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

   Yep, an all beef Yamaha 828 track.  It came wounded with a bad drive system and no governor or throttle (bunge gords only to keep it going).  When it did drive it would not stop when the clutch was released.   Ten minutes to fix the drive and an hour to fix the governor and throttle.  The engine tests out at the peak of it's spec'd value.  The muffler was all rusted and that had to come off to get at the governor so it got wire brushed, sanded and painted. 

   The starter does not work.  I'm hoping it's something minor as the replacement is $800.  It fires right up with the rope so no rush on getting to the starter.  On the initial go through I can't find any problems so it's ready to challange the Honda 1132 and 828. 

   The Yamaha tracks are pretty nice to use.  Easy enough to turn and they have a neutral which allows the machine to be pushed around when not running as easily as a wheeled machine.   It's got four bucket positions and two reverse speeds that very nice with the 2 being very fast.  

    All in all a great machine and will for now take the place of my hearts desire - a Honda 928.

Nicely done Trouts. 

How is the impeller/housing for wear?  Are the clearance tolerances sufficiently close to throw snow as well as your Honda(s)?

 

trouts: Was that one listed on CL in Watertown for $400.00?

That is a beauty!  You've got all kinds of blower for sale up where you live.  I wish!!
By the way the transmission problem with the Snapper 1030 I bought.  Was a gear mesh problem caused by a worn out, non existent left hand axle bushing.
Even the bushing hole was enlarged a bit on top.  

Borat: “How is the impeller/housing for wear?  Are the clearance tolerances sufficiently close to throw snow as well as your Honda(s)?”

 

    The housing is solid. The crummy looks white crud is actually grey metal or white leftover Navel Jell leaves when it’s done working.  That white film can last up to 6 months if not removed which is tough to do at times.  I usually leave it on my own machines as it’s great protection.  NASA also came to the same conclusion in a paper I found.  They use Navel Jell as a rust remover but also for it’s lasting protection over other removers they tried.  The use was on their super sonic wind tunnel.

 

   The clearances are close and the YSxxx machines from the late 80’s and early 90’s are super tossers.  The engines are generally set from 3850 to 4000 and auger and impellers higher than US machines.  All the YS parts are on roller bearings. 

 

    I did over a YS624 this year, rebuilt the engine and had to sleeve the impeller area.  On that one I was going to have the local dealer weld on extension tips to the impeller arms.  It turned out the distance gain in feet per second was so slight I did not have it done.  So a Clarances mod on these machines would not do much. 

   I did over a Honda 828 the year before.  It was a great tosser.  It’s the one I used in the side by side tests last year.  A few days after a big storm last year I watched the cemetery guy next doot clearing a road with their HS828. The distance was phenomenal and seemed like mine would not do that.  A few days later they were still clearing (they do a few miles with theirs) and the machine crapped out.  He brought it over to fix so I got to try it out after the repair with mine side by side in the back yard.  Their machine out did mine.  After chewing on that for a while I believe the reason for the difference is the sleeve insert in mine along with the impeller area being slightly out of round especially in the leg just before the chute exit was the reason for the under performance.  My engine is excellent. 

    Because of the above I picked up another Honda bucket which I’m in the middle of swapping over.  The clearance on a healthy Honda is about ¼ inch and the same for the YS828.  Not much room for improvement. 

 

FrankMA:  “trouts: Was that one listed on CL in Watertown for $400.00?”

 

   No, the pictures are dark but it looks pretty good.  Too pricey for me.  The most I’ve ever paid for a YS was $150 but they usually have problems and the owners wanting to dump them. 

 

Jrtrebor: You've got all kinds of blower for sale up where you live.

 

   Yep, around the Boston area there are lots of machines with problems people are looking to dump.  Two years ago I picked up a Snapper 1030 commercial for $30 and a Snapper 8260 for $30.  I put a few hundred into the 1030 and a fair portion of that was putting in new parts which were not essential.  They were put in just because I was doing it over (paint) and had everything apart.  The 8260 was covered in rust and looked horrible but the tractor internals still had all it’s glossy red paint and looked new.   The 8260 had its original very old Briggs engine but had lots of compression.  All the mechanics were fine and the only fixup on that one was a carb cleaning.  On fireup it sounded like an old farm tractor but tossed as well as can be expected for an older design. I sold it and expect the guy can get 10 years out of it.

 

   Around here if you bring a machine in for non-starting your looking at $150 to $200 with $60 for pickup and deliver.

 

Ran across these two not far from you.

Two Blowers for sale

This would be a good price around here.

My old lady roped me into getting a snowblower for her girlfriend, and there are a few of these for sale in Alaska and I am interested in picking one up. My only question is how they start in cold weather (around 10-15 sometimes). I know a Honda will start like a champ at that temp. Have you had any experience or heard about anyone starting the Yamaha 828 when it is that cold?

   Yamaha’s (the80’s-90’s machines) have a fuel pump that seems fairly sluggish, even new replacements.  It takes a few pulls to get the fuel up for a start.   There have been a few that fired up on first pull but generally it takes a 2-3 pulls to get them going. 

 

   It’s a little easier to start with a couple of easy false pulls to go through a few compression strokes then a full pull with choke for a start.

 

   The compression release requires a decent tug, higher than a Honda.  They’re more like pulling a Tecumseh.8hp. 

 

   Never had a problem in cold weather around Boston.

 

   If you did have problems, you could make things easy by drilling a small hole in the heaterbox cover just big enough for a carb cleaner straw.  That would get the shot directly into the throat.  A small hole would be a good addition to any machine.