(ET) Snowthrower rehab

[Darryl McMahon <darryl econogics com>]

Last fall, we picked up a 'barn-find' E15 which owner says has not run 
for at least 10 years (I'm going to guess more).

One item that came with it was a 42-inch snowthrower.  Our old 36-inch 
has served well, and has needed a complete rebuild for a couple of years 
(pretty much all about rust).  (It's still on the project list, but so 
far is failing the 'how fast can it be in and out' test to move up the 
priority ladder.)

The new-to-us unit looked nice and I got it into our garage as the snow 
starting falling in the first half of November.  Little did I know that 
snow would stay the winter.  So, the plow blade stayed on the E12 and 
served through the season.  (I'm thinking I should put wider tires on 
front and rear if I'm going to do another season of snow moving with the 
plow.  If I'm going to have to drive on top of the 6-foot high snow 
banks, I need to be able to 'float' on top, not sink in.)

As a result, time to check out the new find got postponed until today.

Tried to turn the auger by hand as a first assessment.  Small movement, 
not easy, then locked.  Going back and forth, got about 1/6th rotation 
lock to lock.  Too much for chain slack, and a raised com bar in the 
motor should allow almost a full rotation of the motor, but given the 
gear reduction, who knows if that could be the cause.

Took the motor off - spins nicely by hand.  The chain looks pretty good, 
but will soak and loosen up this week.  Auger still locked.  Removed the 
auger drum, and the metal of the housing behind the auger has been 
ground down by the spinning auger to the point of perforation and 
leaving the surrounding metal like tissue paper combined with swiss 
cheese.  A quick visual and run of fingers over the surface makes me 
think the blower has been repeatedly driven into a solid wall or 
similar, enough times to drive the auger housing back onto the 
supporting frame to deform the big 'tube' section into the auger's 
rotation space.  Presumably, continuing to spin the auger has 
subsequently ground down the metal behind it.  More collisions, thinner 
weaker metal, more deflection.  Repeat until current condition.  That's 
my best guess.

I'm trying to figure out a method to reshape the 'tube' to what it 
should be.  After that, I figure I'll weld some sheet metal behind the 
worn section, then fill the 'swiss cheese' with marine metal epoxy or 
something like that.  Then, grind and sand to get the desired surface 
shape and smoothness on the inside, then paint inside and out.

Right now I'm thinking of building a frame to hold the tube in place, 
and allow use of 2 hydraulic jacks to push the deflected section back a 
quarter- to half-inch (judge by straightness of the wall with a 40-inch 
straight-edge) to get the space the auger needs.

Is this situation familiar to anyone else, and do you have a known fix? 
 (Don't drive the 'thrower into the wall is advice already received today.)

Other suggestions welcome.  Won't be back to it before Saturday earliest.

(I don't see this as 5 months too late for last winter, but rather as 7 
months lead-time to next winter.  As for this "doesn't augur well" for a 
quick fix, yes, I heard that one today, too.)

Darryl

--
Darryl McMahon
Freelance Project Manager