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

I feel kind of stupid that all this happened but I thought we could all have a laugh and learn from it, so here's the story of my latest adventure in OPE.

I had to go to a cottage in Mid-Ontario, Canada ( Algonquin Highlands, close to Minden) for a building inspection. It was scheduled for Friday so I went up Thursday night since a snow storm was on the way.

I got there at about 1:30AM after replacing a flat tire on the trailer I was using to bring my snowblower up. At that point I discovered that one of the tires on the snowblower was flat. Out comes the shovel, clear enough snow to  barrel in to the driveway but we are not getting out without clearing the driveway or getting a tow.

1. Start fire and heat the place up
2. Get some sleep
3. Get up and look at the blower. The wheel with the flat tire is frozen to the axle so I can't get it off. I try to start the engine, it won't even turn over, something is frozen .
4. Put some MDF onto the toboggan, put the blower on the MDF, tie it to the toboggan and pull the blower through the snow to the cottage. No I didn't need snow shoes but I had them "just in case".
   
5. Get it into the cottage and put it reasonably close to the fireplace.
6. Watch it since we are talking a full tank of gas and even though the fireplace is an air tight I do have an imagination.
7. Inflate tire while we wait.
   
8. The snow has been melting for a while, Move it close to the door and pull once to see if the engine is free.
9. Remember that we forgot to turn down the throttle after trying to start it earlier.
10.  Quickly turn off the roaring engine since we are indoors!
11. Take it outside and fire it up. Try to engage the auger, it doesn't turn and smoke starts to come from under the belt cover. Disengage auger, turn off engine, take back inside.
12.  Use implements such as a 2x4 and a flashlight to check the auger and impeller, small bits of stone are caught between the bottom of the impeller blade and the wall of the housing.
13.  Move the impeller with the 2x4 and carefully clean out the grit.
14. Try turning the impeller by engaging the the clutch and pulling the manual start ( this time the throttle is in the "Off" position), nothing, we're still jammed;
15. Force the impeller with the 2x4, check with the flashlight. There was a small stone behind the mounting plate of the impeller arms jammed against the back wall of the housing;
16. Carefully remove the stone.
    
17. Now we remember that one of the shear bolts broke and we couldn't bang it out with a hammer and a small steel rod.
18. Get out the impact driver and say thank you for the fore thought of bringing up the compressor and associated tools ( do it all the time, right?)
19. Out come the remains of the shear bolt, in goes the new one.
20. Get it outside, start it up and all is well.

What did I learn?

1. Before taking the snow blower north, make sure it works and give yourself enough time to fix any problems;
2. If you break a shear bolt, don't forget to fix it;
3. Air tools and a compressor are nice things;
4. Toboggans are nice things too;
5. Spare trailer tires are really nice things;
   
6. You can never carry too many tools when you are towing a snowblower into snow country.
7. Even a little bit of grit can be a show stopper if its in the wrong place.
8. Check the pressure in the trailer wheels more often.

Well, that was an interesting story,but, it would appear that your geography is a little off. 

As the crow flies, Ontario is approx. one thousand seventy miles at it's widest southeast to northwest and close to the same north to south.   Your trip to the Algonquin area would be approx. two hundred twenty miles north from the southern most part of the province and approx. 250 west of the easternmost part.   To say you were in mid Ontario is a little short of the actual mid point of Ontario which is close to Geraldton Ont.    According to my rough calculations using GPS software, you would have been approximately 430 miles in a straight line south east of the mid point of Ontario.   However, if you're from Toronto, your calculations would be assumed as being correct considering that in the collective mind of that city, the northern border of the province is at North Bay.    

From a measure it point of view you are correct, mid Ontario would be a great deal further north and probably a fair bit west.

I can only offer two rebuttals:

1. I spent my sojourn listening to a local radio station that called itself the country music station of mid-Ontario, they couldn't be wrong could they :-)
2. Just slightly further north. on highway 11, ( west of where I was) is a big sign that says you are crossing the 45th parallel and entering the "near north". If always struck me as funny that while you were just crossing the halfway point from the equator to the north pole the government thought you were in the near north. Tax rules tend to change a little bit when you're north of the 45th.
   

Perhaps, given item 2, I should have said upper mid Ontario :-) or maybe lower near northern Ontario? Either way its the Algonquin Highlands until they redraw the county boundaries again.

BTW - Once I got the blower working the driveway was fun to clear as opposed to a pain to shovel, the blower makes all the difference in the world.

Near north, mid Ontario,  sounds like Toronto talk.   Using those as reference points, where would that put a town like Kenora, Ont.?  Eastern Manitoba or northern Minnesota?   Or maybe anyone who goes past North Bay, falls off the edge of the earth???   She's a big province lad.   

I'd say bordering on huge. Once you get past the Sault it still takes about a day to get to the Manitoba border. If you look at it from an area point of view most of it is north of  Thunder Bay.

As far as Trawna is concerned I'd wager most don't even think of Ontario as going further north than Barry.

Actually Kenora is just this (yes I'm from around Toronto too) side of halfway across Canada! I used to drive back and forth to Winnipeg (for supplies) every week from a camp on Shoal lake just outside of Kenora right on the Ont/Man border. Used to have fun telling everyone I drove from one side of Canada to the other and back EVERY WEEK!

Dave Wilson

i think we have all met  MR. MURPHY once or twice     l.o.l