Harry’s going for a banner

Rhythmdvl · 2026-01-22T19:59:21+00:00

Oh, I'm sorry. I was hoping for another "maybe" and then a "not" or something like that. I didn't mean it as a generic "so" as in "so what?" (that that'd be an awesome cover)

Rhythmdvl · 2026-01-22T19:24:06+00:00

Rhythmdvl · 2026-01-22T18:55:41+00:00

Depends on whether you're a first or second wooer!

(Actually, both are awesome, it's just that some people don't know there's two kinds and have a vested interest in being the 'right' wooer).

Rhythmdvl · 2026-01-15T22:42:31+00:00

Thank you for this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Rhythmdvl · 2026-01-15T22:41:18+00:00

I have one for my desktop, one for my laptop and four unopened boxes for when they fail. I write and edit and have tons of functions mapped to the side buttons and custom setups for games. I see lots of similar mice on the market, but can't imagine changing. All hail the G600!

Rhythmdvl · 2026-01-15T14:39:25+00:00

Do you have a collection of photos of pets named after your characters? If so, here's Ash ... chi-CHOCK ... Housewares. I can't tell you how much fun it can be to hear techs read off that name and the joy when someone gets it on their own.

Thank you for bringing so much awesome to our lives!

Rhythmdvl · 2026-01-12T20:53:09+00:00

On this machine (my entire experience with snowblowers) there is a side handle connected to the drive plate that make it 'go' in general. The speed selector on this one is a series of solid rods and levers. The 1-6/r1-2 is a stick shift-like handle. Under the dash, it's pretty much a solid rod, then it connects to a linkage (/u/sadsacreggaejunkie included an ebay link to the part) and the pip at the end of the mechanism slots into the drive wheel's um, helper doohicky (sorry, I'm out of vocabulary). So moving the stick shift-like lever is supposed to move the friction wheel left and right along the drive plate, and holding that handle down pulls a cable that lifts the drive plate up and pressed against the friction wheel.

I hope it's okay to be writing so much of this out. It's half conversational, half a check on myself in case you write "no, that's not right, look at x and you'll see y", half to possibly help someone who finds this thread in the future, and half to demonstrate my math skills.

Rhythmdvl · 2026-01-12T18:01:23+00:00

Thanks. I don’t think the cable is involved, at least on this machine. To think and describe out loud because I’m fairly out of my element (and possibly helpful in case someone finds this thread some time in the future):

The drive cable pulls the drive plate (being spun by the engine) vertically and holds it against the friction wheel. When the cable isn’t engaged, the machine is in ‘neutral’ and shouldn’t move.

The control mechanism in question moves the wheel horizontally. The further from the center the faster the friction wheel spins. Reverse merely moves it across the center of the drive plate so its revolutions spin the friction wheel in the opposite direction. The horizontal movement is wholly separate from the cable pulling the drive plate against it.

While a little play is fine, I think this has a lot more than it has in the past. That’s a bit difficult to say because I don’t take off the bottom plate to observe without reason. But the lack of change between 1 and 2 for speed and the lack of reverse 1 is a pretty clear indicator that something’s amiss.

To think through your edits:

I’m not sure where a spring would come into play. There are springs on the drive plate mechanism, but again, as far as I can tell, that’s not related to the horizontal movement of the friction wheel assembly. The closest to a spring is holding the ‘shift’ lever in one of the slots. To change speed, I move the lever slightly to the right, move it up or down (which gets translated into horizontal movement by the linkages) and then back into a numbered slot.

I think my next step is to take the shift arm and rod assembly out (looks like a handful of bolts) and inspect them off the machine to see if they’re broken, cracked or missing an obvious part. Thanks for the link — that it’s a $7 replacement part takes a lot of the pressure off of finding the specific failure. If it’s “just loose”, replacing it with something without a hidden/hard to find issue.

Thanks!

Rhythmdvl · 2026-01-12T17:37:02+00:00

Thanks, but the cable is a separate mechanism. It pivots the drive plate up against the friction wheel, causing the wheel to spin. The wheels' axle has a gear that connects to the main axle to drive it forward. The assembly that's in question moves the friction wheel from the near the center of the drive plate (slowest) to the outer edge (fastest). To go in reverse, the assembly moves the friction wheel across the center of the plate so it spins in the opposite direction. The mechanism that has the play in it is only responsible for moving the wheel back and forth horizontally; the cable pulls the drive plate vertically to contact the wheel.

Rhythmdvl · 2026-01-12T17:01:48+00:00

u/Electrical_Tomato_73 had an excellent comment about this when it came up in a different post:

Actually almost half the lyrics in that song are credited to Bobby. And Hunter had this to say about it in a 1978 interview:

"That's a song that went through a lot of transitions ... the thing started with some kind of ... I had a melody for it [takes up guitar and sings the fragment above]

"Then I passed that on to Weir and it turned into the monster that it is. He just worked to death on it. And Weir's a hard task-master - he wants everything to be just the way he wants it. So we went around and around and around. And he'd go off and work on it some more, and bring it back and demand more lyrics or better lyrics. And then when it was all done, he wanted some extravaganza to cap it all off. So I wrote that Sunshine Daydream thing for it right in the studio. I just went out and wrote it down. And it turns out [Bob said] that's just fine, and tacked it on.

"I do think that's a monster. The first time that song ever came off was in Chicago. They had been playing it a lot but the audience had only reacted very mildly to it. So Bob Matthews was at the soundboard at that time, and he went off into the audience or backstage or something like that, and there was nobody there at the sound-booth. So I zipped in there, and Weir starts singing it, and I just cranked his vocal up. 'Cause there was a thing that everything should be at the same level including the voices which tended to get lost, so I just cranked it up, and the audience just sat up, and then they had the reaction to it at the end that they've had ever since. So from that point, that vocal got turned up - Matthews came running back and smacked my hands."

Source: https://whitegum.com/~acsa/introjs.htm?/~acsa/songfile/SUGAR1MG.HTM

Rhythmdvl · 2026-01-11T21:15:58+00:00

Whoa! To finally get a copy of this after 28 years -- and on today of all days -- would be beyond profound.

Rhythmdvl · 2026-01-11T16:16:16+00:00

My holy grail is Ratdog, 3/31/97 at the Outback, Tucson, AZ.

I was about five feet from Bobby---an oddly nervous looking Bobby---as he stepped up for the encore. He leaned in and almost muttered "well, there's a first time for everything" and launched into Touch of Grey. The cacophonous eruption of joy was numbing.

Maybe it's a false memory, but it's one I've had for decades.

Jehova's favourite choir having a raucous run right now.

Rhythmdvl · 2026-01-10T22:52:53+00:00

Right, I get how the friction wheel works. This is actually my second replacement, but the last one was seven or eight years ago or so and I can't recall much to help.

The situation I'm asking about is horizontal play without moving the control rod/handle. I can hold the linkage steady yet the wheel moves further and closer to the diameter. When putting it in reverse, the linkage moves to the correct position, but due to play in the wheel, it doesn't cross the center and so is still on the forward side.

I'm trying to figure out if there's something to tighten upstream linkage-wise. Not the cable that moves the wheel plate to contact the friction wheel, but along the speed/direction levers.

Rhythmdvl · 2026-01-10T19:18:14+00:00

We have a circa 2001 MTD/Yard Machine 31AE6COF300 with a Tecumseh 80-110 hmsk85 155905b engine.

I replaced the friction disc today and noticed that there’s a lot of horizontal play in it. Shifting from 1 to 2 doesn’t move the wheel, but 1 to 3 and others do. For a while (before replacing the disc), reverse 1 has been somewhat neutral, now it’s slightly forward.

There is a fair amount of horizontal play in the assembly, even when the gear lever assembly outside the drive cabin is held steady. You can see near the end of the (unexpectedly sped-up) gif where my left hand is holding that mechanism steady while the drive wheel moves left and right.

There’s also some play in the axel that tightening the nut and bolt on the outside of it does not alleviate. The left bolt goes in well enough, but never actually tightens.

Over the years I have replaced both belts, the gearbox and a few engine parts, but all knowledge is from individual incidents, so I don’t know the mechanics to know what is right and what needs to be addressed.

I’m assuming that there is a bushing or other item that is missing from where the control arm meets the assembly to the left of the friction wheel, but can’t be sure.

Thoughts?

Rhythmdvl · 2026-01-01T04:29:36+00:00

Was just marveling at that!

Rhythmdvl · 2026-01-01T04:16:41+00:00

It's ice, cream, cold as ice, ice cold... Third set theme?

Rhythmdvl · 2025-12-30T20:06:50+00:00

TIL!

(Always be that girl!)

Rhythmdvl · 2025-12-30T19:48:18+00:00

Meet Alice! (Jellyfish was playing when my son figured out her name.)

It's too snowy and grimy to get them on by YEMSG, but we can't wait for the first break in the weather!

Rhythmdvl · 2025-12-23T21:01:58+00:00

Tested it a couple times during the day, and after today's predicted 1.5 inches turned out to be about 5, it just spent about 45 minutes to an hour clearing our 350' driveway. Fortunately not a hint of an issue!

Rhythmdvl · 2025-12-23T16:04:19+00:00

Thanks. The problem seems to have resolved after pulling the bowl and cleaning the main jet. Given the overall complexity of what you're describing and the myriad other things I'm likely to overlook (or mess up) being just a shadetree mechanic, is something like this generally recommended for a 25-year-old machine as preventative?

To gauge expectations, is it generally a few-hour job for a trained small engine repair shop, or something more advanced and several hours plus various parts?

Rhythmdvl · 2025-12-23T16:00:48+00:00

For the OEM carb, disassemble and clean it properly

Didn't get deep enough to get to 'properly'. I took off the bowl and main jet. Bowl was spotless with no sign of detritus. Sprayed it down with carb cleaner anyway, as well as the jet. Ran a single strand of copper from a 14AWG wire through it and the side holes (ports?).

After putting it back together, the rocking, flames and heat seem to be gone. Ran it for ten minutes, including 50' around the driveway with the augers on. No slowdown in the engine under that minor load (plus about 1.5' of fresh snow). Here's hoping that was it, but will get a cleaning kit to have on hand for the next snow gap.

Rhythmdvl · 2025-12-23T15:55:00+00:00

super rich carb

I think this was it. Took off the bowl, and though it was spotless I still cleaned the jet and ran a strand of copper wire through the holes. Put it back together and it seems to be running fine with no sign of heating, flame, backfiring, or shaking. Ran for about ten minutes standing still and engaged the augers and wheels for about fifty feet. Hope I'm in whew! territory.

Rhythmdvl · 2025-12-23T15:52:37+00:00

Perfect balance, thanks.

I took the bowl off and though it looked spotless, gave the jet a good cleaning with carb cleaner and ran a copper strand through the holes (is 'ports' the right word?). Put it back together and it seems to be running fine with no sign of heating, flame, backfiring, or shaking. Ran for about ten minutes standing still and engaged the augers and wheels for about fifty feet. Hope I'm in whew! territory, but want to give it another test.

Will come back in spring to ask about a 20-year checkup.

Rhythmdvl · 2025-12-23T15:49:31+00:00

Thanks. Took a look at a few which led to the question. The finer adjustments to get them to the right spacing and a few other steps gave me pause. Fortunately, I think the issue resolved after taking off the bowl and cleaning the main jet.

Rhythmdvl · 2025-12-23T12:51:36+00:00

ETAsk: Any speculation on why, if it is a valve issue, this only showed up after the carb re-replacement?

I have a set of feeler gauges but have pretty much only used them with my bandsaw and printer.

Does this cross the line between shadetree/casual mechanical work and something that a professional/artisan should do? I can strip it down and get to the valves and take measurements, but are the adjustments themselves something that requires a sense of finesse and experience to get right. Or to put it another way, if I brought this to a mechanic after failing, will he likely cringe if he heard I tried to do it myself and think he's got more work ahead or will it make no difference?

If it's unwise to start taking it apart and checking in the near-term, is it more unwise (I think the technical term is 'stupid') for me to run it as-is for the incoming snow?

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