# John Deere 826 Snow Blower age? origins?



## Matty74

I picked up an older but beefy snow blower from the local farm implement. Needed something a little more robust than the Honda for the area around the machine shed and office. How old is this JD exactly? It's got an 8 hp Tecumseh Engine with electric start and canopy. I believe it's 26" as well. I'm not sure if JD made these in house or out-sourced these blowers.

Anyone know when this may have been built? She definitely has some get-go to her.


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## Shryp

It was built by Ariens in the 1980s.

The Ariens 1960's and 1970's Sno-Thro info site.


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## micah68kj

You got a good one. Not all of them are. Nice machine.


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## Matty74

Ariens built that machine? So it is made in the USA after all? 

I'm confused after reading that site. Did Ariens make snow blowers before or after 1991 for John Deere?

Anything else I should know about these machines? Any quirks? Tips? Any parts I should stock up on ?


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## Shryp

Yea, reading that confused me. I think Ariens made the early ones, than maybe JD made a few of their own and then in 91 Murray started making them?

jtclays has the same blower has you. I bet he could give you some insight next time he is around.

Give a quick look at the impeller and make sure all 4 blades are bent properly. They seem to get bent backwards on those machines pretty easily.


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## GustoGuy

Shryp said:


> It was built by Ariens in the 1980s.
> 
> The Ariens 1960's and 1970's Sno-Thro info site.


 It is in real nice shape and the old tear drop bucket designed John Derre machines are quite nice. It is made out of thicker guage steel as well and should hold up really well. How does the engine run? 

I restored a old Gilson made Montgomery Ward 8/26 and it is certainly built well with the steel body of the snow blower but I am not too impressed with the tired old 1972 Briggs 8hp that is on it. I may still replace the engine on it. It will idle all day fairly well but run it at top speed and it will puff some blue smoke once and a while, may be the valve guides since the cylinder bore was nice and smooth with out any scratches when I checked it and compression tested at about 65psi on my compression guage when I pulled it over when cold. It just runs rather loudly and vibrates a fair amount and the chute adjustment wheel spins while it is running as you can see in my video. It just doesn't run anywhere near as smoothly and quietly as the Predator 212cc. I do not like poor running stuff and maybe an old Briggs 319cc Flat head will never run as nice as a modern OHV engine either so whats the point of my even mentioning it. Sort of like comparing a really old car engine to a modern high tech car engine. New OHV engine is much quieter and has better fuel efficiency with easy 1 to 2 pull starting. The Briggs is tired and I do not know if I really want to throw any more money into it to fix it some more since I will still have an old Briggs flathead. I have seen lots of repowers of old machines like Shryp's machine as well as a few others with new engines on them and dang near all the owners say they love the new engine better and would never go back to the old one. 
My old Tecumseh was given away about a week ago. I could not see putting it on another snow blower only to never use it since it alway was difficult to start. Plus that engine too was much louder and rougher running than the Predator 212cc too. I still may get a Predator 212cc to put on it since they are on sale for $99.99 now at Harbor Freight.


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## sscotsman

It's confusing? really?
what is confusing about:




> Ariens also made snowblowers for John Deere! But much later than the Cub's.
> 
> 
> Ariens made snowblowers for JD in the 1990's (1991 to 2001)
> 
> 
> John Deere made their own snowblowers until 1991.




seems pretty straight-forward to me! 
The page then goes to clearly (or so I thought) describe what the JD-built models before 1991 look like,
What the "murray built" JD's look like..then what the Ariens-built machines look like..
there are photos of all three versions..

Matty,
yourt JD snowblower was *not* made by Ariens..it was made by John Deere..Its a "real" JD-built machine, before they started having them made by other companys..dont know the exact age, but its before 1991..Take a look for the model and serial numbers on the side of the engine, and post them here if you find them..that will tell us the model year probably..

(it might have sounded above, that I was being "defensive" about my webpage..but i honestly thought it was very clear!  So I am am genuinely curious: what did people find confusing about the JD section on the Ariens website? if there is something unclear or confusing, I will work to make it better..I dont mind taking "constructive criticism" if it will improve the webpage! I do want that page to be as helpful as possible, and it seems it failed this time..)

thanks,
Scot


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## Matty74

Engine runs awfully well. I hit the primer about 3-4 times..choke and one or two pulls is all it takes..I've yet to take it through snow but I'm guessing that will come soon. It's lively


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## Matty74

Any idea which JD plant it was made in? My cousin used to work at the JD plant down in Waterloo Iowa back in the 80s

That's pretty cool it was actually made by John Deere. Not too many of those around from what I gather.

What confused me was that the site said they were made by Ariens after 1991 to whenever and then Ariens AND Murray after a certain date....and he stated that it was an 80s era machine...so I wasn't sure 

I missed the part where it said JD actually made their own machines.

I've got this old JD Snow blower parked right next to the ancient John Deere 4010 we keep in the shed as well.


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## sscotsman

No one really knows enough about JD snowblowers to know where they were made..we dont even know when JD started making them! JD has always been rather mysterious..

Im sure the information is "out there" somewhere, but no one in the "snowblower hobby", outside of the JD company itself, has ever gathered it all together anywhere..

We now have three snowblower "hobby" webpages dedicated to three brands: Gilson, Ariens, and the start of a Snowbird page.
No such pages exist for any other brands yet..

Scot


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## Matty74

Gilson a little before my time


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## sscotsman

I have often said "everything is on the internet..the trick is finding it!"
I just spent some time with Google, and discovered for certain that:

John Deere was *not* making walk-behind snowblowers in 1968.
(although they were making tractor-mounted snowblowers in '68)

John Deere was making walk-behind snowblowers in 1971.

So their first year was 1969, 1970, or 1971.
I will add new info to the webpage soon..

And I should point out that it is _generally believed, _based on all available evidence so far,that JD made their own snowblowers before 1991..although this is not yet definitively proven as an absolute fact.

thanks,
Scot


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## Matty74

The impeller seems ok


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## jtclays

Matty, I do have one like that. She was a little rough when I got her, but she cleaned up nice. They will go through a lot of snow with no riding up.
If you shoot me a pm with your email address, I'lll send you a pdf Owners Manual. The big Wing nut on wheel is a differential lock. Spin it in to lock it loosen it out unlock. I have heard of some of those being rusted/seized so worth taken a look before using it. There is a huge nut looking behind the large wing handle. It is NOT threaded, it's keyed to the shaft and should slide from the outside pressure of the large wing handle and put pressure against a large washer. hard to explain, but here's what it looks like.
Sorry, i don't have pic of the side the wing handle is on, just to show the blower in first pic. Very easy machines to work on. Belts are simple. Only two bolts to remove to break the machine apart. I think you'll like it.


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## Old_Deere

The K in the serial number refers to the year. I read somewhere that for the two decades that JD manufactured their own SBs in Horicon Wisconsin (hence the letter M in your SN), They began each decade with the letter A and so on. My best guess is yours is an 80. Thats if the letters were reset in 81. I have a P726F which I believe was built in 1976.

Someone please correct me if I'm wrong.


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## Geno

just a side note: Scot your site is as good or better than any out there.. well..Pete,s is great too. You deserve credit from all of us for the work and research you put into it. I as well as others have learned a lot from it and don't short change yourself.. I don't see 'how' it could be better. On the JD- I think the JD ones and the Ariens ones are both top notch machines. I've had several 32" models years back and they were not 'exactly' the same. One I remember had more square deflector than the other. They were heavy duty for sure. I am quite sure they were 70's/80's models. I think the TRS ones are mtd and not the quality of the early ones.


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## 69ariens

May be it's me but the more I see these jds the more they look like early ropers and roper made an 826 model too


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## sscotsman

69ariens said:


> May be it's me but the more I see these jds the more they look like early ropers and roper made an 826 model too


Good catch!
yes, there are some Roper snowblowers that are nearly identical to JD snowblowers..its seems nearly certain they were made in the same place..

but the question is: 
Did JD make snowblowers for Roper? or did Roper make snowblowers for JD?

no one knows..even the internet doesn't know.
google can find nothing..

Roper was a Canadian brand, and some Roper products were likely made in Canada..although not necessarily all. Its likely all or most Roper snowblowers were only sold in Canada though.

Someone needs to start a JD snowblower page!  

Scot


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## bad69cat

My dad has my 826 and it's still runs good to this day. I got it at a garage sale about 15 years ago for like $75. Can't beat it no matter how you try for the price! I would grab another one if it pops up cheap just for parts if nothing else..... if your looking to repower a machine it's still a good candidate. I don't think they made them in the Waterloo plant - pretty sure it was made in the Moline, Ill plant as I recall

Roper was the line made for sears. i do believe they were made at the same plant. Just a different paint scheme and a few slight cosmetic changes...... same as MTD does these days


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## GoBlowSnow

The 826 was made by JD until 1987/88. If you want an exact year, go to the JD website and contact them via e-mail or submit via question there give them your serial number and they will tell you the year it was produced. They did that for my old 84 826 and I have an 86 or 87 826 I'm working on this weekend as a matter of fact. I'll post some photos soon but regardless, the 524, 826, and 1032 were arguably the best of the best built by John Deere during the 70s and 80s until they stopped producing in-house and outsourced to Ariens and Murray for awhile. And then Briggs and Stratton purchased the rights to the JD line of snowblowers from what I understand. I purchased my old 826 not too long ago but it was not well kept and is going to be quite expensive to rebuild, but it does run. So if I don't end up parting it out and do restore it, it'll be over a few years. In the mean time, I just got me a new Ariens Deluxe-28SHO so my garage is kinda crowded at the moment with the SHO, partially dismantled 826, and my old Toro 16 inch single stage. (which is going to my brother soon) 

The last 5 numbers of the serial number on my 84-826 are 28261 so given the last 5 of yours, I'm betting yours is an 87/88 model year. The one I am working on tomorrow ends in 529248 so that one has to be a late 80s model as well.


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## Matty74

I still own this snow blower ha. It's now just sitting at the shed at the farm. I've relocated about 90 min northwards and probably will get a new blower for my home that sits in town on a corner lot. I'll likely leave the JD at the farm where it should feel at "home"


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## SLS-1

Mine seems identical to this one. I bought it new in 1985 when I moved into my house and I distinctly remember the dealer telling it was built by John Deere who had hired an engineer from Ariens to make this new improved design. That was his line of BS anyway.

It has been quite a machine, been used heavily in Erie PA for 34 years and all I've done is replace drive belts and do a valve job last year. And clean the carb every year of course :>)

Needs a drive wheel now and can't find the right one, even the Deere web site shows the wrong one.

SLS


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## JLawrence08648

John Deere built your machine and there is no design similarities between this model of John Deere and ANY Ariens models. Years later Ariens built completely the models with a D ###D.


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## GoBlowSnow

TRS models built by Murray. Models with a D after the number built by Ariens. The stuff built from the 70s until the late 80s was built by John Deere.


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