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Pete Keillor[_2_] Pete Keillor[_2_] is offline
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Default I love it when problems have neat solutions

On Wed, 11 Feb 2015 17:28:09 -0500, Bob Engelhardt
wrote:

I have an old Bolens snowblower. I got it for $50 and it works very
well. Except, the "engage auger" lever does not stay down. So, when
blowing snow, I have to keep a hand on each of the drive and auger
levers. Which means that to change the chute direction, I have to
release the drive lever, change the chute, and re-engage the drive. I
think that originally the auger lever stayed down, but I don't see how.

So, I set about to fix it. The lever didn't go past center to be self
locking so I intended to drill a new hole ("X" marks the spot):
http://home.comcast.net/~bobengelhardt/before.jpg

But it occurred to me that if I bent the arm 180 degrees, the hole would
be about right:
http://home.comcast.net/~bobengelhardt/bent.jpg

And it was:
http://home.comcast.net/~bobengelhardt/after.jpg

It works perfectly! I keep the drive engaged with one hand and can
adjust the chute with the other without stopping. Well, it isn't
_quite_ perfect: there is less throw on the engaging rod and the tension
adjustment is a bit of a compromise. But well worth it.

Bob


The more signifcant problem is you have snow.

Pete Keillor
(not missing the snow blower I left in Michigan)