# Retrofit 12V starter to Tec medium frame engine?



## ELaw (Feb 4, 2015)

So... it's always seemed a little ironic to me that snowblowers that have electric starters generally have 120VAC ones, when 120VAC is usually available only at one end of the driveway, and the nasty stuff that's likely to stall the engine is at the other end of the driveway! :facepalm_zpsdj194qh

And that got me to thinking... has anyone ever tried to retrofit a 12V starter to a medium-frame Tecumseh motor?

The engine I'm thinking of doing this on is an HMSK110 - well technically a Sears 143.991101. And here's a starter that looks like it could fit: Amazon.com : Electric 12V Air-Cooled CCW 16 Tooth Drive Starter Replaces Tecumseh 33605 35763 35763A 36463 & 36680 John Deere AM30931 : Patio, Lawn & Garden It's got the correct 16 teeth on the drive gear and is claimed to fit HM70-HM100 engines which maybe possibly have a similar block to the HMSK110?

Anyhow I'm just curious if anyone's ever done this before... or tried and failed!


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## dbert (Aug 25, 2013)

I have an 8HP with a 12 volt starter. I was just mentioning it in a different thread. The previous owner put it in. He showed me how he always had a battery that he pulled out of his boat in his garage for the winter. He had a custom harness he made with a in-line pushbutton . I almost always pull started it, but when I wanted to use the electric start, I just used a jump pack like this that is much more portable.


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## Kiss4aFrog (Nov 3, 2013)

Shouldn't be any big deal as a lot of the engines are used in riding mowers or other equipment that wouldn't be close to a 120 volt outlet.

It's just a matter of finding the comparable part number for the 12 volt option. The hard part would be getting and installing a charging system and battery or like mentioned having a battery handy and charging it occasionally in the garage.


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## Sid (Jan 31, 2014)

I have a '66 Sears/Murray, that was mfgd for a starter, and about 15 years ago, Sears had 12 volt starters on clearance for $4 bucks. They were for 8 HP, and up, and mine is a 6HP,and the fix was to shim it out with two washers at each bolt, and it's been working great for 15 years.
Sid


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## ELaw (Feb 4, 2015)

Sid said:


> I have a '66 Sears/Murray, that was mfgd for a starter, and about 15 years ago, Sears had 12 volt starters on clearance for $4 bucks. They were for 8 HP, and up, and mine is a 6HP,and the fix was to shim it out with two washers at each bolt, and it's been working great for 15 years.
> Sid


Heh... you just answered another question I had!

The basket-case ST1032 I bought last spring came with an electric starter (120V) but clearly it was wrong for the engine because the starter gear would not actually engage the ring gear on the flywheel.

It sounds like maybe the small-frame Tec snowblower engines (like your 6 HP) have a larger diameter flywheel than the medium-frame ones (like my 10). So to make a medium-frame starter work on a small-frame engine you have to shim it, and the small-frame starter won't engage the ring gear on a medium-frame engine.


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## ELaw (Feb 4, 2015)

Hey just an update... I haven't bought any parts yet but think I got a good piece of info.

I was poking around the parts manual for an older Ariens machine when I noticed they listed a "12V starter kit" that fit a bunch of models that would have medium-frame Tec engines. The Ariens p/n for that kit is 724017.

Then I did some Googling to see if the kit is available, and found some sites showing parts breakdowns. And one listed the Tecumseh part number for the motor... it's 33606.

So presumably a 33606 motor or a clone of one would work for this.


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## ELaw (Feb 4, 2015)

Kiss4aFrog said:


> The hard part would be getting and installing a charging system and battery or like mentioned having a battery handy and charging it occasionally in the garage.


I'm not too worried about that... I'm pretty good with electrical/electronic stuff.

The engine that's currently on there has a lighting coil... for the moment the machine has no light but if I install one it'll be an LED. So my hope is there will be enough juice left over to charge the battery. It shouldn't take much, as I have quite a long driveway so every time the engine is started, there will be a good amount of run time to recharge the battery.

Actually one of my biggest worries is making and attaching a tray for the battery... I hate the idea of having to weld on my "baby" but may have no choice.


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