Outdoor Power Equipment (Lawn Mowers, Snow Blowers, Chain Saws and more) Discussions

Guys,

I have 2 Tecumseh Snow King 8hp engines.

One is a "HMSK80 155444S (D) 3348D", in my old MTD and has an alternator (but no light). The flywheel is 611093. It obviously has magnets in it (I have measured voltage from the alternator while running).

The other is a "HMSK80 155316S (D) 3159D", in my "new" Ariens ST824, and does not have an alternator. The flywheel is 611091. I saw something saying that 611091 does not have magnets.

I'd like to move the alternator to the engine that doesn't have it, so I can add a light to the new machine. I took some shrouds off the alternator engine tonight, hoping that I could simply unbolt the alternator. Naturally, it can't be that easy. The flywheel would have to come off of each machine, to swap everything around. It sounds like the flywheels would also have to swap. I've never removed a flywheel. For that matter, I've never had a headlight on a snowblower. I like the idea of a light, but I'm now wondering if it's worth the trouble, and the risk of breaking something in the process :) I have 2 working engines currently. I don't want to end up with 0 that work.

Can anyone give me a sense of how difficult & risky it is to remove a flywheel? For what it's worth, the Ariens appears to have been stored outside at some point, and is quite rusty. So that could perhaps be a factor in trying to remove its flywheel. Any feedback would be appreciated. I've gotten by this long without a light, maybe the smart thing is to leave everything alone, and sell the MTD the way it is. Thanks.

RedOctobyr, you are the flywheel-removing king!

trouts2, thanks. I was afraid of that, though it kind of makes sense. If the coil is at the outer edge of the flywheel (regardless of the style), it's at a larger radius, and will exert a greater torque against the flywheel when the magnets go past the coil. That, presumably, contributes to why you need a greater torque on the flywheel nut to hold the flywheel in place relative to the crankshaft, and keep it from spinning and shearing off the key. I took the pull starter shroud back off and tightened it to 58 ft-lbs.

I picked up an Optronics TL-10CSW round utility tractor light today at Walmart for $12, along with a switch and some wire. Unfortunately, the included bulb is 36W, it's a PAR36 4411 bulb. My alternator can only put out 18W. I'm afraid I would damage the alternator by trying to draw more than its rating. I apparently need to get a PAR36 4414 bulb, which is 18W. Looking around online, the best price I can find online for the bulb is $15+ after shipping. Given that I paid less for that for the whole light, I am hoping I can find the bulb cheaper locally :) If anyone knows a cheaper source, I'd welcome any info.

A tip- if you have a light like that, and you need to remove the bulb, here's one way to do it. The housing is a stiff rubber, you need to stretch the housing out to a larger diameter so you can push on the back of the light, and pop the bulb out the front of the housing. I tried to do that a winter room temperature, and could not. So I set the oven to Warm, and put the light in the oven for 10 minutes. Took it out, the rubber was soft and flexy, I stretched the front of the housing and pushed on the back of it, and the bulb popped right out. I hadn't found any useful info on how to remove the bulb, so wanted to share what I tried, in case it helps anyone.

Light:
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Utility-Flood-Light/16680060

manjestic, I know a lot of the light info is a rehash of what you mentioned above. And the light I bought is very similar to the one you linked to, but I was able to find this one locally, whereas Home Depot only sells that one online. But the bulb numbers were confusing me for a while, so I wanted to mention that 4411 bulbs appear to be 36W, and the 4414 bulbs are 18W. I was searching for a 4411 18W bulb, for instance, because I hadn't yet figured out that the 4xxx numbers apparently correspond to wattage. The PAR36 is the bulb size, and remains the same. There are also trapezoidal-beam, spot, and flood bulbs. My light came with a trapezoidal pattern bulb. The trapezoidal or flood seem to be the style you want for this purpose.