Underdog

WOW, 3500.  That's quite a milestone.  Quite a testament to the good will here.

I was in the dealer just the other day and I did not hear about anything new.  There is a slightly different snowblower sold in parts of Canada.  Maybe a test market for something new?   Yamaha is supposed to have an announcement this February (2010) regarding their snowblower line-up for the North American Market, but this is nothing but a rumor so far.

markejo wrote: Sure. The bolts were not threaded into the top cap when they are being attached to the impeller. The threaded holes in the "TOP CAP" are only there to screw the bolts (once removed) into the topcap to exert a force and push the "top cap" off of the impeller. The three long bolts also have lock washers.
I have removed other impellers and this design is ingeniuos (in my opinion). By contrast, a Billy Goat blower impeller can be a bear to remove, and a Little Wonder impeller (once removed) will probably not fit any stock engine. Not that these other blowers aren't great machines.

I found a place about 30 minutes away that has a float in stock for $33.46 with tax. (Most of the outdoor power equipment dealers in my area have abandoned Kawasaki for some reason but John Deer dealers carry the parts with a different part number system).  If I buy it in person at least I'll have the chance to hold the two floats up next to each other and compare.  If I knew that everything else on the engine was in working order I would not hesitate to snatch that float up. And  I  see the point about not wasting my time just to save and extra $10 to $15 not to mention all the frustration that comes with getting the wrong part.  At the same time I'd like to learn from past mistakes and not go crazy.  I'm working on getting the rest of the carb cleaned out. I  was thinking of patching the float together just long enough to get the engine running to diagnose other potential issues.  What if this engine is standing on death's door and something is really really bad.  Without knowing the history of the Ransome I'm at a real disadvantage.  I could take thin needle and pluck the float together like a voodoo doll.

<BR> friiy wrote: <BR>I have no idea. From the looks of the rest of things, Ransome seems to be ok. I don't think they are still around though. <BR>I don't see their name anywhere locally. I think the company may have originally been from the UK? I seem to recall a Ransome mower that was used to mow the greens on a golf course. I'm sure that by the time (if?) it runs again, the leaves will be history.
I'm following the tricks I learned here to clean up the carb.