The weather

[MattA]

Woke up to 1" of well saturated snow and rain this morning. Kids and I were disappointed. Kids played in the driveway while I shoveled for 20min or so. I've only shoveled a handful of times in the past 7 years. The Berco doesn't do well in low snow depths.

[Toolslinger]

Well, I woke up to 8" of heavy wet snow.
Back door:

Side Porch:

Front Porch:

Sadly, the Case lives in a garage behind that little yellow building in the distance on the right. Probably 500 feet from the house. I may start keeping it in the barn again so it's only 250 feet away.

At any rate, she kicked right off, which is always a good start to the day. Rumbled out in to the snow, and it seemed perfectly happy to toss it to the side. My uncle's place is gravel drives, so I couldn't scrape it down hard, but no issue clearing it. Up the drive, and across the street to my place where the asphalt starts. Straight up the steep part of the drive with no serious issue, and no slipping.

Cleaned up around the driveway apron, and the mailbox, and then came across the yard to get the parking pad. Still going good. Kohler is running great, drive is fine, and the blower is having zero issues. And that's when it chewed up the belt. I put it back on, but I knew it wasn't going to hold for long, and I was right. So it got parked, and the JD140 had to wake up, and do the rest of the blowing.

So, it passed the test, because this snow is terrible to work with. Didn't plug once, while the JD had some serious plugging issues. That's not a shock, that blower is prone to that with this kinda snow. I can't be sure I had an OEM belt on there, it's the one that came with the blower, and it was in excellent condition when I started. Looking at it, it looks like I may have had a twist in it as the top corners were worn off as though it was in a pulley upside down. I've replace the belt now with one I bought when I had set up the smaller blower years ago. It's probably every bit of 10 years old, but it should be the right size. We'll see how that goes. Will have to order a new belt to have on hand.

[JSinMO]

@Toolslinger Thats great news! Other than the belt everything worked perfectly. It sure does feel good when things go like there supposed to!

[MattA]

@Toolslinger Are any of your pulleys really worn or pitted causing the belt to slip? Sounds like you had a good time snow blowing. I'm not sure its possible to clog a snowcaster.

The temps dropped here late afternoon and the rain changed over to a heavy dense snow which was beginning to freeze. Kids and I played in it and then I got out the Berco. Last years repairs seemed to work well. The Berco dumped the snow about 30' away. The 16HP vanguard seems to run ok with the clean carb but just seems to lack power.

[Toolslinger]

I haven't noted any significant pitting. The 48" caster I recently bought looks pretty much like new. Still had OEM paint inside the tub, and chute, so it hasn't seen many hours. I've never looked at the pulley on the clutch, so that will have to wait.

I could certainly believe slipping based on the condition of the belt it threw. That's part of why I'm concerned I may not have the right length belt since the tensioner really doesn't have much pull when the belt is installed.

[DavidBarkey]

@Toolslinger Are any of your pulleys really worn or pitted causing the belt to slip? Sounds like you had a good time snow blowing. I'm not sure its possible to clog a snowcaster.

The temps dropped here late afternoon and the rain changed over to a heavy dense snow which was beginning to freeze. Kids and I played in it and then I got out the Berco. Last years repairs seemed to work well. The Berco dumped the snow about 30' away. The 16HP vanguard seems to run ok with the clean carb but just seems to lack power.

Matt , when was the last time the valve lash was checked ? Spark plug gap checked for ware? These things can rob power if not correct yet still run ok .

[Harry]

I haven't noted any significant pitting. The 48" caster I recently bought looks pretty much like new. Still had OEM paint inside the tub, and chute, so it hasn't seen many hours. I've never looked at the pulley on the clutch, so that will have to wait.

I could certainly believe slipping based on the condition of the belt it threw. That's part of why I'm concerned I may not have the right length belt since the tensioner really doesn't have much pull when the belt is installed.

I just put a new belt on my 48” caster and it was a struggle to the spring on. Belt was from a dealer not an Amazon belt. Haven’t had an opportunity to use it yet. Only had a little over an inch of snow so far. Harry

[Jancoe]

I'll second ya Harry. My belt on my caster is tight and hard to get on and once it's on you can see the spring doing its job. It does sound like your belt is longer. I messed up putting my caster on this winter. I routed the belt outside of the mule drive and it tore up the belt in seconds. Glad I had a new spare that I now have to replace.

Sent from my SM-S906U using Tapatalk

[Toolslinger]

I should have checked, but the belt on there now was with my 38" caster, which was an older unit, so likely the 6.5 pulley. That would make a difference. Just ordered a couple of the correct belts. Hopefully they get here before another batch of snow, but I'm ok regardless... Plenty of snow moving equipment available...

[RoamingGnome]

Ugh...

Our weather prognosticators are smoking some wacky tobacky or something... For tomorrow the western end of Lake Ontario (Hamilton Specifically) now has "Heavy" snowfall warnings of 2-5cm (an inch or two...) and by lunchtime that's going to turn to rain, and keep raining until late Tuesday night... with 20-30 mm of rain possible (an inch or so of rain)

Too much doom and gloom I might go back to using the Farmer's Almanac for my weather forecasts...