Certified/Champion 22"

I've found there doesn't seem to be much if any info regarding the Certified/Champion SB's in the 22 and 24" models here on the site. In the interest there are a few visitors looking for maintenance information, I decided to make this into a Showcase post.

I bought this Certified SB new back in Dec of '17 specifically for doing the roof of my large carport. It's a 7HP 224cc Champion engine, lite weight
2 stage 22" model but there are/were quite a few sizes available at the time, (the 24" model is identical). They're made by Champion for the Canadian Tire market here in Canada. I like this machine. Alot. It's just a simple blower, no bells, no whistles, no need for special options. An outstanding bargain when purchased at sale price of $379 if I recall correctly.
(To add...) I like this model so much that when I found another one selling privately and brought it home.

The only issue I have had (knock on wood!) is I once smoked a belt at the end of the first season in some water logged slush. My bad, no blower would have moved it.
The factory installed auger belt seems to be the biggest issue people are having with the Certifieds/Champions. I call Champion out on this for cheaping out, I believe they upgraded it in the newer versions. Regardless, easy to change out (thru the belly) and upgrade to a better belt, it's a 1/2" x 35" in case anyone was wondering.
As the photo shows, an MTD 754-04050A belt is a decent replacement.
Drive belt is a Gates 740-5M-15 which IMO is a good belt.
It's been 4 years, I decided it was due for it's second full prep and maintenance before the season arrived.

EDIT to add
If you scroll down near bottom I threw in a small 'how-to' section on my "Homemade Poly Skids"

Belly pan off, its just a typical and standard fare friction disc drive train.




I'll start with the right side bucket nuts, 3 of them to remove after removing the belt cover (10mm x 2, with a socket & 6" extension) and chute.



Moving onto the chute, remove the cover (12mm nut followed by a 13mm nut) then the chute itself with the one large bolt, (16mm and 17mm wrenches required). Be ready to catch the bushing that will come out once the nut on the bottom is off. Slide the chute adjustment rod back a bit and basically center/place it over the engine, no need to remove. Lift the chute off, easy peasy.




Bucket removal, slip the auger belt off the crank pulley after loosening the belt retainer rod (13mm wrench) and moving out of the way.



Now remove the other 3 nuts (if you havent already done so) on the left side holding the bucket to the main frame.



There is a spring with cable attached to the auger belt tensioner, I found it easy to remove with the bucket tilted up after removing the 6 nuts (12mm socket or wrench). Long needle nose pliers work best IMO.
Before you slide the bucket forward, brace your main frame on the handle side with a chair, your work bench or whathaveyou, as it will want to drop backwards once bucket is off.

Here is the exposed backside of the bucket, same as generally any basic blower on the market. The impeller pulley is cast iron, I like that.
Remove the 17mm pulley bolt, (easily done with an impact), lift off, keep an eye out for the small keyway, dont want to lose that.
Remove the tensioner spring by popping the 12mm nut off, slide the spring up. I put the spring back along with the nut (loosely) just to keep track of them.
Loosen the belt retainer and slide out of the way, 17mm.



Remove the 3 12mm bearing retainer nuts, slip it off along with the bearing. I also removed the belt idler assembly bracket (17mm) to clean and lube. The washer is cupped (like a spring washer), so be mindful of the direction, cup out facing the nut.
If you notice it's all coming apart nice and slick, reason being I did this all basically when new to make any future maintenance dis-assembly a non-issue.





Onto the auger retaining bolts, 6 (12mm) total, 3 per side. Remove and put the bucket on its pulley end and lift the auger/impeller assembly straight out.




Pull off the auger bushings, retainer housing and washer/shims and set aside.




Two bolts, 5 mm allen head and 10mm nuts hold the impeller on the shaft, remove them and hopefully the impeller will slide off with minimal effort for you.
Clean up the shaft, use fine sandpaper if necessary, slather with grease or anti-seize. Spin and work the impeller a few times on the freshly lubed shaft and re-install.
Same goes for the two auger bushings.
Next, one side at a time, remove the 2 shear pins. Remove the augers, bushings and shims and set aside in the order they came off, (take a pic if you're so inclined) so you dont have a mix up on re-install.
Same as the impeller shaft, wipe it down, fine sandpaper if needed and slather it with grease or anti-seize. Put it all back together (in order) and repeat the process with the augers on the other side.

Make notice of the gap space taken up by my impeller mod. This brought my throwing distance from 25 to 35 feet. Huge improvement and welcomed as my carport is 30 ft in width.




Now give your empty bucket a good wipe down, wax if want or wait and apply some fluid film after install is done. Wipe all belt dust, dirt from the buckets backside.
Put a little grease where the idler bracket mounts and the bracket itself, just a little will be sufficient. Install cupped washer and nut and tighten. Be sure it swivels easily once tight, if it doesnt, your washer is upside down.

Time to work backwards and put it all back together. Once you've set the augers/impeller back in place, loosely install the 6 auger bearing bolts, the bearing housing and the 3 impeller bearing nuts. Tighten the 3 impeller nuts then the 6 on the bucket sides. Spin the impeller by hand to make sure there is no binding whatsoever, smooth is key.

Keep moving backwards until it's all re-assembled, fire it up to be sure all is well and good. Give yourself a pat on the back, well done.

Now I suggest changing your auger gearbox oil. Champion did well here, drain plug on the bottom with a fill and vent hole up top. Kudos to them!
Re-fill with a non-synthetic 90 weight oil. I'm not sure of the exact amount, I filled to 1 1/2" from the top, probably 4 oz or so. Check the level by sticking the end of a zip tie into the fill hole.



Now it's done and you're ready to go to work with it.



As a side note, I made/make my own poly skids, I need the skids to be 12" of length on this blower to span the high spots of my steel roof, the high spots are 9" center to center.

edit to add
I happened to pick up another 22" matching blower to this one and made another set of skids for it to finish it off after giving it a full & complete service treatment. So I figured I'd make a bit more detailed report on my how-to...

They're very easy to make, enjoyable even.
After making so many, my old xtra large cutting board finally ran out of material so I picked one up in town at the dollar store, 12" x 18" x 1/2" I believe.
First I traced out the original skid on the board. As you can see, the original skid cannot be inverted once worn down, (kind of uncommon but not unheard of). easy to cure with the new poly one, after you trace the steel skid, 180 (flip) the steel skid, trace it again for the top and join the ends. Now they can be inverted should they ever become worn down close to the slots. Feel free to trace/make any design you like. Poly is easy/great to work with.

After trace design, I always use a 5/16" drill bit to drill the slot ends before I start cutting the material.



I then use a jigsaw, (blade selection doesnt make much difference as like said, poly is easy to work with). I cut away the slot area first as holding the material is much easier while still part of the full sheet.



Next cut each new skid out of the board and proceed to clean up your cuts and round the edges nice and smooth.
As you can see I use a bench mounted combination disc/belt sander (I keep it portable). Works great for many items and projects.
You can use sandpaper, a file, a router or whathaveyou to make a nice smooth finish.



I then use a de-burring tool to clean off the poly hairs and make a nice edge to the new skid.



Paint them if you wish, any plastic acceptable spray paint is fine, If I paint them I have always chosen gloss black. I have found the paint will not hold up to wear from the snow/ice on the sides. Once dry, I install with 5/16 x 1" carriage bolts and 1 1/2" washers & lock nuts. (For a double width poly skid, I use 1 1/2" bolts and cut off the excess after the plastic infused style lock nut).

Leaving them at 1/2" width is and has been fine for me in the past altho I am going to experiment this winter with two sets I made that I doubled up for a 1" total width. I've been using nutserts/rivet nuts pressed in on the backside with 10-32 screws on the front. Other than less wear there may well be no difference at all in their use.
We'll see...
As of Feb 1 I'm pleased to report the double width of 1" is and has worked very well. I'll be making all future sets as such unless the customer is fine with the basic 1/2" style.



Pics of both 22" models doing what it is they do...As you can see, they both perform very well meeting my requirements.