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

I bought a used 10hp craftsman snowblower before last season. It was a little difficult to start and stalled once it encountered snow. I took the carb apart and rebuilt it, and now it starts easily, but it still stalls under load. (we had about 1" of snow this morning, so I scraped together a pile to test it.) I can hear a noticeable drop in RPM's when I put it into high gear, even without the auger engaged. Belts seem fine, no broken shear bolts. I think its a problem with the governor mechanism. Is there a way to diagnose this? I called sears service this weekend and asked if there was a way for them to check how the machine runs under load without snow and they said 'not really', so I don't want a service call and have them tell me that it starts fine and runs well, when it'll stall with the first flake again. Is the governor mechanism something that is easily serviceable? I have a Tecumseh service manual, but it doesnt' go into much detail on the governor. Any help would be appreciated.

Make sure you emptied all old gas out and are using FRESH gas. Gas loses it's potency after 60 days without a Stabilizer. Make sure gas tank vent is not slightly restricted
by removing the cap when attempting to remove snow.

Another possibility is the carb is gummed up a bit from old gas and needs to be cleaned.

Or

Try another spark plug

Or

Last:
Before you play with the governor, try adjusting the carb Hi/Lo mixture screw by turning
them 1/4 turn CCW to richen the mixture a bit and see if that helps. I am assuming you have an older machine with adjustable screws.

Try the easy quick cheap solutions before giving up and bringing your machine to a shop.