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12 hp not enough for blowing


gjh

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During our last blizzard my T12 struggled to blow the 3-4'+ drifts on my 350' long drive way. It was a pretty light snow, but mid way through the drifts were across the whole drive so I couldn't easily get a half swath cut. I have been blowing for almost 10 years here and usually lift the blower up and cut the top off first and then back up and hit the rest.

I was talking to my Simplicity dealer (40+ years in buiss) and he said the 12 Hp Briggs I have is probably down to 10 hp or so. I believe it's orig and I do see some smoke in headlights at night. He also said that the Vickers hydro can suck another 2 hp or so; so in theory I could be down to 8 hp pushing a 42" blower.

I'd love to find a 16hp to put in my machine; but I know how hard they are to find. To rebuild my 12 would be $400-$500 I'm guessing.

Short of finding a 16 hp Briggs is there any transplant I can do to up the power that wouldn't cost a fortune? I can do the work myself.

Do I just bite the bullet and a buy a newer bigger machine? I'm not worried about mowing, Have a trip plow and 42" blower I would like to be able to use.

Your thoughts?

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16hp isn't going through 3=4 foot snow drifts easily either. First pass you just gotta clutch your way through, at least I do in less snow then that. Drifter snow is normally packed pretty tight, I think your asking to much of a machine the size of these garden tractors.

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I know I probably am asking a lot of my old girl; after 5 hours of blowing I got about 1/2 way up, but the drifts were 2-3' deep.

How much diff would I see with a 7016?

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I've been Blowing with a 7010 for many yrs. In light fluffy snow I've cut thru 2' deep snow easily. But like Marty said Drifts are tightly packed and I gotta ride the clutch on the first swath, but then it handles 1/2 swath cuts easy. Thats with an old 10hp, but in good condition. Yours may not be a HP issue, maybe the engine is getting weak. Did the 12hp work ok yrs ago? I think 12 is plenty of HP...IMO

No doubt a 16hp engine would do better but not sure if its THAT much better...IMO

Good luck sm01

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What you will find is that with your hydro, is that the ground speed is what changes when you get into heavy snow, more hp the more snow you can move without loosing rpms...(you must maintain rpms) the more forward speed.

You feel you are at 8hp right now. A fresh 12hp will make a pretty good difference as will a 16hp, but only a step up from a good 12hp. What you are describing would take my 917 down to a crawl.

The first pass into snow deeper than the throat of the blower may require you to walk the snow down. After the first pass then take a 1/2 bite into the pass.

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Yea, maybe this was unusual, as I usually can get 1/2 or max 3/4 of the auger into the drift. Either way I think I need to think about freshening up my motor.

Are parts for the old Briggs still tough to find?

I also have another block a neighbor gave me with no shroud; how do I determine hp; by piston diameter?

Anyone have that spec off hand?

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Last winter, we spent almost 3 hours clearing out our 33' long driveway from a snowstorm that left a 3-4' drift.

My wife was knocking down the drift with the shovel, and I would run the blower.

My little blower worked awesome.

With my past experience with these snowblowers, throwing snow deeper than the height of the blower really loads them up fast and they have a hard time with the extra bulk.

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Gary,

I got standard rings and a gasket set for a 12HP Briggs at Sandy Lake Imp. last fall. So, some parts are still available. Sadly, the 12HP seems to be the hardest to get parts for. Your 12HP can be bored out to 16HP if your cylinder is too badly worn. New pistons are available for the 16HP, probably not for the 12.

My successful repair to an old cast iron Briggs that is smoking, and has no other problems, is to hone the cylinder lightly and install new Briggs rings. The Briggs blocks are very hard, and unless the engine has been abused by running without an air cleaner, or run with dirty oil, I don't find much wear. I touch up the valves and seats, check the rod for excess wear ( not usually finding much ), re-assemble and run it for many years.

I know many will not agree with my red-neck methods for re-building an engine, but it works for me. I extend an invitation to anybody to come operate any of my working tractors and tell me the engine does not run well. "If it ain't broke" is my motto.

I have found engines that are too badly worn to do this type of repair. If I really need the engine, I will pay to have it re-bored and the crank turned, but that has only been a couple in all my many years of collecting, and using these old tractors.

I have an engine spec sheet somewhere in my computer files. I'll try to find and post it.

Good luck,

Jim

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There are a couple posts about diesel conversions, this may be a good alternative to an old Briggs, that said I still have 5 of the 16hp sitting here, waiting to be put back to work, meantime my diesel Lagacy is a monster for horsepower, and my New holland skidsteer is diesel as well as my Dodge truck. Any one ever put a turbo to one of the old Briggs?

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