# Toro 824 in rough shape



## nemebean (Sep 22, 2020)

Hi all,

I ran across a 1987 Toro 824 on Craigslist for $75 that had a non-functional drive. I pulled the trigger on it thinking it was probably just a broken belt, worn friction wheel, something like that. Unfortunately, it was nothing that simple.

Both bearings on the main pulley shaft are toast, as is the belt, which is missing chunks out of it from the blower being run while the belt was off. The kicker is that it must have seized or something because the pulley is separated from the shaft, which doesn't appear to be a repairable problem from what I can see. That sucks because it's a $200 part. Even a rusty used one on EBay is north of $150 shipped. You can see how bad a shape the whole friction drive system is in from this picture (after I partially disassembled it):








I added up the cost of replacing all the parts that need to be replaced and it came out to over $300 with tax and shipping. Is it worth it to put that much into an old blower like this? I know they're built like tanks, which is why I took the risk here, but I'm not sure I want to be into a 33 year old blower for over $400. Maybe I should cut my losses and keep this one around for parts in case I find another one of these with a bad auger or something?


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## crazzywolfie (Jun 2, 2014)

do the bearings spin? you might be able to repair the pulley by welding it up. also was it like we see it in the picture when you got it? if so looks like it is missing some bolts.


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## ~smokey~ (Feb 14, 2020)

I would agree with crazzywolfie, if you can straighten up the shaft and have it welded up it probably wouldn't cost that much. is the engine running?


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## nemebean (Sep 22, 2020)

The lower pillow bearing is completely gone. It's just the shell that used to house the bearing. The upper one is still sort of functional, but I think it's cracked and it has a lot of play. The missing bolts were removed by me. The picture is basically as far as I got taking it apart before I couldn't reach some of the bolts with the tools I had.

The shaft isn't actually bent as far as I know. The angle in the picture is due to the huge amount of play between the shaft and the pulley. From the pictures of the part that I can find online, it looks like maybe there's a spacer that is missing? It may still be on the shaft, just slid out of where it's supposed to be. You can kind of see it between the bearing and the pulley.

Engine started right up when I went to look at it, and it sounds like it was still throwing snow fine. He said he pushed it around by hand to get through the winter last year after the drive broke.

Sounds like my next step is to finish disassembling everything and see if I can salvage the pulley. If so, then we're in business. If not, well, I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. 

Thanks for the input!


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## nemebean (Sep 22, 2020)

Well, good news and bad news. The bad is that the pulley is pretty trashed. It must have spun on the shaft for quite a while because the hole is egged out to the point where I'm not sure how you would weld it. The good is that I found a replacement on ebay last night for $80, and it may come with at least one of the bearings too. The bearing was on it in the picture, but the description only had the part number of the pulley, so we'll see. I'll hold off ordering any other parts until I see what arrives, but I think this should get the cost down to a point where I'm comfortable with the investment.

Oh, and both wheels came right off when I pulled the cotter pins. That was a pleasant surprise!


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