Locked Up Giant-Vac Leaf Blower - Will It Run?

[@DanKoning777]

Maybe the best part of this video was at [0:08] _"Jason brought me two truck loads of small engine equipment."_ Jason, you just made 195k subscribers smile as we started considering what the words might mean in the weeks/months ahead. You may even get a few more Christmas cards than you're use to. *Well done James.*

[@KensSmallEngineRepair]

Giving away stuff that is rotting in my garage is my pleasure Jim! I always put a little lead-in angle on the front sides and top of the key to help it center in the fan keyway on installation.

[@TimDyb]

You're a good man, Ken!! 😇

[@DoubleE-2250]

Ken, something tells me that your donation will keep us James Condon fans happy for many months to come!

[@haneyoakie14]

I watched the Kenny part the other day and just watched Jim’s part. Awesome!!!!

[@Rein_Ciarfella]

Great tip, Ken. Thanks!

[@TimothyPoindexter-o4z]

On the carburetor it has a male plug on it and I am wondering if this is not the natural gas connection that you put on to your grill hoes and I'm wondering what type of coupling are quick connect that fits up on this carburetor or if I'm totally wrong on this thank you in advance

[@leecarroll1817]

Loved the fact you reverted to an old B&S, had an 8hp like that, it outlasted 2 marriages and powered a homemade air compressor for many years. Gave it away and may still work.

[@DunnyvilleGarage]

James, Any a lesser person would have trashed this blower once the water came out of the crankcase. I won't cheat and will watch to the end. Thanks for your instructive/entertaining videos

[@gamingwithmr.fregles8802]

Man you can get almost everything running, sad you couldn't do it today. You're James Condon, known for making 99% of stuff destined for the dump running again. When I watch you, you get the stuff running 99% of the the time, unless their has been a catastrophic engine failure, like what happened today. Man, I love watching you fix stuff, and I would love for you to continue as long as you possibly can, Thank You so much!

[@giovannifoulmouth7205]

I'm sorry but he didn't even try to bring that old engine to life, it had only surface rust, he should've at least try to resurrect it.

[@gamingwithmr.fregles8802]

@@giovannifoulmouth7205 it had bad potting, I would have scrapped it too

[@TheSamplebridge]

as someone who loves tinkering with engines. I absolutely love your channel and how you get everything running, no matter what.

[@BruceBoschek]

Good save on the leaf blower. I had one of those, albeit still with a flat-head B&S that hated starting when it was warm, but was rated at 8.5 hp iirc. The machine also had a bag and could be used as a vacuum. We had a 3 acre park with over 400 trees to take care of and that machine was very valuable. Thanks for the memories.

[@douro20]

The last time I saw this type of blower in use it was in road construction.

[@somejoe7777]

Two things that might help you when welding the broken joint: 1) Attach the cover with all the bolts, then tack-weld the seam in that position. Remove the cover, weld everything, then the cover will go back on without worrying about whether the holes line up. 2) To fix the gap in the rim, use a copper backing plate instead of steel. Clamp it on, then weld to fill the gap. Once cool, the copper plate can be taken off, as the weld metal will not adhere to the copper.

[@toddstanley7804]

More heat !

[@Rein_Ciarfella]

I knew about the copper plate method and was surprised Jim didn't use that. Hopefully he sees your contribution so he can use it in the future. I also thought about mounting the cover plate to align the parts correctly before welding, so great points!

[@scottygdaman]

there's a fine line between determined and waste of time. do appreciate your educational videos.

[@PaulGadoury]

My neighbor had one exactly like it back when I was a kid in the 80's. It made doing yard work so much easier. It worked really well.

[@DoubleE-2250]

Southerner, here. I'm surprised this sort of blower isn't more common down here. Clearly, we have less fall leaves than Connecticut but, man, these would be great for blowing pine straw from lawns.

[@MrTimEarl]

Can't beat a flathead sound and work habits. Thanks James!!

[@methods-SE]

I love this man.... 42 seconds in and I am SOLD!

[@RichardLiebert]

The recover of the snow blower was great, But the autopsy of the bad engine was very informative and educational! Nice Video, as always!

[@v-g-z3689]

Gotta love those old flatheads, espeacially those built before 1990. It´s a pity they stopped making them in 2016, Briggs&Stratton was the last manufacturer. Excellent job on repowering this machine, it does a really good job and makes the cleanup a snap!

[@_RocketRooster]

They were too simple and reliable! I'm surprised they built them as long as they did.

[@v-g-z3689]

@@_RocketRooster I agree, quite an ancient design, but they did the job perfectly and yes, they were probably too reliable.

[@lot27a]

Now THAT is a proper blower. Shameful that it was so neglected. Just looking at the aluminum impellar, you just knew it would move some air. As always, great job James

[@JohnnieBravo1]

Both you guys rock! Thanks Ken for the contribution. Awesome stuff.

[@coaterdave]

After seeing that machine work, I would say it was worth your time to get it going. Very nice.

[@lewiemcneely9143]

I ran a green one like this a lot till the outfit got Stihl backback blowers but the old green Briggs 8-horse flathead sure earned it's keep. And the spring will hold the door so you can have the blower directed streaight ahead. My health won't let me work on this stuff any more so I watch you. The 92 model 5K Coleman with a flathead I/C Briggs ran for 4 days and kept us going here in western North Carolina till the power came back on from Duke Energy(power) during the hurricane. Hadn't run in years but the tank was drained and run dry. Popped 2ice and took off. It was 2nd hand when I got it. Maintenance is the key! God Bless Yall

[@robinjeffryes2575]

You have almost every tool a man could have that's a good thing. Rob from California.

[@nicklutz61]

Wow, that thing gets the job done! Awesome repower video. The old engine "autopsy" was also pretty cool and informative. Thank you James!

[@andyhamilton8940]

I’ve always hear to drill a hole at the end of a crack before repairing? Good job on this James.

[@barrygrant2907]

Stop-drilling. Used often on aircraft sheet metal.

[@almclean4835]

Time bandit - nah, should be a wizard top you have on 😁. Enjoyed the engine strip down, I find it good to see the issues. Ken’s engine runs really well. Another great video

[@CajunGreenMan]

28:30 I had one not this bad, but put the WHOLE engine in my ultrasonic. Couldn't fit the whole thing underwater, so I flipped it over in quarters, ran it for 30 minutes on each of the four sides, worked wonders!

[@wspaulding89]

Ken came in clutch with this one

[@dmaverick2396]

Sir, your patience is inspiring.

[@kd5byb]

One of the BEST small-engine service tools I ever made was a piece of aluminum angle with bolt holes for a variety of small-engine carbs. I can bolt the carb to the angle, put the angle in my bench vise, and I can really honk down on bowl nuts, jets, and other recalcitrant carb fasteners with ease. You should make you one! I bet yours comes out nine million times nicer than mine! 😁😁😁

[@Rein_Ciarfella]

I would have just held the carb in the vice to break that bowl nut free, but your method is definitely great!

[@kd5byb]

@@Rein_Ciarfella I hear ya! I can never get a good enough grip on carbs in my bench vise...always leading to busting them free and tearing them up. ☹

[@kevinfoster1213]

I looked up patience in the dictionary. Low & behold your picture was there. Perseverance had a picture also but twas you 10 years in the future, hammer one hand, whip in the other and your son staring at a rusty B & S engine..

[@adamspivey]

Holy cow, that thing blows them leaves like crazy! Very useful machine!

[@mjg263]

Walk-behind blowers are the ONLY way to deal with leaf cleanup IMO. I used to waste hours every fall clearing my lawn with a noisy ineffective backpack blower until I finally bought a good used 8hp walk behind blower on marketplace. Total game changer. I can get all of the leaves lined up in a long row by the shrubs then use the lawn mower to chop them up and shoot them under the shrubs for mulch in about 1/3 of the time it used to take. Of course I have to do it over and over again because my neighbors don’t clean up their leaves so they all blow onto my lawn, but at least it’s easier to deal with now! They seem to work best when you pull them behind you or tilt them up when going forward, they’re not really designed to be pushed forward with weight on the single wheel up front.

[@bobfla47]

I used one of these blowers a few years ago. They are a bear to pull and push up hills. I made a hitch to pull it behind a riding mower. So much easier!!

[@jeffclark2725]

Yea,I can see that work,

[@Rick-S-6063]

At 24:36 you lifted off the valve cover and I said "yuck." Within another second you said "oh boy." Things weren't looking good, but the 1984 B & S flathead saved the day.

[@Rein_Ciarfella]

Thanks for the donation, Ken!

[@nicholasfrediani9466]

James, great video as always bud. As a mechanic who works on rusty stuff all day long my tip for you would be to get a small oxy acetylene setup with like small rosebud tip or just be cautious with a cutting torch to be used for things like heating that flange up good and red. The aluminum pulls so much heat away so quick so you really gotta get after it while its hot hot. Just a suggestion my friend. Thank you for the videos.

[@martinroberts4365]

Great job James. Now you have a beast of a leaf blower for sure. If you parked it at the front door and opened the back door, dusting done in an instant!

[@eric_seguin]

I know that you specialize in generators and I commend you on your expertise. I have none on generators. You make very understandable videos. Some of these YT guys make me want to spit with all their drama and quirky BS. When you work on other stuff you are the best. Sorry, not into generators. Thanks for taking the time to share all that you do with us.

[@WhatTheTarnation.]

Very nice save! Now continue down the OCD rabbit hole and new matching red paint on the blower housing, white handles, and replace the old paint sprayer wheels with propper red center hub wheels...like you don't have enough to do.

[@American_Jeeper]

THAT machine is the America I know, the days when we took pride in what we built (as evidenced by the decal), a K.I.S.S. machine with no frills, but made to stand the test of time with proper care and maintenance. Great video as always, Jim, thanks for the enjoyable morning.

[@BillMalcolm-tn3kq]

Darn good video. Amazing the number of people who obviously don't pay attention to what's said or what's shown, but leap to conclusions which make sense only to them, and think that dumping the old original Yamaha engine in a bucket of evaporust would bring back the engine to life, no sweat. As an example. I bet it would even repair those rusted-up ball bearings so they were minty-rolly new, why sure it would, yessiree. Nobody bothered to look up spare parts prices say for rings or even considered the high cost of evaporust. No, just a bit of the old elbow grease, a strip of emery cloth and bob's your uncle. She'd purr like a top. What a hoot. Carry on as usual, Mr Condon! I did like the vroomm roar of the fan in that smaller leaf blower at Ken's Mow it all. But that one's engine is now doing its duty on the big leaf blower featured here. Neat.

[@TomsLife9]

"honey I'm keeping this one, I did the lawn in 45 seconds!" also loving that time bandit shirt.

[@_RocketRooster]

I love them old Briggs engine's. I've got an old 5 hp that someone put on the side of the road for junk. It was missing the carb/fuel tank but looked like it was barely used. With a shot of gas in the intake, it fires first pull! That was when Quality meant something.Wish we could bring that back !

[@jamespeters920]

Fossil fuels aren't going anywhere. Nice job James!

[@oboewankenobo8675]

That blower works great. What a time saver. Especially on driveways, sidewalks and lawns that are next to wooded areas where you can blow the leaves back into the woods. Beats humping a backpack blower around.

[@michaelripley4528]

Very satisfying ending!!! I Love those Old Briggs too😜 Always reminding of my grandfather and when i was lawnmoving at his holliday House +40 yrs ago!!

[@somerandomguy3868]

My father brought one of these, very similar machine mid 70's and said more than once it was the best money he ever spent, that Briggs fit like it was made for it, great video

[@javig5045]

Amazing, 40 year old briggs going strong still, good job Amigo.....Javi G.

[@electricboatal]

That worked out to be a nice save. There is something that I had forgotten about leaf blowers. The sound of modern blowers is at a significantly higher rpm therefore they make a frequency of sound that I find very irritating. For some reason every time I hear one start I know that the irritating noise will continue for quite a long time and I will have to put in ear plugs. The old iron such as this works very well without the high pitched noise. Somewhere in my stuff I have one that I quickly cobbled together using a 10 horsepower B&S engine with a round engine cooling fan from a Bell 47 helicopter. It is a round fan with about fifty small blades and it is fairly quiet. The force from it quite powerful so it doesn’t need full throttle. The power is significant and if you let go of the handle it will push it backwards quickly. It blows forward because the thrust sideways is more than I felt like controlling. I have three very large Willow Oak trees in my front yard and the leaves are thin and long. Blowing them with modern blowers takes a fair amount of time. My old blower did it in about one quarter of the time that it currently does now. I have a lawn company do it now and that is better than me doing it. I will see if I can find the old beast and send you some photos. You will get a laugh from it for sure. Nothing like building something super powerful to do a small job. Today I have Ryobi electric hand held blowers that are quite easy to listen to just for small cleanup work. They are perfect for blowing off a deck.

[@Roy_Tellason]

That's exacctly what I bought my lady and the use that I had in mind, though more for that white stuff than for leaves.

[@KevinTodd]

The welding skills are coming right along

[@randallfawc7501]

Lot of work went into it. But most time was on the old motor. NOW.... You were having way too much fun with it! :

[@jonathonchalk6603]

I knew you were gonna have that problem with the Harbor Freight Engine hitting the housing of the blower cover and not having enough of the shaft to work with. I had the same problem when trying to use a the Harbor Freight engine to replace a Briggs and Stratton on an MTD Chipper/Shredder - In fact, I'm pretty sure it is/was the same engine you worked on in your "Briggs Engine Rebuild - Another Chance at Life" video from about a year ago. Since the old engine housing and block were in about the same condition as the engine you took off that blower, my "Plan B" - once I found out that the Harbor Freight engine wouldn't fit, was to be patient and keep a lookout for something that would on the local online marketplace. After a few months I found the exact same complete machine for sale for about $150. So I snagged it and it works great - it needed nothing but an oil change and some fresh gas. Now, of course, I have several useful parts/components from the original that I've been meaning to put up for sale on the local online marketplace site, but I've not yet got around to doing that.

[@davidhopple-ff2fq]

James, Thank you for sharing another great video. After watching you struggling with a loose engine block why don’t you drill some holes in your lift table to match the engine block mounting holes, add a piece of wood to be placed between the block and the lift table and bolt the engine block down so it’s not moving around while you are working on it. Even two holes would help significantly. Just a thought. Thank you

[@jcdelmore]

I’m from the HVAC industry, I have worked on 100’s of blowers in my 38 years. I would suggest using never seize on the bushing and bolts for future service and just for lubrication during Assembly. Thank you for the mechanical entertainment.

[@jodydoakes8754]

I think you could have saved the Kohler! It would have been worth it, but the old Briggs will work too. Enjoy your videos. I always learn something.

[@rogercollins2653]

My friend you've not had one this bad in a long time I love the fact that you post even if it's going to turn out bad for us who have very little knowledge on small engines You do help each one of us just in case we're in this particular spot I will think to myself hey what would James do in this case. 😊

[@robertcochran7103]

Thank you for posting this really excellent video. This brings back memories of my grandfather's rototiller. I'm sure the tiller had a Briggs engine just like the one you are using here. Your friend Ken certainly has my thanks for supplying you with the engine. I was a little surprised that it started the first pull....but those old engines were really well built. I hope the metal you found in the old engine oil is not pointing to some serious problem for the engine. Another part of me also wishes that the Predator engine had fit properly for you. I did not know that Harbor Freight sells engines. It would have been fun to see one installed and used. I hope the store gave you a refund without a restocking charge. Thanks again for supplying such an excellent engine teardown/device repair/replacement engine install video.

[@jlr8356]

Nice full set of tools an pullers in motion. Awsome

[@ThingsTokeepBusy]

Hey, James, I've been watching your stuff for a long while now. And as far as this blower goes me personally, I clean it up. Get those berries going again. And resurfacing the the cylinder. Slapping it all back together and using it. That's a good running engine style just a little more Tl. C. Good to go, but 19 is out of 10. You're probably going to resell the unit me. Personally, I keep it for myself.

[@hirampritchard5588]

Awesome work horse of a blower and that Brigs engine makes it look old school. Love it!

[@billkinsey2690]

😊

[@reubenjohnson3865]

Love those old flatheads!

[@Rick2367]

Great video! I knew you wouldn’t disappoint! Also a bonus that the blower is powerful enough to blow the leaves into the NEIGHBOR’S yard. 😅😮😅😊

[@brianwood5220]

It makes me so sad to see that people spend good money on these things and then don't keep up the maintenance needed to keep them running right. Anyway, a big thanks to ken for helping you out with an engine. An entertaining video as always, James and thanks for sharing.

[@TimDyb]

You're the luckiest man at removing rusty bolts!!! Also, a video like this is why you have nearly 200K subscribers!

[@renegade6785]

Another great Job 👍 Nice to see that You bring old Equipment right Back around!

[@fayiznalu8411]

It's always impressive watching you fix things...!!! I learned a lot by watching your videos. Thank you. 😊

[@stephenreiner1523]

I've used those for weeks at a time. They are great for leaves especially with that big fan in there.

[@ste8120]

Amazing work very impressed with that leaf blower well worth the time and energy to bring it back to life and get many more years out of it well done

[@zedman-grayman]

I don’t have a third of the tool you have and an eighth of the skill. I m encouraged to do my stuff. Thanks again Jim

[@RequiredSugar]

As always, this video delivers! We get a teardown and a re-powered tool in the same video. I'm always impressed by your analytical thinking.

[@BruceBoschek]

I just remembered that I modified our blower to use 15" bicycle wheels which made it much more pleasant to push around. I just made some metal plates that brought the hubs up high enough that the distance to the ground was unchanged. The front wheel can remain as you just tip back if it gets stuck. Self-propelled versions are much heavier, complicated and costly.

[@cptyler150]

That red 8 HP Engine sounds awesome

[@WasLostButNowAmFound]

Love the format of your videos, I hope you keep it just the way it is.

[@Narwaro]

That is some crystal clear water coming out of there! The owner must have taken good care of the engine 😂

[@philipbreau1246]

Looks like water was used for lube. Trying to make a water cooled engine. Too bad cylinder was bad. I would have liked to see you rescue the old engine. Great video as always. Thanks for posting.

[@rhbofwcc]

Many drill a hole at the end of a crack to prevent spreading before welding. Still looks like a good repair. Thanks for sharing.

[@anthonybermingham7445]

Thanks James from Anthony in Ireland

[@bayareaboyds]

Ha! First comment! Really really enjoy your videos. Super informative. You are a great teacher! Keep up the great work.

[@jcondon1]

Thanks

[@Bradleyscience]

Wow, that was indeed a significant undertaking and very well done!! Cheers

[@kevindaly5093]

I have an older version of that same blower and it came from the factory with that same Briggs & Stratton engine. Starts first pull every year and get the job done. Sure beats raking!

[@jesterr7133]

You are correct about these engines. They were manufactured in Japan by Yamaha.

[@MrJmattr3]

I love your videos! Now I’m on marketplace looking for a walk behind leaf blower! Keep up the great work!

[@DoubleE-2250]

Who wasn't surprised that an unknown 40 year-old flathead Briggs came to life on the first pull?

[@larryse8749]

I did wear out one of those 8 hp flat heads on my Little Wonder doing 2 acres for many years, and re engine-ed with a 10 hp Briggs OHV which is even nicer, I agree with the manual pushing on hilly ground, but it is what it is. Good video. LS

[@andrewgrace4410]

Nice find James, thing blows sticks 👍🏾🐈‍⬛🐕

[@cartoonist1975]

so glad you came back with thay 8 briggs . at 1st i thought you were gonna choose a 39o honda but that briggs was the perfect fit james

[@TradeWorks_Construction]

That blower is is nuts! I’ve always had to do it the hard way with a rake and bucket … You’ve shown me the light.

[@electricboyo]

Wow! This machine was a corral for critters! Also this video confirms that I’m not the only person who does post-mortems on hopelessly broken items. I am always driven to learn why things failed. I wonder if this machine was in a flood? There’s an awful lot of internal rust/corrosion. Too much for it simply to have been stored outdoors for a long time?

[@berniken6511]

Well done James, I knew you would get it running, you always do. It certainly moves some air........................berni

[@michaeldecker2725]

I did exactly this several years ago for our church. The predator engine has never failed to start within 5 pulls ( mostly less) and the blower as powerful as any contemporary unit.

[@mmcc310]

Thank you I really enjoyed watching this 1 come apart These are the kind of jobs I end up getting

[@craigread179]

Great Job suggest you drill a hole at the end of the crack to stop it from running. Love the channel.

[@cuttheknot4781]

This particular episode blew me away (yes, I said it). Awesomeness, as always.

[@billgeorge7804]

That engine looks like it was in a flood. What a shame. Great video as always.

[@ddblairco]

thank you James

[@neiltheplayer]

Nice re-power James. Thanks for posting

[@sjanninck]

James, You saved it! Great work! Love you efforts and videos. Steve

[@curtisking2962]

Great video,James. I could certainly use one of those for sure. Thanks for sharing. See you next week.

[@jesterr7133]

Definitely save that old flywheel. I never saved them, but I learned my lesson on that. I am working on a riding mower for a friend of mine that had a flywheel failure. The flywheel for that engine is discontinued (215700), and is nearly prohibitively expensive. The mower is in near perfect condition, but it is 17 years old, and since it also needs a few other things, the project is on hold until I can find one cheap enough to make it worthwhile.

[@robinjeffryes2575]

It's amazing how many critters get inside those motors. Rob from California.

[@arthurbiringer5676]

Another award winner! Great job!

[@rickyj2013]

Watching you turn that spark plug out with a breaker bar instead of a ratchet made me die a little inside