# Another shoeless Honda



## dhazelton

Saw this Craigslist. Looks like someone took a grinder to the bucket. Don't people get it?


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## micah68kj

Probably used to be a nice blower. I looked at an Ariens a couple months back and same thing. PO had never flipped or adjusted skids and pretty much destroyed the scraper bar and bucket and even ground the serrations from the augers. Some people don't deserve to have equipment.

Honda HS624 snowblower

Check out the augers. Ground down too.


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## Kiss4aFrog

As long as it's blowing snow they have no clue.


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## ELaw

dhazelton said:


> Don't people get it?


A coworker of mine has a saying that fits this situation well: "competence varies".


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## ELaw

micah68kj said:


> Honda HS624 snowblower


Wow... I just read the ad. "Barely used"... the guy is not only an idiot, but a liar.

Edit: I just read the ad a little more carefully and it could be interpreted to say that *the seller* barely used it. Although the implication it's in "good working order" is still BS.


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## Biketrax

What about the poor soul who's going to buy it?
That's not on the Donyboy check list.Is it?( I dont think?) 
SO some one who goes and hears the engine start right up. See its a _"Honda"_ is going to assume its good to go?


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## wdb

ELaw said:


> A coworker of mine has a saying that fits this situation well: "competence varies".


Stolen for posterity.  Thank your coworker for me.


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## 43128

76710-767-C33

thats the pn for the bucket.

he probably thinks its fine because he bought it with the house. he didnt ruin it, the previous owner did


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## 43128

Honda 76710-767-C33 Housing, Auger; New # 76710-767-C34


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## micah68kj

I found the ad and emailed the seller, asking him where the skids are and I pointed out that the auger serrations have been ground off. Haven't heard back from him...yet.


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## Kiss4aFrog

He's probably still looking for those auger serrations. "I know they're around here somewhere"


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## micah68kj

kiss4afrog said:


> he's probably still looking for those auger serrations. "i know they're around here somewhere"


roflol!


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## ELaw

Well they probably *are* around... in tiny pieces all over the driveway.


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## Freezn

ELaw said:


> Well they probably *are* around... in tiny pieces all over the driveway.


 We'll probably see a post on this forum entitled, "Why does my asphalt driveway look like someone took a steel rake to it???"


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## detdrbuzzard

ELaw said:


> Well they probably *are* around... in tiny pieces all over the driveway.


 more like they are " round "


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## ZOMGVTEK

The odd thing is it looks to be in really great condition otherwise. It's not all dented up with parts falling off. Although yeah, those augers are really worn. I wonder if you can see auger marks on the driveway. It could be the PO thought it was a single stage.


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## dhazelton

I sent the guy an email and he responded back that he never used the unit, but he'd tell the next owner it needs skids. If it was close enough and the auger gearbox seemed sound you'd have a good reason to low ball and get a decent blower. ASSUMING nothing else is wrong with it. And when you ASSUME....


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## sscotsman

dhazelton said:


> Don't people get it?





ELaw said:


> A coworker of mine has a saying that fits this situation well: "competence varies".


That's good! 
I have a similar one that I have been using for decades, it explains many things like this that seem to make no sense: "people are stupid."

Scot


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## 94EG8

Think about how stupid the average person is, then realize that half of them are stupider than that. Scary isn't it?


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## Shryp

I call it operator error.

There is also the PEBKAC error and the I-D-10-T error.
(problem exists between keyboard and chair) and (idiot).


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## wdb

A family down the road from me had a Honda riding mower years ago. You all probably know about them; liquid cooled twin cylinder engine, possibly the most over-engineered riding mower ever made.  This family left the tractor sit outside year-round. No cover, no nothing. It broke my heart to watch it disintegrate over time.

I'd be tempted to say that some people just have no mechanical sense. But obviously they did, because they bought a machine like that in the first place. So it must be something else. Laziness?


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## Kiss4aFrog

Some don't care, some know better but have enough money it doesn't matter to them.


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## time2time

Some with liberal cash reserves will throw money at a purchase, and then think themselves entitled to complain when they kill the pricey item with excessive abuse. (For the $x,xxx i paid, it SHOULD float when i park it in the river!)


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## [email protected]

Sometimes, a nice Honda gets to be a Shop Queen:


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## ST1100A

Wow, I remember those, they were nice machines. Too bad they don't make them anymore.

They were like sitting in a car and turning on the engine, quiet and smooth, and they got the job done.


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## ST1100A

wdb said:


> A family down the road from me had a Honda riding mower years ago. You all probably know about them; liquid cooled twin cylinder engine, possibly the most over-engineered riding mower ever made.  This family left the tractor sit outside year-round. No cover, no nothing. It broke my heart to watch it disintegrate over time.
> 
> I'd be tempted to say that some people just have no mechanical sense. But obviously they did, because they bought a machine like that in the first place. So it must be something else. Laziness?


 That is a shame to say the least. No common sense, or,,, they have money to burn.

Those things were like sitting in your car and turning the key on, they were very quiet, hardly any vibration at all, the engine was very much like the Honda car engine, or like the Honda Goldwing engine cut in half.

Liquid cooled, excellent fuel mileage, extremely smooth running, the loudest thing on them was when you turned on the cutter deck, you could hardly hear the engine running.

I've replaced some water pump pulleys on them, and one or two plastic oil pump drive gears, other than that, those engines were built for very high mileage and were very easy to work on. They were easier to work on than a Briggs or Kohler engine anytime.


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## jrom

From: ELaw ￼: "Well they probably *are* around... in tiny pieces all over the driveway. "



Freezn said:


> We'll probably see a post on this forum entitled, "Why does my asphalt driveway look like someone took a steel rake to it???"


And if they have a gravel driveway: "Honey, we don't need to grade the driveway this Spring!...I wonder why?"


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## db9938

[email protected] said:


> Sometimes, a nice Honda gets to be a Shop Queen:


I had wished that Honda had still made a rider when I was in the market. Just out of curiosity, are they still available in other markets?


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## [email protected]

db9938 said:


> I had wished that Honda had still made a rider when I was in the market. Just out of curiosity, are they still available in other markets?


From what I can tell, there are some 30-inch rear-engine riders still made for Japan market, and Europe has a number of front-engine tractors, the largest one has a 22hp V-twin engine. I believe all the larger tractors are not produced any more.

Here's a link to Honda UK with info on their line of riding mowers and lawn tractors:

Ride-on Mowers – Lawn & Garden – Honda


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## YSHSfan

I had a HS928 that I bought at an Ebay auction (I had no Idea of what to check when i picked it up). The only issue that I knew it had was that it would move in reverse but not forward (turned out to be a worn out side gear box). Later I happen to buy an HS828 with some issues on the auger housing by the impeller area, then is when I realized how worn the augers and auger housing was on the HS928 (It had shoes on but they were way out of ajustment). I ended up repairing the auger housing on the HS928 and using the good auger from the HS828. I still have the HS828 and will be one of my projects this summer/fall. Could somebody please tell me how to upload a picture.


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## YSHSfan

Here are pictures of the damage and repair from misadjusted skid shoes (or maybe shoeless at some point) honda HS928.
Damaged augers.








Damaged auger housing with good used augers.








Repairing auger housing side.








Repairing auger housing scraper blade area.


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## Kiss4aFrog

For heavens sake. How do you not see that at some point. 

Nice repair work


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## YSHSfan

Again, I had NO IDEA of what to check for when I picket it up, I just went by the fact that it was a Honda, the engine started on first pull, it was a hydrostatic , the augers and impeller moved (bought it off-season so I could not try it in snow and it would not drive forward because of the side gear issue), tracks were in good condition. That is all I could think to check back then. Ive had about 15-20 snowblower by now and I am learning on what to check for in the future.


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## YSHSfan

Thank you Kiss4aFrog on your compliment to my repair work, it was a lot of work to do but I came out very good. I wish I had pictures of the finished repainted auger housing, but I sold the snowblower. I'll make sure that I have pictures of the before and after when I modify my HS828TA into a "HS1128TAS" with 14" impeller for next year snow season.


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## Kiss4aFrog

When I said "How do you not see that" I was talking about the previous owner, NOT YOU 

I have one machine I thought I was getting a deal on but it was cold and not much light out there in the driveway and I didn't look it over much, looked shiny and motor started smoothly, handed over $50 and thought I got a deal.
Broken drive axle, mismatched tires and wheels, the one on the broken side reversed and pinned to the shaft at the body of the machine because the rest of the axle was missing, bushings on drive axle gone and friction disc almost down to metal ....... been there.

By the time I finish getting it back on it's feet I'll have a challenge breaking even.


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## YSHSfan

I think probably a lot of us had been there at some point in our lives. 
I am an automotive technician, and I enjoy working on small engines equipment (specially snowblowers). I like challenges because the end results are very rewarding. I have 2 projects for this coming season (Honda "HS1128TAS" with 14" impeller and a few other features, and a toro/kawasaki/kubota 46-54" ride-on tracked snowblower). I think I'll be starting new threads when I start my projects.


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## dhazelton

Nice fab work on that bucket! Can't wait to see a ride on tracked machine.


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## YSHSfan

Thanks dhazelton. I can't wait to build it (but I think I will do it in summer-fall), so that I will now that is ready for the next snow season. Although I may build it in stages, I would like to have at least a track system on it and the blower operational.


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## Dodge

*Another Skirt Repair*

Couple of HS55 auger side skirts with I/4 round bar welded to the bottom. The added metal also keeps them straight. These had worn the sheet metal bend off but no more than that. Not quite ready for paint yet. The welding is not mine but it is a nice bit of TIG work. 
Hsblowersfan had a lot of wear. Lot of metal prep to repair the scraper bar mount area.

One of my older posts has a picture of an HS80 where the skirts had a little more wear before adding the round bar:
http://www.snowblowerforum.com/foru...-idler-wheel-bushing-bearing-replacement.html

This HS55 is getting a set of new idlers as well but black is my preferred choice.


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## Kiss4aFrog

Nice work on those sides. Adding the round is a great idea for some stiffness.


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## YSHSfan

Nice work done there Dodge. 
I also have an HS55 with a very worn auger housing. I think I wil be rebuilding it this summer. I will post pictures of the before and after, I have to free up the frozen seized augers from the shaft first, I have made several attempts with different procedures with no luck, my next attempt is electrolisis; If everything goes well there I wil be considering rebuilding the auger housing.


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## Dodge

Hsblowersfan hold off on that seized auger for a bit. I have worked out and tested a method for removing seized augers that works every time and there is no chance that it will damage the auger cross shaft. I have some pictures and have been meaning to write a tutorial here but have not had time yet. Help is on the way.

I have seen good shops fail to get this right and bend the auger or the cross shaft or mushroom the bearing journals on the ends and as these units age some are getting really badly seized up. The trick is to get the set up right and they will come off.

The auger gearbox will run forever if does not get blown up due to seized augers. That is another reason I want to write it up, hopefully to just save a few. 

That said I might not be the only one with a working solution but I will get it written up anyway. I see "HS80" has a thread here on the same subject dating back to 2013.


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## YSHSfan

That information would be really helpful Dodge.

I bought the HS55 disassambled and with the auger transmission housing cracked. I attempted to get the augers separated from the shafts with no success, so I ended up cutting the augers and shafts (turning the augers transmission into a HS828/928/1132/1332 "type" with stub axles) so I could disassamble the gearbox to repair the broken housing. 

A machine shop was able to weld and repair the cracked NLA auger housing, so I am all set there. 

What I need to do now is to remove the remaining parts of the seized axles from the augers so that I can weld the augers back together.

If everything works I am planing on modifying the augers gearbox to a later style stub axle type auger transmission with a support in the center. We'll see how that works out if i get there.


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## YSHSfan

Found another possible shoeless Honda

Honda Snow Blower


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## micah68kj

1200 for *that* blower?? Is he smokin' something? 

And can anybody explain why these blowers get in this condition? You'd think someone who spent that kind of money would take better care of it. ... And don't they notice it's being ground away? Can't they *hear* the metal scraping? Seriously.


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## Kiss4aFrog

$1,200 . . . wow. I guess they just don't pay any attention and because it's such a good machine it keeps going and doing a great job up until the lack of attention/maintenance kills something critical and it can't be used.

Likely got tired of the rust and bought a new one so time for this to go. Or he got an estimate on what it needs and a shop told him this, that and by the way a new auger housing !!


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## YSHSfan

micah68kj said:


> 1200 for *that* blower?? Is he smokin' something?
> 
> And can anybody explain why these blowers get in this condition? You'd think someone who spent that kind of money would take better care of it. ... And don't they notice it's being ground away? Can't they *hear* the metal scraping? Seriously.


Unfotunately there is some people that don't know any better, just like we have seen a few cars with 50-100K miles without a single oil and filter change. :facepalm_zpsdj194qh :facepalm_zpsdj194qh :facepalm_zpsdj194qh


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## ZOMGVTEK

Most people I know don't maintain small engines or snowblowers. An oil change every few years if you're lucky. And this is in an area that can get a few feet a week, a foot or two overnight is common. Snowblowers are the norm, just about everyones got one, and just about everyone runs them into the ground. I know one guy that got a new blower 10 years ago and never did a single thing, not even checking the oil level. Gas and go.

Honda's are uncommon around here, but the ones I see for sale that aren't nearly new have worn augers. They all do. The dozen or two that popped up on CL over the past few months all were worn down. The reason is probably since they actually keep working long enough for it to get that bad. Lots of people run the cheap junk blowers and only get a handfull of years out of them, so the shoes never burn clean through and start grinding augers down. Most of the Hondas around here look super beat up, the blower above looks mint in comparison.


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## JnC

Bam, another one, wouldnt be that big of a deal if the augers weren't so expensive. 

Honda Snowblower HS928


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## YSHSfan

JnC said:


> Bam, another one, wouldnt be that big of a deal if the augers weren't so expensive.
> 
> Honda Snowblower HS928


Unless one is handy enough to repair the auger housing (or just leave it worn out the way it is), the auger housing and both augers peak over an outrageous $1500.

Your Shopping Cart | CyclePartsNation Honda Parts Nation


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## Kiss4aFrog

It's like someone buying a used BMW and thinking they're going to be paying Chevy repair prices.
It's expensive when it's new and the parts are still expensive when it's old.

The worst part is that it's so simple to prevent and doesn't cost anything to toss a paint stir stick under the scraper and loosen the two skids and re-tighten every couple years. :facepalm_zpsdj194qh:facepalm_zpsdj194qh


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## bwdbrn1

Ever notice that those who sell these never really post a good picture of the bottom edge of the auger housing and auger blades.:icon_whistling:


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## wdb

JnC said:


> Bam, another one, wouldnt be that big of a deal if the augers weren't so expensive.
> 
> Honda Snowblower HS928


That one is a tough call. I can see skid shoes in one pic.


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## ZOMGVTEK

Now that's a thin auger.


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## db9938

there certainly some folks that try to disguise abuse out there. That 624 was quite obviously sand blasted, and dare I say, selectively painted. There's even some evidence of some welding.....


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## JnC

Dang, talk about lipstick on a pig, that had to be the worst one so far.


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## Paul463

hsblowersfan said:


> Found another possible shoeless Honda
> 
> Honda Snow Blower


Straighten em out and build em back up.

Took a couple of hours, but beats the heck out of paying for new augers.
I have since traded the machine off on an Ariens, but the welded up augers worked just fine.


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## dhazelton

Who's to blame for these damaged machines? I think half the blame lays (lies?) with Honda. The rear skids are out of sight out of mind. But the big problem with them was the fact that the bolts that held them on were pressed into the housing and don't have a head. I've got two machines and the bolts on both just spin - with no bolt head to get a wrench on you can't adjust the skids. I put Ariens plastic side skids on my machines.


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## Paul463

dhazelton said:


> Who's to blame for these damaged machines? I think half the blame lays (lies?) with Honda. The rear skids are out of sight out of mind. But the big problem with them was the fact that the bolts that held them on were pressed into the housing and don't have a head. I've got two machines and the bolts on both just spin - with no bolt head to get a wrench on you can't adjust the skids. I put Ariens plastic side skids on my machines.


Those skid adjustment bolts are silly. I can deal with them being headless, but being spot welded into the housing was a pain when I changed my broken ones. They are a bit small also.

The other issue is IMO the three position settings on the height. The guy I bought mine (used) from was bragging on how he could set it to literally grind the packed snow off of his concrete driveway. Maybe braze some tungsten carbide to the auger teeth if you're gonna use it like a pavement mill. LOL


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## classiccat

2 toasted HS80 housings


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## dbert

Holy smokes Paul. How did you do this? That's a lot of welding going on right there!


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## Paul463

dbert said:


> Holy smokes Paul. How did you do this? That's a lot of welding going on right there!


It took a couple hours. I cut the material from 1.5 x 1/8 strip on the bandsaw at work. Then set up the scraper and skids to get the housing level and at the right height.

Once that was done I took the auger shear bolts out so they would turn free.
Then used a piece of 1/4" plywood as a spacer on the floor. 

Turn the worn spot to bottom dead center, place and clamp the piece of stock on the auger using the plywood to set the height, weld. Repeat........... 56 times. Wasn't bad to do with a mig welder.

It would have gone faster if I had put the thing up on my welding bench instead of kneeling down to do it.

It's not factory correct if that's your thing, but to me it's just a machine to do a job. And if I can fix it and save me some bones in the process I'll do it.

I do have a pretty well equipped garage shop, and I enjoy doing this kind of stuff, so that helps.


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## highdesignfool

Kiss4aFrog said:


> As long as it's blowing snow they have no clue.




Boy, that's the truth


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


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