I hate my snowblower. Let's make it slightly less terrible.

My snowblower seems to break every time I use it. This time one of the splines on the clicker mechanism that locks the axle stripped out. Since the axle lock was never reliable and I tried to never unlock it (though it would pop out on its own sometimes), I decided to just replace it with a solid locked axle.
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/ jeremymakesthings

[@haugstule]

wow, i bet there is a lot of us being in the same boat when it comes to these snowblowers. I always say: "Let the Tecumseh be, it's easier to take the snow by hand than to wrestle with that thing"

[@ironhead65]

Famous last words: “Should be pretty straightforward”

[@scroungasworkshop4663]

Well done Jeremy, I love doing these kind of repairs. I’ve never worked on a snow blower because no one here sells them. Cheers, Stuart 🇦🇺

[@AngryGnomeTinkering]

I have the smaller brother to that machine. Mine doesn't even have the differential. It came with only 1 wheel pinned to the axle with the option to pin the other wheel. I have them both pinned and just deal with turning while the wheels are locked. Nice repair Jeremy, this is a perfect example of simpler is better.

[@ssmt2]

A really nice functional repair job! I used to own a snowblower. Now I don’t even need a snow shovel. Life is better when you don’t have to relocate snow..

[@TalRohan]

No one should have to put up with having skanky bits of machinery. This reminded me a bit of a diy lego technic build but as with lego builds they usually work remarkably well. Nicely done that man...Ive considereedd putting a plow on my Landrover too although on the other end so its a soil plow ...we don't get much snow...thankfully

[@jimurrata6785]

I have 30 year old photos of me encased in an icy shell behind my Simplicity or Gravely (i forget) but i sure wont forget that damn storm, or the laughs we had when we were young. Thanks for bringing that back for me! 😉

[@jimsvideos7201]

Solid axle, straight-forward, heh.

[@DangerousSportsForSeniors]

The mice in my shed chewed through the belts on mine. It's always something. Thanks for sharing

[@russtuff]

And I thought I was the only person waiting until winter to tear into their snowblower.

[@jimurrata6785]

🤣

[@JeremyMakesThings]

For some reason, it never breaks the other nine months of they year, so I don’t think about it 😆

[@dav1dsm1th]

Mustie1 would be proud of you 🙂 Thanks for the videos.

[@h-j.k.8971]

Another great exhample of malfunctioning gardening equipment. I get nightmares seing grass growing and knowing that I´ll hove to get that evil mower out sooner or later.

[@gorak9000]

I'm pretty sure every snowblower from all the brands are all built by the same company, because the mechanism is exactly the same - but I've never seen that clutch assembly before - all the ones I've seen are solid axle like yours is after the modification. You just made yours "stock" the way most of them are!

[@JeremyMakesThings]

The lesson here is don’t over engineer things

[@geniferteal4178]

​@@JeremyMakesThingsThere was a next level option when I brought mine that I didn't realize at the time. There was a left in right hand break to steer. It sounds like a good option in theory. sometimes the units a bit of a bear to get it to turn.

[@stefflus08]

Well except Honda, which is the only snowblower brand that actually makes arctic life without a tractor or frontloader enjoyable year round.

[@ferrumignis]

Nice job! Seems like a decent upgrade might be to have each wheel driven by a one way bearing so the outside wheel in a turn can always spin faster than the axle, but both wheels are driven without slip in a straight line, irrespective of grip. Might not be so great if you have to go down a steep hill with it though.

[@charlieromeo7663]

What’s a snowblower? Cheers from Florida’s Space Coast! Nice job, Jeremy

[@624Dudley]

Snow blowers are easy to hate. In my experience, those models with individual steering triggers are the worst. On the other hand, my circa 1990 machine - which has a real differential - is pleasant to use.

[@jdmccorful]

Good work! Thanks for the look.

[@bryanh1944FBH]

Put chains on it and you may like it a little bit better. Well, now that I say that, with that solid axle, chains will make it even harder to turn. On my blower, the "best" combination for me is to unlock one wheel and use chains on both tires (for when I have to lock both wheels). I just wish it was easier to lock/unlock the wheels.

[@hugolafhugolaf]

That particular diff setup wasn’t perfect, but many folks didn’t know how to use it. Besides, your snowblower has a LOT of rust. Snowblowers demande greasing. A lot of it. With very basic maintenance, Ariens like this one should last, well, pretty much forever.

[@JD-ce4so]

My first thought you have been to clean the original parts and reassemble clean and grease them.

[@JeremyMakesThings]

I was hoping it would have been that easy, but I had to do something about that stripped spline and, well, I like to over do things.

[@rallymax2]

I feel your pain, I have the same plow. That clutch not only doesn’t work, if you try to use it, it gets stuck open. The clutch wheel system sucks too. Is there any way to get it tighter in contact with the flywheel?

[@JeremyMakesThings]

On the clutch wheel, I noticed during this that it was pretty wobbly. The bearings sit in two stamped metal housings, and they had spun in them so they were loose. I used some green loctite to glue them in. I slapped it all back together before the loctite had set up, so I can’t say if it really made any difference, but it certainly didn’t hurt. It amazing me how everything on this seemed to be engineered to cut costs

[@jimurrata6785]

Delrin bush wont get eaten by salt. I dont know which might hold up longer.

[@gorak9000]

Does salt attack brass (or bronze)?? Bushings usually do ok outside, but I'm not sure about if they're bothered by salt

[@jimurrata6785]

@@gorak9000 it attacks zinc, so brass is worse off than bronze. But both will freeze to water, while the slush in a snowblower will not get seized up by the bushing freezing to the shaft if delrin is used. Chlorides really love to attack all kinds of metals. Even gold is not immune to aqua regia _because_ of the little bit of hydrochloric acid.

[@Cole-xq2tl]

Are you sure that using an EV to plow snow will be wise? I've been seeing a lot of EVs on the news that have had to be towed because they won't run in the extreme cold. How will your Jeep be different?

[@roseroserose588]

It's generally not that they dont run in the cold - there are plenty of cold countries where EVs are working just fine. That being said they do have their own issues in the cold to be aware of. Transport evolved recently did an episode about this, it seems the issues were mainly down to crappy chargers and people running out of battery while sat in the queue waiting for a charger to be available - if you're on your own property and charging overnight (ie the battery will stay full and warm) there shouldnt be any major problems

[@JeremyMakesThings]

^^that is a pretty good answer. Out Of Spec Reviews also did a really good analysis of the recent problems in Chicago: kzbin.info/www/bejne/gWeXeYRrj7WZmrMsi=ip_4qOnCd28ZFe_o But basically, if you can charge at home (or work, or really anywhere other than relying solely on fast chargers), they’re fine. The range is lower, in part because you have to heat the battery (at least at very cold temperatures), but I should have no problem plowing my driveway with it. And it should make for a good video to discuss these issues.

[@canonsonico3752]

85 dollars to get snowblower walking again. *NOOOO!* 75 bucks for a random piece of rotten iron that looks like a tailgate for the jeep *YEEEEEEAAAH!!!*

[@kendingsor]

I like the part where you made your terrible machine spin its wheels again.

[@stewartfrye]

Only thing worse than a snow blower is a lawn mower.

[@daleolson3506]

Wanna stop hating our snow blowers?buy a Honda walk behind or a kubota tractor with cab and front blower.

[@dflores3803]

It’s always better/easier to blow snow that hasn’t been previously walked on….just sayin’.