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

December is here and I'm anxiously waiting for some good snow to arrive.  I've been bit by the 2 cycle bug recently.  I have the Toro 421QE, which is the 4 cycle version of the 221Q.  I thought it may be redundant to pick up a used 221Q so I've been looking into getting a Toro Powerlite.  Plus, I can hang the Powerlite up on a wall.  the 221Q is too big and heavy to do so.

Anyways, anybody got a recommendation for a compact SS two-cycle?  If not, please provide a 7 step sure fire way to cure the 2 cycle habit.  :)

I finally took some time to take a look at this Powerlite tonight.  The recoil rope was hanging out 12 inches so I was able to wind up the pulley 2 more turns to take up the slack.  There was some crack on the starter pulley but it will hold up so I can try to start the engine.  I took off the carb bowl, everything looks clean.  Gave the pull start a yank, the engine starts up on the second pull.  That was good news.  Then I noticed that some dark fluid like oil was dripping out of the spark plug, so I immediately shut down the engine.  The spark plug was not even tightened.  So I removed and checked the plug, it was dark brown, not sure how long the previous owner had been running with the plug loose.  Anyways, I added more fresh gas and restarted it, this time letting it run a little longer.  Everything seems to be running fine.

I'm not going to sink too much time or money into this machine.  I'll just get a new belt, rubber augers, scraper bar, and a spark plug.  Just the essentials so it operates in peak form, so no restoration to near showroom condition.  I'll restore a BMW 2002, but not a Toyota Tercel.    There's just nothing about this machine that excites me other than the tiny Tecumseh 2 stroke engine, everything else is just low rent materials and build quality.  It's a fun and easy machine to work on, but I got a little annoyed of all the pesky rusted fasteners.

I'll keep this machine around to play with increasing  the RPM and see how it performs.  It's a lightweight machine so I'm not sure it throw snow further or cut through EOD a bit better, or just bounce around.

   A bit off topic but you guys mentioning the RC stuff made me curious about some of the terms.  Googling arond go me to UTube and I came across RC jet powered planes.  Never knew there was such a thing as micro jet engines complete with pre-ignition starters.  The first one I tripped on was a RC of a SR71 Blackbird and amazing. 

trouts2 wrote:
There's some crazy RC stuff, like a large scale B-52 bomber with multiple jet engines on the wings.  It takes two guys to fly these things.   That's some serious hobby.  It makes Honda $8000 snowblower looks pale by comparison.