John Deere snow-blower

[diesirae7]

Since it was -12F on New Years day and most of the week after, I decided to stay in the warm shop and start rebuilding this 1975 snow-blower, someone gave it to me around 5 years ago, engine was locked, after taking it apart found it was run out of oil. Took some searching for discontinued Tecumseh engine components but I finally found a piston and ring set .020" oversize, getting the cylinder bored next week. Then a well deserved cleaning and maybe get more snow and try it out soon. I've found these 1960s thru 1970s really work well compared to the new ones and they are heavy!

 

[gotwasher]

Jd

Hi those machines rock they were made by ariens mfr I you need parts you may check with ariens as they arare same except ones orange and other green peace

 

[swestoyz]

JD 726

Wow, nice Deere!  My wife and I bought a new house on a corner lot just before winter, which finally inspired me to find a snow blower.  I stumbled upon a '75 JD 726 a month or so ago.  It ran like a top and had been well maintained by the previous owner.  They certainly are heavy and honestly will run forever if they are taken care of.

 

You'd be surprised at how many parts are still available from Deere for these. 

 

http://jdpc.deere.com/jdpc/servlet/com.deere.u90490.partscatalog.view.servlets.HomePageServlet_Alt

 

And, after doing some research it seems that folks say that Ariens made these for Deere or that Deere copied Ariens and that some Ariens parts will match and some apparently won't.  I'd suggest checking out items from the Deere parts sites/eBay first before heading to your Ariens dealer.  I know that after decoding my '75 it indicates that it was made in Horicon, WI, which isn't too far from where the Ariens blowers would have been made. 

 

Also, if you need a service manual this thread over on the snow blower forum has a dropbox link for one.

 

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www.snowblowerforum.com

 

Good luck!

 

Ben

 

[wayupnorth]

In 1988 I bought a new John Deere lawnmower and snowblower and the snowblower blew the gears up in 1995, bought another Sears crap one and that saga continues today, waiting for it to be fixed AGAIN before it snows middle of the week. I still have mower, non self propelled, for sale. Mower weighs a ton and works best on flat ground and still starts on the first pull.

 

[tolivac]

I bought a JD walk mower years ago and the thing SUCKED-hard to push and maneuver-and when I hit a stump buried in tall grass an INTERNAL shearpin in the motor blew-had to take it to a shop for repair.Old school mowers had the shear pin with the blade adaptor on the motors shaft.You could replace it yourself in only minutes.ANY hadware or home store carried replacement mower pins.No so today!You have to pay to have the mower fixed or buy a new one.Currently a cordless Greenworks mower replaced the JD one.MUCH BETTER.Hit the same stump with the Greenworks-no harm!!!

 

[diesirae7]

Thanks, I did go to my local JD dealer about parts, they had the two drive belts in stock, and they actually were able to get me a piston and ring set for the Tecumseh engine in oversize .020, they were the last set they had at the vintage parts warehouse in Wisconsin so they said, the parts boxes sure looked like they were from 1978 lol. My local engine machinist has the block now for boring, its funny to see that little one cylinder among all the big V8 racing engines. I also ordered a new rubber drive wheel, its still available too. I do have one other JD snow blower but its smaller but about the same era and a bigger MTD my grandpa bought in 1979, its a 33"

 

[robbinsandmyers]

Those were good machines. Shame I didnt see this earlier. I have a perfect running 7Hp I would have sold you for $75.00 with electric starter. I have a John Deere 14SB mower with the Kawi engine. Its an amazing machine. I think the whole thing was made in Japan.

 

[vacerator]

Troy,

I'm teased by your Monet Carlo. "76?, 77? 305? 350? bench, split, buckets?
If you posted pics on the car thread I forgot.

 

[kb0nes]

Here is a short video of a 1980's vintage Roper that my girlfriends father used for a few decades. I rebuilt the carb and welded up the skids a few years back.



We shot the video to sell it on Craigslist. It was replaced with a modern OHV Toro machine. This Roper went up for sale as soon as we tried the Toro. Amazing at the difference 3 points higher compression makes. First pull starts, WAY more power and it doesn't make you smell like raw gasoline.

 

[diesirae7]

John, never know I still may need that 7 horse, these older snow blowers seem to just find me and of course I have to take them.
Mike that is a 1976 Monte Carlo, Landau roof, 350, bench, PW, PL, cruise. First engine rebuild was 1987 by my dad and he and I did it again in 2008, roller cam and bumped up quite a bit, still original iron heads but Air-gap aluminum intake, very fun to drive.

 

[diesirae7]

Here's a photo! Need more and better photos, hard to remember everything.

 

[vacerator]

It's beautiful Troy!

Turbine II wheels too?
Sure do drive nice! The high caster angle of the front wheel knuckle makes them center the wheel for a very effortless cruise.
Ed Cole, and John DeLorean were great engineers, and the GM style, art, and color section in those days were top notch.
Maybe build quality wasn't quite world class, but some of that was due in part to Japanese steel.
Fuel economy improvement could have been achieved with stratified hemi cylinder heads over lighter weight in '78.
John DeLorean left GM when the X car and front drive were set in stone. I think he said "fugly", and walked out.
My father in law was a mechanical draftsman under him for a time.
He also left GM with the first round of attrition in 1985.
I was trying to get into GM as a prototype builder then. I passed the exam, but didn't get hired. Maybe they did me a favor.

 

[philr]

I also like old Snowblowers, I have two almost identical late seventies MTD Yard Man snowblowers with Briggs 11 HP motors and 12v starters.

 

[goatfarmer]

Ben, I never heard of a Deere/Ariens connection. I do know Deere Horicon works is where the garden tractors are made, wouldn't be surprised to see snowblowers, push mowers, etc made there.

Me, I still like Allis Chalmers/Simplicity. One snowblower I have is a Simplicity Landlord, from about 1968. Also a 1972 Landlord, with a blade.

 

[diesirae7]

Thanks Mike

It has ZERO body-roll at any speed! Must be that well engineered suspension, I also rebuilt the front suspension and used urethane control arm bushings. I don't see the build quality issues, its still a heavy steel built car, besides the 70s had the bad steel issue, which I never see in my 50s GM cars. Harley Earl should have stayed on into the 60s, now that would have been interesting seeing what could have been. That man was a genius of styling. I used to own two 1858 Eldorado Broughams, sad I sold them, I'll get another someday perhaps.

Phil those era snow blowers are great, my MTD from 1979 is a snowflite, must have had two models, Kenny those 1960-70s garden tractors were very well built, ones today are so cheap