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

I am new to the snowthrowing game and i picked up a used Toro 7/24.  It starts great, looks great, and runs pretty good as well, or i hope it does. 

1. first question i have is when the auger isn't running but the machine is i get alot of sputtery and small backfire type sounds.  Then when i kick the auger in that stops and it runs pretty good.  Any ideas on whats going on with that?

2.  My second question is this, yesterday we had a snowy rainy mix and the snow was really just super heavy, wet, and packable.  It was packing in the throw chute and the machine just kept stalling out.  Does that sound normal for that type of snow conditions? or should  it be able to throw just about anything i put in front of it?

3.  Anyone know what specific plug goes into this machine?

Thanks for your help

cmike wrote:

How old is the machine?  What type of engine (probably a Tecumseh).  If it's an older Tecumseh, there's a screw on the bottom of the carb that can be adjusted to control the engine idle speed.  Turn it in a bit to see what happens.  If you don't get the desired results, adjust in the opposite direction.  Also make sure you disengage your choke once the engine is running without the need for it.   Get a can of Seafoam and put a few ounces into your fuel tank.  Repeat as necessary.

Wet slush is very heavy.  If you try to move a full width path of  two inch deep slush  too fast  it will stall just about any home use snow thrower.  You have to move slowly and only take as wide a swath as the machine can handle.   Seven horse isn't a whole lot of power for a 24" wide intake handling slush.  Particularly if the engine isn't running correctly. 

If you're going to own a machine of any type and plan to do your own maintenance, you'd be wise to do some homework.  Go to Toro/Tecumseh site and download  the manuals for the machine and the engine.  You will save yourself a lot of questions and have a much better understanding of your machine(s).   

I believe that my blower is circa 1981, and i believe it is a tecumseh, but it doesn't look or seem to run like it's a 1981 at all, i actually went and looked up the manual the day i got it,  that would cost me six bucks, I figure I had a general knowledge of how to use the machine so i didn't order it as i wasn't sure just how helpful it would be aside from getting the correct plug type.  Thats why i turned to the forums hoping someone who had the same machine ( which there are a ton of toro 7/24's out there) could shed some insights into the actual quirks and/ or tricks these machines might have>

As i did mention this blower starts right up i barely even need to choke it.  I'll pull it once or twice and close the choke, then on the next pull she fires.  I will have to take a look for that carb screw and see what happens with that.

Oh yeah what is this seafoam?  where can i get that?

Seafoam is a fuel conditioner/carb & engine cleaner.  I've been using it for a while and noticed improvement on a couple of old engines that have never had the carb cleaned.  It's available at NAPA.  Have you owned this machine for a while?   Do you know if the oil has been changed lately and has the auger belt been adjusted?   You might be able to find a manual on line for your machine.  Maybe some of the Toro folks can tell you where to look.    

I think the screw on the bottom is for the high speed adjust and there may or may not be a screw on the side of the carb for the idle depending on the model. The general starting points are back of the high speed adjust 1 and a half turns and the low speed 1 turn. Then after the machine is warmed up adjust the high speed back and forth until it runs well. The idle it and adjust the low speed. The next step is load the machine and do the high speed again. You can engage the augers for load or if you have snow drive around and see how it runs under load and fine tweek the higs speed. Then see how it idles. If things are right you shoud be able to idle ok and flip it to high speed and the response should be fairly quick and smooth.
At high speed with no load some machines sputter and may hunt a little which is mostly ok provided it works very smoothly under constant load blowing snow. The govenor should be kicking in and the carb reponse fast so the engine should sound smooth when everything is adjusted well. You can make some of your final final tweeks after hearing it under load for while.

Or it's just your low idle circuit has some dirt. Check to see that putting the choke knob at filly closed opens the butterfly all the way.

Your probably a model number 38050 for the 724.

You can get a parts breakdown here:
Select parts viewer or parts lookup:

https://lookup3.toro.com/partdex/default.cfm

There's manuals also but I'll have to find the link.

This one is even better than Toro's own page.&lt;BR&gt;&lt;BR&gt;http://www.jackssmallengines.net/parts.asp<BR>For the engine at lease you can google Tecumseh and they have a few general manuals govering the<BR>basics for all their engines - the H70 is included. Your's is probably H70 130176D

Hey You are right on with those numbers trout.  I did some research on it myself on the internet and came up with the same ones.  This is the 38050, it's a 1981- and the motor is a tecumseh model no. H70-130176.  The toro master parts web site looks as it may be quite helpful, definately showing a breakdown of the systems.  thank you. 

Just to add, since you were talking about the machine running under load, i have to say when under load of a good normal snow, or thick heavy  plow dumps at the end of the driveway etc...she tears right in bears down and moves the snow.  No hesitation in the motor no sputtering or popping while the auger is running or under load.  When at idle it spits a bit but it doesn't lose rpm's or sound like it's going to stall or anything. 

Do you agree with Borat about the answer to my question 2?  I feel that he is right about that type of snow/slush, and a 7horse isn't a monster either, so if you are to concur, i will take that as great news and be forced to think that  for the most part this Toro is doing pretty much what it's supposed to do?  Should i still try and make the small adjustments to the carb, or leave well enough alone?

The clogging seems right. Slush or very heavy wet snow clogs my machines. My 2 stages 5, 7, and 8hp don't do slush well. When the snow gets to be blue from water and some white on top mine rigs dribble it out like 5 to 10 feet in some spots, splatters it on itself and clog. It depends on the consistency.
The other day the only thing that worked well was a 16 inch single stage 3hp. It tossed the slush well. I used it to nuke a few low spot puddles.
The 38050 is a great rig. It's got a heavy front end and digs into the EDO better than my newer Toro 8hp. The 8hp is much lighter and for bad EOD it rides up often. The 7 just digs in like it's nothing.
I like to get the EOD parallel and just run it's length. Two storms ago we had a nice EOD on the sidewalk. I went about 200 feet with no problem. The governor keeping a nice steady pace on the machine. From what you wrote it sounds like yours is running pretty well. You could clean up the idle or leave it. It's pretty easy to clean right on the machine. You've got a great machine there. With a little maintenance you can pass it on to our grandkids.

Thanks Guys!

If you give the toro site your ser # it will tell you what year your 724 was made. I had no problem finding my brother's 724 OP Manual on that site free download.

Ron