# A KING KONG freebie!!!



## SteelyTim (Nov 14, 2014)

Friend of mine calls me the other day and said that his friend had an old Ariens he was going to get rid of that needed some work, and asked me if I wanted it, in trade for some carb work on a Simplicity rototiller. Why of course! 

Really nice guy. I backed up in his driveway and sitting there what to my amazement was a 10 HP 32" 1970s orange monster!! 

I have named it KING KONG 

I guess the carb leaks like crazy but it does run. The rototiller will be a simple job, it's a Briggs with an updraft carb. Easy as pie. 

As much as I would absolutely love to restore this machine with a fresh coat of paint, new bearings (just because) and an impeller kit (again just because), it's just far too large for my driveway. My 24" machines are nice because I can get them past the cars and out to the front to clear the apron. Having a single car driveway makes this machine unusable to me 

Here's a couple quick pics I snapped with my crappy cell phone camera. I'll take better ones tomorrow. Fun!!! Man, that's two Ariens machines scored in one day, and only parted with $10 and a quarter tank of gas for both of them....


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## Jeff R. (Feb 14, 2014)

Why don't I have friends like that??? That was a heck of a score, nice job.


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## SteelyTim (Nov 14, 2014)

Sitting in the garage was a brand new 3 stage Troy Bilt Vortex. Nice looking machine, I gotta admit. He needed something that was easier for his wife to maneuver when he was out of town.....


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## micah68kj (Oct 8, 2011)

That's a fine blower!


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## guilateen02 (Nov 23, 2014)

You lucky dog. I usually have to pay for my headaches.


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## Harry (Nov 14, 2014)

Tim.

Extremely nice! Good Find! Man is that sexy or what? I am more than a little bit jealous... I hope you get her to rock like she looks. KING KONG is a really good nick name. If you have time, please post some video of her in action.

Kindest,

Harry from the Jersey Shore


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## Ray 1962 10ML60 (Oct 14, 2011)

Ok Tim, that's just not cool!! I just got done reading about your $10 '61 Ariens and now this! You are one lucky fella! Congrats and enjoy the fun....


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## GustoGuy (Nov 19, 2012)

I have a $15 1973 Montgomery Ward Gilson 8/26. I painstaking restored it and painted it and greased it up nicely and unfortunately ended up having to re-power it because the old Briggs would puff blue smoke on start up and once and a while while running it would puff. It also fouled it's spark plug too. I put in a home made baler belt impeller kit on it too. A HF Predator 212cc took care of that wheezing and coughing old Briggs engine problem and I now have another reliable snow blower.


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## joee5 (Nov 30, 2014)

You lucky dawg


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## GustoGuy (Nov 19, 2012)

joee5 said:


> You lucky dawg


It is easy to find an old snow blower to fix up. Just check out Craigs list and find one that is in decent shape and if your not a purist you can buy one real cheap that doesn't run or has a blown engine and then re-power it with a inexpensive $99 powerful 212cc OHV HF Predator and many here have modified them so they will not Ice up with heater boxes that attach to the muffler. I haven't done the heater box mod to either of my machines. I just jetted them richer for winter running and installed an aluminum shield between the gas tank and engine to keep snow and ice out of the governor. Nice and quiet and really powerful runner compared to a worn out Tecumseh or Briggs they replaced. Plus they start on 1 pull of the recoil unlike a Tecumseh.


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## joee5 (Nov 30, 2014)

Ima be on the lookout but my mechanical skills are nil so it's gonna be a tough ride, lol



GustoGuy said:


> It is easy to find an old snow blower to fix up. Just check out Craigs list and find one that is in decent shape and if your not a purist you can buy one real cheap that doesn't run or has a blown engine and then re-power it with a inexpensive $99 powerful 212cc OHV HF Predator and many here have modified them so they will not Ice up with heater boxes that attach to the muffler. I haven't done the heater box mod to either of my machines. I just jetted them richer for winter running and installed an aluminum shield between the gas tank and engine to keep snow and ice out of the governor. Nice and quiet and really powerful runner compared to a worn out Tecumseh or Briggs they replaced. Plus they start on 1 pull of the recoil unlike a Tecumseh.


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## sscotsman (Dec 8, 2010)

Tim,
nice find! 
She's a beast! (and I mean that as a compliment! 

Scot


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## Big Ed (Feb 10, 2013)

Nice Tim, you can paint her up and when it snows you can just walk it around the block like a big dog.


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## SteelyTim (Nov 14, 2014)

I'm now up to 5 snowblowers. And what was I doing tonight? Browsing Craigslist for another round bucket ariens. This is a disease


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## GustoGuy (Nov 19, 2012)

Big Ed said:


> Nice Tim, you can paint her up and when it snows you can just walk it around the block like a big dog.


I could see a comedian saying: Your snow blower so wide that you can blow the whole dam walk in just one pass.  Sort of a kin to your mamma is so Fat Jokes.

Big Dog cleaning the sidewalk in just one pass.


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## sscotsman (Dec 8, 2010)

SteelyTim said:


> I'm now up to 5 snowblowers. And what was I doing tonight? Browsing Craigslist for another round bucket ariens. This is a disease


Tim,
you passed me quickly! 
im up to four now..three running Ariens plus a non-running Snowbird.
I'm done for awhile! 
(although im certainty not done forever..I agree about it being a disease!)

Scot


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## GustoGuy (Nov 19, 2012)

SteelyTim said:


> I'm now up to 5 snowblowers. And what was I doing tonight? Browsing Craigslist for another round bucket ariens. This is a disease



Yes it is a disease. My wife made me promise not to buy anymore snow blowers to restore. I am a Pharmacist by trade however I like to work with my hands and I like tools and motorized toys like snowmobiles (I own 3 of them now) and a Mini bike (Found another one on C-list last fall and I wanted to restore it since 2 mini's are twice as fun)and a fishing Boat and watercraft and the list would go on.... Unless you have a wife to talk/beat some sense into you


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## SteelyTim (Nov 14, 2014)

My wife honestly doesn't care. Gives me a creative outlet . My other wintertime hobby is restoring vintage televisions. Snowblowers are FAR less frustrating


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## GustoGuy (Nov 19, 2012)

SteelyTim said:


> My wife honestly doesn't care. Gives me a creative outlet . My other wintertime hobby is restoring vintage televisions. Snowblowers are FAR less frustrating


Cool electronics. I build all of my own computers too. 

I too even took a TV repair class once right after high school. I can still fix old stuff and it is kind of fun although I do like 1080p HD flat panels over old school CRT Tv's

I am sort of a nerd when it comes to that.. My latest build is an 8 core AMD 8350FX with an Asrock 990Fx motherboard with a 240Gig sata 3 SSD for the boot drive (Posts to Windows 7 in 15 seconds) and a large Black hawk case to hold the parts. AMD R9 290X 4GB video card that can render 4K graphics. 

Back in 2006 my wife and I bought a Doodle bug mini bike for my son who was just 10 years old at the time. I am sort of like Tool Time Tim on Home Improvement and there is nothing that a little more horsepower can not fix. So after everybody got bored with the little put put 2.8hp doodle bug I decided to build a doodle beast so three years a ago I bought a Predator 212cc and joined another minibike forum and I quickly found that the internet is littered with Forums where you can express your desires to build things or restore things and share a wealth of knowledge with your fellow Creative geniuses that inhabit these forums


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## greatwhitebuffalo (Feb 11, 2014)

SteelyTim said:


> My wife honestly doesn't care. Gives me a creative outlet . My other wintertime hobby is restoring vintage televisions. Snowblowers are FAR less frustrating


I have a complete set of SAMS manuals from a repair shop that went out of business, the old guy retired. There is lots of TV set schematics in there. My friend who is also an electronics repairman near retirement, got them from the first guy. He has them stored in his basement on shelves in order. If you are interested PM me here. We'd just like to see them go to a good home for a nominal (i.e. modest low) price.

He also had one of those old metal cabinet case TV's black/white with steel legs from the 1940's or 50's. It needed a picture tube I think. We could not sell it and he ended up scrapping it for recycle.

Much like snowblowers, vintage American electronics were built like a B-52 bomber and are fun to restore.

I also have done a ton of electronics repair, last night was knee deep in an 8-track deck recorder for some guy from out of state, actually did more electronics than snowblower work until this year.
Feb. 2014 I got bit by the snowblower-itus-bola bug when a relative obtained an old Gilson Unitrol and fired it up for me. Just had to have an old snowblower after that.


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## greatwhitebuffalo (Feb 11, 2014)

SteelyTim said:


> Really nice guy. I backed up in his driveway and sitting there what to my amazement was a 10 HP 32" 1970s orange monster!!
> 
> I have named it KING KONG



there was one of those exact machines at an estate sale Fall 2013. they wanted $150 for it and no one bought it. the house then was sold and the cleanout guys got it. I probably could have had it for $50 but was not into snowblowers at the time, having a Gilson 16Hp plow tractor instead. I remember seeing the HP was 10HP and thinking well that's less than my Gilson. But in the snowblower world that's a muscle machine. I remember thinking wow that snowblower is huge, we'd never get it on the truck. I should have bought it cuz if I offered $50 they'd take it.

that's a conversation piece and bring it out for the occasional "big one" storms we get once or twice a year- although up in Buffalo you could use it a lot.

the cleanout guys at the estate sales make out big time. they got $10,000 for the contents of that house at the flea market selling it separately piece by piece, and they got to take all the stuff for free, actually they were paid to remove it from the house. what people leave behind is just ridiculous anymore.


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## SteelyTim (Nov 14, 2014)

I did think of combining the two machines I got yesterday, and making a 10 HP 21" cut machine with overclocked pulleys that make the augers spin like an egg beater 

Luckily I have a couple pressure treated 2 x 8s in my van that are used as ramps when needed. Ain't no way I could have lifted that sucker.

I used to go to estate sales all the time and let me tell you, when they know you love old TVs, they go out of their way to push their junk on you. No, that's not old, it's from 1987. I stopped taking in sets a couple months back, and I'm weeding through what I have and gradually getting them restored or selling them off. Think I have about 25, of which maybe 8 or 9 are fully restored, 6 are almost done, and the rest are being worked on a little at a time. I'd like to cut that total number in half.

Don't think I haven't thought of turning my finished basement into a snowblower display area


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## SteelyTim (Nov 14, 2014)

Out in the cold but dry and somewhat sunny day working on it. Pulled the carb, it was the cleanest carb I'd ever seen. Since I was told it was leaking fuel pretty badly, I cleaned out the needle and seat (which were spotless), and I assumed the leak was coming from the jiggle pin in the float bowl. Since I hate those things anyway and run my machines dry in the spring, I removed the jiggle pin and JB welded the hole.

Put it back together, had it running great! After a few minutes, the gas started to drip out. Seems like it's coming right up the choke shaft.

Figuring that the float needed to be reset, I clamped the line and looked at the float level. By my experience it should be right, but I bent the tab down slightly anyway. Float didn't feel heavy.

Put it back together, still leaking but not as much. Ugh. Tore it apart again, and I'll probably just order a rebuild kit with a new needle, seat, and float unless someone has another idea as to why this stupid thing leaks.

Other than that, the engine runs out pretty well. At high idle though, man, that thing vibrates like a son of a gun!


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## Ray 1962 10ML60 (Oct 14, 2011)

Sounds good Tim, but I wonder what the vibration is. I'm sure you can fix the leak with a new needle. I would like I see that monster running through some snow.


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## guilateen02 (Nov 23, 2014)

Predator repower is sweet unless you get double shafted. Which I seem to always run into. NTH but is there a way to tell if it is a dual shaft without taking of the pulley cover. Not that I would run away from a diamond in the rough.


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## SteelyTim (Nov 14, 2014)

guilateen02 said:


> Predator repower is sweet unless you get double shafted. Which I seem to always run into. NTH but is there a way to tell if it is a dual shaft without taking of the pulley cover. Not that I would run away from a diamond in the rough.


Single pulley. I'm not even considering repowering anything tho. It's not just that I'm a purist.... I have $0 into it at the moment and 6 other machines in my garage.


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## detdrbuzzard (Jan 20, 2012)

so whats the plan for king kong


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## joee5 (Nov 30, 2014)

Neat. I metal detect and wood carve but haven't done either in quite some time



SteelyTim said:


> My wife honestly doesn't care. Gives me a creative outlet . My other wintertime hobby is restoring vintage televisions. Snowblowers are FAR less frustrating


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## GustoGuy (Nov 19, 2012)

SteelyTim said:


> Single pulley. I'm not even considering repowering anything tho. It's not just that I'm a purist.... I have $0 into it at the moment and 6 other machines in my garage.


I'm all for giving the old snow blower engine a chance. However if I can't get it to run reliably I will not tolerate an unreliable machine. It's only a snowblower and not a classic American muscle car. So if the engine is shot and cannot be easily or inexpensively fixed. I have no time for unreliable machines and I think repowering it is better than junking the snow blower. There's nothing special about those old engines. There are small engine shops all over the country chock-full up of old Tecumseh and old Briggs and Stratton engines


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## SteelyTim (Nov 14, 2014)

detdrbuzzard said:


> so whats the plan for king kong


Well, gonna get it running without leaking gas, first. Honestly, I have no idea. I went from two snowblowers to 4, possibly 6, in the space of two days. I spent all day outside working on machines and the sun fooled me into being warm. I just got up from a two hour siesta on the couch, and I'm going to bed shortly 

A 1970s 5 HP Craftsman in near mint shape just came in with a busted auger gearbox. The chances of finding one are slim to nil, but I'll start investigating that possibility tomorrow. Got an Ariens 924 all adjusted up nicely, and got my '61 Ariens 10M-L35 running good. That qualifies as enough "win" for the day


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## SteelyTim (Nov 14, 2014)

GustoGuy said:


> I'm all for giving the old snow blower engine a chance. However if I can't get it to run reliably I will not tolerate an unreliable machine. It's only a snowblower and not a classic American muscle car. So if the engine shot and cannot be easily or inexpensively fixed. I have no time for unreliable machines and I think repowering it is better than junking the snow blower. There's nothing special about those old engines. There are small engine shops all over the country chock-full up of old Tecumseh and old Briggs and Stratton engines


Well to each their own. I already have two other machines that I use that are a lot older than this one and are dead solid reliable, so if I keep this one and it breaks down I'll use one of the others and fix it. I keep a spare everything and I'm a pretty skilled mechanic, so it is what it is.

I used to have classic and antique cars and while I enjoy the lack of financial drain on the wallet, I miss working on them. I don't mind futzing with an old engine as long as it takes to get it right.


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## SteelyTim (Nov 14, 2014)

I just ordered a new carb. Ended up getting a cheapo aftermarket for $25 or so. I'll have to adapt the linkage arm for the choke a bit but it should work. I'll keep the original carb and rebuild it over next summer.


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## Ray 1962 10ML60 (Oct 14, 2011)

SteelyTim said:


> Well to each their own. I already have two other machines that I use that are a lot older than this one and are dead solid reliable, so if I keep this one and it breaks down I'll use one of the others and fix it. I keep a spare everything and I'm a pretty skilled mechanic, so it is what it is.
> 
> I used to have classic and antique cars and while I enjoy the lack of financial drain on the wallet, I miss working on them. I don't mind futzing with an old engine as long as it takes to get it right.


Love your philosophy Tim, well said.


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## Big Ed (Feb 10, 2013)

It is only a snowblower, not a classic car?
Bite your tongue!

Old blowers are classics, vintage, collectable, pieces of American history.
BETTER THEN A CLASSIC CAR! Cheaper to keep too.


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## SteelyTim (Nov 14, 2014)

You ain't kidding! I own a lot of old stuff...... heck even my refrigerator is a 1953 Norge. But I have a backup for it just in case.... a 1938 General Electric 

I'm not averse to new things, I just love fixing stuff.....


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## SteelyTim (Nov 14, 2014)

Got King Kong running great!!! Ordered the new carb and installed it, and that of course did the trick. Other than changing over the choke plate and linkage from the other carb, the only other thing was that the screw holes for the L shaped throttle linkage plate were tiny and had no threads in them. Ended up using a couple self tapping metal screws to hold the linkage plate and cover support in place.

If it was warm out, I'd drill and tap them to the size of the original screws, but it ain't warm out


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## SteelyTim (Nov 14, 2014)

Just used King Kong to finish clearing the driveway 

My impressions:

1. Cleared the driveway in 3 swipes. Done!

2. It can move a LOT of snow, but it doesn't toss it far. My 10ML60 tosses it at least 3 times as far. New auger bearings can't hurt, and probably an impeller kit.

3. The skids on this thing are horrible. I got jarred by every crack in the driveway. A set of skids from our sponsor would be in order here 

4. Easy to turn with the differential unlocked, VERY easy, but regardless this thing's going to need a set of chains. Turf tires just don't have enough traction.

Any observations with the old guard 32" Ariens machines that are different than mine?


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