I gotta say that "Part 1" seems like this one may go into overtime? :) Have fun and post lots.

40 yrs ago, I was doing this with bugs. Moving the pieces around as needed. Ariens snow blowers are a lot easier to handle. I blew the carb out with a ball needle chucked into a 12 volt tire inflater. The inlet was plugged with rust. I used a pipe cleaner dipped in gas. I used a bristle from a wire brush to clean out the holes in the main. I ran a screw into the seat and pulled out the old seat. I gave the hole a squirt of oil, then pushed the seat in until it bottomed out. put everything together and hit the button. It lit. I let it run for a few minutes then shut it down to change the oil. The motor will prolly get swapped to my known good tractor. But the bucket is fine. More later

I left the shut off open over night and there was still gas in the tank pretty much as it had been left. So my seat-ectomy and general clean up of the carb took. The recoil needs attention. Worst issue is that the plug in starter smokes ominously when cranked. I will investigate. I'm hoping it is just spilled oil cooking off. I started the engine and dumped in a 1/2 can B12 Chem-Tool into the nearly empty tank. I let then engine run for a few minutes. Then I closed the shut off. I'm a happy camper. The re-hab "exceeded expectations"

I replaced the recoil with one from a TVM 140 that was pulled from a an old FairLawn RER. It is responding well to a little ATF and exercise. This got me thinking. Are the cranks,etc,interchangeable between vertical and horizontal Tecumsehs? TIA

Efforts to get the Ariens to move were frustrated by the drive being stuck. Before I swapped engines, I decided to see what the problem was. An arm was stuck. A tap with the butt end of a 2x4 freed it. Shifts smoothly and goes forward and backward better than the others. I'm gonna put the air box back on and call it done.

Put the airbox back on on today Then I checked out the rakes and discovered that the shear bolts had regular 5/16 bolts instead. I had some spares, so I swapped them in. Then I greased the zerks. Took grease well, and the pumpkin is full. Far as I can tell, it is a '71.

andyma, this is what the forum is about. Looks like you breathed life back into one again! Is this one a keeper or does it go on the sales block?

It is a keeper. I have found that I need 2 40 yr old Ariens to make it through the winter. The other is buried in the back of the shed. It will take at least a 1/2 hour to uncover and pull it out. Working on the new one has given me ideas of what it will need to run well. Last year, it would run fine for a while then gradually lose power. I think the intake is loose.

Both of the the blowers pooped out on me yesterday. I got the car out and got a couple gallons of fresh gas and a bottle of B12. Today , I drained the tank on the 40$ special and dropped the fuel bowl. The bowl had a bunch of rusty ice in it. I cleaned out the main jet and the bowl. he gas I drained out had water and crud in it. I added some B12 and some fresh gas. It was still stalling but would restart with the recoil starter. I tinkered with the jets and got it to idle smoothly. It ran well enough to clear the drive way and some paths. Toward the end, either I finallly got the carb set right, or the B12 cleaned something out because it runs fine now. Well enough to spin the wheels when I let the clutch out. If I have further troubles,with stalling, I will raise the float level a bit.