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Why does this stuff happen when your prepared?


Nick

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This year was the first year That I was actually prepared for old man winter, Leaves done in a timely fashion, and not waiting to hear a weather report that the next day we would be getting at least 6" of snow. Got behind the house cleared of the garbage cans, wheelbarrows and other misc. stuff, unlike last year when the snowblower got into a fight with the garbage can lid, and I got the mower winterized, and all of the garden tools oiled, and put away. I even got the snowblower going in mid November, to make sure everything was working properly, which it all was. This past Thursday I went to start the blower and nothing, the recoil wouldn't catch. This had happened last year from ice getting in there and caused the "starter tooth" not to engage. I took it off the engine, and noticed the starter cup, and screw were missing. Off to the lawn mower shop to get a starter cup, and was told Tecumseh only sells the whole recoil starter! So I put it on. starts perfectly now, I decided to take it for a test spin, and everything checks out. On Saturday with 7" already on the ground I take the snowblower out, put it in drive and WHAP! the drive cable breaks! The S hook that attaches to the drive handle broke, Luckily I was able to use a pair of vise grip pliers on it by attaching the cable to the handle, and did my driveway, and the two neighbors without a problem. Why does this stuff always happen when your prepared? Just ranting -Nick
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Murphy's law. If it can happen it will. At least you don't have to "beat yourself up" because you didn't bother doing those things that you need to do to get ready.
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You are blessed. There are a lot of people less fortunate enough to to solve their problems and have taken 'ill' machine to a L & G repair facility only to find out that it will be at least two weeks before they can get their machine back. Human nature it seems to tell us to get our lawn mowers in early so we can cut our grass in a timely manor and yet when we are confronted with a major snow storm, we don't buy gas until five minutes before we need the blower and then are condemning it because it wouldn't start, the belt broke, one tire has more air then the other, the discharge spout is rusted tight and I can't move my throttle cable syndrome set in. DUH!!!!!!!!.
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I know exactly what you mean. I was bragging to my neighbor about how good my 3012 was running then when I started it it stalled and I had an iced up line. I never get water in the gas...luckily I had fresh gas and a new filter on hand. but there have been times when stuff broke at the worst time. I think one thing we all accept about using these old machines are the fact that alot of them are 30 or 40 years old and stuff does fail from time to time. It's funny because when some of my friends who aren't good at doing their own work ask me about old simplicity's I warn them of the potential for them to break down. I know most of us wrench our own stuff anyway.
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Murfhy's law got ya, you can't fight it, never beat it or be to ready for it to slap at you, just gotta live with, get back up and keep on truckin.. MPH
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Hi, Keep in mind that most artificial knees, hips, rotator cuff surgery, heart attacks, strokes etc occur after 35 years. These things may be toughter than we are. Ya Reckon??????????? Al
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Nick, After you are done blowing snow let the unit run for a few minutes to dry out the recoil area of the melted snow. We see this happen alot in our shop. The customer brings it in because it won't catch, we put it in the shop and within a few hours it "magically" begins working. So we instruct them to run it for a few minutes after they are done and send them on their way.
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When I parked mine outside I had a large box, think it was from a kitchen stove, when I was done blowing snow I'd put the box over it til it melted out and dried, maybe 20 min.. MPH
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Nick, Look at it this way, Be glad you had done as much as you had before the 7 inches fell. Having to do all you did on the day of the snowfall to me would seem much worse than dealing with the problems when you had more time to take care of them. This older equipment will need to be worked on from time to time but the brand new stuff isn't perfect and trouble free all the time either. Perhaps you have now chased murphy out of your garage and down the road to the next guy and you will not have any more problems this year! Have fun out playing in the snow!
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Forgot about Murphy's Law, No wonder why it happened. Or as my friend would always say, "It was on the calendar to happen, and we didn't see it." My Father purchased the blower new in 1988, It's a Ariens 932 Series, 7HP, 24" cut. It's now in it's 8th season of use. My parents separated, My mother wouldn't touch it. and for a few years we couldn't get it to start. In the 2001/2002 season I got it running. Sometimes the wheels wouldn't react to what gear it was in, and then 3rd & $th gear wouldn't work, also it would leak a quart of oil when I walked it 25', brought it to be repaired, turns out it needed all new belts, and the oil breather was bad. I was hoping I wouldn't have any more problems this year, guess not. Hopefully no more problems for the rest of the season.
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quote:
Originally posted by fuzy
Nick, After you are done blowing snow let the unit run for a few minutes to dry out the recoil area of the melted snow. We see this happen alot in our shop. The customer brings it in because it won't catch, we put it in the shop and within a few hours it "magically" begins working. So we instruct them to run it for a few minutes after they are done and send them on their way.
I know a hair dryer works wonders too.
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