John Deere 826 Snowblower

[SprigOfTheLivingDead]

That's strange, Why some people has the capability to build, fix, and make that equipment all too easy, I hope I have the same skills...

Everyone has their thing(s) but most come with experience. I, for the life of me, can't organize anything. I know good organization when I see it but I can't come up with a plan to do it, whether that's a garage a closet or clothing. I look for pics, ideas and videos to help, but it's just a little beyond me since I also suffer from that almighty analysis paralysis and need to tell myself "just pick a thing and start", but then I also suffer from not finishing things, so I could have three things going at once and fail at all because of just not having the time.

Point being, I fixed this after reading and reading and reading and reading and watching lots of videos to get an understanding of how things worked together, so it wasn't just "ok, I got the parts. Let's grab a socket wrench and take everything apart and I'm sure I'll get it back together"

My friend told me there's a bolt on the friction disc I need to loosen that will release that tension I referred to earlier. So, see? learning, just like we all do on this site.

 

[Britesea]

I can sympathize with you about not starting or finishing things. Those are the 2 hardest steps in any task. Now I am good at organizing and seeing how things can be done better, but actually DOING it? Not so much, lol.

 

[YourRabbitGirl]

So last winter was tough. Lots and lots and lots of snow and in the spring the snowpack ended up pushing our driveway over into our lawn because there was just nowhere else to plow (I paid a guy to plow) the snow to. Anyways, I bought a snowblower (JD 826, made in 1986) to help deal with some of that snowpack so the spring sun could free up our driveway a little earlier than waiting for the few feet of pack to melt

Anyways, I knew (know?) very little about small engines, but this thing obviously needed some TLC before the next (this) winter. I didn't have the time to learn what needed to be done, so I had a local guy do some work and it's done a good job so far, which is great since our plow guy's transmission died and I would have been up a creek. Anyways, the auger stopped spinning this past weekend and when I popped it open it was evident a belt needed replacement. However, then I noticed the pulley wheels weren't spinning well and it looks like the friction disc needs to be replaced too. Hahaha

It's like owning a damn car. Cost me $220 to buy it, then another $220 for a carb rebuild and some other things but now the pulleys, friction disc and a belt? Whew! I'm excited to learn how to do this work and already ordered the parts, but hot damn I was a little shocked at the $55 for the friction disc (metal plate with hard rubber on the outside)

Anyways, this is all to say that this isn't a complaint but rather a celebration for me to learn how to do small engine repair. Looking forward to learning something here and having a functioning blower again

that sounds so expensive to me, I'd rather do the normal thing to do. I still have my handy dandy shovel, and it still works just fine..

 

[SprigOfTheLivingDead]

that sounds so expensive to me, I'd rather do the normal thing to do. I still have my handy dandy shovel, and it still works just fine..

Well, my driveway is nearly 600' long, so.... Nope. 😆

 

[SprigOfTheLivingDead]

Well, when you get several feet of snow, you need a lot more than a shovel for anything as large as a driveway.

Fortunately I have a tractor with a blade and a front end loader. also -- fortunately for me -- haven't had that much snow in years!

It's always a consideration when I look at equipment that's used....repairs and warranty.

The plan is to buy a truck with a plow, but we just don't have that money this year as we have to replace a porch that was rotted when we bought the house nearly two years ago

 

[SprigOfTheLivingDead]

We bought a small tractor this summer to replace the John Deere garden tractor that we have a snow blower on. The new tractor is 4-wheel drive and now has a 48" snow blower attached. It was bought specifically to replace the John Deere, which was just not big enough or powerful enough to handle the snows that we get and had a real problem with getting traction on the gravel driveway when snow blowing. As a bonus, I have a more powerful tractor for all the other chores around our place - turning compost piles, digging holes for tree planting, roto-tilling the garden...

It is always great to learn new skills. Congrats on fixing it yourself.

What's the model number on it, if you don't mind?

 

[SprigOfTheLivingDead]

What do you call this rod with the spinning barrel connector in the middle? It engages the friction disc.

Problem is I need to tighten that connector because the disc is in constant contact, so right on start up the blower wants to GO. However, that barrel connector is completely seized up. I tried heating it up and getting some lubricant in there, but it won't budge. Trying to find out what it's even called so I can see about just ordering a new one.

 

[SprigOfTheLivingDead]

Traction control rod I think.