So, my 12 year old fixed a 26″ snowblower by himself.
Well, OK, i helped re-mount the parts on the auger shaft, because they were a bit tough to get mounted, but overall, he did the tear-down and reassembly of the auger assembly, and the 2-stage portion.
My neighbor gave me a TroyBilt Storm 2620 because the auger didn’t work anymore. The engine worked fine – it actually was EASY to ull-start. It turns out he hit an ice pile, and rather than breaking the shear bolts, the drive gear got stripped.
After doing some online research, i found the drive gear-shaft and a pair of the auger gears (figured i should buy 2 in case it happens again) for 80 bucks. Those, and a youtube video, showed that it should cost me less time and money than the $400+ that they wanted to do it at the local power equipment store. Note: I also found a fully assembled gearbox for $200, if i needed to go that route.
I decided to take a day off, since my younger son had the day off, and this was to be our project. While i was working on something else, I let him tear it down in an orderly manner (With some direction, but he did the work).
![](https://181b1d.a2cdn1.secureserver.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/img_1438-768x1024.jpg)
Once we got the gearbox cracked open, we were greeted with a gold mess – that brass gear didn’t just strip a few teeth… it exploded.
![](https://181b1d.a2cdn1.secureserver.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/img_1434-768x1024.jpg)
![](https://181b1d.a2cdn1.secureserver.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/img_1435-768x1024.jpg)
for comparison, here’s what a GOOD gear looks like:
![](https://181b1d.a2cdn1.secureserver.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/img_1437-768x1024.jpg)
So we went to the auto parts store and got some grease, and swapped gear parts – the whole process would have taken only 2 hours or so if we didn’t stop halfway through.
![](https://181b1d.a2cdn1.secureserver.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/img_1440-768x1024.jpg)
![](https://181b1d.a2cdn1.secureserver.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/img_1439-768x1024.jpg)
And when we were done we had ZERO pieces left over. This is the first BIG mechanical project he’s ever undertaken, and 95% of it was simple direction, and letting him learn by doing. That’s not to say he was UNSUPERVISED, but it was a great learning experience, and now I have a big 2 stage snowthrower to use… thus ensuring it won’t snow again this year.
Throughout the process, he saw that I was learning as we went, too – so hopefully he is absorbing the fact that sometimes you just need to take a crack at something – had this been my snowblower beforehand (as opposed to a freebie) – it would have saved me quite a bit of money just to try this.