# Does older Sears (Murray?) sure-trac have neutral?



## billliedtke (Nov 22, 2012)

Bought a used snow blower off Craig's list and rather than wheels, it has a tread like a small army tank for really grabbing in snow. Do these have a neutral as I can barely move it in garage if it's not started. Does not seem to. If I pull in clutch handle for drive, I can only drag unit backwards and forget trying to push forward! Unless running where drive will assist, I am surprised it has no neutral position where you can maneuver in garage before starting. Am I going to be sorry I bought as driveway not that big and need to maneuver often. Help please. Bill


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## bwdbrn1 (Nov 24, 2010)

Hi billliedtke, and welcome to the forum. Being hard to move when not running is a common complaint about track drive snow blowers. I know I have a track drive myself, and it can be a problem to move when the engine isn't running too. My solution to that was to get myself one of those furniture mover dollies, which you can get from a lot of different places. I happened to get a plastic one on sale from Harbor Freight. When I need to clear some snow, I start the snowblower up, back if off of the dolly and clear the snow. When I'm done with the driveway, I drive the snow blower back up onto the dolly and then I can easily push it where ever I want it in the garage.

Mover's Dolly


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## HCBPH (Mar 8, 2011)

*Welcome*

First off, welcome to the forum.
I have not seen a blower that didn't have a neutral setting but there's alot more parts involved in tracks so being harder to move by hand is probably expected.

Years ago I used to blow the sidewalks for a place I did work for that had a 10 hp tracked Sears Craftsman blower. As noted, it was very difficult to move it by hand, just the nature of the beast.


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## BeerZman (Nov 26, 2012)

I had a Craftsman with tracks for 25 years...just got a Honda with tracks of course

Does your Craftsman have lttle triggers under the handles...mine did....if you pull them both up it will freewheel...only one and it'll turn on its own

BeerZ


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## Opfoto (Jan 3, 2013)

No neutral position on the one I have.....it is a beast to move....I like the dolly idea.....Next time I get to Harbor freight one is coming home with me!!!


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## The Toecutter (Jan 23, 2013)

Gotta love CL ! Yes, they have neutral. Most likely rust has caused the idler cogs to rust to their shafts and the axle and chains are corroded as well. This usually causes the drive disc to fail due to the extra friction. Each track must be taken apart, pins driven out and polished or replaced if still available.Grease every thing you can when it goes back together. When I encounter a trac drive that wont roll easily in neutral, I tell the cust to buy a new machine, and a " no thank you" when they ask me if I want it.

Good luck!


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## gswartz1 (Nov 16, 2013)

I too have just picked up an older model Craftsman tracked blower. When I got it, it was not only very hard to move but was also very hard to make it move under power. It turned out that the axles were the problem and were binding. I had to pound the axles out of the wheels and clean them and give them a good greasing and now it move quite easily under power and will pull backward fairly easily. I haven't tried pushing it forward though.


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## HCBPH (Mar 8, 2011)

*Tracks*



gswartz1 said:


> I too have just picked up an older model Craftsman tracked blower. When I got it, it was not only very hard to move but was also very hard to make it move under power. It turned out that the axles were the problem and were binding. I had to pound the axles out of the wheels and clean them and give them a good greasing and now it move quite easily under power and will pull backward fairly easily. I haven't tried pushing it forward though.


I've heard of more than one person that takes the hubs on the tracks and will drill and tap a hole for a grease zerk so they can be lubed. You're not the first one that they've rusted up on and likely won't be the last. Why the didn't do that in the first place - who knows unless they were hoping for future parts sales.


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