Outdoor Power Equipment (Lawn Mowers, Snow Blowers, Chain Saws and more) Discussions

For my snowblower project I need a replacement #91 Woodruff Key and (2) #5 keys.  See below for what one looks like. They lock the spur gear to the axle shaft and the wheel hubs to the axle shaft.

They're $0.35 at the local "real" hardware store - but they don't have the #91.

They local dealer gets a mere $1.24 for it - but doesn't have it either.

So, it took me 30 minutes to mount the new motor and I drove around for an hour looking for a #91 Woodruff Key.....

I also need two "Feather Keys." The one place that didn't laugh at me or think I was snipe hunting only had them in Metric!

Once I finish this one I think I'll buy another to rebuild, because I'll have every cotter pin, Woodruff key and feather key required.....

I've had better luck at autoparts stores than hardware stores for these things. I figurs the majority of cars are now metric and have the same keys and other do-dads that small engines do. Probably better to go to the crusty old autoparts store that serves the repair shops in your area instead of the clean homeowner based chain store that seems to have more steering wheel covers than actual parts.

The local "good" auto parts store didn't have them. But LeBlanc's Hardware had a big bin of Woodruff keys - got what I needed for $0.30 and $0.45 each.

No such luck with the Feather Key. Had to buy it at the dealer for $2.37 each.  Got two Snow Hog tires for $35 to replace the originals.

They get $469 plus $60 labor to put on a new 8 hp Tecumseh, so I'm feeling pretty good about the under $300 for the 7.5 Intek and less than $300 for an Ariens ST824 with a 4 year old replacement Snow King, anyway.

Small Engine Warehouse has 11hp Briggs Intek Snow engines for $350 delivered, I'm sooo tempted to plug that one on in place of the 8hp. This hotrodding of snowblowers is getting out of hand.....

Hmm. Three "good" hardware stores didn't have them. Nor did the industrial fastener distributor have that size.

Walked into a Homed Depot. $0.60. Whodathunkit?

Glad to hear you finally found it.  Maybe I'll check there more often.