# Nice new (to me) Simplicity with a couple of issues



## sgoldste01 (Jan 9, 2015)

I just bought a 12-year-old Simplicity 860 Large-Frame snowblower for what I think was a great price ($200). 

As I always do when buying a used machine, I immediately performed all of the preventive maintenance (new oil, spark plug, gear oil in the gear box, lubricated everything as documented in the operator's manual).

It runs fantastic. The engine is strong and doesn't surge, it throws snow a great distance, all of the controls work correctly, etc. However, in working through the maintenance procedure, I discovered the following issues (from least to most worrisome):

The big metal panel that covers the drive mechanism is pretty rusted with missing paint. I will sand/prime/paint it in the spring before I put the blower away.
One of the wheels is frozen to the axle. No amount of PB Blaster and hitting the wheel with a rubber mallet would release it.
The grease fitting on the one side of the auger is missing. It must have stripped the threads when it went bye-bye because there aren't any threads in there. I would tap new threads into it, but the hole is already too big for either metric or standard grease fittings. So I don't know what to do about that.
When I removed the shear pins from both sides of the auger, I discovered that both sides of the auger are frozen and won't spin. I read elsewhere that some people have had luck freeing them up by blowing snow without the shear pins installed. That didn't work for me, but we don't have much snow at the moment. There isn't any deep, icy snow along the street for me to dig into. So I don't know what to do about that. I left the shear pins uninstalled for now so that maybe the augers will work free when we get some fresh snow, but I'm not optimistic about that working out.

I'll take any opinions/suggestions for how to solve these issues (other than the paint).

Thanks!


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## UNDERTAKER (Dec 30, 2013)

sgoldste01 said:


> I just bought a 12-year-old Simplicity 860 Large-Frame snowblower for what I think was a great price ($200).
> 
> As I always do when buying a used machine, I immediately performed all of the preventive maintenance (new oil, spark plug, gear oil in the gear box, lubricated everything as documented in the operator's manual).
> 
> ...


 I would in the summer hit that wheel with some heat. as for zerk thing just get a tub of black grease and a cheap brush and slab it on there. with the auger issue use some heat on it also. ALOHA.


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## Normex (Feb 21, 2014)

sgoldste01 said:


> One of the wheels is frozen to the axle. No amount of PB Blaster and hitting the wheel with a rubber mallet would release it. -The grease fitting on the one side of the auger is missing. It must have stripped the threads when it went bye-bye because there aren't any threads in there. I would tap new threads into it, but the hole is already too big for either metric or standard grease fittings. So I don't know what to do about that.
> -When I removed the shear pins from both sides of the auger, I discovered that both sides of the auger are frozen and won't spin. I read elsewhere that some people have had luck freeing them up by blowing snow without the shear pins installed. That didn't work for me, but we don't have much snow at the moment. There isn't any deep, icy snow along the street for me to dig into. So I don't know what to do about that. I left the shear pins uninstalled for now so that maybe the augers will work free when we get some fresh snow, but I'm not optimistic about that working out.


 You may have to resort to heat then cold applied for both, wheel and augers. Heat the wheel outer tube over the axle pretty hot then with a glass of cold water pour over the heated area and tap the wheel hard, at this point watch carefully for any small movement and if it does just keep tapping first out then in to start. For the auger you will have to remove them before applying heat and cold as it takes more heat and time for the entire length to get hot, just make sure you have the water beside when ready. Good Luck


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## sgoldste01 (Jan 9, 2015)

POWERSHIFT93 said:


> I would in the summer hit that wheel with some heat. as for zerk thing just get a tub of black grease and a cheap brush and slab it on there. with the auger issue use some heat on it also. ALOHA.


Slab the grease where? I can't get the grease inside of the auger without taking the whole thing apart, which I'd prefer not to do.

And what would you heat the wheel/auger with? If a torch, wouldn't that burn the paint off?

I'm really concerned about the auger blades not spinning freely. I'm afraid that if I hit a rock or something, I'll damage gears or the engine just like if someone used a nut/bolt instead of a shear pin.


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## sgoldste01 (Jan 9, 2015)

Normex said:


> You may have to resort to heat then cold applied for both, wheel and augers. Heat the wheel outer tube over the axle pretty hot then with a glass of cold water pour over the heated area and tap the wheel hard, at this point watch carefully for any small movement and if it does just keep tapping first out then in to start. For the auger you will have to remove them before applying heat and cold as it takes more heat and time for the entire length to get hot, just make sure you have the water beside when ready. Good Luck


Thanks for the info. 

How hard is it to remove the auger assembly? I haven't been able to find a service manual yet....


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## UNDERTAKER (Dec 30, 2013)

auger removal is a couple hour job. if they are stuck heat is the only way out. yes the paint will burn. but that is the nature of the job. would not worry about grease for now. is not going to help much.


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## Pathfinder13 (Feb 28, 2014)

sgoldste01 said:


> Slab the grease where? I can't get the grease inside of the auger without taking the whole thing apart, which I'd prefer not to do.
> 
> And what would you heat the wheel/auger with? If a torch, wouldn't that burn the paint off?
> 
> I'm really concerned about the auger blades not spinning freely. I'm afraid that if I hit a rock or something, I'll damage gears or the engine just like if someone used a nut/bolt instead of a shear pin.


You are going to find yourself taking the whole thing apart to free the auger from the shaft so it's just my opinion that you might as well get it over with rather than risk hitting something like a frozen newspaper that will end up making the auger gearbox fail. If you can't free that two and you have a welding shop nearby they would have a torch that would be able to free it. If you only do your own driveway and you are sure it has no obstructions like what I mentioned before maybe it can wait till the off-season  don't worry too much about the paint just buy a rattle-can and touch it up afterwards.


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## sgoldste01 (Jan 9, 2015)

Thanks for the suggestions. There are some interesting approaches here too:

- The Best Snowblower & Lawnmower Forum - • View topic - breaking rusted rakes loose..


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## Normex (Feb 21, 2014)

sgoldste01 said:


> Thanks for the info.
> 
> How hard is it to remove the auger assembly? I haven't been able to find a service manual yet....


 You will have to separate the tractor from the front portion, this is usually achieved by removing bolts aside the back of the impeller housing, then remove the big pulley and the front assembly will come out. This is not too many words but you should get the gist. Good Luck


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## sgoldste01 (Jan 9, 2015)

Normex said:


> You will have to separate the tractor from the front portion, this is usually achieved by removing bolts aside the back of the impeller housing, then remove the big pulley and the front assembly will come out. This is not too many words but you should get the gist. Good Luck


I'm in the process of trying to locate the service manual for this blower (the blower's Mfg # is 1693652). I'm a technical writer, and prefer to have documentation when performing a process like this.

In the meantime, the machine is ready to get some serious work done. I'll feel better, though, when those auger's are sliding properly on the shafts.


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