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

    27 inches won't be taking in a lot for a 13hp especially a GX390.  A Honda 828 can clear at a very fast clip.  Larger buckets like 30 and 32 would give the engine something to toss.   Not sure if it's total play versus practical use.  You might want to bump the drive pulley for more RPM and there are better front ends for that with more weight and better bearings.  

An old Snapper heavy duty machine has a strong base, good bucket width and weight, a nice cast gearbox, and auger bucket rake axle flange holders fitted with zerks.   A Snapper commercial 10301 is a 10hp 30 inch with big wide tires and would be a great platform.   An old Ariens commercial 1032 with huge tires would be hold up the 13 and privide good grip.  I think those came with 12's on the same base.  Another possibility is an older Simplicity commercial grade which were very stout but the handlebars and linkage rods were very close to the engine.  To take the engine cowling off you have to unbolt the motor.  A big Honda may not fit. ??  

Murray is ok but the tractor section not the best, not wicked rugged and definetly not commercial grade.  You'll probably want to drive hard to collect enough to exersize that thing, wade into piles or force it into hard pack.  The Murray machine weight is not so high and the tires not so big.  BTW: I've got a few year old Ariens 1128 base in excellent condition with huge tires that's been sitting waiting for a motor for two years. 

Drawbacks with the nice older machines is not having auger lever locking with the drive lever, short chutes and slow ft/sec toss output.  You can install another chute, bump the pulley for more RPM and live with without auger lever locking.

You'll be going Lhead to OHV so much wider and the Murray I think will have a side chute crank running to the handlebars which will have to be moved.  You coud scrounge an Ariens 924xxx style chute crank and mount the Murray chute worm.  You could then be run the chute crank rod under the OHV head and other rods up the the dash with universals. 

Whatever you do it would be nice to get some progress reports on what you do and final reports on how it worked out.  That is one wicked big engine. 

I am trying to figure out how to post a picture

[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v483/Rolm/MonsterSnowblower001.jpg[/IMG]

It looks like your second picture did not show up.  The http you enter is has to be exactly correct.  Sometimes download software makes the name tag .jpg, jpeg, JPG or JPEG.  The Abbys server is case sensitive so possibly there's a mismatch.

Thank you for the youtube link I did review a few of his videos very informative. I did not want to do what he did I do not have a shop nor do I weld. I basically wanted a plug and play project. This why I looked for a new body I was lucky to find a 2 year old Murray body unfortunately the engine was gone I would have liked the engine for a reference such as the size of the original pulleys. I wanted  to install the same drive pulley and increase the auger pulley by 25% that will spin the auger faster and throw the snow further and faster. I was also lucky where the original belt cover will fit.

The challenges are 1) find out the original size auger pulley 2) buy a bunch of belts and find the proper size. 3) find a way to install a belt tensioner  for the drive belt, it must have been bolt it on the original engine.  4) Raise the Shute crank by ½”  note it is on top of the engine. 5) test and adjust as required.

I did repower a 24 inch  with a 12 impeller with a 6.5-hp engine the original was a 5-Hp Tec engine and everything was plug and play it took less than 1 hour to complete the job and you would not believe the difference in performance. I think it was the best snowblower for the average size drive-way I regret selling it.

As I indicated on my other post I repowered a 5-hp with a 6.5-hp engine snowblower and all the parts were a perfect fit. The entire project took 1 hour.

Model                               auger, impeller, impeller, engine, impeller output                             

920012 Compact 22LE    11 12  1190 9.5 ft-lbs     3738(1139)
920013 Compact 22E      11 12  1190 Sub SX17   3738(1139)
920014 Compact 24LE    11 12  1190 9.0               3738(1139)
920015 Compact 26LE    11 12  1190 11.5             3738(1139)
921013 Deluxe 30             14 14  1010 14.5 ft-lbs   3702 (1128)
921017 Deluxe 24 Plat    14 14  1010 11.5 ft-lbs    3702 (1128)
921018 Deluxe 30 Plat    14 14  1010 16.5 ft-lbs    3702 (1128)
921019 Deluxe 24           14 14  1010 Sub SX21     3702(1128)
921020 Deluxe 30           14 14  1010 Sub SX30     3702(1128)
921022 Deluxe 28           14 14  1010 11.5 ft-lbs     3702(1128)
921023 Deluxe T28         14 14  1010 11.5 ft-lbs     3702(1128)
923037 Pro                       16 14  1112 14.5ft-lbs      4076 (1242)
932038 Pro                       16 14  1112 15.5 ft-lbs     4076 (1242)
932039 Pro                       16 14  1112 16.5 ft-lbs     4076 (1242)
932040 Pro                       16 14  1112 16.5 ft-lbs     4076(1242)
926104 Pro                       16 14  1112 16.5 ft-lbs     4076(1242)
926105 Pro                       16 14  1112 16.5 ft-lbs     4076(1242)

Here is a picture of the OEM pulley

http://www.torodiscount.com/murray-1501109ma-engine-pulley-2/

Here is the completed Monster SnowBlower, I painted the engine Cowling, Tank, Engine Block, Muffler Cover to give it that nice fresh Look.  As you can see everything looks nice and stock when buying parts the only thing that is not stock are the 2 belts and they are off the self items.

The real challenge was mounting the idler pulley on the drive belt I managed to finish this with scrounged parts I had lying around the garage.  One other item I have to change is the 3” drive pulley I made the mistake thinking the 5/8” would work better vs the ½”

The only item I have to get is the pilot Jet the original is missing and they are back-ordered from Honda till the end of Jan 2011 If anyone out there has a carb from a GX120 to GX390 or a clone Honda I will buy the pilot jet.

All I need is snow here in Toronto it was 50-F the other day. Winter generally starts around Jan 15 in these parts of Canada

Now for the Next Project. It will have to be a Bigger Engine and a Bigger SnowBlower. I have my eye on a  mint  32-Inch John Deer  “How abought  a Twin 20-hp engine”

Huston we have a problem. This has me a bit frustrated. The blower heats the belt to a point where it bakes it and due to the heat the belt shrinks and that is the end of the belt.  The thing that is frustrating is that this blower has an adjusting idler pulley allowing to make a fine adjustment on the belt.  The pulley I am using is ½ inch wide I am wondering if this pulley is to narrow vs an A&B wide pulley. Any suggestions

 One other point eventhough it has the ajustable idler pulley.  I am using  a 1/2" x 38" belt It is just loose enough to work with the 3" x 5/8' auger pulley. I changed  the pulley  to 1/2" x 3"  so I would be consistent with the lower auger pully  now  the 38" belt is to tight and the 39" belt is too loose even with the ideler pulley adjust to max-in.  I re-installed the 5/8 pulley with the 38" belt.  Buttom line if I want to use the 1/2" pulley I will have to find a 38-1/2"  belt. All off the off the shelf belts are sold  in 1" increments. At this point I am hopping the 5/8" pulley will provide a good grip using  the 1/2" belt. Nothing is straight forward. One step at a time I guess.   

I seem to disagree. A "v" belt is supposed to ride on the sides of the belt and at the bottom of the "v" is supposed to be a gap, so when the belt starts to wear and get thin it can still have friction to drive the pulley where as if its riding on the bottom of the V it will start to slip and haet up. By using the 5/8" pulley the belt is sinking lower to the bottom and when that belt starts to strech a bit you will be losing grip and heating up.

 In a previous post you talk about A and B pulley combo pulley. A 1/2' belt is the same as a B belt but a combo pulley will have the wider belt ride on the outer edge and the narrower one lower to the center therefore when you use the combo pulley your belt ends up to long because,the diameter is smaller using less of the belt. You must look for a half inch increment belt or utilize the idler pulley. I can't see why you dont use the 39'' belt and utilize the larger idler pulley to take up the slack.

I did find part numbers for 38.5 " belts if that works we are flying.  

Could you give a bit more detail?  I can't follow what has been placed where?

You have a guard or arm sticking out (mounted where/how) above the idler on the outside/inside of the belt?

Two on the other side of the belt.  On what side, where?  Never saw two on one side of a belt on any machine.  Usually there is no need.  Maybe your hitting a resonance or something. ??

Generally there are a couple fo belt guards on the right and left side fo the auger pulley.  Depending on the machine they can be pretty close and about at the center of the pulley.  Others are away more and down going and inch or two down.  All on the outside of the belt.  The guards I see are always mounted on the engine cover holes (4) usually the top two or right (facing) if one. 

Well I tested the Monster and All I can say this is the best snowblower I have ever used and I have used them all or tested most of them on snow. The best way I can describe this snowblower is like a snow-blaster. The sweet sound of that Honda engine is awesome and a lot of credit has to go to the Murray Body it is a beautiful designed unit. The tires provide excellent traction and it handles like a sports car. My suggestion when buying a snowblower buy the biggest engine you can and stay under 28-inch this is the  best combination.