# Tired of yanking on pull start



## hhart (Jan 5, 2013)

I am so tired of pulling on the starter rope dozens of times just to get the snowblower to start. Admittedly, I am also a girl -- and an uncoordinated girl at that.

Is it possible to add an electric starter to a snowblower that doesn't have one already? Everyone seems to say that electric makes it a lot easier.


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## Colored Eggs (Dec 7, 2012)

First thing to look for. Check the engine to see if it has any sticker that says Electric start ready or something simular. Also try to take a look at your flywheel. To have an electric start it must have a flywheel that has what looks like a big gear on it. That is what the electric start needs to grab on to start. It may sound like your carburetor on the engine may need a good clean as well as that many pulls seems like a lot.


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## Flannelman (Sep 24, 2011)

First off you shouldn't have to pull on the starter more than a couple times. If your are more than likely you need a tune up. That would help somewhat with your problem.

Second if you would like to add an electric start we need to know what the Make and Model of your snowblower is and then we can help you find the right starter and the parts required to make it fit.


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## GustoGuy (Nov 19, 2012)

I bet it has a Tecumseh on it!. I finally fixed that hard starting problem on my Tecumseh by getting rid of it and getting a Harbor Freight 212cc Predator. The Predator starts with 1 to 2 pulls of the recoil every time. The Tecumseh was the worst running engine I ever owned and it was a real bear to start especially when the engine sat out in the cold weather. I have 2 Briggs and Strattons on my lawn mowers and they start easily and work well. Electric start will help but you will 1st need to see if your particular model of snowblower came with an optional electric start, and then you will/may need to change the flywheel to one that has a gear ring on it and then get the starter usually a 110volt one and the hardware to mount it as well as a new front plate for the engine or pop out the cut out if you engine has one for mounting a starter. It won't be cheap for all the stuff will cost well over $120 to $150 or so if it's even possible to do on the snowblower you have


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## Flannelman (Sep 24, 2011)

I looked at your earlier post and saw that you have a MTD 2 stroke. So its a single stage snowblower. The last ones that I know of came with a Tecumseh engine so it is probably 6-7 years old since tecumseh went out of business though they could have put something else on to I suppose. I have some experience with these as they sold a lot of them in MI and if taken care of they are a good snowblower that will start within 3 pulls. I would surmise from your problems that the primer isn't working and or due to sitting that the carb has crud in it. It is possible that the spark plug is bad but I'm doubtful of that since it wouldn't run period if that was the case. If you don't feel up to looking at it I would recommend taking it in to a shop and having them work on it or if you have a friend who works on things having them look at it.

Second from what we know now it would be a bit more complicated to add an electric start since there is more to take apart to get at on this one. It could be done but I need the exact model number to find parts on it.


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## HCBPH (Mar 8, 2011)

*Electric Starter*

I've added to a 2 cycle single stage blower I have plus I've added them to various Tecumseh 4 cycle motors. Biggest thing is whether the motor had provisions for an electric starter or not. My single stage took alot more work because it had to have the cover taken off to get to the engine plus the rear panel needed a hole drilled for the starter button.

If you have info on the blower, that would be very useful in helping to guide you to an answer.

Good luck.


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## JamesReady (Mar 5, 2012)

My 26 year old Craftsman 10/28 with a Tec. motor starts first pull EVERY time.... It has electric start...I've used in once and found that plugging it into the outlet took more time than just pulling it once....

Full choke...full throttle.... 5 pushes on the primer..... pull the cord 8" and it's running.....

Likely it's more about maintenance of the carb and fuel... I think I'm on the 2nd spark plug in those 26 years, and I only changed it cuz I thought it's about time.... hehehe

Good luck... (anyone need an electric starter?)...


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