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

    Below is a Han-Eclipse Giant chute control.  It's the earliest chute back attached chute control I’ve seen.  It’s pretty rugged and even after its many years of age will probably outlast the controls on current Ariens and Toro machines.  I’ve seen a few 4 or 5 year old Ariens machines with the fiber or composite head control gears ¼ to ½ worn away.

From what I can see of it, that machine looks like a tank.  I'm sure that with a decent maintenance schedule that thing will be around for many years to come.  Probably outlasting the best machines made today. 

  It is build like a tank.  The metal used is stout.  The tractor section is a very simple design and on this one the intrnals were in excellent condition.  It could easily last another 20-30.

The Hahn-Eclipse was built like a tank but the problem is that parts are non-existent these days. 

Interesting link below that illustrates older snowblowers.  Not sure if it was posted before or not.  The site owner was a Gilson man.

http://home.gwi.net/~spectrum/snowvintage.html

Paul7 wrote:

The nicest thing about those old machines is that their simplicity of design and construction would likely allow for a part to be easily made  if need be.   Machines today have elaborate castings that can't be fabricated in an average machine shop.  Those old machines were designed and built by people who were probably machinists and mechanics.  Chances are they were fabbed in very rudimentary plants with lots of manual labour.  Guys churning out gears, shafts and forming sheet metal would have been common place. Getting to be a lost art nowadays.      

Not much to go wrong in here.  Pretty simple.  I think friction disks are still available and bearings.  I doubt if a gear will go so other than that should stay healthy for quite a while.

Where is the cast iron gearbox?   

The gears in there look like they came out of a grist mill! 

From the photo showing the auger you can see there’s no center gearbox like on most snow throwers. So how is the auger powered? It looks like there could be a chain coming from the right wheel to the auger, but I can’t tell for sure from the photo. If that's the case then the wheel needs to be turning in order for the auger to rotate. While that’s simple and robust, I like having the auger powered independent of the wheels.

Paul7 wrote:
Man, some of those old blowers are pretty wicked.  They were probably responsible for
a lot of injuires.  That Roto-hoe with at least 4 exposed belts (and twin chutes, what kind
of crazy idea is that ?) or the monster Rolba straight out of Mech war movie (8ft chute,
no problems getting snow up over the sides of the driveway !) and no housing at all on the
augers.  There sure weren't many safety experts around in those days.

Paul

MacLorry27 wrote:
In regards to how the auger is powered:  Your assumption is correct!  There is a sprocket on the outside of that right wheel, and there is a chain that is inside that houseing which powers the auger.  So, the only way to blow snow is for the wheels to be turning.  You can push the snowblower with the engine powered down, and still have the auger spinning, regardless of the clutch being disengaged. 

I have one of these babies. It has been in the family since 1973. Still has the original Tecumseh motor. It is a tank and weighs a ton. But here in Vermont it is exactly what you need. In high gear it goes like hell. I don't think I have ever come to a pile of wet snow it couldn't muscle its way through. My wife keeps telling me to buy a new one, but I know they just don't make'm like this anymore. Parts are mostly universal (bearings, shear pins, drive belts, etc. The parts that are unique, gears etc just don't fail.