# Craftsman 247.88790 Auger not spinning



## Technobuff (Dec 3, 2015)

Chicago got impacted by snow and rain which later today turned into heavy packed snow due to colder temps. I had about 6 inches of wet heavy snow. I used the snowblower and it was working well like a beast blowing snow down the driveway blowing snow on one side The are area where I was blowing snow to became heavy and packed. I used the snowblower to break the heavy snow/ice and blow it. The wheels were spinning, auger clogged with snow/ice as well as the auger assembly. I cleared the chute assembly but NOT the auger area is covered with heavy packed snow. The auger now does not want to spin. The shear pins are still good and have not sheared. Any ideas why the auger would not spin/work and blow snow. Would the auger spin again after I clear the packed snow, if it does not, any ideas?

Your assistance is gereatly appreciated.


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## Shryp (Jan 1, 2011)

If it isn't the shear pins pray it is the belt. If it isn't the belt either then there is probably something broken in the gearbox. Is the impeller turning? If the impeller is turning then the augers should also be turning.


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## skutflut (Oct 16, 2015)

Technobuff said:


> Chicago got impacted by snow and rain which later today turned into heavy packed snow due to colder temps. I had about 6 inches of wet heavy snow. I used the snowblower and it was working well like a beast blowing snow down the driveway blowing snow on one side The are area where I was blowing snow to became heavy and packed. I used the snowblower to break the heavy snow/ice and blow it. The wheels were spinning, auger clogged with snow/ice as well as the auger assembly. I cleared the chute assembly but NOT the auger area is covered with heavy packed snow. The auger now does not want to spin. The shear pins are still good and have not sheared. Any ideas why the auger would not spin/work and blow snow. Would the auger spin again after I clear the packed snow, if it does not, any ideas?
> 
> Your assistance is gereatly appreciated.



Check and see if the belt is still on the pulley, and in one piece. With all the water it might be slipping. Hopefully you have not stripped the gearbox which would be a big PITA. If you get that much stuff stuck in the works, you need to back off a bit, go slower and let the auger clear itself by taking smalller bites and keeping the forward speed a bit slower. Some snow is hard to move and you can't just bulldoze ahead. You might also try altering the pattern which you take to avoid blowing the same snow twice. Try not to pile it up so that you have double the amount a few passes later.


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## Technobuff (Dec 3, 2015)

Shryp said:


> If it isn't the shear pins pray it is the belt. If it isn't the belt either then there is probably something broken in the gearbox. Is the impeller turning? If the impeller is turning then the augers should also be turning.


Skutflut, thanks for the swift response. I got some of the ice from the auger housing and still the auger does not spin. Let me check to see if the belt is loose. what issue should I have with the auger belt? I hope this is the issue Hw about the auger pulley and spring?


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## skutflut (Oct 16, 2015)

Technobuff said:


> Skutflut, thanks for the swift response. I got some of the ice from the auger housing and still the auger does not spin. Let me check to see if the belt is loose. what issue should I have with the auger belt? I hope this is the issue Hw about the auger pulley and spring?


If the belt is old, it may have become stretched and loose, or it may have broken completely while the clutch was engaged while the auger was jammed with ice. That could break the belt or shearbolts. You said the shearbolts are not broken. 

If the belt is stretched and very loose, water from the slush could have soaked everything and let it slide on the pulley instead of gripping. It could also be a problem with the idler arm that applies pressure to the back side of the auger belt when you push down on the handle. There is not all that much stuff involved in getting power from the engine to the auger, so check first things first until you find the one that is not doing it's job.

Shryp asked if you have checked to see if the impeller is spinning when you engage the auger clutch. Did you check that? If the impeller is rotating, and the augers are not, then your gear case is probably damaged and will need to be stripped down and probably parts replaced.


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## Technobuff (Dec 3, 2015)

skutflut said:


> If the belt is old, it may have become stretched and loose, or it may have broken completely while the clutch was engaged while the auger was jammed with ice. That could break the belt or shearbolts. You said the shearbolts are not broken.
> 
> If the belt is stretched and very loose, water from the slush could have soaked everything and let it slide on the pulley instead of gripping. It could also be a problem with the idler arm that applies pressure to the back side of the auger belt when you push down on the handle. There is not all that much stuff involved in getting power from the engine to the auger, so check first things first until you find the one that is not doing it's job.
> 
> Shryp asked if you have checked to see if the impeller is spinning when you engage the auger clutch. Did you check that? If the impeller is rotating, and the augers are not, then your gear case is probably damaged and will need to be stripped down and probably parts replaced.


The auger belt is loose so I am assuming that it is the culprit. The auger belt which is not listed in the manual is part number 754-0450. What else should I check?

Is this belt available from any small engine stores locally? 

Thanks again for your continued support and assistance.


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## unknown1 (Dec 13, 2015)

Safety warning... body parts need to be kept away from belts pulleys augers and impellers! It's times like this when accidents happen. Blockages and stopped augers are a recipe for disaster. If things start moving with body parts in the way people can and do lose fingers. An auger that is not turning one moment can suddenly start turning the next. 

Having said that...

When you say the belt is loose, do you mean it is loose when the auger lever is pushed or when it is not pushed? That's an important distinction. When the auger lever is NOT pushed, the belt may indeed look loose...that can be normal. However, when the auger lever IS pushed, the idler pulley should squeeze into the belt and tighten things up as it tries to make things turn.

Ideally, if your belts are exposed, that test should be done with the engine OFF and the spark-plug boot removed (for safety reasons).


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## skutflut (Oct 16, 2015)

Technobuff said:


> The auger belt is loose so I am assuming that it is the culprit. The auger belt which is not listed in the manual is part number 754-0450. What else should I check?
> 
> Is this belt available from any small engine stores locally?
> 
> Thanks again for your continued support and assistance.


You did not reply to the question about whether or not the impeller is spinning even though the auger is not. That will be an important part of the diagnosis.

I imagine that is a city the size of Chicago, you will be able to find a belt. You can try Sears parts direct, or Repairclinic.com or any of the other small engine web sites to find either the part number you have or a cross reference. Do not just buy any belt that seems to be the right size, construction is also important. 

Also, pay attention to what Stuart80112 said in his post about safety and keeping you hands and clothing out of the blower, and making sure that the spark plug cap is removed, before getting into any disassembly


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## unknown1 (Dec 13, 2015)

Remember to perform the check that Skutflut has asked a couple of times to help diagnose if the auger gear box is damaged ... "is the impeller spinning even though the auger is not?"

On the separate (but related) topic of the belts and pulleys.. these videos will give you a good understanding of what to look for. Your idler pulley may or may not be adjustable (depending on the specifics of your model)... if it isn't adjustable... then an adjustment can often be made to the idler cable itself up near the handle to tighten things up.

But at the this point you are just diagnosing and not tweaking anything.
Keep us posted on the results.

DISCONNECT THE SPARK PLUG FIRST!!

Belt diagnosis (replace only if necessary):





Belt adjustment (only if necessary):


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## Technobuff (Dec 3, 2015)

Thank you guys for the swift responses.

After taking the spark plug cap off and the key from the snowblower, I tried spinning the impeller and it spins as well as the auger. Does this mean my gearcase is good.

After I push the auger lever, the auger belt tightens up but it is not as tight as the drive belt. Be advised that that I see a silver color possibly steel threads are appearing on the middle of the auger belt. I bought a new one to replace it.

The auger pulley does not appear to have a plate where the auger pulley bolt could slide back and forth to tighten and apply pressure though.

Do you think that after I install the new auger belt, the auger belt will be tighter once I push the auger lever?


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## Technobuff (Dec 3, 2015)

skutflut said:


> Check and see if the belt is still on the pulley, and in one piece. With all the water it might be slipping. Hopefully you have not stripped the gearbox which would be a big PITA. If you get that much stuff stuck in the works, you need to back off a bit, go slower and let the auger clear itself by taking smalller bites and keeping the forward speed a bit slower. Some snow is hard to move and you can't just bulldoze ahead. You might also try altering the pattern which you take to avoid blowing the same snow twice. Try not to pile it up so that you have double the amount a few passes later.


Skutflut, thinking that I have a beast of a snowblower with 9hp tecumseh engine, I was bulldozing the packed heavy wet snow and was blowing snow starting from the left side of the driveway vertically moving my way to the right meaning the snow that is being blown piles up on the right side. I was expecting 2 stage snowblowers with bigger engines and self propelled to be more robust in terms of blowing snow and cutting into wet and heavy packed snow. I guess I was wrong. I gave away my trusty old Toro CCR-2000 with a Suzuki engine to my sister-in-law. My Toro never failed me other than it has a hard time blowing packed snow once the snow is left for a certain period of time and have somewhat solidified.


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## unknown1 (Dec 13, 2015)

Technobuff said:


> Thank you guys for the swift responses.
> 
> After taking the spark plug cap off and the key from the snowblower, I tried spinning the impeller and it spins as well as the auger. Does this mean my gearcase is good.
> 
> ...


If you rotated the impeller by hand and that made the auger turn then your auger gearbox is probably good.

If you think the belt is loose, you could try adjusting it before even bothering with the new belt... since you say the idler pulley cannot slide back and forwards, the other option is to look where the auger cable joins the lever on the handlebars... is there a twisting connector you can tighten up? On one of my snowblowers there is a lock nut and a twisting adjuster on that cable... by rotating the twister you can tighten (or loosen) the cable which therefore tightens or loosens the idler pulley.

Give it a try..... you might be able to keep your new belt as a spare. However... if it looks like it's falling apart and a bit threadbare.... replace the belt and you should be good to go. Maybe take a photo before removing the old belt... some people have been known to thread them the wrong way round the idler pulley because they forgot how it should look.

Let us know

as always... unplug spark plug etc etc etc for safety


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## skutflut (Oct 16, 2015)

Technobuff said:


> Skutflut, thinking that I have a beast of a snowblower with 9hp tecumseh engine, I was bulldozing the packed heavy wet snow and was blowing snow starting from the left side of the driveway vertically moving my way to the right meaning the snow that is being blown piles up on the right side. I was expecting 2 stage snowblowers with bigger engines and self propelled to be more robust in terms of blowing snow and cutting into wet and heavy packed snow. I guess I was wrong. I gave away my trusty old Toro CCR-2000 with a Suzuki engine to my sister-in-law. My Toro never failed me other than it has a hard time blowing packed snow once the snow is left for a certain period of time and have somewhat solidified.


If this is your first year with the two stage machine, it will take a few storms to figure out the best way to clear different kinds of snow. Wet heavy snow is a challenge for a shovel, snowplow, or snowblower. 

I mentioned before to try to find a pattern that avoids having to move the same snow twice. If it is unavoidable, and you have to pile it up on the right, then reblow it a second time, take smaller cuts, say half the bucket, and reduce the drive speed. Keep the engine at full throttle so you get maximum throw. Keep an ear on the engine and if you hear it slowing down seriously, then you are loading it too much and the governor is unable to compensate. Slow down and take smaller cuts.

You will probably find that when you get a nice dry snowpack, the machine will do much better and be able to eat all you can feed it. 

You might want to think of trying the impeller modification once the machine is out of warranty. That involves attaching rubber pads to each of the impeller blades to reduce the space between the blade and the impeller housing so that slush and wet snow are thrown out of the machine better. There are several posts on this forum about it and lots of YouTube videos. I put it on mine a few weeks ago, and got a chance to try it out in that slop storm the other day. It was tossing slush and water 25 feet, instead of about 2 feet out and plop. Still have to go slow, but I didnt have to blow it twice.

In any case, let us know how you make out with the new belt installed, and make sure everything that is supposed to be tight is tight. While changing the belt, you might check the big pulley on the impeller shaft to make sure there is not too much side play in the bearing that hides behind the big pulley.


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## greatwhitebuffalo (Feb 11, 2014)

Technobuff said:


> Skutflut, thinking that I have a beast of a snowblower with 9hp tecumseh engine, I was bulldozing the packed heavy wet snow and was blowing snow starting from the left side of the driveway vertically moving my way to the right meaning the snow that is being blown piles up on the right side. I was expecting 2 stage snowblowers with bigger engines and self propelled to be more robust in terms of blowing snow and cutting into wet and heavy packed snow. I guess I was wrong. I gave away my trusty old Toro CCR-2000 with a Suzuki engine to my sister-in-law. My Toro never failed me other than it has a hard time blowing packed snow once the snow is left for a certain period of time and have somewhat solidified.


an old 8HP Briggs or Tecumseh will throw just about anything, I drove one through the front yard in 18" of snow with ice layers on top and in the middle from rains. it chewed it up and threw it 15 feet up in the air. but I tweak the governors to get more rpm, use tire chains, new friction disc, electronic ignition, synthetic oil, and locked differentials, and you need a BIG IMPELLER size. my machines are slightly hot rodded in that respect. none of them have a paddle kit. if you saw the Polar Bear throw, you'd agree it doesn't need one, cuz it would hazard nearby cars and homes with more velocity out the chute. the small impellers will bog down easier. the one that has the most guts in my stable is an 8HP Polar Bear with a Tec. engine. it's also the most dangerous cuz it has no safety interlocks whatsoever ! a late 1960's-early 70's machine. 

bottom line is, if you are relying on the factory old stretched governor spring and settings, you need more rpm at WOT. and the engine makes noticeably way more power with synthetic amsoil and Nova 2 electronic igntiion module, it's like day and night, before and after. I also run a hot auto style spark plug with extended tip, J18Y
cuz the LM type plugs, have recessed tips that actually foul easier, and don't light the fuel as effectively
I've noticed a difference just changing the plug, honestly. and you don't want an R prefix resistor plug, cuz there's not a lot of current and voltage in an old blower engine to begin with. 
the carb has to be adjusted knife edge tuning with all the passages cleaned, good float, polished needle valve seat, and the proper settings on the idle mixture and power jet mixture screws. there is a delicate balance between the 2.


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## skutflut (Oct 16, 2015)

Technobuff said:


> Thank you guys for the swift responses.
> 
> After taking the spark plug cap off and the key from the snowblower, I tried spinning the impeller and it spins as well as the auger. Does this mean my gearcase is good.
> 
> ...


Do you have a manual for your machine? If so, there should be some mention of adjusting the idler pulley, if it is adjustable. My machine does not have an adjustable idler and the manual says it is not adjustable. If you dont have a manual, you should find one online and download it, and then print it out and keep it in a safe place for future reference. 

If you can see steel fibers showing in the belt, sound like its fairly worn, and probably stretched. I think a new belt will help quite a bit. Since the auger turns with the impeller, it sounds like the gearbox is still working. That could be misleading, if some teeth are broken or worn, and the augers stop while the impeller is still turning. Think positive, and try the easy stuff first, belt and any adjustments first. 

Just think of the end of winter, and nice warm temperatures in spring to disassemble things and find what needs fixing (there's bound to be some things after a tough winter) and getting the machine in top shape for NEXT winter. By then you should be one with the snow and have a surefire system for dealing with the stuff.


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## Technobuff (Dec 3, 2015)

skutflut said:


> Do you have a manual for your machine? If so, there should be some mention of adjusting the idler pulley, if it is adjustable. My machine does not have an adjustable idler and the manual says it is not adjustable. If you dont have a manual, you should find one online and download it, and then print it out and keep it in a safe place for future reference.
> 
> If you can see steel fibers showing in the belt, sound like its fairly worn, and probably stretched. I think a new belt will help quite a bit. Since the auger turns with the impeller, it sounds like the gearbox is still working. That could be misleading, if some teeth are broken or worn, and the augers stop while the impeller is still turning. Think positive, and try the easy stuff first, belt and any adjustments first.
> 
> Just think of the end of winter, and nice warm temperatures in spring to disassemble things and find what needs fixing (there's bound to be some things after a tough winter) and getting the machine in top shape for NEXT winter. By then you should be one with the snow and have a surefire system for dealing with the stuff.


Skutflut, how do you detach the 4-way chute assembly joystick from the operator's control panel? I would like to tighten the cables that move the chute from side to side. The cables that wind up on the reel/pulley in the chute assembly came loose and it stays loose even after I installed the cables back in place inside the reel/pulley. I do not want to spend $140 to buy a new chute assembly if I can fix the existing one.


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## skutflut (Oct 16, 2015)

Technobuff said:


> Skutflut, how do you detach the 4-way chute assembly joystick from the operator's control panel? I would like to tighten the cables that move the chute from side to side. The cables that wind up on the reel/pulley in the chute assembly came loose and it stays loose even after I installed the cables back in place inside the reel/pulley. I do not want to spend $140 to buy a new chute assembly if I can fix the existing one.



I don't have a machine like yours, so I can't give you any instructions on adjusting. However, you MIGHT find an adjuster in the cable either close to the chute or under the control panel, near the joy stick control. Check you owners manual to see if they mention any adjustment for this item.


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## nwcove (Mar 2, 2015)

am i guilty of speed reading this post ? what was the fix for no auger/impeller ? op went from that issue to chute control ?


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## skutflut (Oct 16, 2015)

nwcove said:


> am i guilty of speed reading this post ? what was the fix for no auger/impeller ? op went from that issue to chute control ?


I was wondering the same thing.. k:

By the way Technobuff, I found your manual online and chute cable adjustment in on page 17.


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## Nordon (Jan 25, 2016)

Technobuff said:


> The auger belt is loose so I am assuming that it is the culprit. The auger belt which is not listed in the manual is part number 754-0450. What else should I check?
> 
> Is this belt available from any small engine stores locally?
> 
> Thanks again for your continued support and assistance.


Check the tension pulley, you can adjust to tighten the belt.


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