RND1

Thanks Borat and Dr. Woof - now I understand exactly what you're talking about. Guess I should have checked this before purchase LOL. I'll remove the shear pins tonight and see if it will turn. This machine is a 2001 and the previous owner said he had the dealer service it annually so we'll see if that's true. Don't want the auger tranny to blow if the shear pin is rendered useless. If it doesn't turn, I'll try Kroil and see if I can get it to loosen up. I'll let you all know.

Thanks Dr. Woof for the links! Not sure I understand what you guys are referring to. When you say frozen, does that imply the auger will not turn? The auger on my machine operates like normal, although I haven't thrown snow with it yet.

Thanks for the quick response. It runs like a Honda - smooth and relatively quiet. I'll have to look at the augers to see if/how to lube them. The oil was recently changed, but I do need to lube the cable that controls the Auger actuation. It tends to release slowly, but won't hold down as it should when the drive control is activated. Is this a common problem on these machines?

Hello - first post! I've finally had enough of the awful quality of my Troy Bilt snowblower. The box is rusting apart and I had to replace the transmission last year. The joystick to control the plastic chute is a joke. So, I decided to search CL and found a very well kept Honda HS624TA snowblower. Love the engineering from the simple controls to the brass worm drive on the chute! What do you guys recommend I do to service it this year? What areas should be greased? What do you do to keep the box as rust free as possible? Thanks!