My snow blower’s not working…

You guys will love this. I do small engine, lawn/garden, and small outboard repair for friends, neighbors, etc.

So I was just saying to Mrs. Grouse at dinner last night, it’s funny with 6 inches of snow on the way, nobody has called yet with the usual “first big snow” issues with snow blowers. Almost all of them are improper storage, you guys know the drill. There are usually about 2 or 3 to work on. Strange. Maybe my preaching about before-storage prep is paying off?

9:14 PM. Ring! My phone goes off.

“Hi. It’s Dave from just down the street. Right next to Antonio?”

“Dave. Long time no see. Hey, have you seen the forecast? Looks like about 6 inches of snow. How about those Vikings?” I can’t resist torturing him with chit chat, Scandanavians hate that when there’s a snowblower crisis brewing.

“Uh, yeah, go Vikes. Anyhow… ummmm… hey my snowblower isn’t running too well and I was wondering if you could have a quick look-see?”

“Well, I’m pretty booked up, but how does February look for you? I can do the 26th?” I can’t stop myself.

“Ummm, I was hoping for a little sooner. Like maybe tonight?”

So long story short, I finally extract the confession out of him. The 2 stage blower runs, but won’t move in forward or reverse. Auger runs, but no drive.

But here’s the totally awesome part. I ask the guy when did this issue start and he says, “Umm, I think it happened back in about February. I just kind of pushed the blower to make it work for the rest of the season. And then I forgot about it…”

Guy breaks his snowblower last winter and he’s calling me at 9:00 the night before a big snow hoping for a quick fix! You can’t make this sh!t up.

I told him to get it over here, and the guy is literally already standing in my driveway! With the flippin’ machine! I had to laugh. It turns out the guy’s father and mother-in-law are coming in for the weekend and in the FIL’s eyes Dave is next to useless. I felt bad for the guy and he brought over a case of beer as a down payment.

But still, this is a totally new one. The snowblower dies LAST year and the guy only thinks of it 4 hours before the first big snow of the FOLLOWING winter. Awesome.

Everybody else got their machine running?

Grouse

Attachments:

1. 

   IMG_20221129_103823229-1-scaled.jpg
   

2. 

   IMG_20221129_103823229-scaled.jpg
   

Grouse that is too dang funny. I had a similar thing happen to me, my LX7 crapped out the last time I used it 2 seasons ago, completely forgot about it. Son took it out early ice the next season and came home ticked because it was broken. Whoops. Sent it in to Marcum and better than new after a few weeks. We all do dumb things. I have a pair off Danner boots I want them to recraft, but I keep forgetting about it. Its been like 8 years I think or close to it. Now the price is astronomical, but I need to get it done because they dont make them like these anymore.

I know what’s wrong with it! Ain’t got no gas in it!

haha that’s a pretty good one, 9 months is a pretty good length of time to let that problem sit. Although, can hardly blame the guy, seems like every time I turn around there’s another thing to fix or another project to do.

Hopefully he makes it worth your while for the emergency service and not just a case of beer kind of thing!

Does not surprise me one bit. I have stories about auto repair that in your wildest dreams you couldn’t make up the story. All of them are true.

It isn’t a snowblower but it runs. Only have to mount the plow and hope the winch works before I get any real snow, already put the HD springs on the front so it doesn’t sag as much when I raise the plow up

pretty funny. cant say im much better though. my snowblower died 2 years ago. last year i attempted to replace the carb myself and got it running one time but never again. Been using a shovel for the better part of 2 years and TBH i dont miss the snow blower at all. heavy, hard to move hunk a temperamental junk as far as im concerned.

nice of you to fix your neighbors things for them though! The world needs more neighbors like you

mayhaps I should go start mine one of these days!

My recoil broke last year and I have yet to fix it. I hope the electric start continues to perform well. Odd problem I know, but the thing always started in 1 or 2 pulls so I never used the started until now…

Mine started right up this morning. But I finally did everything I should before I put it away last spring. Imagine that. It works!

Oh the stories I could tell !!!!
Then lets figure this into it, the guy that owned it first said it quit the last time he used it six years ago, the dealer says its too old to get parts for and they wont mess with it, I’ve had three other places look at it, two buddies helped and I tried, and it still wont go, Doc, do ya think ya can save it? I gave five hunnert for it and it just has to be worth something aint it???

Me, yep, I can make it run but it will cost two times more than a brand new model will, them, well, go ahead then, I will never get my five hundy back.
Me, you do realize I am two months out and it will take a week to get it torn down, a week to machine/weld/bore all of the necessary parts for it dont you??
Them, I was hoping to use it tomorrow, me, that will cost ten times more, and it will still take a week but I will only do that if you call all of my customers on the list and get their okay to cut in line ahead of them.

Them, what if they get mad at me and hang up?, me, then you will wait your turn and it will be done when its done.
Them, I guess I should of came here sooner huh??
ME, heres your sign.

And believe it or not, customer shows up three weeks ago, the trans cooler in the radiator let go and now there is antifreeze in the trans and trans fluid in the coolant, told the guy it would be three weeks before I could get to it.
He says he will check other places to get it done sooner, I wish him good luck.
Yesterday, he shows up and wonders if I can still do it the second week of Dec.
Nope, I am booked into the third week of Jan and it will be the fourth week of Jan now.
It is in the books and he said he will call next week to see if anyone canceled so he can bring it in sooner.

Oh,and Grouse, if ya need a job working on outboards, I could use another guy, pretty sure I can keep ya busy until March.

How does someone even have those size balls??!!!
Mine comes out in September when the weather’s nice.
Lube, oil, check all the tension everywhere, fire it up, run around the driveway a few times then wait for snow.
Pretty simple…….

Crappy part about that story is you reminded me i had to push mine back to the garage the last time last year. Damn as if today wasnt bad enough.

you can’t help but laugh at some people. so what was the issue with the guys snowblower? I’m guessing the bolt on the drive axel sheared off? if so, it makes it even funnier when its an easy fix

If my blower died I would do the exact same thing. Push it in a corner and forget about it. But I guess some people are far superior. Difference is, when it snowed I would rightfully pull out the wrenches and get to work.
Oh damn that was my life for the last 9 minutes, and now it works and I have a plowed driveway. Can’t even make that up

Your a better man than me Grouse.He would wait his turn or use the shovel.
Maybe the FIL is on to something.

Curious minds want to know what was broken? But more importantly what kind of beer did he get you and how many did it take to fix it?

Umy wrote:

How does someone even have those size balls??!!!
Mine comes out in September when the weather’s nice.
Lube, oil, check all the tension everywhere, fire it up, run around the driveway a few times then wait for snow.
Pretty simple…….

Mine was done a month ago too. It’s way easier in the warm weather.

mahtofire14 wrote:

Mine started right up this morning. But I finally did everything I should before I put it away last spring. Imagine that. It works!

Same. I started it yesterday just to make sure too. It’s amazing how much better an engine runs with routine maintenance.

MX1825 wrote:

Does not surprise me one bit. I have stories about auto repair that in your wildest dreams you couldn’t make up the story. All of them are true.

I can only imagine. In college, I worked for an uncle who owned an appliance repair business. The number of calls the Wednesday before Thanksgiving was amazing. Oven not working, can you come right away? Most of the time it hadn’t been working for 3-6 months…

Gitchi Gummi wrote:

you can’t help but laugh at some people. so what was the issue with the guys snowblower? I’m guessing the bolt on the drive axel sheared off? if so, it makes it even funnier when its an easy fix

In fairness, it wasn’t what I’d call an easy fix. Somehow he managed to shear off both bolts that attach the wheels to the axel, so you’re right there. However, the bolts (well, it was actually one bolt, one spring retainer pin) broke off and the stubs were both rusted in the axel holes.

With the dish of the rim, I couldn’t get a punch in to knock the stub out of the axel and the end of the stubs were mushroomed over so the wheels were wedged on the axle and I couldn’t pull them off to improve access to punch out the broken bolt stubs. One wheel was also rusted to the axle itself. Ug.

A zesty marinade of Deep Creep and then a flame grilling with the torch, and then I managed to use an air hammer with a short hammer bit and a cut-off bolt as a stubby punch to knock just enough of the stub out the end so I could grab it and work it out with a Vise Grips. I also got the rusted wheel off. Needless to say, I greased both axles with anti-seize so hopefully the next guy doesn’t have the same problem getting the wheels off.

Don’t let your wheels rust to the axle shafts on snowblowers!

He had his blower back by 1:00 and was doing his driveway at 5:00, just in time for the inlaws to arrive for the MIL’s annual Mall of America 4-day holiday shopping trip. This makes the FIL grumpy I guess because he hates the MoA and shopping in general, so it’s going to be a damn love-in over at the Johnson’s house tonight.

Funny story but not too funny for me. My damn snow blower is doing the same thing. I’ve brought it in to 2 different shops the last 2 years. I’ve paid close to 300.00 between the 2 repairs. After last year having it fixed in about Feb. the first time I had to use it I made it up and down the drive about 2 times and again no drive. It works fine right after starting but quits shortly after it is under load. Had to push it manually up and down my drive. I should have brought it back as soon as I noticed it not working again. You would think a guy would learn by my age.

I went to to start mine. Not first time but been a few weeks for sure.
First pull rope snaps. Not a huge deal to fix but a few f bombs were dropped that I’m sure my neighbor heard.

Went to start mine and nothing. Stupid me didn’t drain the gas last spring, changed the the plug and drained the carb and I was back in the action.

In the garage door business we have a special customer that only calls in when it is below zero. Sometimes you will get them to drop that their door has been broken for a while but that really doesn’t bother them so they wait until subzero to call. And they are cheap. And I don’t like them.

I always pop mine off in early October so if there is an issue, I can get it fixed before snow flies (usually).

The B&S Ariens hasn’t let me down in 12 years now, as long as I have a handful of shear bolts handy.

I tested mine a month ago. First pull yesterday.

I took mine out before our first snow and it did not want to start and run without the choke on half way. I think its just old gas, but I always use non-oxy 91 and its never been a problem over the summer before. Perhaps as it gets colder it will become less of an issue. We didnt get enough to warrant using it other than to clear paths in the back yard for the dog to poop in and ran fine with the choke on partially.

Grouse that story made me laugh, you have a way with words . I think this guys attitude is the norm for most of society these days though, as our whole neighborhood sounded like a good day for Seafoam last night.

I bought an electric Toro snowblower a couple years ago, always fires right up . For some reason my neighbors never want to use it when they can’t get theirs running….

The opposite of Grouse’s story happened to my son. So he bought a 2006 Pontiac GTO with the LS 6.0 in auto, but the tranny wouldnt go into 3rd or 4th gear. I told him Id pay to have it fixed so it didnt sit like the Fiero he bought this Spring which still doesnt move but at least the engine runs. I gave him some places to call and he was able to find a good deal at a reputable place in town and they had him bring it in. They told him it would be done by Thanksgiving. Last Wednesday we were out hunting and since I had to drop him off at his apartment I said lets drop in and check on it. Low and behold it wasnt even in the shop yet! He told me another week. Obviously this is a car you dont want to be driving in poor roads so he was hoping to drive it a bit before parking for the winter. I know they will do great work, but just irritating.

CaptainMusky wrote:

The opposite of Grouse’s story happened to my son. So he bought a 2006 Pontiac GTO with the LS 6.0 in auto, but the tranny wouldnt go into 3rd or 4th gear. I told him Id pay to have it fixed so it didnt sit like the Fiero he bought this Spring which still doesnt move but at least the engine runs. I gave him some places to call and he was able to find a good deal at a reputable place in town and they had him bring it in. They told him it would be done by Thanksgiving. Last Wednesday we were out hunting and since I had to drop him off at his apartment I said lets drop in and check on it. Low and behold it wasnt even in the shop yet! He told me another week. Obviously this is a car you dont want to be driving in poor roads so he was hoping to drive it a bit before parking for the winter. I know they will do great work, but just irritating.

NEVER, NEVER, NEVER, tell an auto shop “There’s no hurry on this”.
Most reputable shops are so busy it will get pushed off to sometime next year!!
If they can get your vehicle in right away—-BIG red flag to this guy.