1810 snowblower spring assist
 

I recently purchased an 1810 with manual lift snowblower. It has spring assist and the previous owner installed an electric lift mechanism.

I'm trying to figure out how much to pre-load the spring. The manual states to tighten until the crowned washer crushes. Well, that washer was crushed eons ago.

The pre-load I used was not enough. The electric lift can't bring the blower back up. I don't want to keep going through the trial and error process because when the electric lift can't lift, I need to unbolt the electric lift and lift and block the blower manually. And it's getting cold around here and I have long since lost my tolerance for working outside in the cold. I also don't want to overload the spring and cause it to prematurely wear out.

If there is some sort of rule of thumb that would be great. Otherwise, it's back to trial and error.

First, welcome to OCC......... :Welcome2:

Next, can you snap some pictures of this "the crowned washer crushes", and post them here.

Lastly, is the Electric Lift a Cub Cadet or IH type?

:bigthink:

Being they did not make an electric lift for an 1810, it looks like you have to do it the way you have been doing, You prolly can find one dem dere washers at the hawdware store..

I did go the trial and error route. But first I found out that I didn't have the belt tensioner set right. I didn't have it pushed forward in the tensioned position so it got bound up after lowering it and preventing the electric actuator from being able to lift. It seems to be working ok now.

I don't know if I missed it somewhere in the manual but all it showed was how to assemble everything out of the box. It didn't mention pushing the tensioner forward to apply tension after assembly. Maybe it's obvious to a lot of people but not to me being new to these machines. Now I know.