jdavidson

My bet would be something wrong with the inverter when running at full load.  There could be a capacitor or something within the inverter to help out when running at full load that is not working properly and draws down every two minutes, overloading the engine.

WOW - Sure wound up looking a lot nicer than mine!   Looks like it just rolled off the showroom floor!  Glad I was able to share what I knew, wasn't sure how many snowblowers like mine of that vintage were still kickin' 

Great Job!

Jon 

We didn't have to cut the auger tube all the way along the length.  Made a cut probably that came within about 2-3 inches of each end.    Tried to cut just enough to get through the tube but not damage the shaft.  That relieved some pressure and let the penetrating oil get where it needed to be.

Man I feel your pain!  Your story is mirroring mine almost exactly.  The rake on the left side of mine was also rusted solid to the shaft,as well as having a bend in the shaft further sealing the rake to the shaft.   The right side slid right off.    (my whole ordeal started when I sucked up a piece of concrete on the neighbors sidewalk, and bent the auger shaft)

I opened the gearbox and removed the shaft with the left side rake still stuck, along with the left side of the gearbox sandwiched between the rake and the gear.   I work for IT at the local school district here and went to the auto shop class at the high school  to see what they could do to get the rake off.  They had a press but it would not budge.  What finally worked was a long lengthwise cut with a grinder along the rake to relieve the pressure, and then with lots of penetrating oil and the press it came free.  But in that process the left side of the gearbox which was in between got broken.  I found and ordered the gearcase halves, got the shaft straightened out, and reassembled and am back in action.   

I was able to reuse all of my original parts when reassembling except for the gasket and gearcase halves.  Everything fit perfectly.  Only strange thing is one of the halves has a smooth unthreaded hole for adding gearcase lube which you'll have to close off.   I was in my local home improvement store recently that has murray snowblowers and they all had the same gearcase design that I just put on my 25+ year old one!   I was not sure the parts would work, but was willing to take a chance for $26 plus shipping, I could have always returned them to sears.