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

My Yamaha snowblower will vibrate a little at low throttle.   Its not an issue for me but the choke arm on the carburetor vibrates and rattles all around. I'd like to remedy this. I picked up a metal punch (really small) some JB weld a scotchbright pad , some contact cleaner,  and now I'm ready to go.  What is my next step?

you could find a piece of rubber tubing,cut a slit down the side. make sure the tubing fits completely around the shaft and zip tie it to hold the gap together. place this under the plate to hold the plate level in place and jb weld the top. once the top is cured slide the rubber tubing down to form a gap between the plate and the top of the rubber tubing. use the jb weld to fill in the gap and once set, remove the tubing. it should be good to go. or once you have the top jb welded in place cut the tubing long enough to fit between the carb and plate and zip tie it to hold the plate up.

Wow, I never would have thought of that.  ...No taking the choke screw / plate off. Ok, I've got some good directions to go with.  I'll get busy cleaning and prepping for the jb weld.  Unrelated: Does anyone know why the carb has that channel (the smiley face) along the bottom.  Its a real pain to adjust the carb because you have to have the outside cover on to know how it's going to run once assembled.  And you cannot reach any of the adjustments once the outside cover is on. So you have to take the cover off, turn the adjustment, put it back on again.  I may make a small gasket and plate to cover the "smiley face" just so I can fine tune things. 

underdog,

you could braze it, that would be a permaent fix make sure u remove the shaft before doing so u dont want a fire.

Underdog,

The happy face is the vent for the float bowl and also for the emulsifier nozzel,  (the tube with all the little holes under the screw that was hard to remove"

How is the tiller running?...   we need more video.. :)

Friiy

friiy wrote:

So technically it should not matter if the smilely face is covered up. If its just a vent.  Very frustrating because to remove and put that cover back on you need to remove about 10 screws and an engine mounting bolt.   I'll probably end up driling a "screw driver" sized hole through the shroud so that I can reach the adjustment.  Other than that the snowblower is running really well although I have not seen any snow to see if it will really perform.  Curious to see how it does under load considering that the previous owner sold it because it was poor.   I changed the impeller and auger bearings and it spins without a lot of racket now.  I also found the original owners manual. The manual straightened me out on the correct RPM settings.  I was using a manual from the 6hp version of the yamaha blower before. You were right, the rpms were set too high. Got those fixed.

The BCS tiller is a champ.  I loaned it out to a neighbor to do his yard.  If I ever get it back I may  put the snowblower attachment onto the front.   I don't need another blower but the BCS came with a blower and it  is gear driven.   I am curiuos to see how well it works.  I am very impressed with the quality of the BCS.  Simple elegant design that does its job. The person that designed it was talented and cared a great deal about what they were doing.   Fuels my interest in OPE.  Friiy, have you run across equipment who's engineer/design left a lasting impression?

The Good Stuff... let me see...

The old Kawasaki TD-24, TF-22 ,  series engines on OPE back in the early 80's to 90's (2 stroke)...The Coleman powermate 1000 generators Late 70's early 80's Kawasaki 4 stroke l-head (started the run on quality small affordable generators)

Echo PB-210e blowers, I have seen them run YEARS every day for hours... and the Echo CS-280e pruning  saw..  Echo pb-400 backpack blower..

Those are the things that preformed and made customers happy,  they sold themselves...

Friiy

Have to agree with Friiy's choices.  I've been a convert to Echo equipment for a while now.  Started with my two stroke 4.5 h.p., 140cc Echo self propelled lawn mower.  I've had it almost twenty years.  It cut half an acre of grass twice a week for twelve years and never missed a beat.  I have since moved up to a Kawasaki powered Husqvarna lawn tractor but still use the Echo for trimming up the yard and in hard to get to places.  All I have ever done to it is add fuel, lube the drive wheel gears & sharpen the blade.  It's still on it's original drive belt & spark plug!  Starts second pull every time, is easy on fuel and still make plenty of power.  Since it's purchase, I've bought an Echo leaf blower, Echo weed eater & Echo chainsaw.   I have experience/ownership of Stihl, Jonsereds & Honda OPE.  Echo is as good as the best of their offerings for considerably less money.  Most certainly a very good value.    

Kawasaki 2 stokes and Echo. I never would have guessed that these would have made the list. When I see a 2-stroke I always think it's not built for extended use. These seem to defy that assumption.  I grew up with a lawn boy mower that was a 2 stoke from the 70's. I remember the blue cloud that followed me across the yard..  My brother and I used it after school to mow lawns.  He did not believe in adding oil to the fuel ("that was optional and cut into profits") .  Are the Echo products available today still made to a high standard?

  

I think Echo is one of the few OPE manufacturers that might have improved.  Not so much in durability.  I doubt there was ever an issue with that.  Technologically they've made some very good advancement is cleaning up exhaust emissions, reducing engine noise& vibration and overall excellent fuel economy.  In the last year and a half I've purchased a leaf blow, a weed eater and a small chain saw, all Echo products.  I have nothing but praise for all of them.   Not saying that Stihl, Jonsereds, Husqvarnara etc. are not good products.  They are.  It's the combination of top notch product quality at very reasonable prices that make Echo so attractive. 

By the way, a well maintained two stroke will provide many years of reliable service.  I'm working on a 34 year old Yamaha RD350 right now.  As old as it is, it's more than capable of lasting another 34 years...if well maintained. 

borat wrote:
I cut my teeth on a Yamaha R5, much the same as yours except 5 speeds and a drum brake up front.
That was 30 years or so ago.  I bought it second hand then rebuilt everything and made it look as much
as I could like a TZ350.  I went everywhere with that bike.  One night at a party I let a guy take it for a ride
and he smashed it up.  That was the end of my motorcycling days.  I was kind of glad in a way since I
was beginning to see that I was living somewhat dangerously zipping around on that little roadster.

Paul