[tracktortag]

I remember it being said that these couplings are rare birds. I don't have any ideas of where to find one except on another blower, Richard's, etc. Might using a higher grade of bolt be better than a roll pin?

 

[jrd]

Might using a higher grade of bolt be better than a roll pin?

Maybe. The good news about a roll pin is that it expands to fill the hole, so no chafing. But a bolt might be overall stronger.

My first step is going to be to swap the worm shaft, clean up and lube the coupling, and try fitting everything back together. If that's good enough, I may be able to get away that way, and work out a way to redo the splines on the worm shaft later. I can build up the chewed up area with weld. My milling machine with a pointed cutter will cut new splines. But that 23 thing is going to be a problem. I may have to buy/make some better disks for my indexing jig to make that work out right.

Always new problems to solve . . .

 

[Early8Q]

I think this is contagious. I was clearing my parents driveway with the 816 and 38 inch blower for the first time in a lot of years and the coupling that is closer to the fan let go. In taking a look I now see that at some point the one on the worm gear side was tack welded. And then upon thinking about it further, the tack weld would explain why there is wobble in the worm gear case; I have noticed the flat top of the Auger housing, where the worm gearbox is bolted to it, pulses up and down with the auger... which then explains the appearance of a universal joint in that driveline on the newer blowers..... This is definitely not a straight driveline, particularly given the years and hours on this machine. Need to make a plan......

 

[jrd]

Need to make a plan......

Sorry

I've still come up with no source for those 3/4" 23-spline couplers.

But the somewhat good news on mine is that more of the wear seems to be on the splined end of the worm gear (going in to the gearbox) than in the coupler itself. So my plan is (first) to swap the worm gear, or maybe the whole gearbox. Then (second) clean up the shaft, build it up with weld, and cut new splines.

That project is waiting on time, and on a new indexing jig. The one I have won't do 23 increments. It's kind of a big hammer to fix one snowblower, but I've had several projects in the last year which need a better one, so I'm just going to get one.

 

[tracktortag]

I was able to get the Phantom 816 running again yesterday after sitting for over a year. I plowed a little snow with it today. I'm starting to think that I didn't get lucky when I re- used the head gaskets after I removed the heads. There is still a mist coming from the breather, and I just noticed a little oil at the top front of the head. I'm going to pick up new gaskets and see if they make a difference.

 

[kyavion]

I got to play in the snow with my 816 for the first time today. Lots of fun. The plow did pretty well, although the underlying layer of ice was tough to break through. I also noticed my plow has a tilt to it. When raised the left side sits lower than the right side, so I suspect the left side gets more downward pressure when the blade is lowered. All in all it worked really well though, and Sheldon’s lift rod spring seemed to add a decent amount of pressure.

 

[tracktortag]

Glad to see that you had a good time plowing with your 816. it is fun.

 

[jrd]

I also noticed my plow has a tilt to it.

Check your axle brackets. If they're even slightly skewed, that will produce a noticable height difference in the ends of the blade. Also check your rear tire pressures. Same thing.

How 'bout some pix of your freshly rebuilt machine?

And +1 on the fun

 

[Ariens93GT20]

I see the blade tilt issue more a problem with front mounted blades. An Ariens blade will almost touch the ground on the low side at full angle. Just have to lower the shoes in the winter time to keep it from digging in. The tilt puts more pressure on outlet side of the blade and helps to keep it from riding over crusty snow.
I have one blade that it has been tempting to fix the mount so the blade remains level threw out the lift range but have yet to get the dedicated tractor running it will be mounted on.
With the LI this is not a problem. But man that blade is heavy.

 

[kyavion]

Check your axle brackets. If they're even slightly skewed, that will produce a noticable height difference in the ends of the blade. Also check your rear tire pressures. Same thing.

How 'bout some pix of your freshly rebuilt machine?

And +1 on the fun

Good points and I’ll make sure the brackets are straight and the tires are the same.

I’ll have to do better and get some pics in the future!

 

[yamato72]

8" overnight on top of the 12"+ that we've gotten over the last week. Ran out of places to push the snow so out came the blower. And I remembered to get a quick vid from the operator position this time.

 

[Ariens93GT20]

We only have about 5" on the ground. Hardly worth moving. More in the forecast before refrigerator temperatures end. 50's predicted next week. So we will see if the dog eater gets used this year. I don't like piling snow that will disappear faster if left alone.

 

[kyavion]

Last night we got a lot of freezing rain. In the midst of it I used the 816 to clear our driveway and move most of the frozen slush before it froze to solid ice. The Gravely did a great job, and some LED bulbs I installed for headlights lit everything up really well. I discovered in this scenario that the plow digs into the ice better by reversing the Gravely and pulling the blade instead of pushing. Moving the hydraulic lever to the down position vs the float position seemed to do better too. A couple times I had a little trouble with the shifter and getting into a different gear. Also, a couple times the mechanism below the shifter got lodged out of place beneath the shifter plate. A screwdriver wasn’t much help to move the mechanism back into place. Any tips for when gears are difficult to engage, or for when the mechanism below the shifter plate gets out of position?

 

[tracktortag]

you need to be more deliberate when going across the "H" with the shifter so that the recesses in the gates underneath the shifter plate line up side to side. Because the "H" gap is wider in the plate than in the gates, it is possible to move the shifter across the "H" without bringing the gate completely along with it. Otherwise, if it just won't quite go into a gear, a slight feathering of the shuttle shifter toward forward, or reverse and then you should be able to complete the shift.

 

[jrd]

you need to be more deliberate when going across the "H" with the shifter so that the recesses in the gates underneath the shifter plate line up side to side.

+1

What's actually going on in there is that there's two sliding shifter shafts with forks on them. One for 1/2, the other for 3/4. There's an interlock between the two shafts so that neither can move out of neutral until the other is in neutral. That's a good thing; if they didn't have that interlock you could engage, for instance, 1 and 3 simultaneously, with really bad results.

You can usually feel the detents on the shafts as you shift. You want to move out of one gear until it's really out (feel it get to the neutral position), and only then move the lever over to select the next. Also, with years of wear, the gates and pushrods can get a bit sloppy, which means you might need to push the lever what feels like a smidge too far to get a gear really disengaged.

 

[kyavion]

Thank you both for the pointers and for explaining how the interlock works. I’ll be sure to pay attention to be sure I’m clearly in neutral and that a gear is clearly disengaged before changing gears.

 

[Newsman]

8" overnight on top of the 12"+ that we've gotten over the last week. Ran out of places to push the snow so out came the blower.

Your setup looks like it just came off the showroom floor. Especially the blower. That chute doesn't appear to have ever seen and sand or gravel through it. Neck even on blacktop I have to repaint mine every few years. Mainly because of the area along the road from the town sand trucks and their very course sand. Good for traction on the roadway - not so good on the blower going through the banks they leave behind.
MikeC

 

[Gerrard]

Ive been goin out under my car port where my outdoor shop is ( if thats what ya wanna call it ) every now and then when it gets in the teens at night and crank over the engines on L
s with a socket and ratchet just to keep them turning and to make sure they still do.

 

[jrd]

I got out the 816/plow and cleared out from this fairly pissant snow. There was only about 3-4 inches, and we might get more tonight, but it should save a little time tomorrow. Besides, it's fun . . .

 

[jrd]

Per prediction, there was another 4 inches this morning, so out came the 816 again. This gear really is fun I'll get some pix after I get done working.