# 1984 Toro 724 - saved from scrap



## jeepguy03 (Sep 11, 2014)

A friend from work needed her lawn tractor tuned up. It had bad gas in the carb and she didn't really know how to fix it. While I was there I saw this Toro sitting in the weeds next to her driveway. I asked her if it needed work...

She said long story short it leaked a ton of oil, and she bought a new one. She said if I wanted it, I could have it, since she was going to bring it to the scrap yard that weekend and was tired of looking at it. The blower had been sitting in the weeds for over a year. It looked to be in okay shape, so I dragged it on the trailer (tires were flat) and brought it home with me. :smile: 

I don't have any before pics unfortunately, since those were on my other phone which crapped out..

Once I got it running, I found that the reverse didn't work, and the drive disc was pretty worn. Here are some pics of the replacement:

Transmission pulled out:


















Swapping hardware to new disc:










New vs old disc (and Jeep sneaking into the picture):










Everything back together and adjusted correctly:










The original tires were dry rotted and shot. The rims were rusted as well. I ended up finding some slightly wider X-Trac tires and new rims. Here is a shot of those:










The paint had some rough spots from the machine sitting in the woods, and the old H70 Tecumseh ran after replacing the oil seal, but smoked and was tired. I gave the blower a fresh coat of Rustoleum Sunrise Red and Gloss Black.










I also sold the H70 Tecumseh on Craigslist and picked up a Briggs and Stratton 7.75hp OHV snow engine with electric start and an alternator for a light. :biggrin: This engine has tons of power, uses less fuel, and is a million times quieter!!










I also found a Briggs and Stratton OEM fuel gauge cap for this engine which is a neat feature. It's great for when I'm out clearing the neighbor's driveways.










Here is the finished paint/engine installed:


















I also added a 9 watt LED light that I got for $10 on eBay. It's nice and small so it won't get in the way of the controls but it's very bright and I can easily see where I'm going.










I needed a 3/4" to 1" sleeve adapter for the crankshaft pulley, and a new transmission drive belt, but after that it was ready to go. This is the finished product:










I love the size and power of this machine. Very heavy duty but easy to maneuver. I ended up selling my 1978 Toro 826 to a friend with a big driveway, and this one suits my needs perfectly. The only thing it needs is the augers painted. One of them has a broken weld on the rakes, but I picked up a used auger and hope to paint them and swap it in this summer. 

It feels good to have saved something from the scrap yard and made it useful again. :smile::blowerhug:


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## 404 (Feb 1, 2015)

Looks Great! Well done. Someone got their money's worth out of the original friction disc.. LOL.


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## UNDERTAKER (Dec 30, 2013)

*MAZEL TOV on that 1. you are doing the great ones work. by keeping those old TORO'S alive and kicking.:yahoo::yahoo::yahoo::yahoo::yahoo:*


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## detdrbuzzard (Jan 20, 2012)

nice work, looking good


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## Kensico (Feb 19, 2014)

Paint job looks great,looks new. I'm in the middle of overhauling mine.


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## jeepguy03 (Sep 11, 2014)

Thanks for the compliments! I'm getting a bit better at fixing them up, it's become a hobby of mine. I'd rather fix up an older machine that will last a while. Some of my friends and family have needed snowblowers and they would rather pay for an older one that has been fixed up and repowered than thousands for a new box store machine that is cheaply made.


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## classiccat (Mar 1, 2014)

Good on you for a saving an old school Toro! Looks awesome!


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## cranman (Jan 23, 2016)

Great job!


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## jeepguy03 (Sep 11, 2014)

Thanks! I really wish I saved the pics from my old phone before it crashed. The paint was fairly rough especially on the front bucket end. The one thing that stood out to me (even when it was sitting in the woods) was how nice the chrome handles looked. Those chrome handles are all original and untouched, not even any rust on them.


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## garthg (Aug 3, 2016)

Great job. I've got a 521 that's my first machine.


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## stromr (Jul 20, 2016)

Very nice jeepguy03 Except for the worn out friction wheel it doesn't look like much wear overall.


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## n84434 (Oct 2, 2016)

I'm a little late to this thread, but, as a 724 owner I appreciate the fine work accomplished in saving this machine. 

Nice job!


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## tomlct1 (Jan 6, 2016)

And my 2 cents - I am sure a Harbor Freight Predator engine would have worked, but I think it looks great with a modern B&S engine.


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## jeepguy03 (Sep 11, 2014)

tomlct1 said:


> And my 2 cents - I am sure a Harbor Freight Predator engine would have worked, but I think it looks great with a modern B&S engine.


Thanks, I've actually used quite a few Predator 212cc engines on go-kart builds, and old snowblower re-powers. I got this Briggs pretty cheap used off a machine with a blown auger gearbox, and it had the electric start and alternator for the light. This Briggs is definitely a favorite of mine though. Surprisingly quiet and has lots of torque. Starts first pull every time!


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