Abby’s Guide > Outdoor Power Equipment (Lawn Mowers, Snow Blowers, Chain Saws and more) > Discussions > Toro Barrel Augers
Outdoor Power Equipment (Lawn Mowers, Snow Blowers, Chain Saws and more) Discussions |
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biffr1
Joined: Oct 31, 2010
Points: 3
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Toro Barrel Augers
Original Message Jan 2, 2011 9:41 pm |
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Does anyone know why the Toro company stopped using the barrel auger? and if so why did they start using them, and what was the prupose of that design? todays models do not seem to use them any longer. thanks
This message was modified Jan 2, 2011 by biffr1
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trouts2
Location: Marlboro MA
Joined: Dec 8, 2007
Points: 1328
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Re: Toro Barrel Augers
Reply #2 Jan 3, 2011 8:56 am |
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Good assement Shryp. I'm iffy on the Toro barrels not because I don't like them or had problems though. It's because I don't understand the design. I've used many of the older bulldog Toros and a hand full of the later designs and never had a problem, never had a pin break. The later designs were the smaller tear drop shape and the newer full bucket style. All pretty good with the teardrop type being not as good overall as the old and newer full bucket types. The older Toro's I drove hard into hardpack and was very rough with them forcing them to hangup and stall but never broke a pin. I'd lift the machine way up by the handles forcing it down into piles. Possibly I never broke a pin with them because of the good design. ?? The older machines were excellent diggers and the newer very good also. I could never find a reason to fault the barrel design and as they always performed very well it may have been due to the barrel design. The change may have been due to the amount of metal involved. Lots of meat there and lots of weight to take energy away from the engine. That weight probably helped to keep the bucket down. A few dealers have told me to use regular bolts when replacing pins. I can't remember anyone having a problem related to pins on a Toro i.e. did not break and the gearbox broke. I have seen mangled gearbox gears which may have been because the pin did not break but could also have been to extreme use. ?
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Shryp
Location: Cleveland, OH
Joined: Jul 26, 2010
Points: 532
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Re: Toro Barrel Augers
Reply #3 Jan 3, 2011 9:02 am |
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Here are some pictures of mine. The original Tecumseh was leaking oil pretty bad so I switched out to the Greyhound. I did lose a "shear bolt" and am not sure if it broke or it it vibrated loose. I never found any part of the old one. I pulled the one out of the other side to match up when getting replacements and it was pretty bent. The remaining one was a grade 5 bolt and it now has 2 new grade 5 bolts in it. Some research online indicates that these use normal bolts and not shear bolts. The street plows seem to push a lot of chucks of asphalt into the EOD, so I ended up getting pieces of the street stuck in it many times. I had the belt adjusted slightly loose, so that probably helped save the gears.
This message was modified Jan 3, 2011 by Shryp
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trouts2
Location: Marlboro MA
Joined: Dec 8, 2007
Points: 1328
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Re: Toro Barrel Augers
Reply #4 Jan 3, 2011 9:15 am |
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Nice. Going wide on old Ariens machines sometimes work but on other models the angle change is too much for the holder at the side of the chute. Yours works. Did it just work or did you move the chute holder? Going to that engine must have made a huge improvement. What do you see with the 6.5 OHV? Do you ever have problems with winterization or snow in the carb linkage area? The linkage spring is not the best quality and exposed. The guy up the street bought an Ariens refitted with a HF 6.5. He was leaving it outside uncovered and rust got formed on the spring. The second year I noticed and put grease on it. He now keeps it the garage.
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Shryp
Location: Cleveland, OH
Joined: Jul 26, 2010
Points: 532
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Re: Toro Barrel Augers
Reply #7 Jan 3, 2011 9:34 am |
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I had no problems with the engine winterizing. I am in Cleveland, OH and it isn't terribly cold or wet during the winter. I also keep it in the garage. It was replaced early January of last year because the Tecumseh ran itself out of oil after half a tank of gas. It didn't lock up or throw a rod, it just simply stuttered and died like it ran out of gas. With oil in it again it did run. It didn't seem to run all that great to begin with anyway. It spit black smoke out the exhaust a lot. It was probably just the carb needing some adjustments, but I figured with all the problems it would be cheaper to just toss a $100 engine on it and forget it.
I got the blower for free, so for $100 it was a cheap and easy fix. This year it was downgraded to backup machine so I don't care about the tires. It is actually for sale on craigslist right now, but the only offer I got was from a guy offering $70 through email.
Since I don't plan on keeping it I don't care about the tires. The grip was always good enough, but they did spin a few times when hitting packed down tire tracks.
The 3.5 did bog down and/or stall a few times. I think that was mainly a combination of old, underpowered 3.5HP, poorly adjusted carb...
The 6.5 never even noticed a load on it. I used to be able to take snow the full 17"deep x 21"wide and start pushing it 3 feet in front of the blower because I was going to fast.
I picked up an old Ariens 924xxx series 8/24 last fall for $20 that is my new machine. Then again that one managed to throw a rod on the first real snowfall. Guess that engine was neglected in the past. I decided to go overboard and replace it with the 11 HP Greyhound and it seems great, but we have not had any snow since.
Then for Christmas my grandparents decided to give me their 8.5HP 26"Troy Built that they bought about 3 years ago. They are getting too old and are now just paying someone else to do their snow removal. I think I am going to keep the Ariens though, it seems better. No snow here, so have not had a chance to try them head to head to see how I like them yet. The Troy Built has a locked axle and low chute crank, neither of which I care for. The Ariens will probably need some weight added to the bucket, because the engine now sits a bit further back and is heavier than the old HM80.
Now I have too many blowers, so reason for getting rid of the Toro.
Here is the thread about the Ariens: http://www.abbysguide.com/ope/discussions/52690-0-1.html
I have no pictures of the Troy Built.
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