I Own the Snowblower from Hell

Yeah yeah, I'm still alive.

I know it's been months since my last post, but I've done pretty much jack-squat on the house since then, other than paint the bathroom.

I've finally determined that my snow blower is the illegitimate love-child of Satan and Oprah. (I should probably disable comment posting as soon as I publish this).

It's big, old, and heavy and I think I'm doomed to a lifetime of dealing with it.



But it DOES have cool tire chains!

For years now I've been waiting for it to die so I can justify spending $700 on a new snow blower. But like the Energizer bunny on meth, this thing just won't quit.

A week ago we had some snow so I fired it up. 2nd pull, as always, and it immediately settled down into a smooth idle. When I was about 80% done with clearing the drive it started to shake and make a loud banging sound, like somebody had thrown a frozen cat into the auger.

Don't ask me how I know what that sounds like, I'm not sure what the statute of limitations is on that quite yet....

I shut it down and found that the entire auger assembly (the spinning blades of death in the front) was lose and hanging at an odd angle.

YAY! Time to get a new snow blower!

Oh, wait, the bolt that holds the right side of the auger just fell out. And it's sitting 2' away from me on the driveway. Damn. 3 minutes and a 3/4" socket wrench later and it's back up and running.

At least I didn't have to spend the money reserved for the kid's Christmas presents on a replacement.

Today we're getting more snow so I broke it out again to take care of the first few inches of snow. Again, about 80% of the way through the work and it starts to run weird.

This time it was idling poorly - revving up and down and generally running like crap. I thought it was running low on gas, but when I checked I found that I still had half a tank. I noticed that the shield covering the carb was wobbly, which is different because normally it's nice and tight. I thought it might just be a lose screw, but as I was moving the shield it I found that the engine ran better depending on how the shield was held.

The entire carb was actually lose, and letting in additional air while letting out some of the gas intended for the engine. There are two screws which hold the carb in place, and both had worked themselves lose.

A few minutes later I had it tightened up and it was running great. For about 5 minutes. The screws backed out pretty quickly and I was back to having to tighten 'em up again.

This time I put some Loc-Tite on the screws to hold them in place. I'll know tomorrow if it'll hold. If not, maybe I'll finally get that new snow blower.....!

Being somewhat mechanically inclined has really paid off though. Two problems that could have resulted in expensive trips to the shop with the snow blower were taken care of with about $.02 in Loc-Tite.

Assuming that fixes the current problem. I'll know tomorrow when I fire it up and try it again.

Take Care of Your Tool

Here's one that most people never think about. Shovel maintenance.

Yes, maintenance for your shovels.

As with other tools, if you take care of your tools they should last a lifetime. Unless you buy cheap crap, since you can't polish a turd. Well, you can, but a shiny turd isn't much better than a dull one.

Below is the blade on my garden spade/shovel. You can see the edge of the blade is bent backwards, which creates resistance when trying to plunge the blade into your own skull after watching your NFL team blow it in the last few minutes of the game.

After my headache was gone, I decided to do something about the blade. This bent-over edge was from the manufacturing process, and probably shouldn't have passed quality control. I noticed it after getting it home and using it, after it was too late to swap it out.

Yeah, it's dirty. I'm not big on cleaning tools at 10 PM after burying pet hamsters in the garden...




So as with sharpening the mower blades, out comes the Angle Grinder with a sanding flap disc installed. Some people might cringe at spending $15-20 for a power tool like this, figuring you get what you pay for. Well, normally you do, and I'm all for spending more for quality tools. When it counts, that is. These grinders from HF have proven themselves to me.

Realistically, how often will the average home-owner use an angle grinder, so why spend $75 for a good one? These cheap-o's from Harbor Freight are actually pretty decent quality. I currently own three of them, and have burned out at least 4 of them in the past 5 years doing some rather major metal fabrication.

But if I burned out 4 of them how can I say they're decent? Because the 4 I burned out combined cost as much as one decent grinder, and with the work I was doing I'd have worn out even a higher-end grinder. Plus, I use three different discs; a sanding flap disc, a cut-off disc, and a metal grinding disc, so having one grinder dedicated to each task saves time & effort.




About 1 minute later the rolled edge is gone and the edge is reasonably-sharp. You can get the same results with a hand file and a little effort. I've got plenty of metal-working tools, so I might as well use 'em.

The blade won't stay sharp for long, but when it comes to digging out plants a sharp blade will much more quickly cut through roots, making your work easier. The metal on this shovel is pretty thin so I just beveled from the back edge.




I gave the same treatment to another shovel, sharpening from the front and back since the metal on this blade is about 50% thicker than the other shovel.




After the edges were sharpened I took a wire brush and knocked the dirt off. A coat of oil then protects the bare metal from rust.

I used to keep a 5 gallon bucket filled with sand in the garage. I dumped about a quart of old motor oil into it to thoroughly coat the sand. When I was done with a shovel I'd just jam the blade into the oily sand a few times to clean off the dirt and give it a coat of oil in one step. I didn't have room in the moving truck when we moved so I gave it to my neighbor. Some day I'll replace it.

Mower Maintenance

If you want your mower to last and provide a good clean cut for years, you need to take care of it. That includes changing the oil and air filter. You also need to keep the mowing deck clean and the blade(s) sharp.

I'll get around to changing the oil and air filter later this fall, but wanted to take advantage of a nice day to do the maintenance on the deck.

First step was to get the mower up high enough to be able to get at the blades. I could have just jacked the back end up with my floor-jack, but figured that I might as well raise the front as well. Jack stands were placed under the front end to keep it level, the transmission was left in gear, and the brake was locked.




It's been a year since I cleaned the deck - much longer than it should go without a proper cleaning. Cut grass builds up underneath, creating a block to the cut grass being discharged. It also traps moisture against the metal of the deck which can cause the deck to rust out.




I took a small scraper and got out all kinds of build-up, which should help the mower work a little more efficiently.




Next up was sharpening of the mower blades. I installed these right after buying the mower about 1-1/2 years ago. They're still in good shape, but the leading edge is getting a little dull. There were a few small dings from hitting either branches or pinecones.

Each blade is held in place with one bolt. Be careful when removing a mower blade, as I've heard that some mowers use reverse-thread bolts. When you think you're loosening the bolt you could actually tightening it. These were standard threads.

In many cases you can stick a piece of 2x4 between the blade and mower deck to keep the blade from moving when you are trying to break the bolt loose.




The angle-grinder ($12.00 at Harbor Freight for a 4-1/2" grinder) was used with a sanding flap-disc to remove the grass build-up and to sharpen the blade. There was quite a bit of build-up on the blades, but the sanding disc took care of that quickly.

You'd think that the blade should be sharp like a knife, but realistically, how long would that sharp blade last? I ground the blade sharp and then ran the sanding disc straight across the sharp edge to blunt it. The flat edge is about 1/32" wide.




To make sure the blades were balanced I set them on a small nail driven into the garage wall. As long as the blade stays horizontal it's good enough. Yeah, it's low tech and not as precise as a professional shop could do, but it's good enough for now.




After re-installing the blades and checking for vibration (none), it was time to clean the engine.

I changed the oil last year, but skipped cleaning the engine. I cleaned around the drain plug, but that's it. It's now dirty as the surrounding area. I sprayed on some engine cleaner and brushed it in with a cleaning brush.




A few minutes later the gunk sprayed right off and everything was nice and clean. It'll be possible to see if there are any oil leaks now, and the engine should be able to run a little cooler without a layer of gunk & grass coating it. If nothing else, it'll just make changing the oil a little easier.




This work took maybe 30 minutes and is something that the average do-it-yourselfer can do without a problem. The only tools I used were a scraper, a grinder, and a wrench.

If you don't have a jack or ramps like I used, you could just tilt the tractor and put blocks under the raised wheels to give a little more access.

Later this season I'll put some info online about getting the engines winterized.

Crud in the Pipes

No, this isn't a medical condition.

Since the dishwasher was installed the other day I noticed that the water flowing out of the kitchen faucet was slower than normal.

At first I figured it was the new shut-off valve installed on the hot water line, which may not be allowing full water flow.

But that shouldn't make the cold water line also flow more slowly, which was also happening.

Other faucets in the house were fine, so it was just something wrong with the kitchen faucet.

The fastest and easiest thing to check was the aerator (where the water exists the faucet) which just screws on & off. There is a screen inside there which traps debris.

The screen in mine was covered with a ton of debris and rust from the water line, which was slowing the water flow for hot & cold. Basically, there was a crud build-up that was blocking water flow.

The debris was probably dislodged in the pipes from the water being turned on & off during the dishwasher installation. The water was shut off to the house and faucets were opened upstairs and downstairs, draining the lines of water. When the water was turned back on, it knocked loose some junk that had built up in the lines, which got trapped in the aerator.

Lucky for me I turned the faucet on first, which sent the crap to the faucet instead of to the dishwasher!

Cheap, easy, and fast. The way I like my solutions.

I Will Wash Dishes by Hand No More Forever

Slightly modified quote by a famous leader. 10 points to the first person who knows what the hell I'm talking about.

I didn't want to wait for the weekend to get the dishwasher installed, and I had a couple of free hours to kill this afternoon, so I gave it a shot.

I cut out the guts of the lower cabinet and made sure there was plenty of room. Judging by the picture I've got more than enough!

As mentioned previously, this is just a temporary installation, done on the cheap. I had the water supply line and most of the parts I needed, but did find that there were two special pieces that I had to go out and buy.

First was a 90 degree elbow which fits into the bottom of the dish washer. Second was the splitter valve that connects to the water supply line. I could have gotten away without using the splitter valve, but then I'd have no hot water supply to the sink. Not the best solution.

The electrical hookup is ultra-temporary. I don't know where the final electrical line will be run, so I took an old grounded extension cord and cut the end off. I spliced it into the wiring on the dishwasher and secured the wiring so it won't move around and chafe. I'll just plug it into the wall when I need to wash dishes for now. Half-ass yes, but it works.

The blue protective layer is still on the outside in this picture, but the dishwasher has a stainless front.




Under the sink you can see the new lines. Hooking into the drain, the big line that looks like it's coming from the middle of the sink is the dishwasher drain line which actually loops around a bit. The extra slack makes it look like it's coming from the center of the sink - it actually comes through the cabinet wall on the left up high to create an air gap.

The black line down low is the water supply to the dishwasher. It connects to the gold splitter valve in the back of the cabinet.

I had a small drip from the valve when I turned the water on, but a quick 1/4 turn and it looks good to go. No other leaks were found.



I put in a little dishwashing detergent and fired it up to clean it out and make sure it's working properly. So far, so good! I look forward to running a load through it tonight.

Total cost, about $8.00 in parts that I needed to buy anyway.

Dishwasher Installation, On the Cheap

When we bought this house, it had never had a dishwasher installed.

We figured that we could live without one for a year while the renovation work was taking place. In fact, we purchased the dishwasher when we bought the new appliances for the place right after moving in.

It's sat in the box waiting to be installed ever since.

The remodel work is progressing very slowly, as there is plenty to do outside, and I'm enjoying time with the family while it's nice out.

But we're finally sick of doing dishes by hand and using paper plates half the time to avoid having to wash dishes every day.

Plus, I'm sure we waste a lot more water washing them by hand compared to what a new dishwasher would use.

The problem is that the dishwasher will be installed on the side of the kitchen which I haven't started work on yet, so there are cabinet doors and drawers and a wide base cabinet where the dishwasher is going to go.

To make things difficult, I'm cheap. Some call it "frugal", but I will admit to being cheap. I hate to spend money on renovation stuff if I know I'll just be tearing out the work and re-doing it later.

The project: install a dishwasher while spending NO money for parts. None. I can only use parts I already have on-hand, even if it means an ugly install. It's meant as a temporary install, so I'm not aiming for "pretty". Lucky for me I have a good selection of parts on hand from previous work. Hopefully enough to pull this off.

At this point, I know I'll be re-using the dishwasher, but don't know exactly where water or electrical lines will be run. I also don't have a garbage disposal installed yet (dishwasher discharge lines typically connect to the disposal) so I'll need to tie in to the sink drain directly.

Since the lower cabinet is wider than the dishwasher needs, I plan to use a trusty saws-all to cut out the wood I don't need, and leave about 1/3 of a door on the hinges to hide the gap that used to be cabinet. It'll make more sense when I start the work and take pictures. Promise.

The drain line is easy, although I'll be installing it without an air-gap for now. When I do the work for keeps I'll put that in place. Electrical will be temporary hook-up as well - enough to make it function safely for now.

Over the next few days I'll need to go through my supplies and get everything together. I want to install the dishwasher this weekend. The only items I'm not sure how I'm going to handle yet are the splitter for the water supply and the drain line. The drain isn't high-pressure, so I'll use garden hose if needed. The supply IS high-pressure so I'm hoping I have a long enough stainless braided line.

Game on!

Happiness Is...

Much needed rain,

Cleaned gutters and downspouts before said rain,

The wife and kids out of the house for at least one of the games (Dad, who's #12? Dad, who's #88? Dad, who's #72? Dad, who are the guys in the blue shirts? Dad, can we watch cartoons? Dad, when is the game over? Dad, will you unlock the basement door so we can get out?),

A plasma TV,

Having the two games I want to watch playing back to back.

Quality jerseys to watch the game in, although the GB #4 jersey is retired and will be replaced for GB games with #50 AJ Hawk.



I love the feel of quality jerseys - sewn on letters and numbers, heavy-weight fabric, etc. Well worth the extra cost, in my opinion.