Guys,
A rough morning up here, the storm left about 4 inches of sleet, which roughly translates to over a foot of snow. Got out at the crack of dawn, with the storm apparently winding down, and had some success with the 129 moving some of the sleet with the blower, but the wide slick tires rode on top of the sleet, and skidded sideways, while another wave of sleet pounded my face. I headed back to the garage to try lowering the blower a bit for a better bite, when suddenly the left front wheel falls off about 10 feet from the garage. Somehow the bolt undid itself. Cursing my apparent negligence, I found the parts, got the jack and got it back together, but the wheel tightened before the bolt, and tended to unscrew the bolt again. I decide to park the 129 for now and figure it out later, and got out the 102.
I abandoned the plan of plowing everything out nicely back to my neighbor's house, and attempted to widen the path I made with the blower, with my boots soaking through to my wool socks, and the pager for work going off. I made a couple of rounds down to the road, and noticed the engine losing power. Bad thing. It would recover, then misfire again. Figure it was a fouled plug (the engine smokes pretty bad), or water in the gas fouling things up. Mercifully, it died off to the side of the driveway, where it sits, and I went inside, took a hot shower, and went to work.
I checked the spark plug when I got home, and it wasn't a black oily mess, so now I have to do some serious troubleshooting, but it sets where the wind is currently funneling through at about 45 mph. It will have to sit until the wind dies down a bit.
The 129 has an issue with the hub on the wheel, which was worn oversize when the PO ran it with failed bearings. The bearings never really seat, and want to push out when under load. I might be able to shim the spindle bolt out a bit to give a little breathing room, but a new front wheel would be the best thing.
A rough morning up here, the storm left about 4 inches of sleet, which roughly translates to over a foot of snow. Got out at the crack of dawn, with the storm apparently winding down, and had some success with the 129 moving some of the sleet with the blower, but the wide slick tires rode on top of the sleet, and skidded sideways, while another wave of sleet pounded my face. I headed back to the garage to try lowering the blower a bit for a better bite, when suddenly the left front wheel falls off about 10 feet from the garage. Somehow the bolt undid itself. Cursing my apparent negligence, I found the parts, got the jack and got it back together, but the wheel tightened before the bolt, and tended to unscrew the bolt again. I decide to park the 129 for now and figure it out later, and got out the 102.
I abandoned the plan of plowing everything out nicely back to my neighbor's house, and attempted to widen the path I made with the blower, with my boots soaking through to my wool socks, and the pager for work going off. I made a couple of rounds down to the road, and noticed the engine losing power. Bad thing. It would recover, then misfire again. Figure it was a fouled plug (the engine smokes pretty bad), or water in the gas fouling things up. Mercifully, it died off to the side of the driveway, where it sits, and I went inside, took a hot shower, and went to work.
I checked the spark plug when I got home, and it wasn't a black oily mess, so now I have to do some serious troubleshooting, but it sets where the wind is currently funneling through at about 45 mph. It will have to sit until the wind dies down a bit.
The 129 has an issue with the hub on the wheel, which was worn oversize when the PO ran it with failed bearings. The bearings never really seat, and want to push out when under load. I might be able to shim the spindle bolt out a bit to give a little breathing room, but a new front wheel would be the best thing.
