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

Well last year had nothing but slipping problems with the drive and seeing B&S has not come out with a new cover so I solved it on my own. Last year I tried using just weather stripping but water would still get past  seeing the cover is pretty flimsy. I built the piece out of a piece of 3/4 inch  ABS plastic and epoxied it to the cover. It does add alot of strenght to the cover and keeps it from flexing. My next project is to add the new rubber gasket that goes between the frame and engine plate.

http://s1188.photobucket.com/albums/z414/btw574/

On my old  Murray built Craftsman, mentioned previously ,( sold it in 2009)  I had that clutch slipping problem,    started out slipping in !st gear and reverse only, because the clutch wheel is near the center of the disc.    For a while  it would still operate in  2-6  and high reverse. then all positions  would slip.   It was caused by the old Tecumseh blowing out oil. I had to keep cleaning the disc  and clutch with alcohol .  It would work fine for the next storm, then I had to do it again.  I thought it was just a problem with this long  used machine.   Talking to others who owned  some newer  John Deere , Simplicity machines, they  said that a slipping clutch was not unusual in their machines, but this was caused by   a poorly designed belt cover. letting in melted snow   . To improve their situation, some used  rubber tape ,pieces of rubber, sealant and some purchased a new improved seal that went between the belt cover and the engine.  "Whatever works ". A new Husqvarna with Hydro was my answer .

Nice work, BTW574.

Well we finally got some snow yesterday and put my mods to he test. I did my house and 3 neighbors and was outside for maybe 4 hours and did not have one time when the snowblower would stop moving. I even took hand fulls of snow and put it on the belt cover and around the engine. I even blew snow into the wind so it would blow back onto the snowblower. All in all the mods worked, now bring on a big snowstorm.