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

I just bought a Honda HS1132TAS, a tracked US model.  While I think the chute crank works fine, I want to see if I can retrofit the power chute that is on the Canadian HS928 TCD.  Does anyone have access to the parts diagram or numbers to the Canadian HS928 TCD?  Any Canadian OPE dealers willing to ship parts to the US?   Thanks in advance.

Like a kid waiting for Santa to bring Christmas presents, I can't wait for some serious snow fall to try out my new snowblower.

I was thinking on doing the same thing for my HS828. Although I would just try to source the joystick and decals from a candian dealer, and use my own motors. I have a feeling thats where the big cost will be.

You're probably right, it's going to be expensive.  I might be better off importing the whole snowblower from Canada.

On second thought, I think I'm not going to retrofit it.  I might rig something with parts this summer.

I was thinking of mounting a 12v drill motor right at the knuckle, one with a slip clutch, then all you need is a go no go toggle switch with the commons jumped out .  Chuck a metal box around it paint it red.  I'd drill the hole right in the console.

As if I don't have enough to do already. 

nhmatt wrote:

That might be the ticket.  I just priced out how much it would cost to transplant a Simplicity power chute motor and gear assembly and it's at least $150.  I would have to go with making something out of windshield wiper motors from a Geo Metro.

Now if someone can help me locate a 4-way joystick, that would be great.

I went down to my local electronics surpluss store today, (its like radioshack but all grown up) trying to get an idea of what I would need for something like this.  I figure an electric motor geared down to 4-5 revs per minute would spin the chute quick enough.  For a switch what you need is an ON-OFF-ON, DPDT.  That will give you left, stop and right.  That's the simple part.  What I don't know is how I'm going to mount the motor to the chute.  I thought of the way Ariens has theirs underneath and teeth spin the chute, but I never liked the way it sat in the worst spot, always covered in water/snow.  If I keep the chute handle and just mount the motor somehow right to the handlebars, I could either use a gear to turn the rod or just go to the rod with some kind of a set screw setup.  My wish is an electromagnetic clutch that would disengage when not turning, and that way I could set up a kill switch to keep it from turning too far and breaking.

This guy used a cordless drill...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBL3GxBduyU

That's a great idea.  I suppose the drill has the entire package.  forward, reverse, slip clutch, and all on an onboard battery.  If I could I'd like to see if I could get it running on the on board power, but I don't know what voltage  the honda tas light is running at.

nhmatt wrote:

I think this is at 12V and 15W.

I don't know the current spike occurs driving the chute cranks with a cordless drill.  Not something that I woud want to tax the alternater.  The Canadian model 928TCD has an on-board battery that takes the current spikes from a motor.  It may be safer to try having a separate power source than tapping into the light source.

If and when I have the time to try this, but I'm thinking of keeping the manual crank and put a motor that can be clutched or declutched and revert to manual in case something does fail in the motor/battery combo.

I put a meter on it today and at idle got 12vac and at full throttle 16vac.  I thought it was going to be AC, just because there's no battery.    I don't know if a battery-powered drill counts as a universal motor or not.  Not a big deal, just a small rectifier somwhere would take care of it.  Honestly the light is kind of weak, but I've only seen it in the daylight and not trying it at night.  They also mount the light up front, and even though you can turn it which I like, it s in a spot where it can get covered by powdery snow.  I don't know what kind of rating I could get from it.  Are they stealing power from the coil? 

nhmatt wrote:

Yeah, stock lights are not all that powerful, but they are better than snowblowing in darkness.  I had thought about putting dual automotive fog lights in front above the bucket, like those snow plow lights, but I find didn't want to damage something running dual 30W fogs through the stock eletrical system.

Those stock lights are mounted down low so the light doesn't reflect back at you when there's snow in the air.  Similiar principle as fog lights.  However, because the light is so close to the chute, it does get covered up with snow powder.  Hmm..just got a thought about headlight wipers to take care of that problem.