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

my old  1980 Yardman let me down  while clearing  or so inches after work today.    It  started after about   6-10  pulls   it would sputter and black smoke would come out the muffler.   Anyway  it finally started and I i warmed it up and started to clear the drive   I made the first pass and punched through the EOD.  I turned the blower and put it in reverse.... Nothing!  it wouldnt move.  I tried all 5 forward speeds ans both reverse   but the wheels didnt move one bit.    Motor was running fine and augers were moving.  it was too dark to work on it tonight  .I ended up using my 4.5hp single stage to finish the job.   So what do you all think caused this sudden drive failure?  I will work on it this weekend   .What should I be checking. ?

FYI for those who dont know   this is a 5hp 1980 yarman  two stage blower.

Given that the only symptom is "it stopped" here are a couple of things to check:

1. Drive system belt broke/came off. You should have gotten a screeching sound when it happened and maybe still do; If this is it either replace the belt or put it back on.

2. The drive system has a chain on two sprocket wheels as part of the transmission. It comes off on my machine whenever the wheel lock pin breaks and the wheel starts to come off the axle. This gives enough play for the axle to move left or right at which point the sprocket wheels are out of alignment and the chain comes off.

If this is it you:

a. Put the blower in the service position ( lift the handles up so the machine is resting on the front of the auger housing, sort of like you want to snow blow to China);
b. take the plate off that is at the back of the traction housing and is at about 45 degrees to the ground.
c. Probably on the left you will see the chain and the sprocket wheels.
d. Get the chain started onto the small sprocket and then started on the large one.
d. Move the wheels so the the chain starts to go on the sprocket wheel;
e. At some point the chain will be too tight to move the sprocket, start turning the rubber faced wheel which is the clutch/speed control of the traction system
f. Once its on put the plate back on.

Hopefully the chain isn't broken.

3. If your blower uses pin locks then check to make sure they haven't both sheared. If they have they will need to be replaced.

Good Luck

Thanks for the info so far,   I  thought it might be the drive belt broke but I didnt hear any noise   . One minute it was working fine, I moved from speed 1 to slow reverse and the wheels didnt engage,  I tried all other speeds with no luck.

I do have the owners manual so I will have a look at that as well.

keep the ideas coming

Hi John. I posted back in January about the same problem. You even posted to that thread. It turned out to just be a "roll pin" or as I like to call it, a shear pin. It goes through the axles. What I thought would be a major repair cost me a few cents and little time. The pics I posted are gone because I believe I removed them from the web host. If you can weed through some of the BS that hit that thread, there is some good advice and solutions.  Check the link, if I did it correctly.  LOL

Hope this helps.                                           Kevin

http://www.abbysguide.com/ope/discussions/2593-0-1.html

Thats right Kevin,     I forgot about that thread.     Let me review that thread     . I wont get a chance to work on the machine until the weekend . 

the bolt in the wheel axle is NOT a sheer bolt,it is actually a grade 8 bolt .if you use a cheep bolt or a sheer bolt it will wobble out the gear and the axle and it will then break bolts quite often.

it should be a 1/4 20 bolt with a locking nut usually 1 1/2 long.

check to be sure before purchase.

later chris

Check the spark plug wire for chip and cracks

I got a chance to look at it today.  I tipped it up and opened the bottom cover......   out fell two  rusted sheared off 1/4 bolts !  (they hold the wheel to the axle)     All I had to do is  drive out the broken bits  and replace with two   new hardened bolts   with locking nuts. That seemed to do the trick. it took me longer to go to the hardware store to buy the 63 cents worth of bolts than it did to fix it.

john

snowshoveler wrote:
Hi Chris. Good call. I was just out to the shed before and noticed the wheel just a bit away from the housing again. Yep, pulled it right off. That pin must have sheared like you said it would. Looks like a trip to the local hardware store in the morning. Good thing they are open on Sunday. Right now it looks like a good snow fall coming Monday. 1/4 might be too big though. It was a 3/16 pin I put in, and that was a squeez.              Thanks for the info.      Kevin

Hi John. I guess we were posting at the same time. Glad you got it fixed. Nice to fix it for a few pennies, for what at first seems like a major problem. If you read my new post, the shear pin didn't hold. I'll fix mine tomorrow.
                                                    Have a good weekend,          Kevin

the pin you broke was in the wheel?

sorry i thought you broke the bolt inside ...the one that the gear is fastened to the axle with.

as long as you got it going ,thats the main thing.

looks like weather is on the way.

later chris