# I finished my Predator 212cc powered 1996 MTD 5/22



## GustoGuy

Its all finished now and I was testing it out this evening in the driveway. It has 3 very useful forward speeds now since I put in the new larger friction plate. Ironically the newer friction plate comes from a single shaft overhead valve powered 31 inch MTD snowblower. The plate costed $ 71.00 and it made all the difference in controlling the speed on the re-powered machine. It turned out to be more work than I would have liked but the money I saved over buying a new machine was well worth all the extra work. I needed to flip the gearbox and I also cut off the gear shift selector lever and I turned it over and re-welded so I new have 2 reverse and 5 forward speed. I also relabeled the snow blower so you know what gear you are in now. Her are some photo's and a You tube video. MOV007 - YouTube


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## HCBPH

*ReEngined*

That looks very good to me. Let us know how it works out when you get some snow to try it out on.


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## Bain

that thing looks mint !

I'm waiting for snow too


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## Bain

just saw your youtube video ... did you keep the stock belt cover ?


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## GustoGuy

Bain said:


> just saw your youtube video ... did you keep the stock belt cover ?


Yes, I still have my stock belt cover. Here it is on the machine. I was even able to rig up the stock belt tensioner too for the drive belt. Unfortunately it took lots of work putting in the larger friction disk. I had to drill out the mounting hole for the friction plate hinge bracket and grind away about 1/4 of an inch of the bracket on the sides since the wider disk made contact with the bracket in its unmodified form. I like the result for I now have a real slow 1st gear and gear 2 is still usable as well for blowing the driveway. I will post a video of it blowing snow as soon as we get a snowfall.


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## dlk4602

I am having some loss of power issues with my MTD snow blower and am thinking about doing a similar conversion.

I have some questions about your conversion:

Is it possible to reuse the old impeller pulley or doesn't it work on the new motor shaft?

What size pulleys did you end up using on the motor?

It looks like the new friction plate depth is less than the old one, I guess that is why you had to grind the hinge plate. Does the difference in depth cause any belt alignment or drive wheel contact issues?

I wonder of the hinge plate from the larger friction disk snowblower would work, it looks like it is only $20.

Dave.


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## GustoGuy

Yes, I just flipped the pulley for the impeller since it not totally flat. It has a an offset from the center line of about 3/4th of an inch and flipping it around brings the belt grove back farther so you do not have to extend your engines PTO shaft. I bought all new steel 3/4 inch pulleys to place on the engine PTO from Phoenix website. Do not use zinc caste pulleys since they are not designed for the power that your engine will put out. I used a 3 inch pulley for the auger drive and a 2 inch pulley for the friction drive. You could swap the hinge plate I guess as long as it fits your machine. I put a thick washer behind the mounting bolt on my new friction disk and I had to drill out the hole larger in the hinge plate to mount the new friction plate and since it had less depth I had to grind down the sides of the hinge plate or the friction disk would make contact. If you do not need more than 1 or 2 speeds to blow your driveway you could use the existing friction plate but it will be faster than stock. In 4th gear it dang near popped a wheelie and almost spun the tires. anything over 2nd with the stock friction plate was like a fast walk. You will also need to flip and re-weld the shift linkage our use a long bolt and drill out the pin and use washers and nuts to extend it to the point where the linkage will not make contact with the friction wheel and you also need to flip the gear box to the other side too. good luck with your swap. You will love the ease of starting and the power and snow throwing ability of the Predator 212cc vrs the Gutless Tecumseh. I do not miss messing around with the Tecumseh just to get it to start and the Predator runs so much better and makes way more power than the Tecumseh ever did even when the Tecumseh was brand new


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## dlk4602

Thanks for the response. One more question, did you use the stock motor mount holes are did you have to drill new holes?


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## GustoGuy

No drilling needed. It bolted right up to the stock mounting holes. Same bolt pattern same PTO height as the Tecumseh 5hp. The biggest challenge was getting the drive to work correctly with the single shaft Predator 212cc since the Tecumseh is a 2 shaft engine and the camshaft (drive) turns in the opposite direction at 1/2 the rate as the crankshaft. Just go back on all my older posts and you will find a wealth of information on how to get rid of your underperforming Tecumseh.


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## detdrbuzzard

great job gustoguy, you put alot of work into your mtd


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## dlk4602

I took a look at the other threads and think I have most of it figured out.

Are you using the stock 3/8" wide belts?

Do you have any pictures of how you rigged up the drive belt tension pulley?


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## GustoGuy

Yes I am using the same width belt only its a bit shorter than the stock one and I am using the stock tensioner too. Make sure the belt for the drive is snug with the tensioner on it and if its not in good shape you should replace it with a power rated belt. I had a chance to blow slush tonight and it threw it about 4 to 5 feet for the soupy really wet sloppy snow. It use to clog on that stuff all the time before I put in the impeller kit. Also with the impeller kit I can blow my driveway real well when there is an inch or less of snow. It really throws the dry fluffy stuff far like 50 feet. You can see what I mean by flipping the lower auger pulley (new wear grove forming on the auger tensioner pulley) and how it moves the belt grove back about 3/4 of an inch. If you do not do that then the Predator 212cc drive shaft will not be long enough.


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## GustoGuy

Well I am sure glad I repowered my old MTD with the Harbor Freight Predator 212cc. Got about 4 inches of heavy wet slushy snow tonight and even though the snowblower has been in the shed all summer long it started in just 2 pulls of the recoil right after I added some gasoline. I was throwing snow with the impeller kit as high as the powerline wires at about 30 feet or so in the air and cleared all the wet snow off my 75 foot long double wide driveway in just under 15 minutes.


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## Hacksaw1945

Thank you. Gusto Guy, 
I am in the process now of doing the same, My MTD is a 5hp 24" single shaft. Build in the mid 2000's a little newer than yours. I am not sure what year they went to single shaft over the two shaft, So I can skip the axel and shift arms procedures. But may have to change the disc. plate not sure yet.


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## RB35

Gustoguy,
Saw your earlier post and have to go back and re-read to repower my 21 yr old 524. A few questions.
On the smaller pto, 1/2 speed of crank w/ 2" pulley.-Would a 1" pulley on the new crank have given the same "final rpm?
When you reversed the axle shaft and gear, could you reverse the p-plate and rubber friction wheel so that you still end up with the same forward gearing/operation as original?
I haven't looked at the set-up in depth, just pulled the bottom plate to clean out the summer mouse hotel in there. Planning a refresh this spring, no replacement engine (until I saw your older post). Just getting some ducks in a row. I play with old cars, welding & fabrication are part of that, so this should be fun and cheaper than a new one.
Thanks,
RB


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