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

I posted this last year but I didnt get answer. I have a Toro 826OXE with a 250cc engine but I want to install either the 305cc from the 1028OXE or even the 342cc from the 1128OXE. Does anyone know if this is a direct swap? What pulley's and belts I would need?

Thanks in advance!

I just emailed small engine warehouse, wise sales, and Toro. Hopefully one of them can help me out. IMO if i can install a 305cc or 342cc engine on my bucket this would be the best of both worlds. I have a feeling this is pretty straight forward.

I hate to inform you but the bigger engines are bigger in height and stroke. Your bore and stroke is 2.97 bore and 2.2 stroke . The 305 is 3.12 bore and 2.44 inch stroke.
 I do not know the base size or the shaft length. of your engine. You CAN mount the engine of your dreams but it will NOT be a direct fit. Remember though the only difference in your engines power and the 305 is 1.3 HP and .5 lb torque.  It is Not that much to  really  notice. The formula is engine torque x 3600rpm / 5252= HP. Check your 250 engines rpm.  You should be making 8 hp like mine  .  The more rpm you have the more hp you get. I have a 8 HP Techumseh for my home snow blower . The only difference in my 8 hp and a 10 hp is engine speed.  From the factory. Mine was set low less than 3600 to give me 8 hp- I bought a tach and set it to 3600 rpm. Now i blow like a 10 hp. Check your Impeller clearances too. The closer your impeller is to your housing the better you will blow. My Ariens Snow blower had a 1/4 inch space.  i used Clarances impeller kit to improve my clearances $30.00  for that and an hour or two  and you are ready, with the kit installed I blow like a 12 HP beast. Unless you are having engine problems , I would leave the engine alone. Change your oil and give it a  real tune up.   Now I can blow 40 feet  of heavy  wet snow  and 60 feet fluffy snow and my blower is 15 years old. Check out u tube if your heart is set on engine swaps. You can get some ideas but it is never a direct fit.
     Personally I would  give your baby some love as mentioned above as well as check / replace your belts,  it is  much less trouble and the performance you get you will think you did change you engine. Remember though when you set   your engine speed  DO NOT SET IT OVER  3600 rpm. That is all it can stand and was designed for. There are other tricks with pulley sizes too. 

All of the engines you listed should have a 1" crankshaft so your stock pulleys should work.  You will need the dimensions of your engine as well as the ones you plan on using as replacements.  The most import factor you need to determine is the base mounting spacing and I suspect this will not be a problem. Next is the crank center line to base measurement. if both are the same you should be able to just swap in a new engine.  If the new engine has a higher centerline you may need to modify the belt cover and replace the belt with a longer one.  If the difference is slight you should not have any problem. 

If I were you I would look at one of the Harbor Freight 11 or 13hp engines as replacements. Going to the 10 hp engine would just be a waste of money with little gain.

I would agree with carlb.  If your going to do a swap I would go larger than a 10hp.  With a 26" bucket an 11hp would probably be my choice.  I think a 13hp might be over kill on a 26" blower.
And going that much larger could really put a strain on other components.  So your blowers over construction would have to be pretty beefy.
If you go with an 11 or a 13 you will have issues to deal with.  The block will be larger so the base plate bolt holes will have different spacing. The vertical center line. as was mentioned
will be higher so you will probably have belt cover clearance issues.  Depending on what size the crank is on your 8hp.  An 11hp will have a 1" crank so you might have to buy different puleys.

If you do a search you can find drawings of the engine base bolt patterns with dimensions.  Having that information will let you know up front if your going to have any real problems
 just getting the engine mounted.  I know when I went from a 10hp tec. to an 11hp Honda clone.  The engine had to be moved back almost an inch or more. There are always ways
to get an engine mounted.  Some swaps are just more involved than others.

Also, as bus708 commented.  Reducing the impeller blade tip to housing clearance will give you a big improvement. More than you can imagine!

I got a response from "MowersandBlowers" (online shop) whom as well as the dealer state its a direct bolt in, same pulleys and belts. I am having a hard time believing this after seeing an exploded parts list on Toro.com. It is the same belt but it shows differant p/n for the pulley. I think I am going to let the Toro dealer install the 11hp engine, if I try it to save a few bucks im gonna wind up having a blower that I cannot put back together. I dont mind buying a some crap (pulleys, belts, etc) but it has to look stock with all covers remaing intact.

What do you think as far as being a "direct bolt" in?

Well , if you desided to have the dealer do it for you i'm sure he can order every thing he needs to make it look stock for you. Ask him about installing a Impeller modification kit for you to increase your blowers efficiency. Clarance's Impeller kit is a good investment, it goes for $30.00. Let us know how you make out when done.

bus708 wrote:

I just dont want to open a can of worms and either have a 1200 dollar bill or get hit with the first storm and the dealer is unable to put the thing back together!

Why don't you just have your dealer give it a good tune up for you?  That is a great machine if running well. They can check your belts and everything. Checking your belts are VERY IMPORTANT . I don't care what size engine you have. If your belts are slipping it will not blow snow well or at all. Have the dealer really go over your machine.  You will save a lot of money.  Your dealer might charge you $600 - 700 for an engine swap. Or get it tuned up  oil changed and your belts replaced for  $100-150 or less. My snow blower puts out as much power as yours and i have gone through 25 inches of snow

Ok I installed a Honda GX390 on a Murray 27" snow blower that was powered by a B&S 305cc. The swap turned out to be a horror story, 1st the shaft on the Honda was 1-inch also the engine at the shaft was 1-inch higher.  The base holes would  not line-up I needed  to push the engine back at least 1-inch because of the length of the shaft. The other real challange was to find  a pully that was 1.5-inch with a 1-inch center I was lucky I had a Lawnmower pully from a self propelled mower that I modified. Button line I spent at least 30 to 40 hours setting the sucker-up. All I can say it was an awsome SnowBlower when finised. Now that I know how I bet I could do the job in a few hours. If you are using  and engine that will bolt-up with the same size shaft it will be a plug and play less then 1-hour.  I will post a few pics of the onster powered snow Blower 

See picture

bus708 wrote:

I hear ya 100%! We had that 27" blizzard the day after x-mas and it was really good compared to some of my neighbors larger units whom were pretty much useless. I just want more!

The main reasons for this is due to 2 things. One EOD mountains and the second is when I clear my driveway (houses on both sides) I blow it straight into the street. Once I get out to the street to clear/move what I just dumped there the blower really strugles "recycling" the snow. I can blow 18" of fresh snow 3 times faster then 12" of recycled snow. I have no idea why but at times the motor REALLY struggles, the light dims, etc. I forget what speed I was at but IMO I should not have to be in 1st to move this. (hope what I just said made sense )

When you are going through a large amounts of show you MUST go slow. Remember  your auger is feeding your impeller . The impeller must get rid of the snow the auger feeds it.  If you feed the auger  to fast by going fast the auger cant keep up . That is why you bog down.  You must go in the lowest gear in high snow. In lighter  snow  you can go faster.   Can you take a small  size shovel full of snow and throw it ? Sure you can. Now take a regular size shovel and throw it. Getting harder >now take a full size snow shovel with 20 inches of snow on it and throw it> now go faster can you do it?  Neither can your snow blower until you slow down. End of day snow is the heaviest to throw. If you get at it wile it is fresh it will blow much better because it is light.

stresst wrote:
You should utilize the 1st gear when the snow is high and heavy.  Listen to your machine, if it's bogging down and lights are dimming, you're overdriving the machine, doesn't matter how many horsepower you have, the engine is operating outside of its power band.

Have you ever thought the problem you have is not related to the snowblower, but the house sitatuion?  Throwing recycled compacted snow is tough on any snowblower.  So more power will get you another 5 feet of throwing distance, if even optimistically that.  I have trouble throwing fresh snow consistently across the street with a 11 hp.  There's factors like snow density, wind, ect..

At the end of the day, with a more powerful engine or snowblower, you sitll have to deal with that recycled snow, only now it's 5 feet further than what you had before.

Sorry to bring it up, but I think it will be more effective trying to keep your current machine in top operating condition, fine tune your technique and figure out your snow clearing pattern to minimize throwing recycled snow.  It's not everyday you need to tackle 27" of snow.

Or you can throw money at it an see what happens.  It's only money and may cure your thirst for power.  That Ariens Pro 28 is only $2000, ready to go without experimenting with engines, pulleys, ect...

People want the biggest and most powerful, until there's money involved, then they evaluate it more carefully.

To put it another way, I'm sure you have done your homework prior to purchasing the your existing 826OXE, based on various factors and situation.  It's the best decision you made at the time, and you had the option to get the bigger 1128OXE, for about $800 more.  Was that extra power worth $800 to you then?  How much does it worth now?

2nd try posting photos

You should utilize the 1st gear when the snow is high and heavy.  Listen to your machine, if it's bogging down and lights are dimming, you're overdriving the machine, doesn't matter how many horsepower you have, the engine is operating outside of its power band.

Have you ever thought the problem you have is not related to the snowblower, but the house sitatuion?  Throwing recycled compacted snow is tough on any snowblower.  So more power will get you another 5 feet of throwing distance, if even optimistically that.  I have trouble throwing fresh snow consistently across the street with a 11 hp.  There's factors like snow density, wind, ect..

At the end of the day, with a more powerful engine or snowblower, you sitll have to deal with that recycled snow, only now it's 5 feet further than what you had before.

Sorry to bring it up, but I think it will be more effective trying to keep your current machine in top operating condition, fine tune your technique and figure out your snow clearing pattern to minimize throwing recycled snow.  It's not everyday you need to tackle 27" of snow.

Or you can throw money at it an see what happens.  It's only money and may cure your thirst for power.  That Ariens Pro 28 is only $2000, ready to go without experimenting with engines, pulleys, ect...

People want the biggest and most powerful, until there's money involved, then they evaluate it more carefully.

To put it another way, I'm sure you have done your homework prior to purchasing the your existing 826OXE, based on various factors and situation.  It's the best decision you made at the time, and you had the option to get the bigger 1128OXE, for about $800 more.  Was that extra power worth $800 to you then?  How much does it worth now?

Very informative reponse! I don't know where to begin in response to your post......many valid points but I really want more. I have my blower on Clist for a few weeks already but imo its too early. I thought about the Ariens Pro 28 as well as the 1128OXE. IMO its much better to sell and start over. My issue is I have to sell before I buy a new one, but I dont want to get stuck w/o a blower as they seem to go very fast!

I did a ton of homework before purchasing my Toro, to be honest I only wanted to spend 800-900. I wound up spending upwards of 1600$$ between tax, delivery, cover, etc. I really thought this would be more then enough if not I mite have went a differant route.....

This swap should be very simple and easy as it appears the engines have the same mounting hole spacing on the base and the same shaft size and center line height.  That being said I have done many engine swaps and in the case of a "drop in engine" swap it normally only takes about a hour or so to do.   If you have some mechanical skills i would not be afraid of this swap.

You can buy an 11hp engine at a pretty good price.  I just repowered a old 8/26 Cub Cadet with an 11hp Honda Clone and it was a very easy swap.  The belts, pulleys, and mounting were all fine and I didn't need to change anything.

You can find 11hp clones for as little as 249.00 dollars with 12volt electric start.

I suspect the dealer will charge you 600 to 800 dollars or more to do this swap.

Carl

stresst wrote:

Have you thought about having both snowblower if space and finance allows?  You can still keep your 826OXe on craigslist while evaluating the new one.  If the winter is a bad one, you wouldn't have trouble selling either one.  Someone's going to be desperate for a snowblower.