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

So I had a fun season with this JD 1028 I picked up last October. I have a busy few months ahead so I have to put this thing away while I have the chance. I ran the machine until it ran out of gas and changed the oil. Since this was only it's first season is there anything else I should do before I put the cover on it? It probably had about 20 hours of use.

I typically fill the gas tank to the full level and don't worry about it.  I had no issues starting the snowblower and lawnmower when in season.  I do not use any gas stabilizer and change oil after the first .  My old Honda lawnmower and MTD gave me no trouble with this method and the new Honda lawnmower is no different.  I am going to do the same for my Honda snowblower in Apr.

To all of the previous comments. I would only ad that it isn't a bad idea after washing all of the salt and dirt off the blower.  To let it dry and give a light coat of WD40 to all and any bolts, cables, handle joints and pivot points, adjustment rods, axle pins, chute crank rods and gears and anything else that moves or is bare steel. It will take about 5 minutes but it's worth the time. 

I actually use a penetrating oil instead of WD40 which lubricates things.  But will also over the course of the summer soften up and almost dissolve any rust that is present.  That way come next fall when you get the urge to start getting the blower ready for winter.  It's easy to get things apart any everything moves freely.
I also then then wrap the blower in bath towels and place in a large plastic zip lock bag. Just kidding!

A big YES to what jrtrebor just said. Hit everything that doesn't have perfect paint over it - scratches, bolts, any bare metal - with oil to stop the rust over the summer. I don't use WD40 either, I find it dries out too quickly. I like Break-free CLP. Don't forget your cables, too.

Hey gang,

I've been one to drain out the tanks in my machine.  However, I'm thinking of just filling up the tank all the way and adding some stabil.  A few questions though.

For those of you who always put Sta-bil in your gas, how much do you need to put in?

When storing the unit for the summer, how much should you put in, or are you all set if your gas already has been premixed with Stabil.

I'm assuming I cannot add any stabil to my gas/oil mix for any of the 2 cycle engines I have, yes?  For example, I run my Stihl BR600 backpack blower with a mix of gas and 2 cycle Stihl ultra which has stabilizer in it.  I'm assuming I don't have to do anything with that, yes?  I always use the Stihl Ultra 2 in all of my 2 cycle engines, so I think they should be okay with the built in stabilizer, yes?

Thanks for your help!

midfi

Your normal Stabill premix is fine, Just follow the directions on bottle- Then run your engine for 5-10 min to make sure it is in your carb and jets

Lots of good advice.

I'm in the carb draining club, or if it doesn't have a drain, I remove the bowl and wipe it clean.

Ounce of oil in the cylinder and close the valves also very important.

  Yesterday, I put my Craftsman 52993 snow blower    ( pictures under the heading  "my snowblower picture "  Mar31, 2011)   in the barn for summer storage.  Outside on  the driveway, .I washed off the auger and impeller casings with the garden hose and let it dry in the sun.  I used a car paste wax on all the painted surfaces, I got a spray can of light oil  at Canadian Tire  and sprayed the inside of the auger and impeller casings , including the auger and impeller .all the bare metal control rods and the skid plates.

I filled it up with gas and put  10ml  of  Sta-bil in the gas tank,  I run it for about 10 minutes , then changed the oil, It only had a few hours  on it,  ( I had changed it the first time  when it had 5 hours on it., )Again I  used Mobil 1  5/30 , I lightly lubed the  discharge  and the deflector drive control levers, .the hydro lever and the drive speed and traction drive control levers  Checked the heated grips . I started it up again and drove it up the ramp into the barn. Then I removed  the sparkplug  and put just  a few drops of the same motor oil in the sparkplug hole , pulled it over a few times and put the sparkplug back in . then I put on the  breathable snow blower cover .    Did I forget anything?