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.

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.