Restoring An Old Ariens Snow Blower I Got Free

Some of you may remember this old Ariens snow blower I got for free last year. It was a total mess so I did not touch it till now. But I want a larger snow blower this winter so I am trying to restore this old machine.

I wrestled it into the wagon on the back of my ancient Simplicity garden tractor. I got both of these for free together about 5 years ago. It is a real work horse.

The wagon has a tilt bed which makes it easy to use. I slid the snow blower off the trailer and got to work.

The drive wheels were seized up solid. The engine is missing a carburetor. The auger axle bushings and bearings are shot. The shift, clutch, throttle and drive levers were all frozen solid.

The only thing that did work is that the auger turned and the engine turned with it. That meant the engine is not froze up and the drive works.

I turned the machine on its side and removed the bottom plate to discover a mess of a mouse nest which is what froze up the internal workings of the machine as it absorbed moisture through the years.

I cleaned it out and sprayed everything down heavily with penetrating oil.

I managed to free up most of the chain links. About three or four of them are frozen up pretty badly but I have not given up on them yet.

I also got the auger clutch working so I can disengage the auger drive.

The transmission drive shift handle is still frozen up inside.

Since the engine has been sitting outside in the open all these years I will open it up and see how it looks in the cylinder.

The engine has no spark so at first I figured I would just put a Briggs engine on it but I dont have one that size. I have 3 hp engines and much larger ones but not 5 or 6 hp that I can spare for now.

In the evening I ordered a new carburetor for the Tecumseh engine and a solid state ignition coil to replace the electronics on this tired old engine.

The starter recoil works well and the valves are moving nicely so I figure I can get this engine running. When I have it going, I will get a ring kit and renew the entire engine.

I plan to restore this machine and use it this winter for snow removal. I hope to use as many original pars as possible so I decided to use the original H60 Tecumseh engine that came with it. It is a 6 hp gas engine and the parts are very cheap for it. So it stays.

Once I have it running I will replace the auger bearings and bushings.

I figure I can have this old machine running and the engine fully rebuilt for around $100 or less. That is not bad compared to $1,000 for a new snowblower these days.

Even used these things go for $300 in poor shape to $600 in good running condition. So restoring this old Ariens snow blower will be worth the time and money invested.

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Troy
http://www.thedoityourselfworld.com
http://www.theoffgridproject.com

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