New 88830 start-up

Used it for the first time today... only an inch of snow on the walk... I expected it to throw it 30 ft... but it went about 5.  Is that because there was so little snow?  With more snow, can I expect it to throw it the distance other people seem to be getting with this unit?

You need to "load" the impellers with enough snow to get a good throwing distance.  Were you running in first or second speed?  I can usually run my snowblower at a higher speed with a small amount of snow.  All predicated on the moisture content of the snow, of course.  Boils down to loading the impellers with enough snow to throw a good distance without loading the engine too much.  Small engines are cooled by a fan driven by the crankshaft.  If you slow the engine down, (engine working harder and creating more heat), you slow down the fan also.  Bad combination for the longevity of the engine.  It's a learning curve.  Ideally, try to load the impellers to just before the engine starts to lose speed.  It's always trial and error the first few minutes. Regarding the skid shoe adjustment, I believe you'll have to find a happy medium and leave the skid shoes there.  Never seen easily adjustable skid shoes.  Cannot help you on the steering trigger problem, sorry.

Only other minor annoyance... I bought a few packs of replacement shear pins from Sears... and they don't come with the same clips... they come with cotter pins that (1) will not allow me to put them in the storage slots on the handlbars unless I want to pry them open and closed a few times, and (2) mean I need a pair of pliers to change them instead of just my hands...  minor, but still could have used the same clips as are on the unit.

i picked up a 28" 277 sears blower this year and it's giving me the same deal with the power steering not all the time but off and on .  and this is the second snowblower the first one was taken back i had alot of issues with the first one same model just junk part's missing started and went right wide open throttle could not stop it light did not work and  one of the power steering triggers was missing really nice. sense then sear's has gone right threw all of their blower's i have ben told. my second one the one i have now run's good but the steering this is a issue and the joystick/ shoot it not very well built. lock's one way the other it does not not like it should. i have a old ariens that is built alot better then this thing steel instead of alot of plastic and has grease fitting's instead of sealed bushing's that just wear out these snowblower's are built like a one time use item it seam's like. for the money we should atleast get alittle more.  im just glad i did not sell the old ariens. back then stuff was built ahell of alot better now it's more money and cheaper built junk and we dont have much of a choice inless we keep the old stuff runing or put alot in to the newer stuff to keep in going year after year.

I have to agree with jeffs1 on the replacement shear pins.  I was surprised the bag included cotter pins and not the bow-tie type clips sent with the snowblower.  Functionally, the cotter pins should be fine.  It's a matter of convenience.  At 0 degrees with a 20-30mph north wind, I prefer all the convenience I can get.     

Part #714-04040.... $4.49/copy, plus shipping. How many can we put you down for? You will need either none or a dozen, depending on usage.. being a common MTD product it won't be long til Arnold has them on the hook. Cotter pins can be bent with a carkey or coin when needed. 

Question on the oil... When I have checked oil on other engines I always clean then fully seat the dipstick, screwing it closed before removing it again to check oil level on stick.  But the manual for the 88830 says NOT to screw it in... that seems to me that depending on where you are on the threads, that could give you varying readings.  Checking with or without fully screwing it in could be the difference bewteen adding more or thinking it is full...

madgolfer: Point well taken.  At 4.49/ea. plus freight, I'll deal with the cotterpins. 

jeffs1:  Do what the manual tells you.  I have always simply seated the dipstick and then checked the oil and have never had a problem yet.  Fill the engine with the correct amount of oil and see where it lands on the dipstick, then keep it there.  

More importantly, check the oil level before the engine has started or the level will appear low since the oil is up in the engine.

OK... First real snow to try this thing out on... a few observations:

1) The headlight is worthless.  I tried it at night and it is too low to light where you really need to see (what you will be plowing) and is blocked by the engine and chute.

2) Hand warmers... not worth the extra money... while holding the auger and drive engaged only your finger tips are on the bottom of the warmer and with gloves on I could not feel any difference anyway.

3) Stone driveway... I knew it would throw some rocks... but this is rediculous!  Pretty much unusable, even at the highest skid shoe setting.  Though spending $$ on the two stage would at least be usable... not so much.

4) Had about 7" of light snow... threw it about 10'... not as far as I thought... may be it needs to be wetter for better throwing results.

5) The up down adjustment on the chute does not stay in place AT ALL... I had it adjusted to lowest setting (so in case I threw a rock it would not go through my neighbor's window) and it kept creeping up. I had to continuously push it back down every 10' or so.  Does anyone know if there is any adjustment for the up down cables or joystick?

Well... I have to say... this thing is a beast!!!

Even in light of the issues it has above, this thing cut through the 18-24" of wet snow we just had, like butter... never jammed... never even sounded like it was straining.  Threw it 20-30 ft after I got the hang of adjusting speed to keep it fully loaded up.  It does tend to ride up on the snow a bit... have to pull up on the handles to keep the front down and cutting... but it is pretty wet and deep snow.

I'd still like to find a way to adjust the chute up down control.. it does not stay down at all... that is probably the biggest problem I have with it right now.

jeffs1:  Glad you finally got some satisfaction from your machine.  The front end assemblies are not as heavy as they used to be, so they ride up on the snow a bit more.   Back it up and make another pass.     Snowblowers are strange machines.  Fifty percent of the time I curse mine for the maintenance it requires and the space it takes up in my small garage and the other fifty percent I praise it for the miserable, back breaking work it saves me.   

I no longer get anything when I search Sears for 88830. Was it discontinued already? Was new this year I thought...

5) The up down adjustment on the chute does not stay in place AT ALL... I had it adjusted to lowest setting (so in case I threw a rock it would not go through my neighbor's window) and it kept creeping up. I had to continuously push it back down every 10' or so.  Does anyone know if there is any adjustment for the up down cables or joystick?

jeffs1: There is a rather large black adjustment knob on the top left hand side of the snow chute looking forward from the back of the machine.. Turning it backwards, towards the engine increases the tension between the upper and lower chute and should solve your issue !!!

Hope this helps.

Russ

The big wingnut on the chute is the tension adjustment but it's delicate to get it just right. As you see, the handwarmers don't make a difference unless the temp is single digits or lower. You can try adding weight to the top of the auger housing, snow cabs used to include a clip-on sandbag for counterweight, but its simpler to back off the drive and let it chew back down to the surface. Skid plate adjustment is an art too. They should slant down slightly to the rear. Lastly, sounds like its time for that initial oil change. Good luck...here comes another Nor'easterrrr. 

Thanks for the info on teh adjustment... I'll give that a try.

Already did the first oil change before this last storm and after about 2 hours of opertaion... put in Mobile 1 0W-30.  I still don't trust the manual telling you to NOT screw in the dip stick when checking the oil level... that is the difference between full or overfilled!  I have always screwed it in fully on all other engines I have had.

Well this blizzard has had a toll on the pull start and we have lost the electric start cord.  Can we order another one?  How long does it take?

The electric start cord is just a short length of standard 3-wire extension cord.  Any grounded extension cord should work.  Just keep the excess away from the front of the machine.