snowblower find!

[Steve C]

I just brought home a Gilson 826 snow blower. It was on Craigs list for $25. The owner said the motor just siezed up last year and wont turn over. It is an 8 hp Briggs & Stratton. I assumed that the motor was junk, but because the machine is a 5 speed gear drive transmission I thought it would be worth the effort to mount a new motor to it. It seems to be very heavily built. I have a couple of rotor tillers that have motors that could be used as doners, they are not used much in the winter time.

When I got the machine home I pulled on the recoil starter and could not move it. I then pulled the plug and poured in a little transmission fluid to help free it up in case it was just rusted. It still wouldn't budge. Then I got the 18 inch pipe wrench and put it on the output shaft and got it to turn. It made some very bad noises and turned hard. Not a good sign.

I then pulled the head and used the pipe wrench to move the piston up and down, everything looked good. I pulled the recoil and noticed that the rope had gone limp and had wadded up and made a loop around one of the mounting brackets, making it impossible to pull! It acted like it was seized up.
Also the two lower mounting bolts were missing allowing the housing to rub on the flywheel.

I pried the rope loose and got the pully working correctly. I removed the recoil mounted on the flywheel and noticed that one of the 6 ball bearings was not where it was supposed to be, preventing it from free wheeling.

I put it all back together and I got spark when I pulled the recoil starter handle. I think I am just a carb cleaning away from having a very heavy duty electric start 8 hp snow blower. This thing is is made of very thick metal and has a peerless 5 speed gear drive transmission, there are no friction wheels to wear out. The gear box on the auger is about twice as large as the ones you find on the new machines. I will post some pictures if anyone is interested.

I have been out of work for about a year and have more time than money. I am tickled to death to have found this great machine and to be able to bring it back to life. They truley do not build them this stout any more.

Our domestic engine manufacturers got behind the eight ball about 30 years ago and at that time Honda and other small motor manufactures were probably a much better product. I think the gap in performance and design has closed since then. I have several machines powered by by Briggs & Stratton engines and they have worked great. If you are buying a new machine and you can get a domestic engine on it just do it. They are good products and will help us all get back to work.

 

[drivadesl]

Sounds like a great find Steve. I've seen Gilson machines out there and they look pretty heavy duty. Never owned one myself. Can you still get parts for them? I picked up a circa 1972 ariens snowblower with a 6 HP Techumsa for which you can still buy parts. I'm sure the Gilson will serve you well. I get a kick out of resurrecting these engines that other people give up on, and you end up with a pretty solid machine. Congrats on the find. Got any pics??

 

[Steve C]

Sounds like a great find Steve. I've seen Gilson machines out there and they look pretty heavy duty. Never owned one myself. Can you still get parts for them? I picked up a circa 1972 ariens snowblower with a 6 HP Techumsa for which you can still buy parts. I'm sure the Gilson will serve you well. I get a kick out of resurrecting these engines that other people give up on, and you end up with a pretty solid machine. Congrats on the find. Got any pics??

I don't have pictures yet. I removed the engine and pulled the head and carb. I flushed the motor with diesel fuel, Cleaned everything up and put the motor back together and put new oil in it. I had to replace the fuel lines. I put it back together and it started on the second pull while clamped to my work bench.

I should get it bolted back on the machine in the next day or so. Then I will take some pictures of it. It is a very heavy built unit. The front auger drive gear box is twice as large as any of the newer units and it has very stout construction everywhere on the machine. If you google Gilson ST826 you can see what it looks like. It is one of the few machines that use an actual oil filled 5 speed gear box rather than a friction wheel.

If you google Gilson snowblowers you can get a lot of information on these machines. They seem to be very highly regarded.

this is a good Gilson site. http://home.gwi.net/~spectrum/snowblower.html

 

[Steve C]

Sounds like a great find Steve. I've seen Gilson machines out there and they look pretty heavy duty. Never owned one myself. Can you still get parts for them? I picked up a circa 1972 ariens snowblower with a 6 HP Techumsa for which you can still buy parts. I'm sure the Gilson will serve you well. I get a kick out of resurrecting these engines that other people give up on, and you end up with a pretty solid machine. Congrats on the find. Got any pics??

I got a picture of tyhe Gilson in action.

We don't have any snow to work with, I had plowed it all away with the tractor last week, but if we get some new snow I now have a machine for doing walking paths instead of using my 7 foot back blade and tearing up the grass.

It feels good to have saved the old machine from the scrap heap. When I get all my projects caught up I will give it a paint job....probably 5 years from now....

 

[brin]

Nice going...it should feel good to get a deal like that and be able to bring the machine back to life and you are right ...they don't make anything like they used to..Good Luck with it and look forward to the pictures.

 

[coobie]

I got a picture of tyhe Gilson in action.

We don't have any snow to work with, I had plowed it all away with the tractor last week, but if we get some new snow I now have a machine for doing walking paths instead of using my 7 foot back blade and tearing up the grass.

It feels good to have saved the old machine from the scrap heap. When I get all my projects caught up I will give it a paint job....probably 5 years from now....

Great find,you have plenty of winter left to give it a good work out.coobie

 

[Steve C]

Nice going...it should feel good to get a deal like that and be able to bring the machine back to life and you are right ...they don't make anything like they used to..Good Luck with it and look forward to the pictures.

The young man I bought it from has the worse driveway I have ever seen in my life. It is prone to drifting about 5 foot deep for its entire 400+ foot length. He must have bought his house in the summer time. It is on the east side of a hill in a excavated pit with prevailing west winds in the lake effect snow area of Traverse City Michigan. It has 4 foot tall retaining walls on the west and north side of the parking area and drive. I can't imagine keeping that area clear with just a snow blower. You would soon be blowing it onto 10 foot tall banks. It is a blessing that his machine died and he has hired somebody to plow it.

 

[Hapis]

Wow what a great find. That must be karma. Keep up the good work.

 

[WayneB]

Yes that is a big GLOAT! You did good, now this coming spring pull the wheels and paint the hubs........gingo it is a brand new machine..

Good going.

 

[Steve C]

Yes that is a big GLOAT! You did good, now this coming spring pull the wheels and paint the hubs........bingo it is a brand new machine..

Good going.

Yes you are right, for as old as it is, the body seems to look pretty good. The tires have some very deep weather checking but they seem to be holding air.

After 2009 I need something to gloat over.....

A brand new 25 year old machine, but compared to some of my stuff it sure is new.

I did have to spend about 6 or 8 hours taking it apart and putting it back together a couple of times to get the motor freed up. I think the old oil had turned into glue. Untill I flushed it with diesel you couldn't turn it over with the recoil. I suppose if you had to pay somebody to do all that it wouldn't have been worth fixing. Shop labor would have been more than what it is worth.

I had to drive 200+ miles to get it. My 35 MPG Ford Escort station wagon decided not to start that day,.......

Another good plan gone bad..... I had to drive my one ton diesel truck instead. I had told the guy I would be there at 5 pm. It cost me almost twice as much in fuel as I paid for the machine.......still you can't buy much of a snow blower for $75 and it seems to be working well as a snow repellent We are just north of where most of the snow is falling in Michigan at the moment.