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

I'm kind of glad I didn't clear the driveway because when I wake up, there's twice as much snow and all of the dirves that were cleared are once again, covered.  So, I go out, spend ten minutes trying to fire up the Toro before I realize I have the fuel shut-off valve on "off."  I turn it on and the 'Ol Tec starts with one pull. 

The snow is around fifteen inches deep but some drifts were three to four feet and the EOD was about three feet of pretty heavily packed snow.  El Toro handles it all in stride until I get to the right side of the EOD when I am immediately reminded of the email I recevied from Toro a while back:

"Toro snow throwers do not have shear pins.  The reason for this is if you hit something while snow throwing, the auger and engine will stop letting you know that something is wrong.  You can then remove whatever it was that you hit, start up the machine, and continue snow throwing.  If the snow thrower had shear pins, they would need to be replaced before starting the snow thrower again."

With all the snow, who expected the paper to be delivered...and the SUNDAY paper at that.  Well, true to Toro's word, the machine ingested the paper and stopped immediatley (I guess the shearless system works).  I didn't even have to look, I knew what had happened.  So, when I gor around to the front, there in all it's shredded glory is the Sunday paper jammed tight between the auger, impeller and housing.  A big screwdriver (the tool, not the drink), a sharp utility knife, and about thirty minutes of pulling out bits of paper, I get it a bit looser.  I figured since the machine got itself into this trouble, let it get itself out.  I start her up, release the auger and out flies shredded newspaper, not unlike the skiier who fell into the bug snowblower in James Bond's "On Her Majesty's Secret Service."

I get the driveway done, a couple of hundred feet of walk, and figure I'll do the paver walks and patio in back so the dogs will have a place to run around other than the deep snow.  While going along the sitting wall, the machine (apparently still hungry after eating the paper) scoops up about sixty feet of previously unseed low voltage wire.  This time the machine just snaps the wire and keeps running but I stop to look.  There it is, wrapped around the auger.  Off it comes, and blowing continues with no more events.  Overall, a good day.

LL