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

Hi, this is my first post to this forum so please be gentle with me.

I have a Snapper SE5203E 5hp 20" single stage snow thrower that is about 10 years old. The last few years I have noticed that it is getting steadily worse at throwing snow. Last week we had about 10 inches of the white stuff drop on us here in the Madison WI. area and it didn't like that at all. It will work fine for a while as long as the snow is not that heavy than all of a sudden the snow just fills up the shoot and doesn't go anywhere. Even when it is throwing the snow it has a fraction of the distance that it used to have. The motor seems to run fine and never stalls or sputters. In fact it usually starts on the first pull.

Last year I replaced the belt. The year before I replaced the auger flighting. I have also adjusted the auger clutch cable with little or no help. In fact right now I have the cable adjusted as tight as it will go and the machine still stops throwing.

Any help would be appreciated.

Jeff  

Jeff - is there an adjustment for the idler/tension pulley? Maybe that needs some adjustment or possibly the idler pulley is worn out. The belt possibly getting wet & slipping is only other thing I can think of - is the belt guard or belly pan missing?

Marty

Marty, thanks for your reply.

I took the belt cover off tonight and sure enough it was packed with snow and ice around the auger pulley at the bottom. When I replaced the belt 2 years ago I noticed that some wear holes were beginning to form at the bottom of the belt housing. I sealed them up by adding some extra screws and bolts at the bottom to pull it together. The snow should not be getting in there any longer so I'm not sure where it is getting in.

After I cleaned the ice and snow out I decided to try going through some snow to see if it helped. The only problem was I couldn't get it started. I didn't mention that the pull rope broke when I went to use the machine again this last weekend. I wasn't worried about it too much though because it also has electric start (which I've never used). For some reason the starter motor gear does not want to engage the motor gear. It just whines and spins away from the motor gear. Would the broken rope have anything to do with that? 

It's just one thing after another.

Jeff

  

   

Jeff - you would be surprised at how snow can sneak in there. That cavity must be as "snowtight" as possible. Check the belly pan for any bent areas or missing bolts. I know that I have to back mine out of the shed into an uncleared snow area, which tends to "plow" snow right into where the self propelled drive disk is - and it may slip for a minute until the snow heats up, melts, drains & drys off. You may want to use some clear RTV sealer to plug up any large gaps. It could also be "blow-by" from your snow discharge chute, so make sure your belt cover is secured. Once you seal it up, you should have no more slipping!

Marty

Marty, thanks for all the advice.

Apparently I have to spend some time making sure everything is sealed up better than it is. I've never heard of RTV sealer but I will look for it the next time I'm at the farm supply store I like to go to.

I did go ahead and order a new idler pulley, only because it looks easy to change and it only costs about $10. The auger pulley was around $40 so I'm going to hold off on that until I see what effect the other repairs have first.

 I also was able to fix the electric starter. Because it was never used the gear that turns the flywheel was rusted stuck. So after spraying a 1/2 a can of WD40 and beating on it for a while it now works. I still plan on replacing the pull rope if I can figure out how to get it into the recoil mechanism.

By the time I'm done I could go into the snow thrower repair business!

Jeff