# Power Max 828 OAE: side to side wheel play, and hex shaft slop questions



## Yakbob (Nov 1, 2020)

Hi all,
I'm glad to have found this forum as it was really helpful on selecting a new machine to replace my 16 year old MTD.

I settled on the Power Max 828 OAE and am just setting it up. This unit was pre assembled, and I noticed two oddities that I'm not sure of.

1. There is about 1/2" of side to side axle play. Meaning, if i shift the machine left or right (both tires on the ground), the whole axle assembly has about 1/2" of movement.

2. The hex shaft that controls the friction wheel travel and travel limits also has about 3/8" side to side play so if the friction wheel is adjusted to where it hits one of the stops on either end of the hex shaft, the shaft shifts side to side, further into or away from the bearings they ride in

Both of these seem like excessive amounts of slop, almost like spacers are missing. Can any 828 or 929 owners comment? I'm trying to figure out if this is normal or if I'm missing parts from the original manufacture.


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## 140278 (Aug 27, 2020)

first off welcome to the SBF in here you will find a lot of our users to be very helpful, some are dealer techs and some shop operators 

as to your questions you have a model 38838 with the auto turn feature it is my personal understanding it most have some play to allow it to operate properly ,you can go into the toro web site and view how your parts go together this link is your machine Parts – Power Max Heavy Duty 828 OAE Snowthrower | Toro
should you keep spare parts YES , belts, wheel hitch pins, a spare spark plug ,ONLY because the motor is from china and has known issues where the stock torch brand/ bosch clone plug fails prematurely. the plug of choice for that motor is NGK


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## Zavie (Sep 23, 2014)

review the parts diagrams and reference your machine to see if parts are missing


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## Yakbob (Nov 1, 2020)

Thank you both for the assistance. I took a close look at the parts diagrams and it appears nothing is missing.
The side to side axle play makes sense in the design of the auto turn function. I could see the limited slip interpreting friction at those points as human interaction at the handles. It just seemed like an excessive amount of travel. I suppose it doesn't matter as long as everything is still making bearing contact.

I plan to pick some spare consumables along with poly runners this week.
Thanks again!


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## Zavie (Sep 23, 2014)

Pics!!


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## 140278 (Aug 27, 2020)

i would go with the cast iron skids over the poly, only a little more weight on the front but that helps plus they wear like iron unlike the stock stamped skids that wear prematurely and need flipping over 


Amazon.com


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## Zavie (Sep 23, 2014)

captchas said:


> i would go with the cast iron skids over the poly, only a little more weight on the front but that helps plus they wear like iron unlike the stock stamped skids that wear prematurely and need flipping over
> 
> 
> Amazon.com


You've got trigger steering on your Toro captchas. I'm not sure how auto steering on the Toro would react to the cast iron. Typically auto likes poly but auto steer is newer with Toro so I don't think we have much feedback with the different shoes. So ????


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## 140278 (Aug 27, 2020)

yes i do, yet toro lists the cast iron skids as a accessory on the op's machine so it won't be a issue .





| Toro







www.toro.com




see the accessory list


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## Yakbob (Nov 1, 2020)

Zavie, I've included links to 2 short videos I uploaded showing both the wheel and hex shaft play.

Hex shaft: http://www.cre8tivepush.com/video/IMG_2510.m4v

Axle play: http://www.cre8tivepush.com/video/IMG_2511.m4v

I did end up going with the poly skids mostly due to the fact I just had my driveway resealed and didn't want to scratch it up.  
I do appreciate the reasoning behind the iron skids. One of the issues I had with my old machine was the front end lifting (steeper driveway). My plan was to see how this machine handles larger storms before considering the OEM weight kit.

Thanks again everyone. This forum is so much more friendly than the audiophile forums I frequent.


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## 140278 (Aug 27, 2020)

no need to worry or fuss over what you see and feel, while anyone can think or say something is wrong, it's normal mass production ,it will not break, 

over the lifting up. i hope your newer model being all steel fails to lift up like mine did before i added weight, the toro weight kit is very pricy at $149.99 USD you can make one from stock steel a can of spray paint and few nuts and bolts for on the cheap


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## Zavie (Sep 23, 2014)

Here is a good reference video from Paul movingsnow.comInside the Powermax


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