353 Snow Blower
 

I am having issues with chute rotating on 353 blower. I ran across super deal, a 3184 with 539 hrs, along with mower deck, front lift and snow blower, for $800. I did maintenance, couple small parts, fasteners, banked in at $910. Runs fabulous!

Problem: chute on blower rotates hard. I found someone had removed the spacers and retainers holding upper movable to lower fixed chute. I added spacers on retainers, cleaned up where chutes meet, ran a file around, helped smooth out parts. Thinking of flame polishing mating surfaces of chutes halves- make them a bit more slippery, using petroleum based lubes isn't good on plastics. Next issue, corkscrew at end of crank arm, seems to not engage properly. I have tried loosening bolts clamping bracket down as adjustment movement can be had in several directions, just can't seem to find a happy medium. Anyone had any experience, before I do something irrevocable, like shorten spacers on crank support arm, or open up adjustment holes on bracket?

Thanks,

Timmy C

Sounds like your going after 2 possible causes without certainty of which one it is. If you remove the corkscrew and just try to rotate the top chute by hand, does is it move smoothly, or does it catch at a certain spot. If it is smooth and easy moving, then I would look more into corkscrew adjustment. I looked up the 353 blower parts diagram, what spacers did you add, I don't see any. Some pictures of the area would help us.

Attachment 81828

Bill

Your 353 appears to be the same setup as on my 451 blower. Does the chute seem to stick at the same place on each turn of the handle or does it seem to be sticky in just a couple of spots while turning. If it sticks on each turn of the handle I would suspect your problem can be with the wire coil on the end of the handle section. On the other hand if that is not the problem then the slots that the coil engages may be your culprit. Of course also the culprit could be the brackets that hold the chute to the blower. Have you checked the rim on the blower to be sure there are no dips or dents as that would affect the free turning also.

Chute mating area had some stiff spots. Used a medium cut file, removed material around edges to free up rotate, didn't take a lot. Chute material is hard enough when filing, to leave a surface relatively smooth, compared to say a sandpaper attempt. Flame polishing a thermoset polymer, gives a gloss, slippery surface, hence the thought. Spacer part number 750-0748 Dimensioned as .375 ID x 1.0 OD x 1.25 Lg, Shows on partstree as item number 37. Spaces crank arm support out from blower frame. I did see a bit of slop in the universal joint on crank arm, haven't ruled it out yet. Tried a quick re-adjust of end bracket, no better. Seems like corkscrew just isn't deep enough in notches on chute. Anyone happen to have a photo of crank arm and support? Didn't get time to really deal with today, hopefully tomorrow.

According to illustrations, crank support arm from a 451 appears different than the 353's. Difference, other than chute discharge hood bracket holes near crank end of support, shows the 451 as straight near business end, while the 353 has additional bends in same area. Being a career in industrial illustration work, can understand illustration incorrectness. Was only as correct as design department guys drew up build prints!

Looking at spacers, #37 on illustration, specs 1.25" long. Take more than .25" off length, attempting to bring corkscrew closer to chute, crank support arm gets way too close to frame of 353 front lift. Will try a stack of .125" heavy flat washers, say at 1." see what happens.

Oh yeah, anyone found a way to deal with PTO safety when just tapping reverse on a this 3184 machine? My 3100 has the override feature, which there is no indication on control pedestal of this feature on 3184 machine. Op's manual talks of 3184 safety functions, but nothing on an override. Seems if anything, than an annoyance, a guy should keep a spare PTO switch in the spare parts box.

Anyone have a part #, either CC or trade (168, 194.etc.) for the dash warning lights? CC illustrations don't give that info.

if I remember right I just took the tab that pushes the rev. switch off of the shaft...on the chute issue did someone possibly change the chute at some point ? maybe with the wrong one

I did not intend to mean the 353 and 451 are identical. I was looking at both use the spiral spring to turn the chute.

Kudos on reverse lever idea! Will dive into later today, being retired life is way busier than when working, just no time to get to anything important! When I purchased blower/3184 trade-in from local CC dealer, entire crank arm and support was donored to another CC. Luckily, I found entire set-up on eBay, seller stating from a 451 blower. Did parts list comparison, all but support was same part#'s, took chance, as photos on auction showed support was same as 353 parts illustration. I turned up spacers from specs shown in parts list, got correct length bolts. Of course, excited as we get, expecting to crank handle get a perfect working set-up, disappointment set-in real quick, like in a half crank. last evening, seller sent a message that he had loosened eye bolt support half down crank support arm, spinning nuts down to allow getting into shipping box. Not sure how much this could affect mesh of crank corkscrew to chute teeth, but we'll soon see, after a quick trip, to grab me and the dog breakfast at McDonalds! Stay tuned!!!

The reverse pto cutout is a pia in the 3k series. The switch is under the floorboard and uses the NC contact to break the circuit. If we tell you how to unhook that switch and bypass it your lawyer will contact Mr. Roland Bedell and he will not be happy.