Project Snowblower

"MM54" (mm54mk2) 11/24/2018 at 20:05 • Filed to: PROJECT HONDABLOW

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Despite my job deciding that I’m not allowed to have a life outside of work anymore, I’m still trying, and with that I present just about the last thing I need right now - a new project.

As it emerged from under the tarp (it was sitting on a pallet, too).

The above snowblower was purchased new in the early 90s by my father, and did its job very well every year. About 5-ish (maybe 6?) years ago, it was in a carport at my dad’s. Two feet of snow soaked in several days’ heavy rain proved too much, and the carport collapsed (as an aside, my Chevelle had been stored in there until a few weeks prior. Whew.).

After the rubble had been cleaned up, the faithful honda was started up and driven around back and put under a tarp, to be fixed “eventually.” The handles took most of the impact (well, and the chute/gas tank) and it still drives straight.

Fast forward to now, and my dad has finally accepted he’s probably never going to get around to fixing it, and I sure could use a snowblower.

At least 4 of my concurrent projects are visible in this picture

Today it arrived at my garage. With a quick pressure washing, it seems to be in pretty good shape other than, well, having been squished. There is gas varnish in the tank and the oil is black and probably watery from sitting outside, so it will all get changed before I try to start it.

The main issue though is that the handles are uneven and 2 feet off the ground. As a person of average stature, this is far too low. They’re bent in multiple ways in multiple spots it seems, so some serious disassembly is going to be required to get them squared back up. The chute also needs straightened back out, but that should be easy. If I get ambitious, the top of the gas tank could also use a good “bend it back” for aesthetic reasons.

Oh and one of the shear pins on the auger needs replaced

Hopefully I’ll have time to tear into this soon, as lake effect snow season is realistically about a month away. I have a sneaking suspicion parts are going to be completely unobtainable (though I’ve not looked), so some clever mending will be in order.

bob and john > MM54 11/24/2018 at 20:36

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as a guy that sells these:

parts arent as hard as you would think. a lot of it looks the same as the current 928 (which is the same machine but with a 9HP motor)

you might be able to just order them from a honda POWERHOUSE. dont go to any old honda car dealer

MM54 > bob and john 11/24/2018 at 20:55

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Cool, thanks for the tip. Since posting I’ve found an exploded parts diagram, which should help figure out what to expect to be bent. My priority is the handlebar since that’s what makes it unusable (and bending the chute back but that’s easy ). Looks like it has to come pretty much completely apart to get at the “engine bed ” which I believe to be bent all sorts of ways where the handles mount . The upper handlebar assembly is bent as well, but I think most of the twist is down below.

bob and john > MM54 11/24/2018 at 20:57

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honestly, being you, i’m a little shocked you just just go STRAIGHT for the brute force bend it back to make it out of angle iron method.

you are upgrading your techniques young one.

MM54 > bob and john 11/24/2018 at 21:01

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Nah, I like to at do things right when I can. I can spend a lot of time bending and twisting and so on before I get to the point I reach the crossroads of hack it vs buy expensive parts. This thing is really nice so I may go for “buy expensive parts” if for some reason I can’t bend it close enough to true again.

It’s possible you’re confusing me with someone else?