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

Hello All,

I have a Troy 5524, and while out doing all the neighbors driveways, one decided not to take their paper up from the snow and I hit it.

The machine immediately stopped, I was able to restart it, and it drives fine, but the thrower handle as soon as you engage it, the machine dies.   The paper (and plastic is stuck under the black chute and it appears around a thing that spins (auger?   I've pulled away what I can, but when trying to get the chute off (4 screws I believe) the bottom 2 wont seem to come out, and the top 2 while off the plastic wont budge,  and it's not frozen on there. 

Any ideas how to get the paper off of the thing  (also tried scissors, but it only leaves the really hard to get to stuff)   I can't afford to have it repaired, and don't have a manual which might tell how to disassemble the cute and get to that area without nicking up my hands all over the blades.


I don't think I'm the only one who has ever ran over a paper, but maybe I am   lol. 
I tried to show a few different views.   

1st picture is a close up from the front view where all the paper and plastic is stuck to the top of the thing.
2nd picture is from the top of the chute down into the unit.
3rd picture is a further back view from the front.

Any advice (im a total novice with tools etc.  guess that's why I can't figure out why the screws are loose, but wont come off.

Thank you so much for any help you can offer.

I forgot to add something which I think is funny to this story.

The first time I did this guys house (actually his parents house he's late 30's back living at home again or maybe early 40's.

Anyway he shook my hand and was happy I was doing it, and asked me if I wanted a beer, I told him that I had a machine to fix my back and alcohol interfered with the machine and the chemicals in the machine so I'd pass and he said how about a coke.   Now I'm losing weight, but at that time and place, a coke sounds incredible and I was like ya, that would hit the spot totally.    He comes back and says all we have is diet, here you go.

Man to get in your head you are going to have something and get your mouth watering for it, and then be brought something different, really bites  lol.

Going to go tomorrow and work on it, got down to 3 degrees tonight and even in a heated garage, it was still cold (a breeze coming from under the door  (something rubber needs to be replaced, but I can't figure it out and how to put it on)
Thank you again for all the replies, it does make me happy to think that I can help someone at something. 

Sometimes I feel like I'm the big dog as I go by with my big snowblower and people have this little teeny thing which looks like it would do 6" at a time and you have to go very slow lol.  I tell them to hold on and I'll have it done in a few minutes and they can go in and be with their families,  but maybe they like doing it also.    I just haven't found people who enjoy snow blowing,  maybe if it was a forced job everyday, I might feel different, but as it is now, if it snowed 10 days in a row, 10 days I'd be out doing this,   gotta figure out a way to bring gas with me though.  When I get close to out, I have to walk 1/2 mile back to my house to get gas and then use up 1/2 mile of gas going to the last place I was at and the same amount heading back.     Maybe start off at the furthest house and end up with houses closer to me. 


I wonder all of you who have answered.  If you were out doing people's driveways and such and never even got a thank you when the family was at home, would you keep doing it as you do it to help others and you are still helping by doing it, or is it inappropriate and or selfish to want to have someone out of the lot say thanks, nice job, or anything.     We are on assistance and even the money for gas on the blower is tough for us, but the enjoyment is like my chance to go to the movie or out to dinner (we can't really afford either)    Sometime it would be nice even if they didn't offer any money to say hey can I fill that tank up for you (I think it holds like 1/3 gallon or maybe 1/4 but it's small,  appears to do 5 driveways before needing to be refilled.

Just wondered our opinions.

Take care.

The Diet Coke - That would suck.

The Door Rubber - Those usually just get nailed / screwed to the bottom of the door.  The ones I have seen are always just open the door and put it flat on the bottom.

The Gas - Does your machine have a Tecumseh engine?  The smaller engines come with half gallon tanks and the larger ones come with 1 gallon tanks.  The mounts are the same so you can probably get a used tank off ebay or from someplace local and double the size of the tank provided you have enough room around the handlebars.  If you have a local small engine shop close by they probably have a blown up engine in the back somewhere you might be able to snag one off.  You could probably mount a second tank on the front / back of the engine and tie the two together if need be.  This would be for the old L-Head design.  The OHV engines are a little different and I am not sure if they would be interchangeable without a lot of work.  Your other choice would be to somehow mount a gas can on the handle bars or something.

Thank you Shryp,   hope we get more snow,  the idea about the tank is a great one.

grapeape wrote:
Funny story...Years ago I lived in Pittsburgh and was on an out of town business trip with a co-worker.  The day before we returned Pittsburgh got hit with an 8-10 inch snow storm.  My buddy was excited about the snow because he just bought a new Toro 2 stage after years of using a shovel and couldn't wait to use it for the first time.  We had car-pooled to the airport so I drove him home and as we approached his house he started screaming obscenities.  A well-meaning neighbor had totally cleared his driveway an hour before we got there.  Poor guy looked ready to cry.

grapeape...good luck with the jam.  Most of us have been in your shoes.  A sturdy pick, something like a heavy duty cotter pin puller may be helpful.  And be careful...the spark plug recommendation is important.

grapeape,

For the door rubber, I've seen two types that go n the bottom of a roll up door.

The first one you see usually on the bottom of wooden doors and it's usually just nailed on the bottom with roofing nails, The second is usually found on metal doors and consists of an aluminium track screwed to the bottom of the door and the rubber strip slides into the tracks from the end. The third picture is something you glue to the floor of the garage to supplement whatever you have now.

I just replaced my seal (the second type). The old one had shrunk about 6 inches in length so there was quite a large gap. It slipped out fairly easily but before I tried to put the new one in I sprayed a silicone type lubricant liberally into the track and on the seal. After that the new one slid in without much fuss. I also took a tip from an old timer at the hardware store, and slid a length of 1" foam backer rod into the U shape of the door seal to give it more body and a much better seal.

Cheers

Not to get too far off topic, but #3 above also prevents water (melted snow or rain dripping from the car) from leaving the garage. Not Good.
I have #2 on my steel doors and I have to replace it with #1 because mice and/or chipmunks can and do easily chew through #2.

Hello Everyone,

Just wanted to say thanks so much for all the ideas.
So here is an update.  (we are under a ton of ice now, so Mr. Toro he don't uh work so well)

With the help of a friend we used the following tools
buckets of boiling water
drywall saw
Drill
kitchen knives
hammer
pliers

Tried the water, and just couldn't get it to come free, but it did end up hardening the whole thing up which was good as it became so hard that all the above tools worked.

Used the knife and hit the hammer so the knife went into the blockage and kept moving that around to make mini tunnels.  Drilled holes as best I could to make more tunnels.
The pliers were used by my friend to pull off the loose items, and the drywall saw was used on each side to move in closer.  Periodically we started it up and engaged the blower for like 1/100 of a second to see if any movement.
No movement, this isn't working, then the problem is spotted the hardest piece of all, felt like concrete lower left part of the auger more sawing and knifing into it and wow, a huge chunk breaks free.    We both say its time to try to start and engage it again.   Start it up and engage and BLAUGH..................................  newspaper everywhere.   It's free.

Then the ice storm  lol.

Thank you so much for all of your advice, I didn't have a wrench for the spark plug so it stayed in, but I used all the other ideas.