MTD Track Drive Snowblower Locks Tracks up

windyhill4.2 · Post by **windyhill4.2** » Wed. Jan. 27, 2016 4:35 pm

Rick, do you have a part number for that asm.? Did you get a price yet ? Do you have a dealer near you that you can get it from ?

Rick 386 · Post by **Rick 386** » Thu. Jan. 28, 2016 9:42 am

Just to keep everyone up to date.

I ordered the parts through windyhill4.2's business.

Might as well order from someone here on this forum rather that some other internet no name source. Keeping it in the family so to speak.

Parts will probably be here Monday.

Rick

SWPaDon · Post by **SWPaDon** » Thu. Jan. 28, 2016 11:03 am

That's great that you were able to do that

Rick 386 · Post by **Rick 386** » Fri. Jan. 29, 2016 11:48 am

Hey Windy.................

The parts just arrived at 11:40 AM today.

NOW THAT IS SERVICE !!!!!!!!!

And guess what ??? The new shaft bushings/sleeves are now bronze and not plastic like the OEM.

Hmmmmmmm, maybe the plastic is the reason for the failure ????

Anyhow, I'll get to replacing these parts later today.

Rick

windyhill4.2 · Post by **windyhill4.2** » Fri. Jan. 29, 2016 12:28 pm

WOW, that is fast !! We don't get them here at our shop that quick. It depends on which UPS hub they ship out from. Well,that is a good thing,now you have all weekend to get that snow blower going.Thanks for the update.

SMITTY · Post by **SMITTY** » Fri. Jan. 29, 2016 1:16 pm

Yeah, parts are hit or miss. Sometimes get here in a day ... other times I've waited over a month. One carburetor my neighbor's friend needed was backordered for 7 months! I think the place I bought it from didn't want to ship it out at the price I paid. Cancelled the order by putting a stop-payment on my card ... then the thing shows up in the mail 2 weeks later, wtf.

That's an odd system there Rick - haven't come across one of those here yet. Normally they are a much simpler & reliable system. Figures.

I had to cut my axle off last season because the wheels were absolutely welded to the shaft by rust. With a replacement costing north of $150, I scoured eBay, and as luck would have it, I found the optional differential setup for mine. Well, I installed it after spending $110 on it, and it SUCKED! Was exactly like an open-diff car - the wheel with no load would spin, leaving you dead in the water when you needed the power. I've been looking for a straight axle replacement ever since. Luckily at the beginning of this season, I found one - in ME - right next door! $79 shipped! Couldn't friggin believe it. Ended up putting the diff up for sale on eBay, and another guy from ME bought it. Ended up with $30 in my pocket and got the axle for free. Shockingly, things worked out in my favor for once.

And now, we have no snow here ...

It's because I got a plow truck now.

gaw · Post by **gaw** » Fri. Jan. 29, 2016 1:53 pm

SMITTY wrote:Yeah, parts are hit or miss. Sometimes get here in a day ... other times I've waited over a month. One carburetor my neighbor's friend needed was backordered for 7 months! I think the place I bought it from didn't want to ship it out at the price I paid. Cancelled the order by putting a stop-payment on my card ... then the thing shows up in the mail 2 weeks later, wtf.

That's an odd system there Rick - haven't come across one of those here yet. Normally they are a much simpler & reliable system. Figures.

I had to cut my axle off last season because the wheels were absolutely welded to the shaft by rust. With a replacement costing north of $150, I scoured eBay, and as luck would have it, I found the optional differential setup for mine. Well, I installed it after spending $110 on it, and it SUCKED! Was exactly like an open-diff car - the wheel with no load would spin, leaving you dead in the water when you needed the power. I've been looking for a straight axle replacement ever since. Luckily at the beginning of this season, I found one - in ME - right next door! $79 shipped! Couldn't friggin believe it. Ended up putting the diff up for sale on eBay, and another guy from ME bought it. Ended up with $30 in my pocket and got the axle for free. Shockingly, things worked out in my favor for once.

And now, we have no snow here ... It's because I got a plow truck now.

It never snows when you’re prepared.

I only ever used 2 snow blowers; mine and my parents’ both had manually locking axles. Locked was great for deep snow and unlocked (single wheel drive) worked good for light snow and maneuverability when finishing up.

windyhill4.2 · Post by **windyhill4.2** » Sun. Feb. 07, 2016 9:44 am

Rick, any update ?
I got the Cub Cadet snow blower all fixed up that we got into our shop. It had tight ,dry links on 3 of the 4 chains,tracks were too loose,bronze bushings were worn out. This was a 1988 unit & not all the parts are available anymore. 2 new bronze bushings,a new friction drive wheel,(this unit has the rubber & steel as a complete piece),the shaft that the friction wheel bolts to was worn but no longer available.I put Amsoil grease on the worn shaft b4 installing it thru the bronze bushings. The unit worked almost like new & should give a few more winters of service .

Rick 386 · Post by **Rick 386** » Mon. Feb. 08, 2016 6:02 pm

She's all back together. I had put it together with the first order of parts and took it home.

I installed those other bushings over the weekend. And I now have a spare set of the drive bushings.

The drive wheel is also a spare. Because I know it will be the next thing to go bad. And now I have the parts to fix it !!!!!!!

PPPPP

Thanks again for getting me the parts so quickly.

So let the snow begin !!!!!!

Rick

SMITTY · Post by **SMITTY** » Mon. Feb. 08, 2016 6:23 pm

Glad you got that taken care of. We're getting hit again right as I type.

Finally had to use mine this past weekend. Started 2nd pull after sitting 11 months - goes to show the importance of draining the carb and tank every spring!

Sent several large boulders through it. My impeller is getting hammered. Will be a few years before I get a handle on all the loose ones near the barn, since it's relatively fresh excavation over there.

Want to try the rubber trick on the impeller - there's some really big gaps in my impeller, yet it still tosses the snow pretty damn good. With the rubber mod, it should shoot it way the hell out there. Some day I'll get to it.

windyhill4.2 · Post by **windyhill4.2** » Mon. Feb. 08, 2016 7:37 pm

Rick, thanks for the update. Good to hear that it is all back together & you have spare parts

It started snowing here about 7:20 p/m,i sure hope 2-4" is right

I am still recovering from the 32",of which there is still 6-8" on the ground

I pushed a bit too hard today getting several pieces of equipment finished & delivered

Maybe I can nap tomorrow

SWPaDon · Post by **SWPaDon** » Mon. Feb. 08, 2016 8:14 pm

Glad to hear you got it fixed, Rick.

Rick 386 · Post by **Rick 386** » Wed. Feb. 10, 2016 8:38 am

Not enough snow last night to try out the repairs to the snowblower. We only got about 2" of heavy wet snow.
Looked pretty on the trees though.

But I did drop the blade on the plow to try to clear the driveway before the big freeze comes. Hopefully it melts off today so we are not dealing with a skating rink trying to get around the house.

Rick

lzaharis · Post by **lzaharis** » Wed. Feb. 10, 2016 9:11 am

Grab some fluid film or snarf up some cooking spray from spousal
unit for the snowblowers cross augers, impeller, chute and spout.
(only if spousal unit will not miss it)

I use fluid film spray and bulk cans of cooking spray from Samuel's club.

The Fluid Film works longer between uses of the snow caster and mule.

It works even better on the single stage Toro Snow Pups when
I use them giving me double the casting distance.

windyhill4.2 · Post by **windyhill4.2** » Wed. Feb. 10, 2016 9:54 am

Rick, you could have blown snow here
we had a total of 10"

I just got done plowing again,hoping that the sun melts the snow off the blacktop b4 the artic blast blows in .

What snow is left laying will then not melt until next week.