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

Hello,

This is my first post here.

I recently got a used old Honda HS35 snowblower for $80.

It starts and runs with choke 'closed'. The choke knob is loose, moves around with the vibration.And when I put the choke on 'open' position it most of the time surges (up and down). I added some seafoam and noticed that it helped it stabilize on that day. I started it again today and it still surges when the choke is 'open' during the first few minutes, then stabilizes. Is this normal?  To start the machine the choke needs to be 'closed' or it won't start.

 This is my first snowblower, I have not worked on a snowblower before.

Auger's rubber parts are not new, the previous owner said he replaced them 3 years ago.It looks like rubber parts are worn by about half an inch maybe.Because I can see where the tip of the rubber was at one point by looking at the very thin end of the rubber.

Scraper bar is not rubber, it looks like it is made from harder plastic and the edges have 3-5 indents froms scraping. Do I have to replace these this year or will they work for now?

Is the price I paid fair for the machine I described above? Is it too much?

Thanks.

I wish you had a tachometer on your HS35 so I know what to expect on my HS35.  I am sure there are other HS35 owners here with tachometers on their blowers and wish they chime in. 

If the RPM is too low, the blower will not work too well provided that you have good auger rubbers and scrapper.  I specifically bought this blower for cleaning my pond and the deck.  I almost sunk my blower in the pond last year.

That would not have been really funny for me. 

MN_Runner wrote:

How do you connect the tachometer and where did you get it from, MN_Runner?  Is the RPM gauge reliable?Is it possible that it is not showing RPM lower than it really is?

Did you get the new spring?If it works in increasing the RPM to normal level I might get one as well.

Who else has Honda HS35?

Would not it be more dangerous if the snowblower is as heavy as HS35, on the pond?

HS35 is lighter than my HS928.  I almost sunk it last year when I went over the pond when the ice was not thick enough. 

I would buy tachometer from Norther Tools: http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_524744_524744?cm_mmc=Google-pla-_-Engines-_-Small%20Engine%20Accessories-_-160590&ci_sku=160590&ci_gpa=pla&ci_kw={keyword}

MN_Runner wrote:

How do you connect it to snow blower?

Is your tachometer like this?: http://www.amazon.com/Digital-Photo-Laser-Tachometer-Contact/dp/B001N4QY66/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1321906276&sr=8-4

If not, would something like this work?

I have never used this toy.  I think you have to tape someting (reflective part) on the rotating part and have the laser read it.  I am not too sure about the operation. 

You might be able to make an optical one work, somehow. But it would be a pain, I think. You'd need to get access to the crankshaft and put something reflective on it. Then leave that exposed (potentially dangerous, or likely not practical while also using the machine) any time you want to take a measurement.

The kind at the Northern Tool link are quite simple, you just wrap a wire around the spark plug wire, and it senses (via induction) when the spark plug fires. If the plug wire is exposed, you don't even have to install it permanently. Just wrap the tachometer wire around spark plug wire, and ground its other wire to the machine's frame.

RedOctobyr wrote:

Thanks for the explanation RedOctobyr.

Now I am the only one with a 30 year old snow blower.It was really a PITA to put some of the paddles.I damaged some parts around the collar.I gave a bath to the rubber in soapy hot water etc.Did not work.I have a couple of holes to match on bigger paddles and then the smaller ones.

blumonster,

You are a proud owner of 30 year old state-of-the-art snowblower.  I can vision myself sinking a ton of money on this machine so I quit before I lost more.  I thought about dropping GX160 but the height (base to shaft) was just too tall.

I have a concrete driveway, which is part of my development area code, so the rubbers would have wore out quickly and I have no desire to put those rubbers on again.  Look at the bright side, at least you have HS621 which is still being made today.

I have the early version HS35 (purchased 1982) snow blower that uses the discontinued 06761-730-000 Scraper kit or the 76215-730-000 "rubber shield", both of which are discontinued and very difficult if near impossible to find.  My rubber shield had cracked allowing snow to kick back (more or less at your feet).  Since the part is discontinued I decided to make my own part.  I ordered from a company named Zoro (www.zoro.com) product number G0805043.  This will get you a 3/16 inch thick piece of rubber (durometer 90 meaning hardness) that measures 6 x 36 inches for about $15.  My original piece measured 2-1/2 inches wide x 19-9/16 long.  You can get two pieces out of the replacement piece of rubber even if you do as I did and made the replacement 2-5/8 inch wide to allow for some wear.  Use a 3/8 drill to drill the needed (4) holes and make sure you insert the metal spacers into the holes.  They should be snug.

This worked like a charm.  Hopefully I can get a few more years old of the snow blower which runs beautifully in spite of it being 33 years old!

I guess it's a good thing that scraper is only a flat piece of rubber with holes.  Even though it is obsoleted, a duplicate one can be made easily.  If it was extruded or molded plastic, that would be a lot more difficult to duplicate the profile.