Abby’s Guide > Outdoor Power Equipment (Lawn Mowers, Snow Blowers, Chain Saws and more) > Discussions > My latest acquisition, Craftsman 8/26 Track Drive

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jrtrebor

Location: Michigan - 3 hours north of Chicago on the lake
Joined: Feb 10, 2010
Points: 539

My latest acquisition, Craftsman 8/26 Track Drive
Original Message Dec 15, 2012 9:15 am

Found this on CL the other night. It's an older model but I don't think it saw much use.
Paid $100.00 for it plus $35.00 in fuel to pick it up.
Gave it a bath and it cleaned up nice. I now have a real understanding for the comments I've
read about moving one of these track drive machines around. They don't move. It's like trying
to muscle a wheelbarrow full of sand around in the mud.
Six forward speeds two reverse. Got a decent sized
auger gear box. Augers are free on the shafts and it has grease fittings. The whole blower section and augers
aren't that beefy, like on some other older model blowers. 12" impeller

The friction wheel and drive plate are much smaller is this blower compared to others I've seen.
So are the drive belt pulley's. Pretty straight forward drive train. Axle bushings are good and snug on the shaft.
Got lucky and found a free owners manual online.

It's got a good engine on it w/elec. start. Carb needs to be pulled and cleaned. All the decals are in good condition.

These are the adjusters for the rear track hubs. There is an inner and outer one.

Drive axle, sprocket and chain. Driving the front hub.

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carlb

Joined: Nov 16, 2010
Points: 279

Re: My latest acquisition, Craftsman 8/26 Track Drive
Reply #9 Dec 16, 2012 5:10 pm

borat wrote:

carlb:

I can't imagine anything being much slower in reverse than my 2006 large frame Simplicity. I have to be pretty much flogged or in a fairly uphill situation to use reverse on that thing. Sh!t, even the highest reverse speed is glacial at best. Ridiculously snow. I'm assuming that's to prevent the uninitiated from sqeezing themselves to death up against the house if speed were a blazing 3 mph or more.

That's just another reason for me to pull out the single stage machines. They're far easier all the way around other than when we get heavy/wet/frozen plow deposits. That and 14" plus heavy snow is the only time the dual stage sees action now. Oh, and did I mention that the SS machines are actually fun to use?

Borat

My old restored 1983 Cub Cadet will just about run you over if you put it in reverse 2 at full rpm, but, in first gear it will move very slow just the way i like it for EOD. 2nd and third gear are what i use most and its rare to use 6th

I guess when my Cub was built they figured you had more sense then to run yourself over in reverse with your snow blower and if not more sense then Darwins law could take over.

jrtrebor

Location: Michigan - 3 hours north of Chicago on the lake
Joined: Feb 10, 2010
Points: 539

Re: My latest acquisition, Craftsman 8/26 Track Drive
Reply #10 Dec 16, 2012 11:20 pm

55utilitysedan wrote:

Pretty clean and straight looking! Looks like heater box is missing is all. With mine I pay attention to lubrication of the track roller chains (2) and the drive shafts and followers (3 ea. side) , well lubed it does roll pretty well going straight....Merry Christmas everybody!!!!!

Actually I do have the heater box. Just had it off to clean and work on the carb.
Still having issue with the carb. Need to pull it off and go through it again.

As soon as I get it running correctly I'm going to pull the tracks all apart and lube everything.
They are pretty stiff right now.

jrtrebor

Location: Michigan - 3 hours north of Chicago on the lake
Joined: Feb 10, 2010
Points: 539

Re: My latest acquisition, Craftsman 8/26 Track Drive
Reply #11 Dec 16, 2012 11:44 pm

borat wrote:

carlb:

I can't imagine anything being much slower in reverse than my 2006 large frame Simplicity.

My Ariens is the same way. Painfully slow in reverse.
Next time I have an old Ariens around I'm going to filp the friction disc over and install
it backwards. You'll loose at least one forward gear but it might be worth it if the reverse speed
quickens enough. Could also be clearance issues have to wait and see.

Don't believe flipping the disc over will have any real negative effects on the shaft bearings.
Or that there would be any strength or stress issues on the disc itself.
Flipping the disc over would move it I'm guessing, close to another 3/4" of an inch onto the reverse side of the
friction wheel/plate.

This message was modified Dec 16, 2012 by jrtrebor

55utilitysedan

Location: Litchfield County, CT.
Joined: Dec 19, 2011
Points: 41

Re: My latest acquisition, Craftsman 8/26 Track Drive
Reply #12 Dec 17, 2012 12:58 pm

On many blowers there is room for adjustment of the friction disk on the drive plate. Sometimes tweeking can make things better speed wise.

hcbph1

Joined: Sep 20, 2012
Points: 16

Re: My latest acquisition, Craftsman 8/26 Track Drive
Reply #13 Dec 18, 2012 9:10 am

Assuming you have the same linkage, This may show where your linkage should line up

http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t248/hcbph/Snowblower/536_882700%2010%20HP%203%20stage/Carburetor_Rebuilt.jpg

I've got several 8-10 hp's and they are all pretty much the same. Hope it helps.

This message was modified Dec 18, 2012 by hcbph1

longboat

Joined: Feb 11, 2009
Points: 103

Re: My latest acquisition, Craftsman 8/26 Track Drive
Reply #14 Dec 19, 2012 8:56 am

jrtrebor wrote:

.... I now have a real understanding for the comments I've
read about moving one of these track drive machines around. They don't move. It's like trying
to muscle a wheelbarrow full of sand around in the mud. ....

For off-season storage, you could always tip it up on the bucket and strap some piano movers to the tracks.

I think MTD now (or over the last few years) has tracked versions that feature their "easy-steer" finger-trigger differentials, so if you happen to get a late-model Craftsman (MTD) tracked machine (or one of the many clones), you might get that feature. Being a handyman/fixer-upper type, you could probably live with an MTD machine.

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