[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

(ET) The Key to snowthrowing



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