# Repair or re-power a 1980 Toro 724?



## BeansBaxter (Feb 17, 2015)

A friend gave me a 1980 Toro 724 with the original H70 engine that a neighbor had given up on. It looks like it was generally well maintained but I think there was some water in the fuel at some point so the carb was in pretty bad shape. It roars to life when spraying starting fluid down the throat but shuts down immediately after that. I'm hoping that's the only reason the original owner decided to get a new snow blower.

Due to the poor internal condition of the original carburetor, I'm thinking replace rather than rebuild but carbs for this era of H70 aren't the easiest to find. The original Tecumseh part was 631920 and the service replacement is 631954. As far as I can tell, that should be a direct swap as long as I get a different choke knob to fit the newer plastic shaft. There is at least one seller on eBay and one on Amazon with a Chinese replacement that "should" work.

The primer bulb is the only other obvious part that needs attention so carb + knob + bulb should put me in the neighborhood of $35-40 but with a 37 year old engine of unknown condition.

The other option is to re-power with a Predator. If I understand correctly, an adjustable jet is a wise upgrade and I know I'll need a shaft sleeve to fit the existing 1" diameter pulley. I'd also need new mounting bolts for the thicker mounting plate. I figure it's at least $140 to get it running.

I guess my first question is really whether the early '80s Toros are good machines. I have a 1968 Ariens 10M7D that I've gotten mechanically acquainted with over the last 9 years or so but I know nothing about Toros. I like that it has some safety features and it appears to be easier to operate for a less skilled user which could come in handy if I'm out of town and a storm hits.

My second question is in the title. If you were in this situation, would you repair or re-power?


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## dbert (Aug 25, 2013)

My Toro 724 (model 38072) was a 1996 model. A predator swap did not require anything but longer bolts to mount it to the tractor and a different bolt that holds the pulley to the crank. Everything else lined right up. No pulley adapter. So easy it surprised me.
That said, if it's just a carb and primer bulb I'd probably just try to fix it. I'm offering this advice because I'm trying to re-make friends here that hate engines made in China and think L-heads are still a modern marvel.


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## 524SWE (Jan 20, 2017)

I'd put a carb on it and run it some this winter to get a feel for where the engine is at. The nice thing about Toros is they were built well to begin with and parts are still readily available for a 1980 724. Member Powershift93 has a wealth of knowledge about Toro, check out his threads about them.


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## BeansBaxter (Feb 17, 2015)

The older H70 engines had a 1" diameter shaft. It sounds like the newer 7HP Tecumseh engines must have switched to a 3/4" diameter. That's nice that you had one less thing to worry about.

I guess my main concern is that I don't know how tired the engine is. I suppose I could do a compression test but beyond that, I'm not sure how I would gauge "tiredness" without getting it running again.

As far as the engine technology wars go, I'm a non-partisan. :wavetowel2: (not quite a white flag but close enough)


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## Dauntae (Nov 10, 2016)

For a carb, Here you go, For less than $13 and I have used many of the ebay carbs with great success
Portable Genuine Tecumseh 632371 632371A Service Carburetor Fit H70 631920 1185 | eBay

and for the choke know and the plasit shaft, I have done this when the choke lever is different, Most times you can take the original and switch it with the new one being it is only a shaft whith a butterfly that opens and closes with the turn of a know. Not sure on the plastic one but it may switch.


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## JayzAuto1 (Jul 25, 2016)

Is that Toro for sale? I have customers looking for those. I have Running trade units also. Thanx, Jay


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## Jackmels (Feb 18, 2013)

JayzAuto1 said:


> Is that Toro for sale? I have customers looking for those. I have Running trade units also. Thanx, Jay


I have a Running Toro 724 $100 in Ma PM if interested.


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## tpenfield (Feb 24, 2015)

IMO the 1980's Toro's are very good machines. I would go the re-power route rather than throwing parts at an old engine. In terms of the Predator engines, you could go with the 212cc and be adequately powered, or you could go with the 301cc and have good power. The 212cc should be a direct fit, the 301cc may need some adaptation.

I re-powered my 1988 Toro 521 with the 212cc . . . piece of cake. The re-jetting of the carb will help the winter performance a bit, but I have not yet done mine and used it a couple of seasons so far.


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## UNDERTAKER (Dec 30, 2013)

* Parts are still available for the snow blower it self. as everyone here knows I am not a fan of either 1 of those engines. if you check out brandnewengines.com they might have some new old stock BRIGGS you could get for it.k:k:k:k:k:*


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## BeansBaxter (Feb 17, 2015)

Dauntae said:


> For a carb, Here you go, For less than $13 and I have used many of the ebay carbs with great success
> Portable Genuine Tecumseh 632371 632371A Service Carburetor Fit H70 631920 1185 | eBay
> 
> and for the choke know and the plasit shaft, I have done this when the choke lever is different, Most times you can take the original and switch it with the new one being it is only a shaft whith a butterfly that opens and closes with the turn of a know. Not sure on the plastic one but it may switch.


I appreciate the link. I ended up ordering this carburetor: New Carburetor For TECUMSEH 631954 H70 & HSK70 7hp Snow Thrower Blowers | eBay

It's listed as the same number as the service carb for my H70 so it probably has the highest chance of success. I don't know enough about Series 1 Tecumseh carbs to play the interchange game at this point and for a few dollars extra, I was able to buy from a US-based seller so the shipping will be much faster.

Thanks for the reminder about possibly swapping the choke lever. I'll try that before ordering a new choke knob.


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## BeansBaxter (Feb 17, 2015)

JayzAuto1 said:


> Is that Toro for sale? I have customers looking for those. I have Running trade units also. Thanx, Jay


Not looking to sell at this time although when I get it running and if it works well, I may be putting my 1968 Ariens on the market.

If I change my mind I'll let you know.


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## dhazelton (Dec 8, 2014)

I have to think if it ran fine on ether it will be a good runner with the new carb. For $15 you can't go wrong.


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## BeansBaxter (Feb 17, 2015)

tpenfield said:


> IMO the 1980's Toro's are very good machines. I would go the re-power route rather than throwing parts at an old engine. In terms of the Predator engines, you could go with the 212cc and be adequately powered, or you could go with the 301cc and have good power. The 212cc should be a direct fit, the 301cc may need some adaptation.


I tried swapping an HM80 and the mounting face is 1 3/8" farther from the front mounting holes than the H70 so it interfered with the pulleys. The 301cc has similar dimensions so it would definitely require an adaptation of the mounting plate.


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## BeansBaxter (Feb 17, 2015)

dhazelton said:


> I have to think if it ran fine on ether it will be a good runner with the new carb. For $15 you can't go wrong.


I think (and hope) you may be right. I checked the compression today and it's at 90 psi using the recoil so that's promising.


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## BeansBaxter (Feb 17, 2015)

POWERSHIFT93 said:


> * Parts are still available for the snow blower it self. as everyone here knows I am not a fan of either 1 of those engines. if you check out brandnewengines.com they might have some new old stock BRIGGS you could get for it.k:k:k:k:k:*


Thanks for bringing that up. I hadn't thought of the NOS route. The INTEK engines look pretty nice.

Other than the carburetor, this engine appears to be in good shape. I did a compression test this morning and got 90 psi with the recoil starter and it roars to life when mainlining ether.

Since it seems like it has a good chance of succeeding, I'm going to give the Chinese replacement carb route a chance first. That way I can save up my pennies and nickels for the eventual engine transplant.

Now I just have to get acquainted with the rest of the mechanicals.


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## cranman (Jan 23, 2016)

Real men have multiple snowblowers........keep the Ariens.....


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## tadawson (Jan 3, 2018)

The inlet to the main jet is in the bottom of the bowl, and crap in fuel gets to it prety quick. You might just need to drop the float bowl, and clean it and the main jet . . . that should, at a minimum, get it to stay running, and then you could decide to clean deeper or carb replace from that point . . .


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## dodgetrucker (Jan 15, 2016)

Ive had several Tecumseh (and Briggs) carbs that have been beyond hope even after dunks in an ultrasonic bath these last couple of years.... have waited til I could find NOS carbs via Ebay (don't have to necessarily be _that_ number, many others will work) would rather take a chance on the old engines vs anything Predator... haven't had one, won't buy one. 
On a close but related note I have a tiller here that had a tired 6hp Tecumseh that got "dusted" (I got it without an air cleaner, had obviously been run in the dirt without one) 
I was looking for something else on CL and ran across a Tecumseh HM80 that was brand new but 40 yo, had been bought for a project back then, gas put in and started once and then put under the bench. Think I paid $40 for it. and yes it was obvious when I got it that it had in fact barely been run. tags were still on gas tank, paint wasnt even hardly tarnished on the muffler, etc.
I went on Ebay and found an NOS Tecumseh carb that wasnt the same number as the original carb, but its PN came back as fitting an 8hp.... so I bought that for another $40. so for $80 I have a brand new HM80 in place of a H60. Bolted right on, crank was the same height, everything. Only other thing different was new motor had a 1" crank, old motor was 7/8" so a 3" pulley w/a 1" hole later, its all good. 
The thing is not "all" H70s had 1" cranks, they had several variations. same with any Briggs/Tec engine. some were 3/4 some were 7/8 some were 1", some are tapered, some are stepped down, some don't have a tapped hole on the end for a bolt to hold pulleys, clutch etc on, but still same HP, same brand as your original engine. and I've done transplants that didn't seem likely to work that fit like they were made for it too. 
I had an 8hp Briggs here I was gonna use on that tiller, but its crank sat a good bit lower than the crank on the Tecumseh. On that machine, it would have caused extra fitment headaches with the belt drive so I passed on the Briggs idea.


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