Tractor Thread

[E7]

My 16 1/2 horse Simplicity blower is at the end of the garage poised to spring into action. Electric start, which keeps me from pulling my guts out. Right now drive way is bare, and I'm hoping it stays that way until, say June! Need to haul the Cub Cadet off to the shop, as the PTO is on all the time. Probably a simple fix, but it looks like you have to tear the cowl off to get at it!

Rich

[webenda]

Need to haul the Cub Cadet off to the shop, as the PTO is on all the time. Probably a simple fix, but it looks like you have to tear the cowl off to get at it!

Rich

Cowl held on w/ 4 bolts.
PTO Stuck On => https://youtu.be/v6FKLSPiwRA

[E7]

Thanks Wayne, but what I am calling the cowl is like the firewall/dash area on a car. The problem is what I'm thinking is a cable between the plastic control button on the dash and the actuator switch for the PTO (which probably applies and removes a ground). The on off button just flops around which tells me the physical connection is suspect.

Rich

[healey36]

Well guys, it's that time of the year. Don't wait for 8 inches of snow before ya git the tractor out and the snowplow hooked up. Do it now. Get those chains on; make sure the engine is winterized if you're runnin' a watercooled engine like my Cub, which has the 20 hp Kawasaki motor. Oh wait, I don't use the tractor for snow; I rely on the Troybilt snowblower. Oh yeah, if your lucky enough to have a full enclosure, ya might as well git that on too. Remember that old boy scout motto: Be Prepared! Ain't gonna be long. We're gonna get it just as sure as the sun comes up in the mornin'.

Gave up on the snow-thrower for now...a full carb rebuild at the kitchen table to be completed this winter. In the meantime I've waxed the shovels and need to put a replacement edge on the snow-scoop. Hoping we don't get nailed with a two-footer sometime along the way.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Snoow blower is positioned at the end of the row in the garage and ready to go.............I hope. And, as much as I don't mind using it, I also don't feel the burning need for enought snow to call on it either. If it happens, it happens.

[robert.]

At the shop i have a 5 footer on a kabota tractor. One of the most unpleasant things to use. Every time you get a change in wind you get covered in snow. Plus our driveway is 200 yards long and all stone. For the last few years i kept the bucket on. It beats blowing snow in a Gordon fisherman's outfit.(yellow rain suit.)

[E7]

At the shop i have a 5 footer on a kabota tractor. One of the most unpleasant things to use. Every time you get a change in wind you get covered in snow. Plus our driveway is 200 yards long and all stone. For the last few years i kept the bucket on. It beats blowing snow in a Gordon fisherman's outfit.(yellow rain suit.)

Barring the use of some kind of protection, you will without a doubt, eat a bit of snow. Happens to me mostly when I am turning the beast at the end of a run. Call me "Frosty"!

[Mitch]

Gave up on the snow-thrower for now...a full carb rebuild at the kitchen table to be completed this winter. In the meantime I've waxed the shovels and need to put a replacement edge on the snow-scoop. Hoping we don't get nailed with a two-footer sometime along the way.

C'mon, healey! Stop at the Auto Parts and get a can of Carb cleaner, then hit your local welding supply store and buy a tip cleaner, and get home and remove the carb. Get it up on (a clean spot) on the garage work bench, and If you don't damage any gaskets when dis-assembling, it's a 20 minute rebuild max. Use the appropriate size wire of the tip cleaner in the jets and the air bleeds. Make sure the tank, the tank outlet valve, and the hose are all clean and in good shape, add a little StarTron to the gas, and fire that mother up. Nothin' to it.

[Mitch]

Need to haul the Cub Cadet off to the shop, as the PTO is on all the time. Probably a simple fix, but it looks like you have to tear the cowl off to get at it!

Rich

The side covers on my 4205 are held on with quick release Zeus fasteners. My PTO is activated by electric solenoid, and is pulled on with engine vacumn via a collapsible bladder. You may just have a broken wire or a cable problem. It'd be worth takin' a look yourself if you're mechanically inclined. Then, if you're in over your head, you can always spend your money at the dealer.

[healey36]

Gave up on the snow-thrower for now...a full carb rebuild at the kitchen table to be completed this winter. In the meantime I've waxed the shovels and need to put a replacement edge on the snow-scoop. Hoping we don't get nailed with a two-footer sometime along the way.

C'mon, healey! Stop at the Auto Parts and get a can of Carb cleaner, then hit your local welding supply store and buy a tip cleaner, and get home and remove the carb. Get it up on (a clean spot) on the garage work bench, and If you don't damage any gaskets when dis-assembling, it's a 20 minute rebuild max. Use the appropriate size wire of the tip cleaner in the jets and the air bleeds. Make sure the tank, the tank outlet valve, and the hose are all clean and in good shape, add a little StarTron to the gas, and fire that mother up. Nothin' to it.

I have hosed this thing with carb-cleaner, mate. Gas is getting from the tank to the bowl underneath the carb but not making it any further. The PITA of this Ariens is the carb is enclosed in a steel box that also houses the keyed on-off switch, the choke and the throttle...just misery getting it disconnected and up on the workbench (I know, I know, quit yer whining!). Just one warm day and a half-case of beer and I'm on it...

[robert.]

My craftsman tractor is a nightmare. Damn bowl is pop riveted on. If i don't start it ever 5th day it take a half hour of futzing. Local parts guy says " the carb is a throw away. If you remove it you'll manifold flange will warp. If you take it a part you'll brake something doing it." I want to push it off a cliff.

[MurphOnMillerAve]

I have an Ariens snowplow/blower-thingy. I had an after-market electric starter installed on it, and it is always ready to go.

[chuck]

I went to get a replacement scraper for my Toro Powelite CCR. while waiting for the parts guy to pull the part I looked down at my owners manual and noted the date on the document, 1993.

One set of paddles, maybe two drive belts and only one service visit from when I used "bad" gas and wasn't changing plugs on an annual basis. Optiplex 2 has stabilizer in it and only mix with winter blend gas. Trying to clean a $2.50 plug for a 2 cycle engine is nuts.

She test fired fine and the drive belt was OK so I Have a spare.

I wanted to do this last weekend when it in the low 50's instead of yesterday when it was in the high 20's. The other parts were at the "hub" and mere mortals can't go to the "hub", I had to wait till Monday (last Monday). I should have started back before Thanksgiving.

The parts guy advised me to take care of the unit, no one makes them like that anymore.

[healey36]

This Ariens is ~ 1986. Has an electric start like Murph's. Thing ran like a champ until it sat unused for about five or six years. Hauled it over to the local John Deere / Ariens dealership to have bottoms up service done three years ago. While they had it they replaced the carb. It was back to running like a champ. Always used Stabil in the gas, started it routinely every few weeks. Ran for five minutes during one of the start-ups last spring, than crapped out and hasn't run since. Definitely a blockage in the carb.

Got lazy this summer and just put off taking care of it. Wish they would stop putting our food in the gasoline...there's no good reason for it other than enriching ADM.

[Mitch]

May not be a carb problem. Most everything late model has a type of CDI (capacitor discharge ignition). Even if it don't have CDI, it's gonna have a magnet in the flywheel that passes the coil which then "breaks" and creates the spark. I've also seen where the wire that is used to short out the coil to shut the engine off gets grounded so there's no fire. Pull the plug and hook it back on to the coil wire and hold the plug against ground of the engine where you can see the spark plug gap and crank it. If there's fire, then you're lookin' at somethin' else. All it takes is compression, fuel and spark, and all of them at the right time, and she should run.
PS healey. I don't have a lot of faith in Stabile. After you get it goin', try StarTron in your gas. The other option is to run it out of gas when done workin'.