When I got home today, I decided to clear my driveway from the little bit of snow that fell yestreday and last night. The sun was out and the temp was now in the mid 30’s. The couple inches of snow was soft and kind of soggy. As I was using my snowblower, it was clogging up periodically. Often I just let off on the self-propel lever, and the auger would manange to clear the chute. But sometimes I needed to clear it manually.
The clear the a clogged chute, shut off the snowblower!!!! Then use a stick to remove the snow, ice, and slush. You might think that having the auger lever released would be enough, or having the snowblower shut off, might be enough. The auger can be “wound up” like a spring, and can be released when the snowblower is unclogged. So use a stick!
After I finished clearing my driveway, a went over and cleared part of my neighbor’s driveway too. They had one of their cars parked at the entrance of thier driveway, like they had had problems getting the long steep driveway. So I spent 5-10 minutes clearing the main section so they should be able to get the car up. I really don’t know the neighbors at all, other than an occasional wave while getting the mail. Last I looked, their car is still out there. They may not have noticed that the driveway has been cleared. I think they use a plowing service. But then again, their house is worth over two times what mine is.
I was looking on eBay for mini-tillers and saw a Homelite Tiller Cultivator (HTC-12) for sale. The price was pretty low. According to the auction description, the motor had some sort of catch, and wouldn’t run. The engine was actually off of the tiller. The guy tried to see if another engine he had would fit, but it didn’t. I watched it, and considered bidding. The shipping was only $12. So the next bid would have brought the total price up to about $50. I thought it might be an interesting project, but thought maybe the catching problem might be too much work, and cost too much to fix. I didn’t bid, and it sold for the $36 bid.
Now I am watching another auction also for a Homelite HTC-12. The bid is only $9.99 with a single bid, but the shipping is listed $45. This HTC-12 is still all put together, but the guy says it has a carburetor problem. I don’t know much about carbs, but is seems like it might just need adustment, or cleaned or something. So now I am watching this auction.
I am still considering buy the cultivator attachment for my Troy Bilt string trimmer. But I wont need anything for a few weeks at least. There is still snow on the ground here. So I have some time to look. The Troy-Bilt attachement would take less storage space. I don’t know how much power it would have, or how much I would need. It doesn’t cost anything to look.
Update:
I ended up passing on the HTC-12 with the carburetor problem. It sold for $18.49, but the shipping was $45. So I would have been paying at least $65-$70, maybe more. And who knows what the problem was. I will keep an eye out for one that is closer, that I can pickup, and save on shipping. $20 for the thing was a still, even if I had to pay the $10 pickup fee.