregon. I was able to do the driveway in 45 minutes (used to take me 3+hours, with my shovel buddy (wife)). 6 inches, dry and maybe the only time I will use it this season. LOL. Forecast is for light snow but no future storms in the forecast. Now the good part. I flooded the engine before it started do to my aggressive primer bulbing (>3 times!!).
Removed the plug, dried it and blew air into the cylinder with my bicycle pump, waited 5 minutes, installed plug, primed 1x and pulled 2x for effect/fire. Ran the next 45 minutes without any problems Yea, ST227P.. I last used it in November, 2018 as a pre-season preview. Anyway, hope I learned my lesson as these are really easy to start, if I follow directions. I too have pulled with the rocker in the stop position and learned from that exercise. Bring on spring, golf course has been closed due to snow cover but a good thaw and I'll be hitting that ball again and again and again.


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## SimplicitySolid22

Glad you got some snow and your STP (haha) is in good working order!


Being in New England it was always fun when you had the 4 Seasons... well now it is like every day of the winter is all seasons it is always a toss up. Very Depressing! I hate rain in the winter!!!!! Anyone else?????? Or a snow storm that turns to rain!!!!!! Argggghhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


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## SnowH8ter

jesdog2 said:


> I flooded the engine before it started do to my aggressive primer bulbing (>3 times!!).



Next time just plug the beast in and crank away. It'll blow out the excess fuel and light the fire. Give ur bike pump a break too.[/QUOTE]




jesdog2 said:


> Bring on spring, golf course has been closed due to snow cover but a good thaw and I'll be hitting that ball again and again and again.



Gawd! The gall of these west coast lotus landers! No appreciation for those of us that got three more months of old man winter's fury. :biggrin:


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## jesdog2

SnowH8ter said:


> Next time just plug the beast in and crank away. It'll blow out the excess fuel and light the fire. Give ur bike pump a break too.






Gawd! The gall of these west coast lotus landers! No appreciation for those of us that got three more months of old man winter's fury. :biggrin:[/QUOTE]
Thanks, SnowH8ter. I forgot about the e-start since I've never used it as it was always an easy pull start. Another nugget for the collection. Well, I might have mis-spoke on the forecast. Looks like another system heading our way mid week. LOL. NO golf for the coming future, but it will come.


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## jesdog2

Central Oregon storm just dumped 2' of dry snow and more expected. Just cleared our driveway (1.5hr time) with snow above the bucket level. First pass was a little slow but ST227P never missed a beat. Snow was dry (thankfully). Cleared the first pass with taking about half a bucket /less per pass. Snow still falling so 'll wait till tomorrow am and make another driveway clearing. This was the first time that the blower used it's full tank. It started to gulp for fuel just as I was done. Anyway, I like this blower (my first) and got a lot of information from this forum. So thanks to all, and stay warm.


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## SnowH8ter

jesdog2 said:


> This was the first time that the blower used it's full tank. It started to gulp for fuel just as I was done.



Ya got the tiny LCT fuel tank. A little over a half gallon (0.62). Dunno why they put these piddly tanks on these blowers. They produce a tank with a capacity of almost a gallon, which would be far more practical for most of these machines.


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## jesdog2

RE:Fuel tank capacity. It was good for me to end that blowing session after 1.5hrs. Needed a break anyway. Returned for a second clearing later that afternoon as the snow showers took a break. Was able to clear another 8 inches in 40 minutes which gave a clear driveway overnight so that the wife could take our dog to the vet for teeth cleaning this morning.


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## SnowCat in Bend

jesdog2 said:


> Central Oregon storm just dumped 2' of dry snow and more expected. Just cleared our driveway (1.5hr time) with snow above the bucket level. First pass was a little slow but ST227P never missed a beat. Snow was dry (thankfully). Cleared the first pass with taking about half a bucket /less per pass. Snow still falling so 'll wait till tomorrow am and make another driveway clearing. This was the first time that the blower used it's full tank. It started to gulp for fuel just as I was done. Anyway, I like this blower (my first) and got a lot of information from this forum. So thanks to all, and stay warm.


Hello there jesdog2, yes sir, we got a good one day dump in Central Oregon! Glad your Husky performed well.

My* ST 324P* did a great job and did it with less than a tank of gas! Spit out the 2 foot powder pile and then chewed up the plow pile.

Looks like a bit more snow the next day or 2, enjoy the snow!


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## jesdog2

SnoCat and SnowH8ter,

Forecast calling for more snow tonight (2/26/2019). My golf projections are way off now with the cold temps, this is not going to melt off anytime soon. SnoCat, nice pics. My bucket was an inch below the accumulation so I measured around 25 inches here in Eagle Crest/Redmond. I read online (Bulletin, newspaper) that this was the largest dump for February in 118 years, so yes it was epic.

Wife got the dog into the vet with no problem except other drivers not driving safely. Oh well, always a few out there to be aware of.

Well, getting ready for tomorrow driveway clearing. Good blowing!

ST227P


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## SnowH8ter

SnowCat in Bend said:


> My* ST 324P* did a great job and did it with less than a tank of gas! Spit out the 2 foot powder pile and then chewed up the plow pile.


Nice! Dang near enough snow there to get them drift cutters airborne. And gawd, that's nasty looking EOD stuff! :eeek:


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## SnowH8ter

jesdog2 said:


> Forecast calling for more snow tonight (2/26/2019). My golf projections are way off now with the cold temps, this is not going to melt off anytime soon.



LOL... I feel yer pain. Only two seasons in these parts and one of em is frequently a heck of lot longer than it should be! :angry:


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## Eastmilly27

I'm new to this, I try to figure out problems the best I can by myself, but I am stumped. Today while snowblowing, the lever used to engage the auger lost all tension, and now you can just pick the lever up and down without ease. When this happened I found a piece of metal on the ground that broke from something looks this the hook end of a spring but I cannot figure what broke or where it came from. Any information would be great.

Thank you 
Jerome


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## SnowH8ter

Eastmilly27 said:


> I'm new to this, I try to figure out problems the best I can by myself, but I am stumped. Today while snowblowing, the lever used to engage the auger lost all tension, and now you can just pick the lever up and down without ease. When this happened I found a piece of metal on the ground that broke from something looks this the hook end of a spring but I cannot figure what broke or where it came from. Any information would be great.


Welcome to SBF. Other than the fact you've posted in a thread related to the Husqvarna ST227P, we don't know anything (other than it's broke) about your snow blower. Is it new? You acquired it 2nd hand? Is it a Husqvarna? You have the manuals for the machine? Plenty of help and advice here but there's not much to go on thus far. And... pictures can be worth a thousand words.


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## Eastmilly27

My snowblower is a Husqvarna ST 227 P I bought it brand new from Lowes in 2015. I'm going to add a picture of what broke.


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## jesdog2

"Today while snowblowing, the lever used to engage the auger lost all tension, and now you can just pick the lever up and down without ease." Do you mean "with ease" as in flopping up or down?


The auger control (right side)handle on my 2017 ST227P has a black spring that connects under the handle. Is yours still connected? I don't see any other spring in this area. The cable provides the tension for the auger to engage but the black spring is activated when the drive handle (left side) is used. Maybe the end of the cable that goes down to auger area (hook in your pic) broke (ugh). Is the auger still engaged? Need a little more information that would help us.


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## SnowH8ter

Eastmilly27 said:


> My snowblower is a Husqvarna ST 227 P I bought it brand new from Lowes in 2015. I'm going to add a picture of what broke.


 Have a look at page 10 of this document:

https://www.husqvarna.com/ddocdownload/HUSI/HUSI2015_AAaa/HUSI2015_AAaa__588133518.pdf

Key No. 2 shows the auger control cable. The spring at the end of this cable has, I suspect, provided you with the broken part you've depicted. You'll need to pull the belt cover off to verify that the spring is in fact broken. The spring would normally be connected to the idler pulley for the impeller/auger drive belt.


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## jesdog2

SnowH8ter,

I think you ID'd the broken part correctly. I've bookmarked this info for the future. Thanks!


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## dr bob

Sorry for the lost contact with the group. I replaced a computer in December and am just now getting around to setting up the social stuff on it.

Since we last left our hero... We've enjoyed a rather snow-lean winter in Bend, right up until a week or two ago when all the missed early snow came in all at once. As others here from the area shared, we started with a couple feet of really nice powder, on top of a firm layer underneath. No problems, except that the new snow clearing service here was late and unprepared. Ended up doing a bit more work that usual, let's say. New neighbor added a blade to his Husky tractor, and he's a little unfamiliar with how the two can work together to move more snow. I ended up overstressing the machine, and it rewarded me by breaking an auger belt. Lesson learned: if the engine is working hard throwing dense snow, the auger belt is a weak point. Good news though, as it took less than 15 mins to get it home and swap in the new belt.

In the next storm, I tried to push some of the larger chunks that the new plow boyz decided to leave in my cul-de-sac. We tell them to stay out but they are slow to learn apparently. One of the chunks caused an auger shear bolt to work as designed.


Now for the Most Fun Part:

The drive unit has been making a clicking noise similar to the sound a stretched chain makes on a worn sprocket. I casually looked at it last year but nothing obvious was wrong so I wandered blissfully into the cause last Friday. At that time, the right-side drive wheel started spinning way fast with almost no drive on the left. I pulled and pushed and engaged and disengaged the drive, and finally got it to go at a brisk walking pace on both wheels with engine idling and drive engaged, while the finger steering controls did nothing. Into the workbay for a drive box teardown, which took maybe 20 minutes (it's my first time...).

A needle bearing in the right-side planetary reduction unit had disintegrated. This bearing rides on what Husky calls the power steering shaft, so when it came apart it did a little work on the shaft. The good news is that it's a common INA needle bearing, and the other two in each reduction unit are also common INA bearings but different size. Order two SCE-108 and four SCE-98 to fix both. The power steering shaft rides on a couple common ball bearings, part number in the parts sheet. The needle bearings are not shown separately. I ordered all those bearings on Amazon on Friday, and they were in my mailbox on Sunday.


The biggest revelation is that the planetary boxes had only a few grams of hardened grease left between the gears inside. There's no evidence that grease was ever used when the needle bearings were assembled. So the planetary units were doomed to failure before the snowblower was even shipped new to me. Hmmm. The ball bearings that support the shaft came on Monday, so it all went together Monday morning after cleaning and inspection. The damaged shaft was dressed with a file to smooth the bearing area, then everything went back together with some synthetic CV joint grease I have for such things. Even with the less-than-perfect bearing surface on the shaft, the machine now rolls amazingly smoothly and quietly. Another set of needle bearings plus a replacement shaft ($22) are on the way, along with some other consumable spares. The shaft is back-ordered of course, with delivery expected in about a month. That should coincide nicely with the normal end of snowblowing season in early April.

So for those playing along at home, I can seriously recommend that you listen to the sounds the drive unit makes when you roll the machine with the engine off. If you hear or feel anything other than butter-smooth from the drive unit, plan on a casual teardown, clean, inspect the moving bits, properly lubricate all those moving bits, and reassemble. Mine was purchased new as a 2015 model in December 2014 if this helps. I still plan on making this an annual spring ritual after seeing how easy it is to do and how just a little carelessness at factory assembly took the machine completely out of service. Were I depending on a commercial service for the repair, it would be at least a month of downtime and a significantly higher cost.

I used it this morning for the first serious duty, in a few inches of new thick snow. All is well again.


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## RedOctobyr

Wow, good info, thanks! Is that the sort of thing that you can check/listen for by putting the machine on its nose (in the service position), and turning the axles by hand? Just wondering if it's easier to hear, or pick up on, when there's no engine noise, treads on the pavement, etc.


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## dr bob

Just roll the machine on its wheels, with the bucket raised a little, and you should have a good idea of the noises it makes.


The two reduction units are "planetary", with a small center drive gear splined to the "steering shaft", then three "planet" gears on a drive plate connected to the output gear, and an outer gear that wraps around the planets, with a support needle bearing on the "steering shaft". To really get a look at the lubrication in the planetary reduction units and all the needle bearings, you'll need to disassemble the pieces from that steering shaft. Of course, you'll need to pull the drive axles and their bull gears, plus the control shaft that holds the "power steering" fingers. Everything is held together with snap rings on all three shafts, except one support bearing on the steering shaft that uses a 5/16" flange nut (1/2" wrench) on one end. Keep track of where all the snap rings fit, as there's a total of about a dozen in three different sizes used in the rear of the drive box.

The follow-up spring maintenance will include installing the new power steering shaft when it gets here, plus a full teardown of the rest of the drive unit including the clutch shafts and mechanism, plus the auger drive since I'll have it most of the way apart anyway. It will be good-as-new or maybe better when that effort is complete.


I used the exploded parts diagram as a guide for reassembly. It shows exactly where the shims and snap rings (really E-clips) go. It doesn't show the little reduction gear units apart, or the details on the needle roller bearings that support the pieces on the steering shaft. You'll find that out when you pull them off and apart. The caged needle bearings have the mfr's name and parts numbers on the ends of the shells, and go in and out pretty easily using a couple sockets as a press in the bench vise. If you catch the bearings and get some grease in them before they self-destruct from lack of lubrication, no need to replace them really.

I'll try and remember to shoot some pics of the service process this spring. There's absolutely nothing that's beyond the ability of someone even slightly familiar with wrenches and a little grease. My tool collection has over eleven wrenches in it now, but I only needed a 3/8" socket to get the cover off, plus a 1/2" socket for the nut on the end of the steering shaft. Out of habit I used a torque wrench on the nut to reinstall (20 lbs/ft on a 5/16" grade-8 nut...) but that's more to avoid over-tightening than to keep something from falling off. It's hardly rocket surgery.


Bob

In parallel, I'm looking hard at my decision to use a residential-class machine to do as much work as I've asked of it. I think that so long as I stick to snow and not plowed ice chunks, I can keep it alive and happy with an annual teardown and lubrication, plus a few cheap ball bearings. If it still suffers even with that treatment, I'll have to adjust my habits (clearing all the neighbors' driveways) or my snowblower budget.


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## jesdog2

Welcome back dr bob. Thanks for the update on your drive system. I'll look forward to the pics and consider it in my end of season maintenance plan. In fact, I already have the blower on its dolly as I think we may be done for the season. Yes, we were dumped on in late Feb but the ST227P performed without any problems. I rolled it into the garage and no unusual action, just the chain/gear normal noise.

Anyway, spent some time on the north side of the roof today breaking up ice dams. No damage but it is free and clear. Buildup was about 5". I had previously raked about 3' around the perimeter of the entire roof and this was the only accumulation. Golf is about 2 weeks away with the warmer temps on the way. Slow thaw with the cold temps in the forecast.


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## dr bob

Hi Jesdog --

My roof looks like yours did before the extra roof clearing. The dams have gone down with the warmer temps the last few days, but still showing a little above the gutter edges. It's been spitting a little snow here the last hour or so on and off. Temp is just above freezing, so it isn't sticking at all to the dark driveway stones. Peering out of the office it looks like a dark cloud patch is just above us; looking west there's a stripe of blue sky so this is obviously a condition intended just for the immediate area at the SE corner of town.

That "chain/gear normal use noise" is exactly what I had been listening to for the last year or so prior to the needle bearing failure. At the end of last season I shared in the maintenance forum and looked for others with similar noises but nobody responded. The stretched-chain noises are interesting, mostly because there are no chains used in the machine. It was all noise from the little planetary reduction units running dry. As soon as convenient, get the machine up off the floor enough to pull the drive box cover (four screws and a 3/8" socket), so you can have your trusty assistant roll a wheel while you listen for where the noise is coming from. The drive box needs to be off the dolly so the bottom cover can come off. For those playing along at home, we discovered that the smaller Harbor Freight mover's dolly is perfect for supporting the machine in the garage so it can be moved easily; we aren't squishing Barbie under the drive box.... Meanwhile, supporting everything is a bit of a challenge, solved by removing the four cover bolts, dropping the rear of the cover, lifting the rear of the machine by the handles to let the cover come off, then supporting the drive box by the bottom flanges where the cover fits. That way the wheels are off the floor and can roll, while you can see/listen for the critical noises. FWIW, getting the drive box open and supporting it was half the battle really. The bits inside come out handily after removing the E-clips on the three shafts in question, plus the nut on the end of the "power steering shaft". Some Redline CV joint grease from the "lubricants" storage bin did the critical duty nicely. It's all amazingly quiet now when rolling on the wheels. Probably quieter than it's ever been.

I'll PM when I get the hard pieces and get ready to go back in. You are welcome to come by and watch, or bring yours if you can and we'll do both at the same time here.


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## jesdog2

Thanks, dr bob. Looks like at least lube job. This will be new for me but at least I can take the bottom cover off and have a look.I'll report what I find . Good luck to you and us.


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## jesdog2

dr bob,

I removed the drive box cover and looked inside. There is no metal residue on the bottom of the cover and everything looks deceivingly clean. With the wheels rotating I hear the "whirring noise" but could not isolate what planetary gear reduction unit was the culprit. Interestingly, this has been the sound when I first purchased it new in February 2017. I did notice that there was not a hint of grease anywhere on any "gears/cogs" in the drive unit(?). 

Without getting into it at this time, is there a way of lubricating the area of the planetary gear units just to see if the sound is diminished? I downloaded the Parts Manual from SnowH8ter previously so it helps me understand what I am looking at. Anyway, a project for another day. Thanks for the encouragement on disassembling what you did on your initial repair. It may take me more than 20 minutes lol.


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## dr bob

With the cover off. as you look into the back of the drive box you'll see three shafts lateral. The axle with wheels on each end is obvious, as are the two "bull" gears just inside the walls of the drive box. Those bull gears are driven by smaller gears on what Husqvarna calls a power steering shaft. Those smaller gears are on one end of a planetary reduction gear set, and have the cogged outside housing on them The third shaft upper rear holds two arms with little dog blocks on them to engage the cogs on the planetary units. As luck would have it, the axle shaft between the wheels and the shaft right above it both need to come out before the power steering shaft with the two planetary reduction gears and the drive tire pieces in the middle can be removed intact. Once removed, a couple E-clips on the ends allow the little planetary reduction units to come ff the power steering shaft. Once they are removed, you can remove the outer part with the pinion (DRIVE) gear from the cogged outside housing, and find the three little planet gears inside. Scrape out the red wax that once was grease. Install new grease to lubricate the little pins that hold the planets, then the gear teeth of all inside the assembly, plus the pinion on the outside and the bull gears they mesh with. The needle roller bearings that ride on the power steering shaft are dry, so they need some of the same grease worked in before they are assembled on the shaft again.

Once done and reassembled, the "whirring noise" will pretty much disappear when the wheels are turned by hand. Mine had a little noise when new, but that noise level increased over the next few years to the point it worried me. I didn't see the issue beyond just the noises, and the increase was slow and gradual enough that I didn't get mad enough at it until it screwed me up at the far extreme of the block.


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## jesdog2

Thank you again. The tear down was clear and concise (just like an engineer, lol). I'll print out your reply and follow step by step. I already identified the drive shafts, etc. I'll pick up some synthetic grease before the project, having everything organized, and hope for the best. I think your identifying similar sounds may now be a preventative maintenance for all of us with these machines.


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## dr bob

My tool pile has some of those magnetic parts trays to keep the E-clips separated and close by. I also use a plastic coffee can with a screw-on lid as a small-parts cleaner/degreaser. A few ounces of deodorized mineral spirits/paint thinner, add parts, close lid, shake well, remove lid. Magnetic pick-up tool and some plastic gloves round out the cleaning package.

Ping/PM me if you get stuck on something. I can't be more than twenty minutes or so from you. If my seeing-eye dog can find your address on a map we're golden.


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## jesdog2

Great! Thanks for the advice and ideas. I'll PM if I get into some difficulties.


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## dr bob

After a couple stutter-steps from the online parts place (in Florida...), I finally received an e-mail today with shipping info and some tracking numbers. So the hard parts should be here in less than a week, and hopefully I'll get to do a combined "more permanent fix" and "get it ready for summer hibernation" sometime in early April. I'll get the camera crew lined up for a feature documentary production.


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## jesdog2

That's good news on your parts and likewise my hibernation maintenance will start soon. Our weather has turned the corner and looks like spring has finally arrived. Finally snow/ice has finally come off the roof and I see some spots of turf as the snow melts.

Anyway, look forward to your epic production and will have my popcorn ready. Enjoy the weather. I'll wait till a little warmer then get into the drive train "whirring" issue. Thanks for the update.


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## DickR

Dr Bob, I've been watching your thread on the ST227P with interest, particularly the latter posts on lubrication of the gears. On looking at the owner's manual (115 68 34-27 Rev. 3), page 14 has this:


TRACTION DRIVE SYSTEM
DO NOT lubricate the drive components inside the snow
thrower. The sprockets, hex shafts, drive disc and friction
wheel require no lubrication. The bearings and bushings
are lifetime lubricated and require no maintenance.
CAUTION: Any lubricating of the above components
can cause contamination of the friction
wheel and damage to the drive system of your
snow thrower.


It would seem that your findings are contrary to what the manual says. I got mine in February 2018; would that have changed things vs your 2015 machine? Perhaps the mfg has learned from mistakes, improved quality control?


Another question: if I do get into checking lubrication of the planetary gear bearings, for ease of access is it ok to tilt the machine up onto the front of the bucket, or would I be asking for trouble by putting the engine 90 degrees out of horizontal and having fluids dribble out the wrong places?


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## dr bob

Hi Dick --

I looked at the manual recommendations for no lubrication on drive pieces in the box, and then looked at the chewed up steering shaft and the fragments of roller bearing rollers that had locked up the planetary box. Their idea of "lifetime lubrication" for the bearings was the same as "none". Maybe their "lifetime" expectancy is a lot shorter than mine for these pieces. It was a tough decision (not...) to replace the bearings, pack them with heavy grease, and reassemble. I agree that you don't want anything to contaminate the friction disk and the rubber tire on the drive wheel, so of course you'll want to use some good sense and not add globs of grease where they will get thrown around on the drive disk. The dry needle bearings were inside the planetary reduction box, three in each one. There are no seals of any kind to keep grease in the bearings or housings so this will likely turn into an annual exercise at least for me. Meanwhile, looking at the parts sheet, the rubber tire for the friction drive is about $7, so a new one came this week (finally...) with the rest of the new and spare drive parts. I'll be getting into the project in the next few weeks, as soon as spring really launches and the machine is ready to be put away for the summer.

Maybe of interest: I dropped the drive box cover for a peeky after about 4 hours of use on the greased bearings. No traces of grease on anything except the cover itself and the case flanges it fastens to, all below the drive gears. Nothing anywhere near the friction disk or the tire. The difference in noise and smoothness is pretty impressive, by the way. Having the reduction boxes working is essential, while the telltale noise reduction is icing on the cake really.


Plan is to run the video cameras when I take the box apart this time. Hopefully someone will find it useful, and save themselves the annoyance of the bearing failure over less than an ounce of synthetic CV joint grease.


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## dr bob

Carrying the "lifetime" theme a little further, the only lubricated and sealed bearings in the drive section are the two ball bearings that carry the steering shaft. You can see the bearings from the outside of the case on either side, above where the main wheel axles pass through the housing. These bearings were all but frozen up, so they were replaced with new as part of the band-aid session for the planetary units' dry needle bearings. Bearings were cheap (under $15/pr on Amazon with the needle bearings), so there's an extra set in the spares box for the time I find them even a little grumbly. They come off the shaft when the needle bearings get serviced, so easy to check and easy to just replace when needed.


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## dr bob

*Tempting the Snow Gods (!)*

Tempting the snow gods, yesterday I took the opportunity to get started on end-of-season pre-storage prep. I drained the tank and the carburetor bowl, but put off the next parts of the protocol when I saw winter storm warnings go up for the Cascades an hour north of us. I was inspired by the main forums thread here https://www.snowblowerforum.com/for...d-proper-use-snowblower-avoid-breakdowns.html where I listed all the stuff I do. It wan't a big list, but it's important. Draining the fuel is pretty easy, after you remove the small bolts that hold the carburetor and muffler covers. Total time less than 10 minutes, cheap insurance against corrosion and other fuel system problems related to keeping old ethanol-laced fuel in the engine all summer and fall. It's an easy first step on the way to off-season storage. I was told by mrs dr bob that there will be no more of this kind of activity for at least another few weeks. :devil:


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## dr bob

*Way Too Early, But Here We Go!*

Forecast for this weekend has maybe 4" of snow mixed with rain between Saturday and early Monday. Kinda rude especially so early on the calendar. But it did inspire me to swap in the new "steering shaft" as promised last spring. I ran the video camera but have so say that my video skills absolutely suck. I spent 20 mins getting the machine up high enough on jack-stands to get good video up into the drive case. Then futzed around for another 20 mins doing a five-minute job. Bottom line is that the new shaft is in with new needle bearings and new grease, but no movie studio is going to be releasing my DIY wrench-umentary very soon.

In preparation for the blooozard forecast starting tomorrow, I celebrated with fresh fuel and stabilizer in the red cans. Re-sealed the painted metal bits including the augers and impellers. Looked hard at the impeller to find inspiration for drilling for the rubber "impeller kit" flaps. There's maybe 10mm of clearance between the arms and the barrel, something I'll cry about later when slush has filled the chute for the fourth time in as many minutes. Need to bring a couple snow shovels down out of storage and get them paint-sealed too. Now where did I put those gloves and the other winter gear? I'm sure it's around here somewhere... Hey, it's not even October yet, yet I expect to see the resident "first flake" out doing a snow dance tomorrow. Film at 11...


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## dr bob

Our early 3-6" soggy-snow prediction fizzled. Nothing on the street or driveway, but the trees and lawn got enough to make it look like winter. In anticipation, I decided to put fuel in it and make sure everything is still good. It looks/sounds like the forward support for the exhaust shield has cracked at the exhaust port end. I looked at the Husky and LCT parts drawings, but this bracket doesn't have a listing or a part/diagram number. I may have to do a little fabrication to get a new/better bracket in place. The original one is captive by the retainer so this isn't fatal, giving me some time to get a new piece made. The original is very thin steel, and it's Swiss-cheesed to help it shed heat. I may do some hacksaw surgery on a couple fender washers, and pop-rivet new tabs onto the original metal. Else make a whole new one. Else everything starts-runs-drives as new.

Historically, first measurable snow happens no earlier than mid-November. There's a good case for draining the tank and carburetor again, with fuel into the sealed fuel can again. Jury is still out on the ATF and cylinder fogging.


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## dr bob

In my pre-season false-start prep and run, I noticed a bit of engine cover rattling at isle speed. Turns out that the front support bracket for the muffler shield has cracked through right where it fits around the exhaust coupling where it bolts to the cylinder. The bracket falls into a parts limbo where it doesn't show as a separate part, or even as a part of the muffler heat shield assembly or the muffler itself. I'll likely end up fabricating a new one or at least a new bottom end I can attach to the exhaust studs. Hmmm.

Others are encouraged to take a look at that front bracket at the bottom end for similar cracking/failure.


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## dr bob

Working in the shop today, I'm starting to get that itch. You know the one. The "toyz that make noiz" one. We need some more snow on the mountain for skiing please, and maybe some here in town too for good measure. Summer driver will get its winter storage prep soon, probably before Thanksgiving. Once that gets put away, the only outdoor fun thing left is winter toys. Jesdog is probably still playing golf up at Eagle Crest. Our little 9-hole is done for the winter, but Bend is still offering mid-morning golf if I get the WD's.


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## jesdog2

dr bob, yes we were golfing last week enjoying the last warm days of this fall. As accurately predicted snow came last night and continues today (November 28, 2019). I was able to fire up the ST227P with fresh gas/stabilizer in anticipation for this (too early)snow event and did our driveway in an hour. 4-5" of wet snow but the job is done for today. I helped my neighbor clear his driveway as he had an electric Sno Joe and he got most of it done before i was on scene. I had him clear a perimeter so I could finish without running over anything. 
After lubricating the planetary gears and drive unit last spring following your excellent guidance, I noticed the reverse was not engaging normally and it was tempermental and mostly not engaging at all. When the cover of the drive train was off I noticed that the round wheel that engages the friction disc would move slowly on the horizontal shaft and then engage reverse. I thought it was a little too slow but after shifting several times, it worked fine after the spring tune up. Today, it was not engaging again and although the reverse is slow anyway by design, hefting it backwards was strenuous. Anyway, what are your thoughts. Hopefully, maybe a cable adjustment but I'll await your sage advice. Well, hopefully this storm passes through and the snow melts and on to golf again. When State transportation has to close the border between CA/OR you know the storm is/was a big one. Happy Thanksgiving to all.


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## jesdog2

Success thanks to YouTube. Now have Reverse and FWD drive speeds. Apparently, I failed to link the Trunion Bearing to the Bracket Yoke (connects to the friction disc assembly) which negated the reverse speed. 

Here is the video on the 200 series drive train. I thought it was pretty good. 





Anyway, my skill level still has its limitations and glad I came across the video. Should snow tonight so I'll give it a go in the am.


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## dr bob

Sorry I missed your last postings. I was, um, busy clearing snow and munching turkey. Great find on the video, by the way. 

The last little blast turned into soggy concrete right about the time I decided that raking some of my garage roof would be a good idea. Sun was out and temps rising faster than I thought. No ice in the gutters, but moving all that concrete was more than I was planning for.


A few days of warm and sun should slush and freeze the roads here quite nicely. Driveway and our little circle are clean and dry already. Fun stuff! So far so good this year as far as the machine goes.


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## dr bob

Managed to give myself a few "clinics" this weekend. Rain first. froze into a skating rink for the private street and the neighbors' driveways. Our driveway is paving stones that drain nicely, but the rest was slippery as he!!. Did OK, except the snow was really heavy, and it was just sliding on the ice layer rather than loading the bucket and the impeller. The machine was having trouble, and separately so was the operator. I should have stayed in my own driveway... but NOoooo. The heavy snow was clogging the augers, a few stray rocks in a neighbor's drive tested a shear pin, and deciding to add add yaktrax to my boots happened a few falls too late. I learned how to fall and not get hurt while playing hockey through college so nothing damaged except my pride. Ended up going after the augers and bucket and chute with with another couple layers of paint sealant and solved the clogging, replaced the broken shear pin after clearing the rocks, tossed the old boots that were way worn down, and had a much better day today with more snow. It's snowing now but it's dark and there's playoff ball on the TV, so whatever is out there will be ready for me in the morning.

Better tomorrow.


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## BlowerMods1

That is good info, thanks. One suggestion: I have been hearing complaints that Stabil does not work or last as long as it once did and I've noticed that myself so what I have decided to do is empty the tank before storing and pour a pint of True Fuel into the tank. Start the motor and run it through the system. This should keep any seals / rubber from drying out. I also remove the plugs and apply anti seize to the threads. First thing I did to the backup blower I bought as well as the tires and the plug both felt like they were put in with an impact driver - ridiculous. Anti seize helps with insertion as well as it gives you a better feel for the threads. Love the tip about the dolly. I have a couple of these laying around doing nothing, think I will put them to good use. Great Post.


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## jesdog2

Heated Grips not working. I haven't had the need to use them since I bought it new in 2017. However, I thought I might try it today. 2" semi-dry snow and finished the driveway in 30 minutes with no issues other than the heated grips.

I rocked the switch to the on position during the activity and then when finished, took my gloves off and did not notice any "warmth/heat" from the grips. This area, I believe, is the padded grey material attached to the handle bar.

I checked the voltage on the leads to the switch(removed both connector) and got the 12V on the multi-meter. I proceeded to check the switch in the on position and there was the correct connectivity. I checked in the off position and had no reading (closed).

I really don't need the warmer for the short time I use it but was just wondering......any tips appreciated.


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## dr bob

Unplug the heated grips again, and this time use your meter to measure the resistance (Ohms) of the grips themselves. A lower number is better, while infinite means the hearing element or the connecting wiring has failed. Without going out and inspecting/measuring, remember that the switch may need to be on for the testing.

And for some reason a coincidence.... I too decided to flip the heated grips switch on for the first time. Have to also say that I didn't notice anything. I have to say that air temp was right at freezing and I had gloves on. When I was shutting down and ready to go in, I bare-handed the grips. Were they warmer than they would have been with the switch turned off? Ellifyno. I've been using the thing for years now with the grips turned off, and I'm pretty sure I can do it some more. I may go after the grips and wiring with the meter, and will share what I find.

I do need to flip the skid shoes again. The bottoms are worn thin, tops still new. So over they go. I may drop a new scraper on it too, as the old one is showing the signs of wear. All normal wear parts of course. I've chugged through about three gallons of fuel so far this season. Haven't looked at the Hobbs in a bit.

Forecast sez either soggy snow or rain tomorrow and for the next several hours. I've got all of last week's snow and slush gone and the driveway and our street are clean and dry. The fun never sets.


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## dr bob

BlowerMods1 said:


> That is good info, thanks. One suggestion: I have been hearing complaints that Stabil does not work or last as long as it once did and I've noticed that myself so what I have decided to do is empty the tank before storing and pour a pint of True Fuel into the tank. Start the motor and run it through the system. This should keep any seals / rubber from drying out. I also remove the plugs and apply anti seize to the threads. First thing I did to the backup blower I bought as well as the tires and the plug both felt like they were put in with an impact driver - ridiculous. Anti seize helps with insertion as well as it gives you a better feel for the threads. Love the tip about the dolly. I have a couple of these laying around doing nothing, think I will put them to good use. Great Post.


I drain the tank and run things completely dry for off-season storage. Pull the drain from the carburetor to get the last bits of fuel drained out. Plug comes out for some ATF or fogging oil, then back in with fingers only so no risk of cross-threading. The NGK plug I have in there now has cad plating on the threads so no steel corrosion. The threads get oiled, may get anti-seize annually but it's not that critical here (dry mountain/ high-desert climate). So far so good.

I use StaBil all year, run the carb bowl dry at the end of each use. I go through a bottle of StaBil every two years or so, with the cars and other toys. No sign of it not lasting mostly because we don't test it for more than half a year at a time. I think folks are becoming more aware of the shelf life and life after opening numbers showing up on the bottles. IMHO those numbers are a bit of a scam -- so long as the bottle stays closed, there's no evaporation or evolution of low-boiling components, so it's a way to get us to buy more.


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## jesdog2

_Unplug the heated grips again, and this time use your meter to measure the resistance (Ohms) of the grips themselves. A lower number is better, while infinite means the hearing element or the connecting wiring has failed. Without going out and inspecting/measuring, remember that the switch may need to be on for the testing.

And for some reason a coincidence.... I too decided to flip the heated grips switch on for the first time. Have to also say that I didn't nodown and ready to go in, I bare-handed the grips. Were they warmer than they would have been withtice anything. I have to say that air temp was right at freezing and I had gloves on. When I was shutting the switch turned off? Ellifyno. I've been using the thing for years now with the grips turned off, and I'm pretty sure I can do it some more. I may go after the grips and wiring with the meter, and will share what I find.

I do need to flip the skid shoes again. The bottoms are worn thin, tops still new. So over they go. I may drop a new scraper on it too, as the old one is showing the signs of wear. All normal wear parts of course. I've chugged through about three gallons of fuel so far this season. Haven't looked at the Hobbs in a bit.

Forecast sez either soggy snow or rain tomorrow and for the next several hours. I've got all of last week's snow and slush gone and the driveway and our street are clean and dry. The fun never sets.
New Husqy ST227P for 2014-15 snow season.

I love my snowblower. Every beat of it's little heart is one mine won't have to take._

Great and thanks for the updates on your experiences and wear on your ST227P. I thought I'd leave the grips project till end of season where I can run out the fuel, etc. Likewise, I can get by without them as time of use is limited before I head back into the garage. I estimate probably close to a gallon of use so far (only needed it once.....oh, oh, maybe mis-typed, lol).

Anyway, did some basic investigation on these Husky grips and general opinions are that they are not the best. I can do without but will use the resistance check later. Keep warm,golf course opened for walking only yesterday, maybe carts today.

There is a question on the Husqvarna forum regarding the grips, page 5 or 6 if I can recall. Last posting was in 2017.


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## dr bob

Had a snow weekend, after a month of very warm weather. Plants coming up, birds happy, chipmunks out playing. Now snow. I burned a tankful today pretty effortlessly. Just a few inches of nice dry powder, with temps peaking at less than 20ºF all day. Another inch or so fell this evening, maybe more overnight. So more fun tomorrow. Then back to spring-like weather by the middle of the week.

----

Machine is performing flawlessly. A neighbor put a blade on his yard tractor, and we tag-team our private roads here. He presents two of maybe three rows of plowed powder, they get thrown off the pavement so we can keep full-width clearance. Still cleared four driveways with shovel and machine plus the roads. A few hours work total.. The exercise is good for me. Tank is almost empty, and tomorrow will tell if I need to add some or let it go for end-of-season storage prep.


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## jesdog2

Looks like our season has ended. Total hours on use this year was about 1 1/4 hrs. No need to drain/change oil but drained the fuel as it will be over 6 months before fall pre-winter check and start-up. Will lube cables, etc. I spent a few minutes yesterday cleaning the auger/impeller area and did some touch up spray painting in scratched areas. I'll put a coat of wax and buff and then back on the dolly. I did check the handle grip warmers while it was running the last gulps of fuel and yes, there was heat to the grips but it was minimal. Can't fault advertising for "Heated hand grips" because it does heat. Anyway, golf course is open and COVID-19 recommendations are in place for carts, etc. I'll bring my own wipes just to add peace of mind. May be walking more until this cycles itself out.


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## dr bob

Amen. Gathering up our club members to see how we will do sessions and tournaments with one per cart, safe distances and such. It's a pretty senior group, and a few decided to hold an impromptu face to face meeting. Clearly the message is falling on deaf ears.

Meanwhile, I spent the last couple days spring-cleaning the yard. I have pine needles and cones for sale, local pickup only though.

I made the same end-of-season decision yesterday, washed the machine and did a full service. Gambling that we are done with major snow in mid March? Sounds too early, so we are surely tempting Flurry, The Goddess of Blizzards. Changed the oil with only seven hours added this season. Drained the tank, and also drained the carburetor.

The whole carburetor and muffler cover comes off with six bolts and the knobs pull straight up, so you can get to the bottom of the float bowl. The hose comes off from the fuel valve to the carburetor, and the last bits of fuel go in the can. There's a small bolt with a gasket going up into a boss in the bottom of the carburetor. Put a cup under there and remove the bolt. Not a lot of fuel left in there after running the engine out, but enough to foul the bits if we leave it in there. It's maybe ten minutes of work to do that whole fuel-draining exercise.

I need to do the touch-up painting and redo the paint sealant before the cover goes back on for summer hibernation.


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## dr bob

20201005

Weather here has maintained at around 15ºF above normal since late August. Wildfires fouled the air for a few weeks, with smoke coming over the mountains to us from the west as well as some up from California. Happiness is sharing, except for smoke, fire, and maybe Covid. I helped myself to a nasty neck strain, a recurrence of a relatively ancient (45+ years ago) sports injury. Was doing some charity work in the neighborhood last spring, and ended up with nerve damage that had my hands and arms numb. No touch-typing, so pretty much a career death-sentence for an automation engineering consultant. This will be retirement-3.5, maybe for the best especially with travel too dangerous. All my power plant projects are delayed a year at least, and hopefully will just disappear. Meanwhile, injections into three disk junctions in my neck have improved things back to maybe 75%. Surgery avoided at least in the immediate term. I'm going to blame my keyboard for typing mistakes, since I now have to watch my fingers to find the right keys instead of looking at the screen. Work with me on this...

In parallel, one of my more-aged neighbors (he's early 80's) has decided that I look like I'm having too much fun clearing his small (maybe 400 sqft) driveway, so he's getting ready to go snowblower shopping. Dave has trouble standing for more than a few minutes, and drives the two houses space between us when we host cul de sac cocktail parties a couple times a week. Trying to keep the neighbors socially engaged. Anyway, he thinks he wants a machine to use on his own driveway plus the 800 or so square feet of his across-the-street neighbor (she's in her late 80's...) when it snows. He's looking in the 24"-class two-stage range, specifically at a Craftsman at a local big-box store where he can use his 10% veterans discount. I may go hunt down a Husky in that range for him so at least we have a few common spares. And I know how they fit together some. I explained the dilemma of buying at the big box store and what happens when the machine decides not to work. Will he go to the local outdoor machine s store where they will take good care of him? Probably not.  So stay tuned here for more on the decision process and the results of his/our selection process.

-----

Mine is still sitting on the dolly with the cover on it. By this time last year it had already been out for pre-flight and test-start. Instead, it will be low 80's this afternoon, with a cold snap due this weekend to get those temps back around 70 or so. Crazy warm so far. I'll probably eat these words in a few months. I'll report back when there's more to report than just the shorter days.


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## dr bob

20201016

Neighbor decided on the 26" Craftsman in the $800 class. Came in a box (good) so we got to do the final assembly. Lowes sold him a couple bottle of ethanol-free fuel too. Meanwhile, the Craftsman is missing power steering (good for 350# 80+ operator), so he'll be wrestling the turnarounds in his driveway patch, maybe less so in the driveway across the street from him with 3x the area. We'll do a first-start when we get closer to snow. He grew up in Green Bay area, but has never owned a snowblower before.


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## Zavie

Lowes does have a 30 day return period on power equipment. Maybe an early trial within that time frame will prompt him to opt for a power steering system machine.


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## dr bob

I had the discussion early on the features he should look for, but he had a $600 budget number in mind. He stretched to get the 26" model from the original budget-stretching 24" model. I think there isn't room for more shopping. A also don't know personally if the effort to turn will be way different on a snow-covered driveway vs. on 75º dry surface. I hope it's a lot less. I've been clearing his driveway since we moved here, when his wife was in final stages and he didn't have time or energy left to do it. I'll be the first to admit that I was deer-in-the-headlights when I bought the Husqy, and didn't appreciate the power steering until I was out driving it. Never had it before, didn't know I needed it until I had it. Not a showstopper in the giant scheme of things these days. I think his Craftsman arrived within less than $50 of whet we paid for the Husqy six seasons ago.

Snow will be the big test.


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## Zavie

Phew, good thing I didn't suggest the husqvarna ST 424


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## ktl5005

I just sold my 2017 ST22P. Hated it. Weak on the wet slop, felt like belt slipping under heavy wet snow, bogged down with the wet stuff, belt screech everytime you engage, etc.


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## dr bob

ktl5005 said:


> I just sold my 2017 ST22P. Hated it. Weak on the wet slop, felt like belt slipping under heavy wet snow, bogged down with the wet stuff, belt screech everytime you engage, etc.


I understand when folks get fed up with things that don't seem to work as they "should". Unfortunate that your needs exceeded the performance you got. Also read some of your discussion about the replacement options.


Some ST227P things I've learned in some years of use now, might help others reading your post.

-- Keep the bucket and impellers waxed. I do it at the end of the season as part of the summer storage prep, and again sometime mid-winter especially with less than perfect show. Same applies to any machine though. They work a lot better when the snow doesn't hang up on the front bits.

-- Don't park it outside with snow still in the barrel. It will freeze hard, and the belt will complain as you try and clear frozen boulders. I'm on my second impellor belt, only after learning that hard lesson. 

-- Add the impellor mod with the rubber flaps to help with the less-than-perfect dense snow. As delivered, wet slop will clog the chute after a while. Keep it all waxed inside, add the impeller kit.


I'll be the first to tell that I bought the ST227P relatively blind, and did my research only after placing the order. The deal on it was too good to pass up at the time, and it's done a lot more than I originally planned/intended. We get no more than maybe 100" of snow annually, and at 4000' it tends to be pretty dry. We live in a private community and I've been "managing" the snow clearing contractor since last year. Result: I clear our cul-de-sac and our street, working along with a neighbor with a blade on his yard tractor. So no EOD piles to contend with. The few times I've wanted more power were when I was asking the machine to chew through the equivalent of frozen EOD boulders. Won't do that again.

I have a couple neighbors who moved from heavier-snow territory and they brought some pretty impressive stuff with them. So far, the one I have is enough. I attack the snow before it turns to mush or ice, and before it gets too deep. That makes a big difference in total throughput.


Good luck with your new machine!


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## Zavie

dr bob said:


> Keep the bucket and impellers waxed


Have you thought about or maybe used a ceramic coating instead of wax?


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## dr bob

Zavie said:


> Have you thought about or maybe used a ceramic coating instead of wax?


Hadn't considered it really. I've had good results with Meguiars Synthetic Paint Sealant 2.0. I get it in 64oz size for al the toys, and it works great. I just can't see buying a $$$ceramic$$$ sealant just for the inside of the bucket. It takes maybe 5 minutes to do the whole thing, and one application per season is often enough. Sometimes by spring, another application will help with throwing late-season "spring cement". If things start to clog, A few minutes and we are good to go again.

Thanks for the thought though!


dr bob


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## dr bob

Wandered by to visit the neighbor with the new Craftsman. I'd shared the guidance on using car wax on all the snow-contact parts, and was surprised to see all those bits still sitting in a thick coating of wax swirls. Apparently I forgot to include the 'buffing with a towel' step. He confessed that he's never actually cleaned and waxed a car before; he just drive his black Highlander through the wash-and-spray wax tunnel a couple times a year and good to go. I suspect the wax will get finished soon.

We also had a clinic about why the electric starter didn't. He was thing the cord charges the battery, so he could disconnect the extension cord, roll the machine out of the garage, push the button and go.

Between these and couple other adventures, I can see the challenge facing owners who aren't mechanical. Also the manual-writers, who need to include three or four different versions of the instructions in the hope that at least one version is appropriate for any particular buyer/operator. I write reams of project documentation for my little consulting gig, and it's challenge keeping the attention of audience members who may have graduated from Navy nuke school, sitting next to folks who last might have been upselling fries at the drive-thru. I've settled on the "Reader's Digest" strategy, where the author ends up writing for a fifth-grade reading and comprehension level to make sure a minimum of the audience is lost along the way. Dave's Craftsman snow-blower manual needs to be written the same way. It's possible that dr bob's blog contributions deserve the same consideration.

----

We've had a few dustings so far this fall, but in spite of forecasts of more, nothing really worth writing home about. I was just giving some though to adding a mounting for a small ATV-sized electric winch-hoist in the work bay, something I could use to lift the snow blower and other heavy stuff from cart to worktable a little more easily. I get to think about and work on stuff like this since it isn't snowing yet. As soon as I start a project like that though, we'll get a blewzerd. neither option sounds particularly bad right now.

Stay safe, stay healthy!

dr bob


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## dr bob

20210120-1430

There's a threat of clouds and a dusting over the next week or so. As soon as I start complaining about no snow, that might change and more. So this isn't a complaint. I thought that mounting the snow blade on the neighbor's garden tractor might trigger a dump, but it might have had the opposite effect. Snow stakes are out to mark pavement edges, standing tall in the greening grass. Two weeks of above-freezing overnight temps, a dozen miles from a ski area. The last little bit of dust we got, I hand pushed it into a pile in the corner of the driveway, so I could at least look at it and get a reminder of what snow used to look like.

My pre-season test-run was in November, a couple months ago now. Trying to decide if I need to drain the tank and make sure the carburetor bowl is dry. Then put the cover on it and roll the dolly over to the winter-storage side of the work bay, out of the way. I used my polished and waxed aluminum scoop-shovel to pick up yard debris over the weekend. Mid 50's, shirtsleeve work weather outside.

Gotta learn a new snow dance.


Stay safe, stay healthy! More when/if it happens.

dr bob


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## dr bob

20210128

As luck would have it, mere days after saying something about our lack of snow, we started a series of weather events that have delivered a total of about 8" over the course of a week. Blizzard conditions south of us, a smattering here where we really need it. Oh well. I pulled the machine out to do some larger areas and to clean up piles where I'd been pushing snow with a shovel. Did four driveways and a few hundred feet of our private street, plus a little more nearby. Enough to get me out off my butt, but nothing serious enough to call actual "work".

The machine performed flawlessly. Started on the first manual pull each time. The little brackets I made to hold the muffler shield are doing fine, and the rattles from that cover are completely gone. All good!

Bob


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## dr bob

20200204

After reading the many folks who have done the "impellor mod", I started checking my inventory of 'stuff'' and found I had everything, -and- could actually find it all at the same time. 

So off came the chute, the belt cover, and the plastic ejection section that attaches to the impellor barrel. That last piece is held on by four bolts from inside the barrel, nylock-style nuts on the outside. So catch the bolts inside as you remove those nuts.

Instead of trying to drill holes, I decided to use 1/2"-long #6 TEK-style self-tapping metal screws. These have a hex head that is easily driven by a magnetic nut-driver bit in my way-too-handy Makita 1/4"-hex impact driver. No drilling, just let the self-drilling screws to all the work.

The flaps are made from some 1/4"-thick clear urethane sheet I had left from an industrial application at least 35 years ago. Most of my stash from those projects is still here on the roll, suggesting that I just might be a borderline almost stuff-hoarder. Using some is a small vindication. I cut 2.5" x 4" pieces for the project, and used a handy gasket cutter to make 4 holes in each for the screws to pass through. 

Rotate the impellor to horizontal at the opening, place the urethane flap on the paddle with about 1/8" excess, and use a Vise-Grip pliers to hold it in place. The Vise-grips also sit on the edge of the opening, keeping the impellor from rotating as I drilled. Center-punch the paddle to keep the screw-drill from wandering. Then medium speed and lots of pressure on the TEK screw via the impact driver, and in mere seconds it drills through and threads itself into the paddle. I put flat washers under the screw heads to distribute the clamping some, but otherwise it was a snap getting the flaps onto the paddles securely.

Once the flaps were attached on all three paddles, the external pieces went back in reverse of the removal order. This morning, I rolled the machine out into the driveway and fired it up. I'd done a 'test rotate' by hand using the drive handle and the pull starter cord to make sure things would actually turn. With engine running, I let the urethane flaps clearance themselves in the impellor barrel for a couple minutes. The just touch the barrel, and have only a slight interference at a protective bracket on the upper side of the barrel opening. If/when this stuff comes out for any service, I'll do a little shape adjustment on the bracket to let it fit tighter to the barrel with new flaps.

On assembly, I added grease to the joint where the chute sits on the plastic ejection section. Should have done this on initial assembly and saved some wear on the plastic. The chute now flies back and forth (rotates) with almost no effort on the lever. We'll see how it works with snow flying through it in the cold.

Whole project was about half an hour of actual work, including R&R of the chute parts and cutting/punching the urethane flaps. The TEK screws were in my hardware cabinet, just waiting for a project like this. We have no snow in the immediate forecast, so we will all have to wait patiently to see what the effect is on actual performance/throwing distance.

In the meanwhile, stay safe, stay warm, have fun!


dr bob


----------



## SnowCat in Bend

dr bob said:


> 20200204
> 
> After reading the many folks who have done the "impellor mod", I started checking my inventory of 'stuff'' and found I had everything, -and- could actually find it all at the same time.
> 
> So off came the chute, the belt cover, and the plastic ejection section that attaches to the impellor barrel. That last piece is held on by four bolts from inside the barrel, nylock-style nuts on the outside. So catch the bolts inside as you remove those nuts.
> 
> Instead of trying to drill holes, I decided to use 1/2"-long #6 TEK-style self-tapping metal screws. These have a hex head that is easily driven by a magnetic nut-driver bit in my way-too-handy Makita 1/4"-hex impact driver. No drilling, just let the self-drilling screws to all the work.
> 
> The flaps are made from some 1/4"-thick clear urethane sheet I had left from an industrial application at least 35 years ago. Most of my stash from those projects is still here on the roll, suggesting that I just might be a borderline almost stuff-hoarder. Using some is a small vindication. I cut 2.5" x 4" pieces for the project, and used a handy gasket cutter to make 4 holes in each for the screws to pass through.
> 
> Rotate the impellor to horizontal at the opening, place the urethane flap on the paddle with about 1/8" excess, and use a Vise-Grip pliers to hold it in place. The Vise-grips also sit on the edge of the opening, keeping the impellor from rotating as I drilled. Center-punch the paddle to keep the screw-drill from wandering. Then medium speed and lots of pressure on the TEK screw via the impact driver, and in mere seconds it drills through and threads itself into the paddle. I put flat washers under the screw heads to distribute the clamping some, but otherwise it was a snap getting the flaps onto the paddles securely.
> 
> Once the flaps were attached on all three paddles, the external pieces went back in reverse of the removal order. This morning, I rolled the machine out into the driveway and fired it up. I'd done a 'test rotate' by hand using the drive handle and the pull starter cord to make sure things would actually turn. With engine running, I let the urethane flaps clearance themselves in the impellor barrel for a couple minutes. The just touch the barrel, and have only a slight interference at a protective bracket on the upper side of the barrel opening. If/when this stuff comes out for any service, I'll do a little shape adjustment on the bracket to let it fit tighter to the barrel with new flaps.
> 
> *On assembly, I added grease to the joint where the chute sits on the plastic ejection section. Should have done this on initial assembly and saved some wear on the plastic. The chute now flies back and forth (rotates) with almost no effort on the lever. We'll see how it works with snow flying through it in the cold*.
> 
> Whole project was about half an hour of actual work, including R&R of the chute parts and cutting/punching the urethane flaps. The TEK screws were in my hardware cabinet, just waiting for a project like this. We have no snow in the immediate forecast, so we will all have to wait patiently to see what the effect is on actual performance/throwing distance.
> 
> In the meanwhile, stay safe, stay warm, have fun!
> 
> 
> dr bob


Hey Dr. Bob,

Just thought I'd mention my favorite lubrication product "Tri-flow". I've used it on everything from door locks to bicycles, snowblowers and all my printing presses before I retired. Tri-flow has been the best all around product that I have used. I use it on all cables, springs and anything metal on metal ~ just a simple little spray does the trick. The original introduction to Tri-flow came from a custom bicycle builder that I was have some repair work done by many years ago. His instruction was "use a little at a time and use it often".

What made me think about it at this time was how well it has been working on the chute rotation on my Husky ST324P and, as you mentioned, how well you said your chute now rotates.

Unfortunately, I've only had to rotated the chute a couple of times this year due to lack of snow.


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## dr bob

Amen, without stating how long this product has been in my cabinet, the first cans of this were labelled "Tri-Flon" when they first appeared here. Great stuff. The perfect leaves no metal residue in locks, cables, and other precision mechanisms the needed something that flows like silicone but is even slipperier like Teflon. They got into a pissing contest over the "...Flon" in the product name with duPont who holds the "teflon" trademark. Pay no attention to the fact that it includes the TFE as a primary ingredient, such ingredient purchased from duPont...

Again, Great Stuff. Lawyers find themselves in a position to counter marketing. 

Grey spray cans. Great Stuff. For everything that doesn't expect viscosity/film thickness.


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## dr bob

20200213

A few recent doses of snow let me evaluate the benefits of the impellor modification described in 93, above. First was a warmer snow, high 20's and a great mid-range snow. The next, over the last 24 hours, has been a drier powder with temps from mid single digits up to high 20's. Results: positive. The modification adds an estimated 5-10' of throwing distance. Further evidence is that the engine is seeing noticeably more load. Overall, I'm very pleased with the ease of installation and the performance results. There's about 6 hours of run time on the plastic extensions. After the machine thaws out some, I'll take a look and see how the new parts are holding up. I cut and punched a few extra sets of the little flaps, should they be needed.


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## Husqvarna_10530SBE

Could you take pictures of your impeller mod? I'm always curious of other people's work. I like seeing a different way of doing things, especially if it works.


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## DickR

Husqvarna_10530SBE said:


> Could you take pictures of your impeller mod? I'm always curious of other people's work. I like seeing a different way of doing things, especially if it works.


Last year I posted a reply (#52) on a impeller mod thread, with four pics of my ST227P mod. Here's the link: Space around impeller Honda snow blower


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## dr bob

My impeller mod is no different than those discussed in the forums. My comments/method improvement is for using TEK screws to do the drilling and fastening in one step. In the general forum, several discussions have covered buying good drill bits, discussions of the access issues for drilling, etc. I used Vise-Grips to both hold the paddle in place, and hold the impellor from turning while I used the cordless impact gun to drill and install the TEK screws. TEK screws have a split drill-point end, with the 'thread' running from a bit behind that tip. With a hex head on the screws, a magnetic nut holder/driver in the little impact takes care of holding the screw, so pretty painless to push on the driver, pull on the trigger, and let the tools do all the work. Less than 10 secs per screw once the paddles are in place and a center punch makes a locating ding for the TEK screw to work in. It was so easy I put four TEK screws with washers holding each new pad in place.

Home Depot shows a similar screw here: Teks #10 x 3/4 in. External Hex Flange Hex-Head Self-Drilling Screws (150-Pack)-21320 - The Home Depot The ones I have in the hardware cabinet are #6 so smaller, but the ones at HD in #6 size are Phillips rather than hex head. Find a size that works for you. This isn't rocket surgery or nuclear medicine. I used what I had handy. The nut drivers are at the local Harbor Freight store: 1-3/4 in. Impact Rated Magnetic Nut Setters SAE, 5 Piece

It's been drizzling, then snowing and melting for an hour or two. Forecast sez four to six more hours this evening. Temps just now dropping below freezing, a couple hours to go until sunset. Should be a soggy layer of fused snow on top of an ice rink in the street in the morning. Good test, throwing something just north of slush. I can hardly wait...


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## Husqvarna_10530SBE

DickR said:


> Last year I posted a reply (#52) on a impeller mod thread, with four pics of my ST227P mod. Here's the link: Space around impeller Honda snow blower


Thanks for your post. Your pictures are pretty much the same as all the others I have seen.

I was curious about using self-tapping screws instead of bolts and nuts. I like pictures. Just paints a better picture than my brain can.


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## dr bob

20210227

Don't have pics of the install process. Take a look at the link to the screws in #99 above to see what a TEK screw looks like.

The TEK screws self-tap the equivalent of machine-screw threads in the paddles. I added flat washers under the heads, and have them tight enough to let those washers and the washer-heads on the screws do the job of keeping them from falling out in service. The installation couldn't have been easier really once the chute pieces were out of the way. No drilling holes, no fiddling blindly with screws-nuts-lock-washers or lock nuts, screwdriver and wrench. The TEK screws go in in one shot, using a drill or in my case the impact driver. The impact driver never made it to impact mode, suggesting that any decent drill with the hex nut driver bit in the chuck would work at least as well. As described, the Vise-Grip pliers held the plastic pad in place while I set the screws, and also held the impellor paddle up in the discharge opening just perfectly for the surgery. Zip-zip-zip-zip, rotate the impellor 120º, clamp the pad in place, zip-zip-zip-zip, and again for the third paddle.


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## Zavie

@dr bob what is the approximate amount of your gap between impeller and housing?


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## DickR

Zavie said:


> @dr bob what is the approximate amount of your gap between impeller and housing?


I don't know what variation there might be in gap due to production tolerances, but in my own ST227P the gap was roughly 3/8" IIRC. I do believe that after the impeller modification the machine performs better in general and notably with very wet snow. After the last storm, which left about 2" of wet snow then rained on it, the machine still was throwing the slush 20' or more most of the time. I did get a little buildup of slush in the chute at times, which I would clear out with the tool. I think I need to pay more attention to spraying the chute regularly to cover times when the snow gets slushy.


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## dr bob

Zavie said:


> @dr bob what is the approximate amount of your gap between impeller and housing?


Gap started out at an average less than half an inch, with a metal protection flange where the chute mounts that's less than 3/8". The other "high spots" in the housing are the bolt heads where the chute mounts, somewhere in between as far as impellor clearance. The urethane pieces were placed so there was a slight interference with the housing, and the first few minutes of operation caused them to self-clearance (read: wear...) to just make contact with the drum, and flex as they pass that protection flange. There are narrow notches worn in from the bolt heads. I will have to repaint the barrel in the spring before it goes to summer storage. It was due anyway, but the wear from the new flaps removed all doubt.

The last snow was very similar to what Dick R. describes. A few inches of heavy snow, from just barely freezing temps as it snowed. I started just pushing it with the shovel, but hung that up and pulled the machine out after a few shovel passes to the street. I need to add another layer of wax/paint sealant to the augers, but in the meanwhile the engine loading tells me that the impellor is doing a bit more work than previously. It easily slings the soggy snow 30+ feet. I had no issues with the chute clogging, but the augers were definitely suffering with clogging if I went at normal full-speed for the snow depth. In average snow, there's a very definite improvement in throwing distance, and more engine load with the extra distance and performance. A worthwhile tradeoff for almost all the area that I clear. We live on a shared private road with a 80' diameter cul de sac in front. If I wait for the HOA's contractor to clear snow, we get plow piles in the cul de sac and on the lawn areas. Better to wander down the street and toss the snow completely clear of the pavement. Prior to the impellor mod, the cul de sac would get some double-throwing. Now, there's enough range to get almost all of the middle snow off the pavement in one go at it. In heavy/deeper snow conditions, this saves a lot of work. Previously I'd do a few 'laps' of the perimeter to make room for the middle snow that I couldn't throw far enough. There's still some that doesn't get there especially when it's soggy, but for the rest it's a pretty decent improvement.

For me, the performance improvement is worth the effort.


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## Husqvarna_10530SBE

I'm thinking of going from a 2.75" impeller drive pulley to a 3". It seems to add at least 10-20 feet in throwing distance.


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## dr bob

20210308

Certainly worth a try, as it's easy enough to change it back if you don't like it. Whether that will add the expected 30-50% to the throwing distance for the <10% change in impellor speed is debatable. Math says Not Likely.

Just adding the impellor-mod paddles definitely affects the engine loading, which net affects impellor speed a small bit. Engine is working a little harder, just based on listening to the exhaust note. The urethane paddles are just touching the inside of the drum now most of the way around, so not much in the way of added friction at this point. It definitely throws farther now, but the extra 'work' it does isn't free -- the engine knows it's working a little harder. It's a net-positive result so far.

----

I still need to get new wax/sealant on the front bits before we get more snow. Next-door neighbor with the little blade on his lawn tractor asked if it's OK to pull his driveway snow stakes, as we've had some pretty warm afternoons lately. I told him to go ahead, but also mentioned that it's just getting into March, and there's at least another month of snow season available. Nothing triggers a blizzard quite like being unprepared in March. Snow stakes are still there.

More when it happens!


Bob


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## Husqvarna_10530SBE

Someone else on SBF changed their pulley from 3" to 3.25" and it made a huge difference in throwing distance.

I figure it's worth a try. I hate having to throw the same snow twice. I have plenty of room all around my driveway, so the further the snow goes the better.


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## dr bob

Husqvarna_10530SBE said:


> Someone else on SBF changed their pulley from 3" to 3.25" and it made a huge difference in throwing distance.
> 
> I figure it's worth a try. I hate having to throw the same snow twice. I have plenty of room all around my driveway, so the further the snow goes the better.


20210327

Let us know how well it works. Any improvement is good, especially the easy stuff like a pulley change. Spring pre-hibernation maintenance this year should probably include splitting the case and checking/replacing the impellor shaft bearing. If the quality of that one is similar to a few others on this one, it's time. Of course, with all that apart, testing a new drive pulley would be pretty easy. Remember that there's no such thing as a free lunch, as increasing the impellor speed will add load to the engine. For most light-snow days we'd probably not notice it much. Bu in deep or heavy/wet snow it will likely slow the engine down as load is added, netting a similar impellor speed in the end. Slippery slope, solved with an engine upgrade. "More Power!"


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## dr bob

20210327

I went down the block and harvested all my snow stakes earlier in the week. Still have a few little caches of snow hidden under some bushes by the road, but it's clear that it's a warm winter and spring. Safe tp pack everything and put it all away. Should have irrigation water going into the pond in a couple weeks, pretty much the official transition from winter to not-winter around here. I have a maintenance list to attend to this spring, and may just jump into that in a week or two after I line up some parts and some paint for the impellor barrel. A little bit of wrenching, a little touch of the Krylon Picasso treatment.


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## Husqvarna_10530SBE

I am making a list of parts to get for my machine. Some are upgrades that Husqvarna made to newer models that are bolt-in for my older machine. I did replace the original LH358SA engine with a HMSK100. They are almost the same thing. I believe they are both 358cc engines. I have been looking for an OHV engine of similar or higher cc's that I could use. I would need to get the engine mounting plate that Husqvarna started using when they changed over to LCT engines. Also the center of the crankshaft on these OHV engines is 1" higher, so I would need longer belts. I think I'm good for the impeller belt (use 40" belt with newer engine and 3" pulley), but not sure about drive belt, yet.

I'll test the 3" pulley next winter and see if the HSMK100 can handle it.

I passed up on a great deal for an LCT 404cc engine (electric start, manual throttle, proper crankshaft: 3/4" - ~2.5" long - tapped 3/8 - 24) earlier this year and I'm kicking myself now. I still would have had to get the mounting plate and longer belts for that engine, but I would have had the summer to work on it.

Hopefully some new deals will pop up again.


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## dr bob

20210401

Will you change the belt cover too? I looked hard at some of the bigger LCT replacement engines last fall when I saw an ad, but then figured that I'd just tear up the homeowner-grade drive pieces if I asked it to do much more work. The original engine still works perfectly, needing only a fab'd muffler cover support so far. I might put a new spark plug in it, mostly because I have a box of them for a car I no longer own. Thought I gave the last ones away, but found some anyway. 

It's been in the 70's here the last few days. Forecast shows a bit of mixed precip on Monday, but overnights are barely freezing. Still have 10' of snow at the ski area. I've been cleaning up after a weekend windstorm dropped a Ponderosa Pine in the driveway. Top of it managed to puncture a bit of the roof over the garage, ripped gutters, so it will get new sheathing and the rest to bring it back to its former happy state. I did get to play with the chainsaw a bit. I can get out of the garage and driveway now anyway. Getting too old and crabby for cutting up trees this size.

So next task after the final tree removal (still have 40' of it standing...) will be to line up the maintenance lists/ parts for the pre-hibernation tool-fest. It was a very light snow year so under 15 hours added. I'm thinking hard about that impellor bearing. Haven't seen any mention of a common bearing part number, so may end up kicking and screaming at the Husqvarna parts catalog trying to find one. Can't imagine they would invent their own bearing for that duty though.

I'll probably check back in once or twice between now and next fall, otherwise adios and see you sometime after Labor Day.


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## Husqvarna_10530SBE

I haven't even checked to see if the belt cover has room for a higher crankshaft. I could always built something out of wood that would probably work better than the original cover.

The bigger engine still runs at the same or even lower RPMs. It will have more torque, though. I'd only be going from 358cc to a little over 400cc. Having a 30" bucket on my machine, I don't see it being that huge of an increase, plus my older Husqvarna is better made than the newer stuff. I would hope the newer engine would be able to maintain full power when under full load instead of loosing power like the Tecumseh does. Might be a reason why people love those Predator 212 engines (small yet powerful and easy drop-in replacement). 

Pulley change first. If still not happy, then bigger engine.

Luckily I cut down all of the large trees around my house a few years ago. The Nor'easters I get love taking down the biggest trees and totaling vehicles and damaging homes. 

Are you talking about #12 532198791 ? PartsTree - Home of OEM Parts for Outdoor Power Equipment

See you later.


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## dr bob

Had lunch with a neighbor, who reminded me that he's ready to do all the pre-season PM and prep on his second-year Craftsman machine. Meanwhile, I procrastinated about replacing the impellor bearing over the summer, so need to decide if that's something necessary before we see first snow in late November. Two other big car mechanical projects are on my winter list already, beyond the normal service everything and swap from summer vehicles exercises. If I ignore the impellor bearing we'll get a massive snow dump and I'll regret the laziness. Lots or summer drought and we could use that snow-dump water though. Film at 11...


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## dr bob

Husqvarna_10530SBE said:


> ....
> 
> Are you talking about #12 532198791 ? PartsTree - Home of OEM Parts for Outdoor Power Equipment
> 
> See you later.



I think that's the one. It looks like a simple bearing, but sees all the belt 'pull' as radial load. After going through the bearings in the drive box, it's glaringly apparent that "cheap" was the first check-box on the spec sheet. Looks like it might be apart soon. 

Thanks!


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## dr bob

So... I have all the drive box bearings coming new, plus the impellor shaft bearing x2. I am just -so- looking forward to having the whole bottom end apart again. The good news is that this is pretty much the whole bearing load, except for the auger shaft bearings. And the angle drive gearbox for those augers. Going into year eight, things should remain pretty reliable with this machine.

Overnight temps dropped to 20ºF yesterday. Today's low was right at freezing, with highs in the high 40's both days. It's a little early here for any lasting snow at least based on recent history. But things have been anything but normal lately. We need a pretty massive amount of snowfall this winter to hep restore some water levels all along the Cascades here in Oregon. Pray for snow with me, but not until the parts get here and I get them installed. If you don't mind.

Everybody have a safe and bountiful snow season this year. Send your excess here.


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## Husqvarna_10530SBE

Hope you get the work done before snow hits.

Over here on the East coast, we don't need snow or rain right now, but I'd rather get snow than more rain this winter. We are due for some big snow.


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## dr bob

20211014

Amen! A lot of moisture that we usually get somehow made its way to the east coast this year. Plus, we sent a few clouds of smoke along as a bonus gift. We've had worse smoke years here, but not by a lot. I grew up on the east coast, and escaped to the west for college, and in search of fewer allergies and less summer heat and humidity. Got the education thing OK, but the smoke has, um, rekindled some long-forgotten issues.

50's today, but I have a temporary no-lifting restriction so no option to start breaking down the machine in advance of parts arriving. It actually runs and operates fine right now, and for the average user that's a good enough way to go into a snow season. After seeing how marginal the drive box bearings were designed and spec'd, getting that impellor bearing checked and renewed would worry me every time I started the machine.

For those following along at home, I started with the ST227P for my own driveway. Then the HOA jammed me the first winter by failing to clear the (private) street a few times. Then a neighbor's wife had some serious medical issues and care needs, so his driveway got cleared for paramedic access. Then another neighbor who's in her 80's and has a derelict son whom she relies on for logistics support like this. Others on the street here have been helping with the duties lately, but the residential-class machine ended up doing what a commercial-class machine would normally be asked to do. I'm having plenty of fun keeping it going through all this, and the parts are a lot cheaper than buying a new commercial snow blower. I have no idea how many years the "average" homeowner keeps an "average" snow blower. The forum members here are definitely not a typical test audience. I might guess three or maybe four years average before the time it doesn't start, or it locks up from ice in the barrel, bends or breaks trying to get through that three-days-old frozen rock-hard EOD pile, or it gets too rusty after sitting outside under a leaky tarp between uses. Or gets run without oil...


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## dr bob

20211015

Reminder:

After going through the service manual procedure again for the impellor bearing replacement, I'm reminded that Husqvarna identifies all the bearings in the drive box as 'lifetime lubricated'. I discovered the hard way that the needle bearings in the steering shaft and clutches are anything but 'lifetime lubricated'. The needle bearings on the steering clutches especially, which had no lubrication and no good way to retain lubrication. Take the time to disassemble at least those steering shaft pieces, add grease to the needle bearings, and replace the ball bearings that carry the shaft at either end.

The ball bearings carrying the shaft in the drive housing: (Takes 2) Amazon.com: Stens 230-144 Wheel Arm Bearing, Replaces Snapper 7046983YP : Patio, Lawn & Garden

The larger needle bearings in the steering clutch drive: (Bought 4) INA SCE98 Needle Roller Bearing, Caged Drawn Cup, Steel Cage, Open End, Inch, 9/16" ID, 3/4" OD, 1/2" Width, 19600rpm Maximum Rotational Speed, 2420lbf Static Load Capacity, 1730lbf Dynamic Load Capacity: Amazon.com: Industrial & Scientific

The smaller needle bearings in that same clutch drive on the shaft: (Bought 4)
https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B006KT1B2G/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 

Delivery from Jeff B's garage warehouse was a lot faster and more reliable than from my "regular" parts supplier in Florida. These are generic bearings, repackaged and marked up when purchased in Husqvarna bags.

There are a few posts plus a link to a video about the actual work needed, if you look back at some of the 2019 posts in this thread. I'd need to go search through the logbook on the machine to find the run hours when I did this service last. It was five years into ownership though.

HTH!


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## Husqvarna_10530SBE

I haven't noticed the smoke, but then I have been indoors a lot more the past couple of years. Plus, I don't suffer from allergies. It's been in the upper 60's and lower 70's for me the past couple of weeks. I've been tempted to upgrade some parts (which I already have) on my machine, but as in your case, my machine runs and operates perfectly fine. Why fix something that ain't broke. Next summer will be a better time to get that stuff done. 

A lot of bearings are "lifetime" lubricated. All that means is that the lubrication lasts the lifetime of the part, not the life of the entire machine. Plus, many times they are sealed and can't be lubricated to extend their life. It's how they drum up business. Planned obsolescence.

It's the same with a lot of newer automobiles these days. Their transmissions are sealed and come with "lifetime" transmission fluid. The fluid lasts the life of the transmission, which can be only 50-100k miles. They don't make money selling vehicles, they make money servicing vehicles.

I completely restored my Husqvarna 10530SBE four years ago and replaced all the bearings. The old ones were still good (even at 10+ years old), but figured I'd change them all since I had it apart. The old ones are backups now.


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## dr bob

Amen. The newer machines have had the engineering specs and designs passed through the cost-accounting 'profit over function' department on the way to purchase and fabrication. Definitely the lowest-cost suppliers were chosen at least for the bearings.

My first real job out of school was designing packaging machines for a large consumer-products company. I quickly learned from the veterans that 'good enough' was never really good enough. I added a little sign in my office that reminded me to "do it once, do it right, do it like you mean it!". My first big engineering effort was a rotary stamp for soap bars, and I used bearings intended for railroad car wheels in the stem, sitting in a bath of oil. Oil was easy to change, but getting to the bearing for replacement took a lot of effort. Kinda like how the center speaker in the dash was the part to which the rest of the car was attached. Somewhere north of a dozen years in, someone decided they needed to replace that bearing to solve a drive issue. Three days of disassembly later, and after a warning from the original engineer (me) that they were wasting their time, that bearing still looked just like the day it was installed.

Perhaps this explains my sensitivity and fascination with spec'ing real industrial-strength bearings. That can be lubricated in service.

Conversely, it's pretty impressive how well the machine worked for so long with the cheap unlubricated steering shaft needle bearings. The little planetary clutch drives are so cute. With just the tiniest bit of thought and a few neoprene lip seals, they truly could be lifetime-lubricated pieces both the gears and the needle bearings. At assembly, they could have at least added a smear of some cheap waterproof bearing grease in them. The new steering shaft was cheap enough to buy, but took a long time to arrive. Would have been all down-time except that the original shaft cleaned up some with a file and stone, and I was able to quickly and easily source the needle bearings through a not-Husqvarna parts channel.

Still on lifting restriction for another week or so. It's not likely that we'll get any measurable snow in that time, plus the that impellor shaft bearing won't be here for that week or so anyway, it turns out. It's a drag race between the brown truck and getting some stiches out. Whichever takes longer rules the schedule.


-----

Still happy with the machine. Lots of good service hours on it. I'm turning it into a science project though.


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## dr bob

The impellor shaft bearing(s) arrived. The bag sez the bearing dimensions are 3/4" ID, 1.5" OD, 0.47" wide. Inside the bag is a 6203-2RS bearing, which has a 17mm ID (about 11/16"), 40mm OD (1.575"), 12mm width (0.472"). The width is close, OD and ID not even.

Film at 11, after I get things apart for real measurement. Rain predicted this week but no snow. Yet.


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## dr bob

20121022 1530

Decided to just go ahead and get through the disassembly and inspection. The installed bearing is in fact a 6203-2RS, dimensions shared above (17x40x12 mm), with neoprene seals both sides. The bearing is pretty well protected as installed, so no need to upgrade to ZZ with metal shield and seals both sides. The OEM bearing is from the bargain bearing supplier's lowest-cost bin though, so should you decide that it needs inspection/replacement, it would make some sense to at least get the parts in a better name-brand box.

On removal, the original bearing is very slightly grumpy, so one of those handy new replacements is installed. The other spare goes into the "wonder what I did with that spare... snow blower spare bits" bin. The bearing itself fits in a formed section in the middle of the stiffener panel between the impellor barrel and the drive box. Removal requires pressure only on the inner race, so if you decide to remove it from that panel for any reason, you'll want to replace it. The new one goes in with pressure only on the outer race so there's no impact or pressure damage to the balls or races. Mine went into the press for both the R and the R, but it's certainly appropriate to drive it in and out with a mallette (translation: brass hammer and a large impact socket for a drift).

The auger drive pulley removal seems to be a challenge for many. There's evidence of red thread-locker on the shaft threads, telling me that following the guidance of others here with some heat was a good idea. I tried my Makita battery-electric impact gun, but with a max available breakaway torque of about 125 lbs/ft it didn't move the pulley a bit. With a Vise-Grip pliers on an impeller blade through the chute opening, the air impact gun didn't break a sweat popping the pulley loose and off the shaft. It's a relatively, um, "vintage" IR 231, from the early 1970's or so if my feeble memory is correct. Use an impact socket with it of course. Impact sockets are 6-point, and there's a lot less risk of damaging the soft shallow hex on the threaded pulley vs. using a 12-point conventional socket or (gasp...) a pipe wrench.

Note that I disconnected and removed the auger drive actuator cable, related springs, and completely removed the front auger and impellor section from the drive box. Access is a LOT easier, and worth the few seconds needed for disconnecting the cable and moving it out of the way.

I have a little more cleaning to do, and I'm off to the orange-shelfed store for a can of paint to dress up the impellor barrel a bit. The "impellor mod" has been rubbing on the barrel and has removed all the paint. Well, that plus seven prior years of lots of use... I'll edit the edges of the poly paddles some so they just clear the barrel.

Depending on time available, I should be able to put together a little photo show-and-tell for the most interesting parts of the procedure. 

Good news: no need to scrub-glove-gown for surgeries like this. Apron and some hand cleaner should do the trick.

More news later when it happens!


It's snowing in the mountains just west of us.  No "first flake" pictures down here this week though. mrs dr bob tries to take that picture at the beginning of each season, always gets me in the frame, but can't seem to get good focus on the falling snow. Must be a camera thing.


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## dr bob

20211023 1945

I decided to go ahead and take care of the paint in the impellor barrel as part of the project, easy since everything was apart on the floor. A spray can of Krylon Husqvarna Orange from Lowes last evening set me off on a little Picasso adventure. After everything dried, it was all reassembled with the new auger bearing, a couple drops of red LocTite on the cleaned pulley threads, and a little other cleaning along the way. The old bearing was still quite serviceable, and had I know that I wouldn't have bothered with the whole effort. But the whole thing looks new again now, so there was some good that came from it all.

The paint in the barrel was pretty much gone, its removal accelerated by the urethane flaps I installed on the impellor blades. I initially made them a slight interference fit in the barrel and let them clearance themselves, but apparently the paint took it a lot harder than the urethane flaps. While the augers and impellor were out on the floor, I grabbed a utility knife and trimmed about a sixteenth of an inch so they won't rub on the paint anymore. They just barely clear the new paint now all the way around. We'll have to test in some snow to see if it causes any loss in throwing distance. The no-flaps clearance is 8-10mm, now less than 2mm but still clearance instead of rubbing.

As part of the project, I also swapped on a new set of my DIY Delrin skid shoes, and set the ride height to +1/8" at the scraper blade. I'm down to one remaining set of those Delrin shoes, so sometime in the next couple years I'll end up cutting and routing a few more sets. I keep thinking that there's got to be a good way to put wheels there, but I haven't figured out a good way to keep plastic wheels from freezing up and flat-spotting. Fun fun fun!


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## dr bob

Some pictures from the bearing and impellor work:

Split the machine, per the Manual instructions for impellor belt, but disconnect and remove the impellor drive cable so you can separate the front section completely. Access is MUCH easier than trying to work in the split.

























Add a little heat to the nut in the middle of the pulley to soften the thread locker, and help release any corrosion bond you might have. Use a Vise-Grip pliers through the chute opening to grab one of the impellor blades, holding the impellor from turning. I used my air impact gun to get the nut loose, with a 6pt impact socket. You can see where a couple drops of red thread locker were placed on the threads to help hold the pulley on the shaft. Place two drops on reassembly in that same place. A little ring of anti-seize or grease in the hex end of the pulley threads will help in the future.

















Remove the auger end bearings after removing the outer bolts through the auger shaft and the end bearings. Two bolts through each bearing into the plastic block inside will let you remove the bearing, then withdraw the whole auger and impellor assembly:










Four bolts pass through the intermediate carrier with the bearing, then the carrier plate is on the floor:










The bearing drives out from this side. Be sure to install the new bearing by pushing only on the outer race, so you don't damage the bearing.

While it's all apart, I took the opportunity to repaint the inside of the impellor barrel, which was accidentally worn by the recently-installed urethane "impellor-mod" flaps that were rubbing.

















A razor knife handily removes about 1/16" and dresses the ragged edges of the flaps prior to reassembly. The flaps now clear the barrel by less than 1/8" all the way around:










Then... reassembly is in fact the exact reverse of disassembly.

Hope this helps!


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## dr bob

202111221355

Temps high 30's after barely freezing overnight, and it's been spitting snowflakes on and off all morning.  Had a thin layer of white dust on part of the driveway at daybreak, gone now. Scattered clouds, so this is a sign that there's a much colder inversion sitting on top of us. It's definitely snowing at the ski area about 8 miles due west, but not enough accumulated just yet to open. They had planned on opening yesterday, but there was almost no snow at the bottom. They rescheduled for another week, maybe next Monday.

The last time we saw a forecast like this just before Thanksgiving was 2014, and that turned into the five-day event that, um, precipitated our snowblower purchase. Winter storm warning was due to expire this morning but has been extended. Maybe we'll get as lucky this year. Most folks here are still on summer tires, and of course it's a holiday tourist weekend coming up. I'll be here in the bleachers, watching and cheering.

Pray for snow! We really need the snowpack to help with our extended summer drought conditions.


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## grandpa ray

I am new to the forum and I don't know if this has been previously addressed. My 227 is three years old and has run great. When I was using it in 10 inches of snow plow piled snow, I got a vibration. Since I live on a dirt road and was working over grass, i though I may hit a rock but no rock. The vibration comes and goes, sometimes in heavy snow and sometimes in light 4-6 inch powder. I am wondering what it could be? There is no ice build up on the moving parts Previously, the machine has ingested debris from the plow pile and I have sheared one set of shear pins. There is some minor damage to the auger blade on one side but the vibration is intermittent so I don't think that is the problem. Bearings?


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## dr bob

grandpa ray said:


> I am new to the forum and I don't know if this has been previously addressed....


This post and the related conversation and answers are now their own thread:









Vibration in 227 (OP by Grandpa Ray)


I am new to the forum... Welcome aboard Ray, glad to have you here.




www.snowblowerforum.com





Share replies to Grandpa Ray's question in that thread.


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## dr bob

Managed to throw the impeller belt off, and found out that my spare is not the right one -- one digit off on the part number. A vendor mistake pulling the order way back when, and I didn't pick it up when I put the belts in the spares bin. Found some locally, and we are back in business. There must have been a bit of slippage, since the new belt seems to throw just a little further.

Back to work...


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## dr bob

All quiet on the western front. Too Quiet.

I spent some time remaking my replacement support for the muffler cover. The ones I made last year fractured at the bends by the exhaust port/muffler nuts, about the same way the original little stamped steel factory piece did. My replacements were 1/8"x1" aluminum, and did OK for a season or so. But in late December those broke, so I made another set from the same material, this time with a larger bend radius. The final solution will be a sheet-metal brace that's secured at the heat-shield bolts on the cylinder below the head, with a little structural rib formed in to stiffen in two directions and flex some in the other. I'll post pictures if it works, forget you read any of this if it doesn't.

The lack of any meaningful snow for the past almost-a-month bodes poorly for our snowpack and water situation here. The last two times we started out like this (2017 and 2019), we ended up with some late-February redemption in the form of thick heavy roof-collapsing snow. Both 2020 and 2021 winter ends were well short of expected/needed snowfall, affecting river flows and water availability for the rest of the growing seasons here. Not Good.

So, all you east-coast guys enjoying those bomb-cyclone winter conditions... can you send a brother some snow?
----

mrs dr bob asked last weekend if we should pull up all the snow stakes. I reminded her that it's only January and we usually expect snow into late March and April. Maybe pulling just a few of them will be enough to spook Fleury, the Goddess of Blizzards, into action sooner rather than later.

In the meanwhile, pray with me for more snow.


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## dr bob

Mid country and the east coast enjoying winter right now. It's going to be shorts weather over the weekend here. Somethings is just flat wrong here right now.


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## dr bob

20220219, Saturday evening...


Two weeks of warm weather later, I sat outside eating street tacos at lunch today. Temps just north of 60ºF mid day in the heart of "winter" here. "Winterfest" is this weekend downtown Bend in what is normally a destination ski and winter sports destination resort town. The Good News is that there's a decent chance we'll see some actual snow and colder weather the next few days, maybe in time to drop a little on the festivities tomorrow. Both the machine and I are tanned, rested, and ready. Well, at least I am. 

More reporting When It Happens!


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## dr bob

Giving serious thought to going and recovering all my snow stakes from the street and neighbors' driveways. It's a spectacular mid-60's day here today so no worries about being cold while I wander about the neighborhood. Maybe that will be enough to convince the Goddess of Blizzards to smile on us a few times this year. Forecast suggests a chance of snow tonight, but lowest temp will be mid-30's best, and back to the 50's tomorrow. It might snow a little but it will all melt on contact with our not-close-to-frozen driveways.

I'm not declaring this winter a total snow bust here, at least not yet.


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## dr bob

On a sadder note, my neighbor Dave whom I mentioned starting here:



dr bob said:


> 20201005
> 
> ...
> In parallel, one of my more-aged neighbors (he's early 80's) has decided that I look like I'm having too much fun clearing his small (maybe 400 sqft) driveway, so he's getting ready to go snowblower shopping. Dave has trouble standing for more than a few minutes, and drives the two houses space between us when we host cul de sac cocktail parties a couple times a week. Trying to keep the neighbors socially engaged. Anyway, he thinks he wants a machine to use on his own driveway plus the 800 or so square feet of his across-the-street neighbor (she's in her late 80's...) when it snows.
> ...


... joined the lunch group for street tacos (mentioned in post 131 above) with us a couple weeks ago. A few days later he was suffering some and ended up some serious health symptoms a few days later. He passed last week. Vietnam vet plus more, 20 years total, then on through defense contractor duty, retired here and spent a couple more decades as a not-quite-volunteer high school career counselor. A serious loss to our neighborhood. Cherish the time you have with friends, relatives, and neighbors, especially the seniors.


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## dr bob

Tempting the Goddess of Blizzards, this time on purpose, All the snow stakes in my five driveways and the street in between are harvested and back in garage-attic storage. The next Testing-the-Goddess steps are hibernation prep on the machine, then clean and wax the snow shovels to get them up into summer storage.

It's still the middle of March, so there's a tiny bit of hope for more snow this year. Instead, a few sprinkles this morning after barely freezing overnight. It's thick overcast now but everything is dry. Spring officially starts this coming week but it's way late to what's actually happening. Oh well...


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## dr bob

Succumbed to the temptation... Cleaned, waxed, drained oil and gas tank and carburetor bowl. Refilled with new oil. Fogged cylinder and brought piston to TDC. Plug finger-tight and wire disconnected. Cover is on and it's waiting for summer hibernation space.

Temps high 60's all week, no sign of snow on any of the horizons. 

Next: clean, wax and store the snow shovels for the next six months.

Sometime before next season, I'll get into the drive box again and put new grease in the little planetary units. I might get to bending some sheet metal reinforcements for the levers in the plastic console.

FWIW, the oil that came out is about the same color as the new Mobil-1 that went in. Machine didn't get to do much work this winter. Added less than five hours to the Hobbs since the close of last season, doing five driveways and the connecting street. Deepest snow was about 6". Hopefully better luck next season.


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## dr bob

April 4 and we are seeing some snow flurries this afternoon and evening. Mother N. is playing with us, teasing with a hint of the snow she failed to deliver when she was supposed to usually does.

I'm leaving the covers on the already-hibernation-prepped machine and working on other things. Snow shovels are cleaned/waxed/stored already. I refuse to worry! Why? Ground and asphalt temps are in the high 50's F. The snow is sublimating almost directly to vapor on contact. Pavement is dry. 

Neener. Neener. Neener.



[ducking for cover...]


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## HMH

"Neener. Neener. Neener."


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## dr bob

It's working! Well, sort of... A few inches of snow each over some recent evenings remind me that summer doesn't officially start until June. So far all of the snow has melted by mid-mornings, and the driveway is dry by noon. When we built the house I spec'd some textured concrete solar-thermal accumulators for the driveway and walks. Morning sun adds the heat they love, and thin snow coatings seem to disappear quickly once that happens. So far so good here this spring.

Meanwhile the ski area is getting a whole lot more that we are in town. Every bit helps! Mountain snow means spring reservoir levels. We are running at about 55% of normal precipitation this season, with water reservoir levels still under 25% though. We are too high and too far from the ocean here for real monsoon rains on this side of the mountains.

I have a donated lawnmower to keep myself busy for a bit. It will have to do I guess.


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## dr bob

So... It snowed here today for almost 30 mins, after a few hours of sprinkling flakes. Ground is way too warm already, but it did make a nice backdrop to watching the Miami F1 race in their tropical heat and humidity. No shovels, brooms or power equipment were removed from storage to fight any snow battles today.

It looks like I'll inherit late neighbor Dave's Craftsman 2YO snow-blower. It still looks like brand new since it has only been used a couple times. Offered it to a few of the better neighbors for $250, but one sniff and a turned-up nose later it's still in his garage. I'm not sure it's any upgrade from the one I have now, so no serious decision has been made on keeping it. His house is in escrow, so maybe I can offer it to the new owners with the condition that they use it to clear at least one other driveway when it snows. Worst case is I have it available next time there's a blewzerd here and folks are shoveling out of a couple feet of the wet cement that folks here lovingly refer to as "powder" these days. Snow-blowers become a lot more popular here when it's actually snowing, for some reason.

New transplants here over the very mild winter were shocked to learn that the community doesn't clear their driveways and walks for them for no extra charge. Deepest we had at one snowfall has been maybe 10". Managing expectations is a full-time job it seems. Maybe they need a NOS snow-blower then? Let's start the bidding at $$$...


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## dr bob

Well, with a new snow season looming, and the fact that I didn't follow up on the service needed for the little planetary gear units, I decided it's time to get after that now before the snow actually falls here. I got smarter this time after reading somewhere in the forum that I just need to place it in the "service position" for easy access to the drive case underneath. But... I was also worried about the oil in the crankcase and the configuration of the oil filler pipe, so the "assume the position" position included a length of 4x6 under the top lip of the bucket. Keeps the oil closer to the bottom, and also corrects for the slight top-heavy balance when bent over completely. Much easier than trying to support the drive case and work on it from floor level up underneath. 

The actual condition of the grease inside the planetary units was slightly better than what I found in them the first time I went into them. At that first episode, one of the needle bearings that rides on the "steering shaft" had seized a bit on the shaft due to lack of lubrication. This time the needle bearings (three in each planetary unit) were still functioning but without any excess grease/lubrication. So the bearings and the actual gear spaces were repacked with new grease before reassembly. No seals or o-rings, unfortunately.

The actual work time for this little task was under an hour, including cleaning and my careful but ultimately snails-paced work process. Looking at the condition after about a season and a half, and considering we had a relatively wimpy last snow season anyway, this service will likely move into the annual end-of-season maintenance routine.

I still need to rotate my last OPE fuel into the car, and refill the can with our winter ethanol-free premium plus some preservative when it arrives sometime in November. I might just treat myself to one of those battery transfer pumps in celebration of something or other. I'm worth it... 😇


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## dr bob

Possible Good News! Weather here has been more summer-like than fall so far, but the forecast shows a front coming through this weekend with rain plus possible snow at our altitude. Of course the ground temp is still too high for it to accumulate. We need the water for sure. Reservoirs are barely north of mud pits in most places.

Yard care tools and shovels are hanging where the snow shovels will go soon. Still want to get fresh fuel, and we don't reliably get ethanol-free fuel in premium pumps until mid November, a few weeks from now. I might go touch up the wax on the machine so it glows when I pull it out for duty. Hopefully soon!


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## dr bob

No limits on stooooped...

Five inches of barely-snow this morning. Heart-attack snow, and the reason I have a snow-blower. First time out for the season after the service on the little planetary boxes. Removed the spark plug and pull-roped it to clear a little remaining ATF and fogging oil. Add fresh fuel to empty tank. Roll it outside. Adjust throttle and choke to start position. Turn fuel knob. Verify key position. Two primer pumps. Pull the start cord gently to bring it up on compression stroke. Then a firm pull and it starts right up. Let it idle for a couple minutes while I secure the garage door. Then throttle up and start moving some of the soggy slush. About 75 feet up the driveway it just stops. A couple test pulls and nothing at all. Hmmm... (!) Back inside.

Everything looks fine, except... I turned the fuel knob off instead of on in my prestart prep. Didn't notice that until I swapped the tinted safety sunglasses back for my regular glasses. Oversight? Needs adult supervision? Runs fine with fuel to the carburetor it turns out.

-----

With the impellor mod it slings soggy barely-snow slush about 25 feet, a significant improvement over the original tosses some then clogs performance in similar snow. I cleared a couple driveways and about 300 feet of private road with cul de sac. Forecast when I went out was for more of the same snow through the day then on and off to the weekend. I looked again after I was back inside, and most of that forecast had changed to show no more precipitation this week. We'll look again tomorrow. 

BIL is visiting from Montana, and plans to drive back on Saturday. Hopefully the roads will be clear for him. Meanwhile, we really need the snow, especially higher up in our mountains.

More when it happens!


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## sherskinjournal

I'm trying to decide if I should treat myself to a matching-orange balaclava this year. Neoprene or knit? Toughest decision so far.


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## dr bob

sherskinjournal said:


> I'm trying to decide if I should treat myself to a matching-orange balaclava this year. Neoprene or knit? Toughest decision so far.


Depends on immediate conditions. My vote: get both, so you can swap them as needed based on temperature and wind.

I've been where it gets cold-cold, and at least so far (eight years in central Oregon) only a few times has it been cold enough to make a serious balaclava desirable. My biggest gripes are about the mouth area freezing, and they fog my glasses. I end up with a couple layers that include hoods, one of them a sweatshirt and one waterproof over that. With a ball cap with a bill to keep snow off my glasses, ear plugs, and cans over the sweatshirt layer, I tend to tighten the sweatshirt hood to cover more face, but still leave room for glasses to breath. I have both flavors of balaclava but have never felt they were needed. I have used a neoprene ski face mask a couple times, just the nose and perforated mouth cover kind, in the hardest wind conditions.

I'll confess that none of my head gear is coordinating orange. Wildest is a couple knit hats in hi-viz yellow-green. We live on a cul de sac at the end of a private street. Immediate neighbors generally don't plan to get out until the street is cleared by either a neighbor or me. So visibility isn't as big a safety issue as it might be for others. I've done the pre-dawn patrol a few times, but the last "working" neighbor moved west over the hill to the valley and retired there. New residents (a few winters now) are in their 80's both sides, so I'm not in such an early rush as before. In the past I've lived in Mammoth Lakes in the Sierras and at Incline Village near Lake Tahoe in those same Sierras, both places where snow clearing was a much more serious project. Both of those places could get more feet of snow than we see now in inches. Plus I had to actually get out for projects there. Here, it's more 'fun' than 'duty'.

Share pics of the new headgear!


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## dr bob

We received about four inches of "heavy powder" overnight into yesterday morning. It was pretty light until the sun got to it and things started to warm up. It quickly went from that "heavy powder" to packed, then worse. Machine performance suffered as the snow warmed up, to the point where the augers were clogging with the thick stuff to the point where I was pushing/plowing more than I was throwing. A few neighbors are negligent in clearing pine needles and cones, which exacerbates the issue with that snow. Not good.

Today, back in the workbay with everything thawed out, I cleaned everything and added another coating of wax/sealant to the bucket plus the impeller barrel, and to the augers and auger shafts. I hope that will help.

I also adjusted the plastic skid shoes again, after clearing a neighbor's drive that needs some more serious levelling between the concrete pads. Most driveways here are concrete pads with paver-brick "ribbons" in various widths between the pads. Those paver-bricks need to be adjusted once in a while to keep them up even/level with the concrete. I've shared my concerns and even helped with some of the wider patches of pavers, but it seems that the repair work only gets done when I'm doing it with the owner. Meanwhile, every crash into a pad after dropping into the paver valley is adjusting those plastic skid shoes for me. I may need to just avoid clearing that driveway to, um, drive the point home.

I ordered a replacement lower chute section this afternoon after finding mine damaged. I'll speculate that a pine cone or similar got wedged between a slush/ice clog and a spinning impeller blade, and the plastic was the weakest link. About $15 and should be here mid next week. Probably wouldn't have noticed the damage had I not been up close and personal with the wax in the bucket. They sell them on Amazon, hopefully with better delivery terms than the other online places that advertise a full parts inventory available. I'll update if the schedule stretches, as I may then need to fab a patch to hold pieces together while the snails deliver the parts. 

I also scoped out some thin medium density PE sheets to potentially line the chute and maybe the impeller barrel. Still in the brainstorming/conceptual phase on this. More as the thoughts mature a bit.


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## dr bob

Doing some failure analysis on the lower chute section plastic. Hard to figure what the root cause might be. Looks a bit like stress failure from the lower forward bolt. I've not had that out before, so I can't blame myself for some careless overtightening. Cracks look like lightning bolts, sawtooth pattern starting above and to the rear of that bolt. As tempting as it might be to repair or 'improve' the part, a new one was less than $15 delivered so I'm investing a whole lot more thought in it at this time. Must conserve brain bits at this point. It's a two-bit brain, and one of those is pretty wobbly.


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## Zavie

dr bob said:


> Doing some failure analysis on the lower chute section plastic. Hard to figure what the root cause might be. Looks a bit like stress failure from the lower forward bolt. I've not had that out before, so I can't blame myself for some careless overtightening. Cracks look like lightning bolts, sawtooth pattern starting above and to the rear of that bolt. As tempting as it might be to repair or 'improve' the part, a new one was less than $15 delivered so I'm investing a whole lot more thought in it at this time. Must conserve brain bits at this point. It's a two-bit brain, and one of those is pretty wobbly.


Pics??


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## dr bob

From the outside:









Inside look:









The gap:


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## bingenschool

Hey All , New to this forum & appreciate all the posts and Hints.
I've had a Husky st227p since the winter of 16-17 , here in the Columbia Gorge which was a Life saver that winter for sure. I've got a Lot of driveway, and deck to keep clear, and all in all the machine has worked Well.
Finally seem to have broken the drive / transmission cable, and after having a devil of a time finding the part #. now having a devil of a time finding a parts shop online that has the part
( Our Local saw/equipement shop just went out of biz)


> Any Recommendations?


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## dr bob

bingenschool said:


> Hey All , New to this forum & appreciate all the posts and Hints.
> I've had a Husky st227p since the winter of 16-17 , here in the Columbia Gorge which was a Life saver that winter for sure. I've got a Lot of driveway, and deck to keep clear, and all in all the machine has worked Well.
> Finally seem to have broken the drive / transmission cable, and after having a devil of a time finding the part #. now having a devil of a time finding a parts shop online that has the part
> ( Our Local saw/equipement shop just went out of biz)


I've had pretty good luck with searching on the part number in my favorite search engine, and start looking at amazon listings if there are any. Some suppliers there are subject to their own shipping limitations, some offer expedited shipping for a few extra dollars.

That said, are you sure the problem is the cable? There are two cables in the drive system. One is the "shift" cable, the one that moves the trunnion carrier left and right to adjust the drive ratio an direction. The second is from the left handle that engages the drive by pulling the drive plate/pulley to the rear so it engages the rubber ring/tire on that trunnion.

Possible fails other than the cables --

-- the shift trunnion must be engaged with the end of the cable. It's pretty hard to screw this up, but it's possible especially if you've been working in the drive box. One of the pins on the trunnion engages the linkage forward. If that isn't actually engaged, no shift, no direction, no drive.

-- The drive cable from the left handle draws the drive pulley/plate towards the rear so it contacts the drive ring. If that gets wet, no drive. Rubber ring/tire gets damaged if you "shift on the fly" with the drive engaged. That ring is clamped between two plates that attach to the trunnion. If that ring/tire is damaged, pulling on the drive cable won't get you any "drive".

If you haven't done so already, tilt the machine forward to the service position. I put a block under the top lip of the bucket so the machine is leaning slightly back so il doesn't leak oil from the filler cap. Also a Good Idea to have fuel off and carburetor run out of fuel before you do the tilting.

Pull the rear/bottom cover off the drive box so you can see the drive ring/tire. You can verify that the shift cable moves the trunnion left and right on the hex shaft. Also you'll be able to see if the left handle pulls the pulley/drive plate back against that ring/tire. At some point you'll have looked at the belt between the engine pulley and that drive pulley/plate, to verify that the pulley/plate is turning whenever the engine is running.

Take look at the video link that Jess near Redmond shared while working on the steering drive. Look at post 70 in this thread, follow the link. Might add some clues if you need them.

And welcome to snowblowerforum! In the giant scheme of geography and "snow country", we are almost next-door neighbors.


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## bingenschool

dr bob said:


> I've had pretty good luck with searching on the part number in my favorite search engine, and start looking at amazon listings if there are any. Some suppliers there are subject to their own shipping limitations, some offer expedited shipping for a few extra dollars.
> 
> That said, are you sure the problem is the cable? There are two cables in the drive system. One is the "shift" cable, the one that moves the trunnion carrier left and right to adjust the drive ratio an direction. The second is from the left handle that engages the drive by pulling the drive plate/pulley to the rear so it engages the rubber ring/tire on that trunnion.
> 
> Possible fails other than the cables --
> 
> -- the shift trunnion must be engaged with the end of the cable. It's pretty hard to screw this up, but it's possible especially if you've been working in the drive box. One of the pins on the trunnion engages the linkage forward. If that isn't actually engaged, no shift, no direction, no drive.
> 
> -- The drive cable from the left handle draws the drive pulley/plate towards the rear so it contacts the drive ring. If that gets wet, no drive. Rubber ring/tire gets damaged if you "shift on the fly" with the drive engaged. That ring is clamped between two plates that attach to the trunnion. If that ring/tire is damaged, pulling on the drive cable won't get you any "drive".
> 
> If you haven't done so already, tilt the machine forward to the service position. I put a block under the top lip of the bucket so the machine is leaning slightly back so il doesn't leak oil from the filler cap. Also a Good Idea to have fuel off and carburetor run out of fuel before you do the tilting.
> 
> Pull the rear/bottom cover off the drive box so you can see the drive ring/tire. You can verify that the shift cable moves the trunnion left and right on the hex shaft. Also you'll be able to see if the left handle pulls the pulley/drive plate back against that ring/tire. At some point you'll have looked at the belt between the engine pulley and that drive pulley/plate, to verify that the pulley/plate is turning whenever the engine is running.
> 
> Take look at the video link that Jess near Redmond shared while working on the steering drive. Look at post 70 in this thread, follow the link. Might add some clues if you need them.
> 
> And welcome to snowblowerforum! In the giant scheme of geography and "snow country", we are almost next-door neighbors.


Thanx for the reply & for creating this subforum. Finally Found the parts diagram, tried (unsuccessfully) to order direct from Husky, with the right mixture of parts#/description found it on A-Zon, but then went with ebay retailer with quicker shipping option. We'll see. Yep, it's the shift cable, kinda " hung " in gear3-6 land, with slack cable under the control panel. Flipped it over, removed skid plate, and manually moved the trunion, and the cable snapped working both together. Thru a great vid, ( I think on your thread), saw the mechanical ops "down there" and thought @ that point it was the Shaft gummed up, but it actually was clean and easy floating, and the cable snapped. Can you point to any vids describing how to release/install the cable "stays" or "attach points" without wrecking the plastic" keeper " on the cable. (Sorry, sure those are not the proper words) 
Yep, you're just up the Desert from me, Will indeed be in Bend in a week getting the Solar on my Artic Fox tweaked at BendBattery.... Thanks again for the Help


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