(ET) The Key to snowthrowing

[Larry Chace <RLC1 etnainstruments com>]

Hi, All.  The recent big storm left us with 15" of powdery snow 
overnight, so I got out the I-5 with snowthrower and the E15 with 
plow.  Although the snow was light, there was lots of it, and both 
machines were hard pressed to make much progress.  A lot of hand 
shovelling was necessary to clear one lane of the 700' driveway, 
which of course didn't contribute to the Domestic Tranquility.

The E15 blew the Controls fuse several times, probably because I was 
shifting between foreward and reverse too quickly.  Luckily, there is 
a supply of fuses on hand.

The I-5 worked well and even ate through the 4' high drift that the 
town's plow truck left behind at the end of the driveway.  Then, 
though, it made a different sound, one that I recall from a year ago 
(and 4 years before that) -- the snowthrower motor shaft had become 
disconnected from the sprocket that drives the chain that drives the 
augar.  Inspection showed that the key was missing and the sproket 
had shifted about 1/2" away from the motor.  Grrrrrr....

When this happened years ago, I neglected to take note of what size 
the key is.  A GE microfische seems to describe it as 3/16" by 1" (a 
square key, not a semi-circular Woodruf key).  I do have a spare one 
of those and will try it, but I thought it would be wise to query the 
combined knowledge of you out there.  Also, do you recall the size of 
the setscrew(s) that should be holding the key in place?  Accessing 
the setscrew(s) is a Royal Pain...

Both machines work well when the snow is no more than, say, 6" to 8" 
deep, and it doesn't help that that the first 350' is uphill from the 
tractor garage toward the street.  Both tractors have chains and 
about 150 pounds of ballast in their weight boxes.

Thanks in advance for any sage advise!

Larry Chace, Ithaca, NY