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

Finally got some snow here so I took out most of the fleet to have some fun and put the machines to use.   Beautiful weather.  Crisp, clear with a bit of a breeze but not too bad.   First up is the Craftsman SS then the Toro 221 and finally the Simplicity.  Not too much snow maybe 5 or 6 inches but nice consistency. Fine, fairly dense and dry.  Here's a link to the video:

http://youtu.be/p7U9Jk8s8VM?hd=1

To get the link to work, you have to go back and edit the link the second time.  You will see the link has "javascriptvoid", this will just launch a blank window.  Just replace this "javascript" junk with the youtube link.  Hope that helps.

Anyways, I see the moderator already has corrected the link.

What is the model number of the Craftsman?  The one you have seems to be the older and better made ones.  Seems like a robust machine to experiment on.

I'm not sure I would do it on the Toro though, unless I can get my hands on one with a blown engine cheap.  The design seems to be "optimized" and modifications outside of its design intent would cause failures.

The Craftsman is a 1997 model 5/21.  The model no. on the label is C950-C9505-1.  Made in the USA (by Murray) for the Canadian market. 

Not sure I'd say it's all that much more robust.  When I bought it a year ago, it was pretty much limp dicked and ate a belt within the first hour of use.   I opened it up and found a severely cracked engine mount bracket.  I repaired it with a much stiffer mount and put on an new belt.  I also took a good look at the engine, pulled the exhaust to inspect the bore/piston, pulled and cleaned the carb.  Compression was at factory spec.  Added the string to the governor and   the thing's been great ever since.  It's a lot of snow blower for less than $100.00.  Not sure but I think I got it for $75.00. 

Nice Video.  I really like the Craftsman.  It's sounds like it likes to work.   And enjoys the RPM.  The Toro's always sound a little lugged down to me.  I've got the governor control hooked up
my Old CCR2000.  Going to crank it up a little more next storm we get.  Get snow, light but dense.

Thanks Borat, good comparison of the 3 machines (even if you discount  the performance of the Craftsman somewhat for your mod) and what a beautiful sunset. Shows what a properly maintained & operated machine can do. I bet you just gave a good shove to  ss machine sales now that people have seen what they can do in the right hands. On the other hand, dang! They may all think twice before dumping their old machines!

Thanks for the compliments folks. 


That was actually sunrise and, believe it or not, I shot the video with our Ipad.   I made a special bracket to sit the Ipad in then used a universal camera mount/clamp to hold the bracket.  I then made a coupler to attach the camera clamp to a tripod.    It's much easier to use than my camera and takes HD video.   The viewfinder is the size of the Ipad so it's real easy to see what I'm getting in the frame.  

Anyone planning on obtaining/modifying an old Tecumseh powered MTD/Craftsman/Murray etc. should beef up the engine mount in order to deal with the additional power.   I'm not sure if the mount on my machine cracked due to a bad weld or from vibration fatigue or a combination of both.   Due to the otherwise good condition of the machine, (sans rubber on the paddles),  and the excellent health of the engine, I'm suspecting a poor weld.   Regardless of the cause, with the engine being cranked up to 6000-6500 rpm, I'm estimating that horsepower is probably doubled and could be pushing 10 to 12 h.p. at 6500 rpm.   I cannot verify the actual power output but I do know that when I open the throttle, the performance is more than double that of the stock rpm setting.   With that kind of power,  I can easily see possible flexing of the stock engine mount.  It's a pretty flimsy piece thin sheet metal and it wouldn't take too much  deformation to put the pulleys out of alignment and cause excessive belt wear or throw the belt.   I think the only reason my machine isn't eating belts is due to the rigid motor mount I added. 

Nonetheless, the more I use the Craftsman, the more confidence I have in it's durability.   My experience with two cycle engines leads me to believe that the Tecumseh engine isn't being excessively stressed.   The additional rpm isn't all that much for a well designed two cycle engine and personally, I'm very much impressed with the Tecumseh HSK 850 series engines.  They're well designed and apparently well built.   The engine in the Craftsman was built in 1995 and it runs very well despite it's years.  The machine itself was manufactured in 1997 so the machine has 15 years on it and isn't showing any signs of slowing down.  I'm impressed with that. 

Although I don't have extensive experience with either the R-tek or the Tecumseh two cycle engines, from what I've seen by comparing both engine designs, I'd lean toward a Tecumseh engine if I were re-powering a single stage machine.  Tecumseh HSK850s are pretty scarce to buy new and are quite expensive (so are R-tek engines).  I'd be watching CL or Kijiji for an opportunity at a fraction of the cost of a new engine.

If anyone does acquire an used SS machine and hops it up, let us know how it goes.


 

Nice video borat! I liked seeing what the Craftsman can do.

How are the paddles on that? I don't know the exact gap, but as I recall, I have a decent gap between my paddles and the thrower housing. Unfortunately, the Ariens paddles seem rather expensive (I think I was seeing ~$35, and it seemed like that was for *1* paddle). And they're molded into this funky shape, they're not simply flat pieces of rubber. I saw a video of how to shift your Toro paddles in their mounts to get some more life out of them. I can't do that. I wish the whole rotating paddle assembly was in a slot so that as they wore you could shift them closer to the housing.

It's interesting you mention the vibration issue. I've noticed that my little HSK600 must be trying to vibrate pretty hard. You don't see the engine moving (though I could sure feel it in the handles when I tried blowing without gloves). But when I engage the paddles, the idler pulley is shaking back & forth rather violently. Everything that can be tightened is snug. I think it's the pivot for the idler that's helping to allow the movement, but I wasn't going to try and tear it apart further to check that. Just snugged everything down as best I could and left it. As the engine gets larger (and even higher RPM's; I'm only at 4600) I'd imagine the vibration issues must become more significant. It would be funny if your cranked-up engine was putting out near 10 hp; you'd have a little machine with more power than my "big" 2-stage I'd expect power won't scale up linearly with RPM, the engine presumably runs into some breathing issues as the revs climb, so I'd guess torque may drop off somewhat. But it's still going to be a lot more than stock.

Do you know of other machines that use the HSK850? The Ariens SS522 uses it, not sure what else. Do the Toro CCR2000 & CCR3000 use Suzuki engines? I know those machines seem to have a good reputation.

Pretty much all the MTD/AYP/Murray/Craftsman/Yard Machines etc. used the Tecumseh two cycle engine.   I've got a 2005 MTD that I picked up used/cheap just for the engine.  The whole machine is like new.  It's got a Tecumseh two cycle HSK850 in it.  They're 139 cc engines and certainly capable of making much more than the rated 5  h.p.  

I have a 140 cc Suzuki two cycle powered lawn mower that I cranked up to 6500 rpm.  I found a formula to calculate horse power for two cycle engines.  It took displacement, compression, rpms etc. into account and calculated the power output a various rpms.  The stock engine was rated at 4.5 h.p. at 2800 rpm.  When spun up to 6500 rpm, the calculations revealed close to 12 h.p.   So, estimating close to 10 h.p. for a similar engine running at the same speed isn't to hard to believe.    Torque is another matter.   If kept in the power band, a two cycle will produce some serious torque.  However, once the torque demand exceeds the engine's ability to produce it, a two cycle engine's torque output will drop off quickly.  Unlike a four stroke that will slow down a bit and start to bark but keep making respectable torque until the load becomes too excessive.  When that happens, the engine will just stall. 

Borat,

    Discounting power differences how would you rate the throughput and distance of the two SS's?  Going by the video it seems the 221 is about the same as the Craftsman or slightly less potent at least on distance but it's hood was at a lower angle.

I'd say the Craftsman throws the same amount of snow about 20% further when cranked up.  If used at stock rpms, it would be about 75% less than the Toro.   The Craftsman gives a lot away because there's not a lot of rubber left on the paddles.   If it had fresh rubber, it would be much better.  I kind of like it the way it is.  The Toro pulls too hard going down hill and can be a handful to hold back if the driveway is even a bit slippery.  With the worn  paddles, the Craftsman is easy to control, up and down the hill and moves snow good enough.  Hard machine to beat for the amount I paid for it.