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

Well, I found some great info from a guy on here so I thought I'd post up my initial thoughts on this snowblower I purchased last week. I really didn't want to purchase a snowblower that cost this much but I have a 900ft stone driveway and did not want to buy a plow. I paid 3100.00 for the snowblower and picked up the optional side skid kit which I have not installed yet. If you decide to purchase one, make sure you drain the oil after you get it. I found out that the dealership that I purchased mine from added 10w40 oil instead of the reccomended 5w30 because this is what they had by the drum. I picked up some cheap 5w30 and swapped it out and it looked like it needed it, there were already break-in metal flakes all throught the oil. I'll change it again after the first hour of run time and then again over to synthetic once I get some time on the motor.

The augers and shafts need to come apart as soon as the machine arrives. I found less than a dab of grease on the shafts and splines. The bearing caps can be packed with grease as well. I used bell ray waterproof grease. After running it a little bit, I was not happy with the dim output of the headlight. I'm upgrading to this as soon as it's in stock. http://www.v-leds.com/Exterior-LED-Bulbs/DRLFOG-LED/Universal/27W-9-LED-SPOT-AUX-WORK-p9622351.html#ReviewsTabAnchor

It puts out 1600lm and uses about the same amp draw as the stock halogen. I also ordered a cheap hour meter from ebay that should fit the bill.  I'll post up some picts later on.

Mike

Do you think your engine is damaged forever since the dealer added 10W40 in lieu of 5W30?  Are you getting any light for your behind so you don't get rear ended?

Congratulations on your new Honda. I have the HS1132TAS going on its third year. Awesome machine though expensive. What's the benefit of doing all of these things? Is it any better than Slick 50 and Sea Foaming?

MN_Runner wrote:

No, the engine was not damaged. It was run less than 3min max and right now in Pa it's in the mid 50's. If the engine was started for the first time in sub zero temps I might be a little worried. Not sure what you mean when you say light for behind?

I own the HS 928TAS machine and use Amsoil 100% synthetic 4 cycle 0-W40 oil in it.  I too changed the oil after just a few hours, the metal wear particles are normal in any engine that new, so don't be alarmed by them, they will have no negative impact on the life of the engine. My machine has no auger shaft to be greased at all, the machine you have must be made differently than the 928 model.  I purchased the service manual for the machine, it is the same one your machine uses, and it has both snowblowers in it.   Use Stainless steel bolts, washers and lock nuts instead of the rust fast impossible to remove plain steel ones that Honda gives you for the Heavy Duty skid shoes.  After you drill the necessary mounting holes in the hood, put a little synthetic caulk into the hole so when the bolt goes in the bare exposed metal from the drilling is coated against moisture to retard rust.  I also used SS bolts for the light mount kit, your machine comes with a light, mine sold it as an accessory.  I upgraded mine to an LED unit. These are great machines mine is one season old, I love it.  Good Luck with yours.  FYI, to get the oil out of the engine, and not all over the tracks, I cut a small piece of PVC pipe to let the oil flow from the drain hole on the side of the engine into a drain pan out past the tracks.  It works well, and costs next to nothing.

aa335 wrote:

Well, my previous snowblower was a Honda HS55 from the mid 80's. Here is the deal with the augers. If you break a shear pin and the auger spins enough it could cause enough friction to "weld" the auger to the shaft. Tolarances are pretty tight from honda. Also when water and time get into the shafts, they can rust and cause it to bond with the auger making it impossable to seperate. This is what happen to my Hs55. I had to use a torch to cut off the auger to free it from the shaft. Honda doesn't put grease fittings on the auger from the factory so this is worth the investment of time in my opinion.

New_Yorker wrote:
Thanks Newyorker. I want to thank you personally for all the great info you posted up on this site. Finding any info at all on these blowers is hard to come by. Amsoil is great stuff. I run it in my trucks auto trans and noticed a 10 degree drop just from the switch. I'll be running Mobil one high mileage as soon as I have some time on it. Tomorrow I'm going to try putting the skid shoes on per your instructions in anouther thread. Any advice for running on a stone driveway as far as height goes??

MIkecr250 wrote:
I'm not familiar with the HS55, never seen it in person.  Sounds like what you are describing is the same construction for all current snowblowers, except the  newer Honda HSxxx and the new Yamahas.

The newer Honda with model names HSxxx are different.  I would suggest you look at the how the shear bolts are attached to the carrier block.  Internally to the auger tube, there is a short length of shaft, but it doesn't go all the way to the other end of the bucket side plates, very little shaft surface area for it to accidentally weld on.  When the shear bolt breaks, it doesn't fall into any tubes, but out to the ground.  You can grease it if you like, but offers no additional benefits.  What I do twice in the spring and fall is to take out the shear bolts, spin the auger and feel for any resistance.  It should spin nicely without much drag, no corrosion.  That's all there is to it.

MIkecr250 wrote:
If you have a light in the back people can see you.  When I bike in the winter time, having light in the rear is just as important as having one in the front.  If the front light is for a safety reason then having one in the back is just as important.

aa335 wrote:

Struggling with the picture hosting or linking on this site...=(

MIkecr250 wrote:
Highly dependent on the browsers that you use.  Safari on mac doesn't play nice.  Firefox works better.

Firefox worked thanks.  Anyway you can see the shaft ends in the pict I posted. These were assembled dry from the factory.

Mike, welcome aboard.  I have not done what you are doing to your new HS1332 on my HS928.  If you don't mind, can you please post more pictures on the steps related to greasing the auger shaft.

MIkecr250 wrote:
Yes, the shaft doesn't go all the way through the auger.  Isn't the shaft diameter stepped down so that it doesn't actually touch the auger tube?

Is the HS55 the same design?

MIkecr250 wrote:
Well your the first person that understands what can happen.   To the stub shafts that go into the auger tubes if and when they go dry, and they will.  Honda in my opinion should at least suggest that the shaft / tube connection be checked for grease at some point.  You have to have had that joint apart to appreciate how tight the tolerances are.  I bought a very well used and somewhat abused 928 that had a snapped the gear box shaft.
Because of the exact situation that developed when the dry shaft was allowed to spin in the tube when a shear bolt broke.  The auger welded (galled) itself to the gear box shaft.  And the next time something was hit or got picked up the shaft snapped. All the stress, strain and pressure is on the short piece of shaft.  It's not spread out like it is when the shaft runs the entire length of the auger tube.
It's not a bad or faulty design.  The fault is with Honda not making that area a maintenance concern.  Granted it only becomes a concern under heavy usage and or the age of the machine.
But the issue and concern is valid.

Galling - Definition:  A condition whereby excessive friction results in localized welding with subsequent splitting and a further roughening of rubbing surfaces of one or both of two mating parts.
Galling can occur even at relatively low loads and velocities

aa335 wrote:

No, the shaft is not stepped down, in fact it fits pretty snug. I packed the hollow shafts with grease and will eventually add grease fittings to them when I get time. I dont have pictures of it, but the second stage blower comes off a splined shaft that also had no grease on it but a dab. I've seen it before, these things develop a very little bit of rust and then they are never coming off. I'd rather grease it. I've also read that grease give a degree of impact absorbtion if you hit somthing like I will likely do with my gravel driveway.

That's the first time I've seen a picture of the shafts as they come from the factory.  For me it's had to believe that there is little to no grease showing on those shafts.
Don't know what they are thinking?  And I know that there is an O ring to keep out water so they say, but come on. Every time the auger tube slides even just a little it's going to move the O ring.
Water doesn't need much of a space to get in places you don't want it to be.

@Mikecr250 and Jrtrebor,

Thanks for the information.  I will take the auger and impeller apart this Spring to check on the condition of those shafts and put a light coating of grease on them.  My HS1132 gets very low hours each winter since the Toro and Honda SS does most of the snow duty.  That's why I'm not overly concerned with the welding of the auger.

aa335 wrote:
My driveway has both gravel and pavement, I set the skid shoes about 1/2 inch off the ground, and that works OK for both.   Go on www.hondapowerequipment.com and look at the new 8000 dollar Honda HS 1336 iAS Hybrid Snowblower.  I'd love to see it in action.

New_Yorker wrote:

Are you setting both skids 1/2 off and at what position high mid or low? Also where did you place the scraper bar placement?

MIkecr250 wrote:
No need to touch the scraper bar on a brand new machine.  Just check to make sure that it is level left to right by looking where it is mounted on the slot.  If you really want to be technical and precisely to Honda specifications, check the manual to reset the scraper relative to auger height off the ground.

Always make the settings with the bucket in the middle position.

Nice. I almost got one of these for $500. My boss who knows nothing about blowers was selling stuff from his father's estate. He asked me if I wanted It. He thought it was a Sears model and I passed. I later bought an ATV from him that was an awesome deal and saw blower in a picture. My jaw dropped and too late. It was only a few years old with little use.

MIkecr250 wrote:
I set the foot pedal at its middle location so I can then use it to go up or down.  The scraper bar 1/4 inch above the grade once the skid shoes have been adjusted.  It will depend upon how even or uneven the ground you cover may be.  I tend to allow more space under the bar rather than have any chance of lifting dirt or gravel into the impeller.  These settings are best cutomized to fit the place you're in.  If the driveway is flat smooth and paved it makes it easy, mine is both paved and unpaved, so I allow more room for error.
  . 

Mikecr250 How did you end up mounting the skid shoe kit? I picked up the Honda kit and it says not to use the nut bosses that are already welded into the sides of the auger housing. The directions say to drill new holes into the housing. Would hate to have to drill out a new snowblower. Figured I could just use the existing bosses, but I'm guessing Honda wants you to drill new holes for more strength. Curious as to what you did? Thanks

a312 wrote:
Honda provides a scab plate that you'll use after drilling new holes into the bottom of the bucket. I added the side mount skid shoes on my old HS624WA that had the original behind the bucket skid shoes that tended to wear out way too quickly. Get yourself the commercial side mount skid shoes as they tend to last several years as compared to 1 year for the standard skid shoes. Once you see the commercial side mount skid shoes you'll understand why they last so much longer.

a312 wrote:
I mounted mine using the existing holes in the front. The 1332 states that you can mount the rear shoes on the front using these hole so there really is no difference between those and the commercial shoes. If I had to do it all over again I would have just purchased a set of the rear shoes for the front and ran them both. The impeller housing on the 1332 was changed and is stronger than the 1132 on the sides.

From my experience running both side and rear skids in contact with the pavement has too much friction.  It will be harder to turn and the bucket gets moved around too much when going across cracks and joints.  It is especially worse if you set the scraper bar real close to the ground, not enough snow to keep the rear skids gliding smoothly on.   I'm only using the side skids now.

I do like the new model skid setup though.  It uses the same side skids that is mounted to the back  of the bucket with some metal plate extension.  Seems like the same design that the Yamaha have been using.

Finally got some snow overnight and got the chance to try out my brand new 928TAS.  Machine worked well, but I kept having to fight with it to keep it going straight.  I have the height adjustment set to scraper mode, as I like to get the driveway right down to the pavement.  I could feel the scraper bar grabbing and I know that is what's making the machine go all over the place.  I only have the rear skid shoes on it.  I have not installed the ones on the side of the auger housing yet.  Will the side ones help with this issue?  Should I take the ones in back of the hosuing off and just run with the side skids?

Thanks

a312 wrote:
First of all, don't' run it in scraper mode all the time, unless you have ice on the surface that you want the auger to chip away.   Otherwise, you will wear the auger down real fast.  The auger should never be allowed to touch the pavement.

To get the snowblower to clean closer to the pavement, adjust the skids shoes with the bucket in the middle position, not scraper mode.   Put a paint stir stick or a something thinner between the scraper and tighten up on the nuts for the skid shoes.

If you're running tracks, it's a good idea to leave a thin layer of snow behind.  It acts as lubricant, good for the tracks and skid shoes,  makes turning easier.  Honda tracks typically have very heavy front bucket weight so you need some snow for the skid shoes to glide on, otherwise you will be constantly fighting it every foot.  If you want clean right down to the pavement for a nice finish, you need to get a rubber auger single stage snowblower.