Power Auger Maintenance

No matter brand name all power augers require some tender lovin’ care through out the ice season.
My Lazer Mag is checked every outing making sure the blades are tight (after loosing one this year) and the auger bolt is tight, funny how things can back themselves out. I now also wrap a piece of tape around the collar over the auger bolt so it can only back out so far.
When it is time to replace blades on an auger….replace them. Dull blades will really give your clutch and power plant a work out they don’t need.

Another tough lesson learned, after fishing in the rain make sure to take the auger indoors for a good drying…..nothing worse than a frozen throttle on the ice. Which bring me to, caring a can of WD-40 it is a life saver at times.

After a few outings I also like to give the power plant a little degreasing. Using a rag soaked with degreaser the oil is wiped cleaned from the muffler and compression release button along with the rest of the power plant.

Keep in mind, dirt destroys and with a little maintenance your power equipment will keep you happy for yours.

How many keep up on the maintenance and what have I missed? A clean auger is a happy auger

Happy drillin’ iceheads

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A clean auger is a happy auger

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And a warm auger makes a happy angler.

Good read Bret,

One thing that I like to do is put Seafoam in the tank and run that through the carb. hopefully removing any gunk. Putting Stabil in the gas never hurts either.

About the screws loosing themselves up. I put the white thread tape on my blade screws and my auger shaft screw. I have not had any problems yet either losing blades or auger being loose.

i just cleaned the air filter…the gunk they collect over the years

How often do you change plugs? Think its been a few years since mine has seen new plugs.

Do you guys ever do anything with the gear case. Mine has had a slow leak for a long time but still seems to be working fine. Most of the time when I start tinkering with stuff like this it ends up worse than when I started.

Never did get my rusted auger fixed up last year either. It a good thing they make these augers almost bullet proof.

The plug in my Lazer Mag is on its third year. After a lookin’ over before heading out this season. It still looks pretty and without any build up. With that said, I did purchase a spare.

As with the gear case/clutch, I haven’t had it leak. After the first years use I thought I did until noticing it was just an oil/dirt build up always on the trigger side. Then it clicked, it is the side that always is placed down and oil doesn’t run up hill

I never had one apart either so all I could do is help you mess it up and it sounds like you can do that yourself

Thanks for the thread tape hint and the air filter reminder guys

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Good read Bret,

One thing that I like to do is put Seafoam in the tank and run that through the carb. hopefully removing any gunk. Putting Stabil in the gas never hurts either.

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No reason to run Stabil if you’re running Seafoam, Seafoam will stabilze the Gas for upto 2 years, couldn’t get me to buy Stabil again.

good subject, very good advice everyone pretty well covered it all. but thank you for reminding us.

I’ve always done the SeaFoam thing to my auger. After 9 years I finally replaced the spark plug a couple days ago. The old one didn’t look too bad, but it was taking a few extra pulls to get it started. Now that I replaced the plug, she fires right up like she did when she was new.

Now if I could only get the clutch to work properly. For some reason the auger bit turns all the time. It just started to do it this year. I haven’t tore into it yet and was hoping to get some advise from someone else who has had one apart. It’s a 9 year old Eskimo with a 2hp Tecumseh motor. Anyone have a qucik fix for me?

Ben it sounds like your clutch may be rusted take her apart to be sure and if it is clean it out with brake cleaner and maybe give the surfaces a light sanding to smooth out any pitting. Do not use oil or grease on the clutch. If that doens fix you up you will need to get a clutch kit or a new clutch.

Hope this helps

Ajs

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I’ve always done the SeaFoam thing to my auger. After 9 years I finally replaced the spark plug a couple days ago. The old one didn’t look too bad, but it was taking a few extra pulls to get it started. Now that I replaced the plug, she fires right up like she did when she was new.

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I just replaced the 9 year old plug on my LazerMag, too, for the same reason and it’s back to just like new.

Thanks for the reminder Bret. I was wondering where you purchased your new blades for your auger. Thinking that this is the last year for my blades. Thanks

I picked up my blades up at Gnd. Mnt. In La Crosse. If you need them you should get them now, they become hard to find after January because the big box store starts to think of spring….a little early if you ask me

You can also order them online from StrikeMaster

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I’ve always done the SeaFoam thing to my auger. After 9 years I finally replaced the spark plug a couple days ago. The old one didn’t look too bad, but it was taking a few extra pulls to get it started. Now that I replaced the plug, she fires right up like she did when she was new.

Now if I could only get the clutch to work properly. For some reason the auger bit turns all the time. It just started to do it this year. I haven’t tore into it yet and was hoping to get some advise from someone else who has had one apart. It’s a 9 year old Eskimo with a 2hp Tecumseh motor. Anyone have a qucik fix for me?

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My Strikemaster does this, I’ve chalked it up to the idel being a bit high, and maybe now you notice because it’s running great again.