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Murray/Craftsman design flaw

4K views 12 replies 8 participants last post by  Cutter 
#1 ·
Hello fellow enthusiast,

This weekend past my neighbor bought one of my snowblowers and also gave me his old one. It runs great but always clogs. The chute discharge orifice is a solid rectangle that measures 2.5" x 4.25" coming off of a 9" impeller. The picture is attached below. The clogging is the very reason he upgraded.

We traded monies and machines and I started in on my parts list that it will need to bring it up to my standard before I resell it. Clearly he isn't the only person in America with this machine who has it clog in any snow condition. My question to you, my fellow engineers, mechanics, problem solvers; will a simple rubber flap impeller kit resolve the poor performance or should I endeavor to cut/enlarge the opening and retrofit a discharge base? I have yet to use an impeller kit but seem to understand they work wonders. At least according to the reputable interweb postings :wink2:.

Of course there is always the option to do nothing but I hold myself and my machines to a higher standard.

Thanks for your input and wisdom,
Spindler
 

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#5 ·
That’s a pretty light weight machine, Mungraled two of those together out of two messed up blowers as it came in 3 sizes, A 22” a 26 and 29” and the buckets are exact except the width so it’s a bolt on swap so I ended up with a 22” bucket on the 26” blower with a 8.5 hp lol worked pretty well actually and gave it to the girlfriend for her house, but now we’re married so it got a 5 hp put on it and going to sell cheap but for lighter snow it’s great but heavy wet snow it clogs and only a 9” impeller doesn’t help it much either.
 
#6 ·
It's nothing heavy duty by any means. Had I known better, or known that it's a Murray in disguise, I think I would have asked him to keep it! I ordered $34 in parts to repair the factory chute but I am still at the drawing board for this. He broke the chute parts while unclogging it. I guess his temper kept building up. Much like the snow in the chute!
 
#7 ·
Repaint the chute to a glossy state. Wax it with a good quality auto wax. Then spray the chute with a vegetable spray or chute spray designed specifically for snowblowers. (Make it a slippery as possible).

Some people have reported good results with a teflon liner inside the chute. Also the modification to the impeller has gained popularity.

Possibly look into changing the auger speed. With a 9" auger you could be spinning the little fella around 1200 rpm.
 
#13 ·
Repaint the chute to a glossy state. Wax it with a good quality auto wax. Then spray the chute with a vegetable spray or chute spray designed specifically for snowblowers. (Make it a slippery as possible).

Some people have reported good results with a teflon liner inside the chute. Also the modification to the impeller has gained popularity.

Possibly look into changing the auger speed. With a 9" auger you could be spinning the little fella around 1200 rpm.

I had a Murray/Craftsman for 20 years with the same size throat on it, mind you it had a 10" impeller and 8.5 HP....but never ever had a clogging issue. But, I did wax the chute every single year that I owned it; in fact I wax my whole machine every year. Loved that machine.:smile2:
 
#8 ·
If you decide to scrap the machine that chute actually sells for a good price as it is a drop in replacement on a lot of craftsman blowers with plastic chutes, I usually get them in rough shape cheaper and repaint them but if in god shape I’ve seen them sell for $40 just for the chute.
 
#9 · (Edited)
I would do the impeller mod and increase its rpm only. It is not worth putting too much effort into it. Just make it decent and then sell it for cheap.

My little MTD 5/22 has 9.5 impeller, but it was spinning at about 1200 rpm. Even with that, it threw snow like crap. Your machine is not going to do any better than that without modifications. I now has made its impeller 10.5" spinning at 1300 rpm. It is going to kick ass this winter.

What I don't like about the impeller mod is that things could get loose, rusted and fly out of there. You don't want to hold that responsibility. I would only do that to my snowblowers.

I would not buy a modified snowblower.

That throat is way too narrow I think. The one on my MTD is 4x4. Ariens throat is arrow shaped. Snow is going to hit that side wall more (just look at the paint chips on it).
 
#10 ·
Enlarged Murray chute exit

This is what I did last year, cut and weld. I did the side opposite the gears.
 

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