Steve_Cooley

Thanks everyone who responded. My main concern still exists though. Maybe I didn't explain myself well enough originally. My question centers on engaging the reverse gears and why the shift knob doesn't "stick" in the reverse gears until I engage the drive control. In other words if I select any forward gear while the machine is idling the shift knob stays in that gear even if the drive control is not engaged. It doesn't automatically spring back to the neutral position. Now when I try to place the shift knob in a reverse gear while the machine is idling it springs back into the neutral position. I have to hold the knob in the reverse gear while engaging the drive control at the same time. Only then does the gear shift knob stay in the reverse gear that I have selected. When I release the drive control the shift knob pops back into a neutral position. I guess my question is: Is this normal? It makes me feel as though the blower won't accept my selection of a reverse gear properly. Is this a precaution devised by Toro (and maybe other blowers if they have this feature) to prevent me from accidentally leaving the thing in reverse and backing over myself? I guess it's not a big deal but since I have never operated a snow blower and my purchase was used I wasn't sure if I got a defective one or not. Thanks.

I recently purchased a used 1995 Toro Power Shift 824 and this is the first snow thrower I have ever owned or operated. It did not come with a manual but I was able to download one from Toro's website. However the manual doesn't provide very detailed information and more specifically the info that I'm looking for. It took me quite some time while using it to figure out that when I have selected a reverse gear I do not have to constantly hold my right hand on the gear shift to keep the reverse gear engaged. I was able to figure out that I have to select the reverse gear and hold the shift control back only until I engage the drive control and then I was able to release my grip on the gear shift. Is this normal? When I pull my gear shift back into a reverse gear it springs back into the normal postion. Should it "stick" and engage the gear without me having to keep it in position until the drive control is engaged? If so, I'm surprised Toro would have the user engage the drive control and put the machine in backward motion while the operater momentarily has only one hand on the handlebars (for lack of a better word). Is this some sort of safety feature to prevent me from backing over myself? Does any of this make sense?

Additionally, I find that during operation the chute tends to vibrate out of position causing me to periodically reach over and rotate it back to the desired position. I looked in the manual for any instruction on adjusting the chute or other advice but there was nothing there except describing how to rotate the chute.

Once again I thank anyone who has read this far. I look forward to any advice that may be offered.

One thing I noticed on this machine but forgot to mention was that during operation the chute vibrates to positions other than the one where I placed it. In other words, as I'm using it I have to periodically crank the chute back to its original position since it has vibrated to a different one. Is this normal on snow blowers or is there something I can adjust to keep the chute in the desired position? Thanks.

Thanks Solara. I just downloaded the manual and it's printing as I type. Thanks again for the help!

Thanks to all who offered advice! We got about 12 inches of snow at our house today. I tried out the Toro and it worked like a charm! Even though I have never used a snow thrower I was able to figure out how to get it going and operate it without a problem or a manual. I don't how to compare the effectiveness of this blower but it plowed through the 18 - 24 inch EOD pile without a problem. I didn't have any clogging issues but the snow was rather powdery today. And I'm sure once I locate an owner's manual I can operate it with more efficiency. The end result is that I am cancelling the Craftsman order (hopefully Sears won't charge a restocking fee since the thing hasn't even arrived at the local store). I bought the Toro from the neighbor for $400. I probably could have gotten it for less but since he just had it serviced ($50) I wasn't too concerned about a few more bucks since I had already saved $200 on the Toro over the Craftsman. Now my only problem is that it stopped snowing! I wish my driveway was twice as large!