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Thanks for the encouragement buddy!

But you can!!!

Well, working on outboards and mowers has been my life's passion for sure. But, sure wish I had some other aptitudes, some that might translate into more income! I really admire those who can work with wood, carpentry, cabinets, etc... True artwork... Anything I ever made of wood got so greasy, I just ended up cutting two notches into it calling it an ashtray! For now, I envy guys that can pull off the outfits and heels I have only dreamed of wearing...

I really admire the practicality and hand on abilities of people such as yourselves who can do these things. I have precisely zero aptitude

I seized an old Arons Briggs snowblower years ago. Pounded the piston out the by hand wet sanded the bore with old oil and 400 grit wet/dry paper. Put her back together and ran another 5 yrs until moving to North Carolina. Left the blower with the house.

I don't really have any experience with older Tecumsehs, it's the newer ones (made a decade or less before bankruptcy) that worry me. I run synthetic oil, and it gets changed once a year, whether it needs it or not. We are not in a super heavy snow belt. This is somewhat unusual. I'll bet that machine gets 10 hours a year, at most. I don't know that it will outlive me, but it might come close. I take the opposite approach to off season storage--I start adding fuel stabilizer to my 5 gallon gas can toward the end of the season, and fill everything full. If I get around to it, I will try to exercise dormant machines several times during the off season. And if that doesn't work, I got a 14 year old kid who is willing to take that stuff apart at the drop of a hat, and fix it. I haven't had one not start in more than a decade. Also, I never run ethanol in my small engines. I still have that option around here. My furnace inlet/exhaust is not as low as you think it is. We just have that much snow! 😆

Always better to have a little more than you might think you need when it comes to snowblowers for sure. Those tecumsehs aren't so bad...Yeah, not quite as rugged as on old Briggs, but you can't get the good ol Briggs engines anymore. Just be sure to physically drain the fuel/carb bowl every year and you will be fine. Just "running it out of gas" doesn't get all the fuel out of the bowl, leaving some in there to spoil. Perfect boots for snow removal indeed! I wear my Dingo campus boots when running the snowblower, makes me look forward to an otherwise dreaded job. Hoping your crappy weather isn't headed our way in the northeast! Good advice on that furnace inlet, surprised it is positioned so low like that.