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

Many of you know I have been throwing the idea around of either selling my Toro 826OXE or having an 11hp from the 1128OXE installed. Anyway I had it up for sale but people wanted to pay like 600 bucks! Mind you I paid nearly 1600 less then 10 months ago!

So with the first reports of snow falling north and west of the city I have the snow blower loaded in my fathers van ready to go to the dealer. Do I just have it serviced and continue to try and sell it (really dont want to invest more $$) or do I have them install the 11HP engine?

The dealer wants 120.00 + any parts to do the service. Now if they swap the shortblock this 120 gets washed away as they need to do an oil change, new plug, adjust belts, etc once they install the new engine block.

What do you think I should do?

samdog wrote:

Last year I came close! Some dumb EFF sanitation plow truck came flying down my block last doing about 45mph with the plow down, this SOB buried me up to my thighs in ice and snow it was like a wave at the beach blind siding you nevermind the blade was about 18" from me! Either he didnt see me or he didnt care either way I thought I was gonna get hit!

On a side note I asked the dealer today about the clarence impeller kit but he never heard of it! Should I order one?

samdog wrote:

I will tell you what, I almost didnt buy the Toro cause of the lack of handwarmers but my neighbors 1028 Craftsman has heated grips and like you mentioned they burn your hands with heavy goves on! Makes your hands sweat like crazy! IMO this feature is made for -20 and below with 40+mph winds!

stresst wrote:
What was the engine running like?  Does it sound funny under no load, when you engage it, or under load wile snow blowing? What does it sound like. You said your blower is 10 months old!  That being is should be under warranty.  If you ran a bunch of stuff in your machine enough to stall the engine then you might have bent something.  With your belt disengaged try turning your impeller.  Check for any binning. I assume your engine is a Briggs Call them with your model # and serial # tell them what it  is running like. They can walk you through the carb adjustments.  There are usually only 2 screws . One for your idle speed and the other for your mixture. For your mixture. Start it up normally and let it warm up. Then tighten the mixture screw by  turning it in until your engine stops running. Unscrew it 1/4 turn and restart your engine.  Now  Listen to your engine  and continue to unscrew the adjustment screw until it smooths out. It should run well at idle and wide open. Replace your belts. It sounds as if they burnt  when you got junk jammed in it.  I would try and get it fixed under warranty. The worst they can do is say No. They can show you the adjustment screws and you can pick up your belts too. As I said  check for anything rubbing ,loose or worn.

borat wrote:

It's amazing how we like to complicate simple things made to do simple jobs.....
How many SS machines are made with lights and hand warmers?  To me, the less there is to a machine that will be working in a difficult environment, the better. 

It's obvious that the MTD handwarmers I've seen are not useful, and are merely marketing ploys (I havn't tested and can't speak to any other manufacturer's grips). 

However the heated seats in my car are excellent. Thet have 5 heat levels, and have been competely reliable going on 7 years now. They are quite enjoyable on a cold winter morning.

It should not be that hard to put  reliable, multi-stage heat elements into snowblower grips. If someone does it right, I would certainly consider it as an option and I imagine so would many others.

Regarding the OP's question:

Considering the number of yard items your machine has eaten, and the investment you already have in it; I would choose to install the larger engine, provided the auger and impeller check out OK. Perhaps you could sell the smaller engine to the shop or some small equipment guy. 

stresst wrote:
I'm surprised he hasn't heard of clarence impeller kit.

It's probably most dealers are not performance shops.  There's a liability issues hot rodding snowblowers.  Who's responsible?  Not worth it for dealers.  They rather deal with 5 regular customers (at $200 a pop)  than 1 hot rodding customer.

Anyways, with all the crazy objects your snowblower has taken in and the plow truck incident, and you're still here and no one got hurt.  Consider yourself lucky.  Count your blessing and BE SAFE !!!

aa335 wrote:

That too.  They also make great targets for passenger side mirrors as well. I replace mine every year up at the EOD. I've had my mailbox batted, run over and plowed over and that's just at this house.

My last house the city plow made a habit of running it over so I asked the post office precisely where I should have it. They came out and showed me exactly where it should go. Then we dug down 10-11 feet with a power auger thing and put in a post that was 3/4" thick steel pipe. Took 4 of us to get it in the hole then we filled the hole and the pipe with concrete and bits of rebar and other assorted metls from the machine shop I work at. Then we welded the mailbox onto the top of the pipe and painted it white. A few months later the city plow guy who liked to knock over all the mailboxes on the street hit it soild doing about 35mph and totalled the plow. I mean the plow was bent like it was origami. Wow was he mad! The city did an investigation and tried to get me to pay to fix the plow but the post office backed me up that the mailbox was in the correct place. I think the frame on the plow truck was also bent.

I moved from there that summer but I'm sure that guy lost his job. Tough, that's what you get when you do stuff like that. This was back around 1984 so it's been awhile. But I'd love to do that here!

aa335 wrote:

Oh God no! That's all they need, another target to aim for! 

I guess I'm lucky that our city plow drivers are courteous and safe.  I live within school zone speed limit so any reckless behavior like mowing down mailboxes will not be tolerated.  The streets are plowed first here because of school bus route. 

aa335 wrote:

Well I suppose nowadays too many people would be worried about losing their jobs doing things like that. Our road is one of the last ones plowed in the city. We are too remote for them to care I guess.

samdog wrote:

I got a call today and was told the impellar/auger is fine and nothing is bent either. My plan was to do the swap then sell my motor but the only direct replacement is a shortblock which means I need to remove my head, carb, fuel tank etc which means I probably couldnt sell my motor. Between this and losing my warranty I am going to wait it out, if I get my price I will let it go and buy what I really want if not I will just keep it for now. In a few short years once the warranty is over then I will proceed with the swap.