Jacobsen snow blower woes...help needed

[MRSOUND]

So my ancient Jacobsen Imperial 26 snow blower with a 5hp Tecumseh is no longer usable. The wheel drive chain broke and took out the one sprocket.(3rd pic) Either it's a 2 piece or it split. Either way it's bent. The other sprocket with the the drive gear I believe is the culprit for it's untimely demise as it has so much slop in the bearing (if even still has any) I can cock it side to side and up and down. Motor starts right up and everything else works as it should. Just wont move:mad:. Google and eaby searches have turned up only the larger gear. Seems to be interest in these machines on snow blower forums but nobody has any parts. Anyone have a clue where to source parts? Do I try to fix it, sell it whole to "collector", or strip it down for eBay? Gotta be someone out there that can give me some insight:wondering. Only plus is I got 90% of my driveway done today before the failure.
186698186700186699

[dave ytz250s]

Sometimes these old machines have standard industrial sizes for bearings, sprockets & chains.
You can try bringing your parts to an industrial supply shop (one of those specialized in bearings and gears)

[MRSOUND]

I'm contemplating just parting or getting rid of it. Watching the neighbor's new one throw snow 20' while this one throws about 5' really has me thinking new at the end of the season. I have no problem bringing back a 30 yr old trike.....just don't feel the same about snow blowers. If parts were readily available I'd fix it in a heartbeat to save the dough but these parts now, what will be next?

[bigdaddyvw185]

Bummer! i hate seeing the old machines kick the bucket!. I have a 1970 sears custom 10XL tractor, I ran into similar problems with that trying to source parts for it, I ended up getting lucky on craigslist and found a junker that i was able to scavenge parts from. Give craigslist a shot, ya may get lucky tho i understand the fact of not wanting to put the effort into a snowblower. I personally love the older equipment versus today's if you do decide to give up on it and move on i suggest an Ariens, Tho my early 70's Ariens with a new 8 horse kicks the snot out of my neighbor's 4 year old Ariens I guess they just dont make them like they used to :wondering:D

[El Camexican]

Dad still has his 45, 46? year old 8hp Toro. He's done the engine only once, but he's also had to have some drive componants custom made. You should bw able to make anything you need for yours. If not there's always a shovel;)

[fabiodriven]

I've always had a thing for old snowblowers. Warning, rant ahead. I'm wicked bored, it's crappy as hell out.

I couldn't agree more about the old school Ariens. Best overall machine you can get IMO. I have BobcaT snow throwers. They're crude, but they're built like machines. They're heavy, thick, steel and they run Briggs which is uncommon on old snow blowers. The controls don't make any sense and it'll gladly take your arm and finish the driveway itself, it doesn't need you! The gearing is slightly tall so in heavy snow low gear isn't low enough. No matter, it just takes more skill to operate it, haha. You have to control the rest of the machine with your left hand (or whichever you prefer really, the clutch control is in the middle) and stab the clutch in and out, in and out.

So what's the appeal of this machine you ask? I'll tell you. Its auger and impeller design are very different and cool to operate. The auger has no shear pins, but rather a "slipper clutch" that releases when something jams the auger. You simply shut off the machine (It will take your arm if you let it!) and remove the obstruction. Fire it up, and away you go. The impeller only has two paddles, as opposed to the typical 4. It makes for a distinct "whapping" sound as it chews into the snow. The impeller faces forward as opposed to being sideways and thus doesn't have one direction that it throws the snow further, it goes even left or right, and dead ahead it will toss! It has many belts and chains and a gear reduction box, but it's cool how they all work in symphony. It throws snow clear over the telephone wires and the muffler glows red at night.

Unfortunately, two or three storms ago, my main machine (I have about 4 or 5 of them) popped the engine. I don't understand it, it was a crate engine that was period correct, probably mid to late 70's. You could tell someone replaced it back in the day and they parked the thing. I didn't have any of the others going because last year sucked. I have a few more engines, it's just getting out there and doing it. Oh well. End rant.

This isn't mine, but this is the same model.

http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r275/fabiodriven/bobcat.jpg (http://s146.photobucket.com/user/fabiodriven/media/bobcat.jpg.html)

[MRSOUND]

Finished with the shovel El :(. Not my idea of a good time, but will probably be my destiny the rest of the season. I just can't see me at this point getting parts special made for this. If I were a collector different story. Like I said although everything else works as it should (Motor fired up in 3 pulls after sitting 2 yrs) today's snow blowers out perform this relic so drastically. Watching my neighbor's yesterday I told the wife I had snow blower envy before mine broke. But it's not worth the time or investment to me. Maybe i'll just part it on ebay so someone else's can survive.
Fabio come pic this thing up if you like the old ones, we'll consider a down payment for the 160:lol:

[ezmoney1979]

Take off the handlebars and construct a way to mount it to your Big Red.

[90nut]

good luck finding parts for it. my buddy has one real similar and i gave up looking for parts. goes thu the sno good but as mentioned she sure dont throw it to far. if ya part it i may be interested in your engine. shovelling is better for your heart anyhow

[MRSOUND]

Take off the handlebars and construct a way to mount it to your Big Red.
I like your way of thinking! Heck till i get done doing all that I might as well just put a plow on the BR. I would worry about having too much weight in the front and not getting any traction on the rear wheels.


good luck finding parts for it. my buddy has one real similar and i gave up looking for parts. goes thu the sno good but as mentioned she sure dont throw it to far. if ya part it i may be interested in your engine. shovelling is better for your heart anyhow
I quit smoking for my heart this year. I habit for the heart per year lol. I'll let ya know if I part it out. I'm leaning more and more that way. I did find another on CL for $150 that the ad says he can't get it started. Just don't know if I want to fool with it and have 2 of these monsters sitting around. They weigh a ton and aren't fun to move around without power.

[Vealmonkey]

You ought to try and see what SWIGINS' brother Bubba has if any for sale. He wheels and deals with snow blowere as well as trikes.

[90guy]

My blower I have is a late 80's model Craftsman trac plus. Man the thing is a turd. Sure low gear is awesome. But high gear for transport is soooo slow.... 5hp Briggs on it. Runs like a champ blows snow ok. But the price was right. Built better then my dads MTD POS! His old ariens was a great machine! These 2 don't even compare to it. Here is one that is not to mine but is about the same. Mines just nicer haha! 186761

[atc300r]

That drive system looks the same as old Ariens snowblower I found at the dump several years ago .The 1 I found just needed a good carb cleaning and adjustment and recoil handle.I used it till last year.Some of the bearings went. Had a replacment motor on it. But I found 1 almost exactly like it at a yard sale last summer with a blown rod paid $15 for it.It is in very good shape I pulled the motor from my dump find and put it on the yard sale machine works great. Out does three of my neighbors new machines.Starts first pull even it sub zero temps.

[Lord Letto 20]

we are in the same predicament here also, a few years ago my brother went and bought a 1990-1992 or so Troy-Bilt Tractor with snow blower and lawn mower attachment off Kijiji, it worked good (Minus a few electrical/ignition problems with the tractor itself Last year my brother was able to fix and him cleaning, repainting and minor fixes/maintenance to the the bottom of the Lawnmower Attachment). a few weeks ago, was the time for the Snowblower attachment to go, first was a Pully broke, by brother was able to do a temp fix to get it working, clip broke off for the chute, by brother made one out of wood for a temp fix, but then the chain kept comeing off the sprockets, my brother figures the chain is stretched and the Chain tensioner is worn out, after calling around to hopefully find the parts to fix it he couldn't find parts for the 22 Year old snow blower, so for now we got to use a shovel and he'll save up over the summer to get a new Walk behind for next year.

[MRSOUND]

Really sucks because we are predicted to get another 3-5" tomorrow now. SHovel is gonna get mighty heavy after awhile.

[90guy]

Mount the shovel to a trike? Haha!