Jiffy Modifications?

[The Fisherman Guy]

Picked up a low hour Jiffy Model 30 with a Tecumseh and am considering a few mods to it. I've got it running pretty well, but it could use some polish to make it perfect.

Any do's and don'ts I should be aware of?

[mustard73]

Don't mix the fuel 24:1 or whatever it says on the sticker. Run 40 or even 50:1.

[Team Beef]

Use synthetic 2 stroke oil. Covers a wide range of oil / gas ratios. You can mix 50:1 and it won't smoke if you only needed 24:1

[skykomish sunrise]

Put load on the auger when you're adjusting the carburetor.. It makes a difference if it's trying to dig or if its just free wheeling

[The Fisherman Guy]

Put load on the auger when you're adjusting the carburetor.. It makes a difference if it's trying to dig or if its just free wheeling

Great point, I notice that once a Jiffy is warmed up and takes on a load, it smooths out. The White Lightning model 76 has been bullet proof for friends, and start first pull almost every time. The model 30's seem to be much rougher in comparison, and require a lot more tweaking to make them operate well.

[The Fisherman Guy]

Don't mix the fuel 24:1 or whatever it says on the sticker. Run 40 or even 50:1.

Mine suggests 40:1, Mustard does yours suggest 24:1? It isn't a Tecumseh motor though is it?

[The Fisherman Guy]

To start, I'm thinking of turning the pull cord around 180 degrees, so that it pulls in the same direction of the throttle. Would make starting a lot easier, the only drawback is the on/off toggle switch might be flipped by the large pull cord handle. Swapping the big handle for a smaller "T" would reduce that risk.

[calgarygringo]

Just by the small single packs of Opti oil and put 1 in the small 1 gal jugs of gas and forget about it. I have used it in my Jiffy for years and my chainsaw and you know how well it always goes. You can use it for all your small toys and never touch the mix.

[The Fisherman Guy]

Just by the small single packs of Opti oil and put 1 in the small 1 gal jugs of gas and forget about it. I have used it in my Jiffy for years and my chainsaw and you know how well it always goes. You can use it for all your small toys and never touch the mix.

Great to know Ken, yes you're two stokes do run very well. I didn't know you ran Opti. I will pick up some of it today when I pick up a couple new spark plugs.

[calgarygringo]

Just a tip if you don't know you cant get opti everywhere. i have been getting it lately at arns equip down off 46 and Blackfoot. Most of the engine parts can be had there too.
Just picked up a new diaphragm for my Jiffy the other day there and buddy told me these Tecumseh engines are common on the older Toro single stage blowers they have always sold so they have a lot of the tune up items in stock.
Bought another new toy there a couple weeks ago too so now I can blow snow like a hurricane with my new Stihl backpack blower if we ever get any snow. Same gas mix for it too so no other gas required except the same as the other toys.

[The Fisherman Guy]

Just a tip if you don't know you cant get opti everywhere. i have been getting it lately at arns equip down off 46 and Blackfoot. Most of the engine parts can be had there too.

Awesome lead on hard to find Tecumseh parts Ken! Thank you! I've dealt with Arns before and they have been great to me.

[mustard73]

Mine suggests 40:1, Mustard does yours suggest 24:1? It isn't a Tecumseh motor though is it?

Yeah mine calls for 24:1 and is a Tecumseh 3hp. I tried that mix but it smokes really bad and runs very rough.

[The Fisherman Guy]

Just by the small single packs of Opti oil and put 1 in the small 1 gal jugs of gas and forget about it. I have used it in my Jiffy for years and my chainsaw and you know how well it always goes. You can use it for all your small toys and never touch the mix.

Picked up some of the Opti 2 oil, thank you to many in the know suggestions. It definitely runs cleaner, less smoke and idles smoother. Thanks again for the advice Ken!

I took my Lansky sharpening kit and touched up the blades and it made a big difference. I bought a new blade for backup, and was pretty disappointed with the sharpness of an out of the box jiffy blade. Compared to Mora, it's actually quite sad.

[calgarygringo]

Did you get the regular knife style blade or ripper blades for it? I changed mine out several years back and the new style seems to cut better.
Saying that I think Dale's Mako seems to cut through the ice easier than my Jiffy but just my opinion as they have different theories. Jiffy high speed and Mako slower but more torque.

[The Fisherman Guy]

I have two ripper blades Ken. Dean suggested that I also sharpen the spike, but to be careful to not alter the angle. It's already pretty sharp, but a touch up with the Lansky won't hurt.

Has anyone powder coated their flyte? Just brainstorming how to keep ice from building up, as ice tends to slow or stop rate of penetration by limiting blade contact. Basically "the bits balled up". A non stick powder coat would be durable, but add more weight, and that Model 30 is heavy enough. Anyone coated their flyte?

If they ever keep it in stock, I might give Ultra Ever Dry a shot. If you haven't heard of it:

Ultra Ever Dry (http://www.ultraeverdrystore.com)

How well it works: video (http://youtu.be/IPM8OR6W6WE)

[kevinhits]

I have 2 sets of blades for my jiffy...I use one set for the first half and the other set for the rest of the hard water season. Once I am done, I take my 2 sets to Western Saw in the North East, along with my auger. I think I paid $9.00/set to sharpen and they did my spike for free....Great guys to deal with:). Pick them up in spring sometime and am ready to go next winter.

The way things are going this year so far, I may only need to use one set:sHa_sarcasticlol:

And yes, I wouldn't have to sharpen them this often, but I like really sharp blades all the time:bad_boys_20:

And no, I prefer to pay for them to be sharpened than deal with it myself...

[Hunter Trav]

Anyone coated their flyte?


PAM cooking spray...;)

[The Fisherman Guy]

Tohloo posted this in another thread, thought I would post it here in case the page he linked to goes dead. It's good info to have, thanks again Tohloo for finding and posting.

3HP Tecumseh tuning information:

First change the spark plug and have fresh gas w/correct oil ratio.

The most common carb used on augers are the Walbro.
They all have a fuel pump which consists or a body and diaphragm. There’s a port goes from the carb through the gasket and into the crank. As the engine is turned over it sucks and blows though that port, in turn moves the diaphragm. That diaphragm can get stretched out or breakdown, in either case it can't pump the fuel like it should.
There’s also a gasket in the carb stack that has little flaps, those flaps allow gas movement in one direction. Those can go bad too.

Next is the fuel inlet valve, It opens and closes the flow of gas going into the carb determined by the fuel level.
It’s held in place and hinged on a fulcrum with an adjustable tang. That tang adjusts the fuel level in the carb.
With a float/bowl carb you adjust by the float drop but we're talking about a carb without a float & bowl right now.
In our case the tang should be level with the carb body.
If you look, the center of the pumps diaphragm will come in contact with the inlet needles tang. In both cases, float & bowl or bowless carb, The tip of the inlet needle can become damaged and either stick in place or become damaged enough to where gas will seep by when it should be closed.

So say your auger isn't running right and you take the carb off and clean it. You should buy a carb kit and replace the gaskets, diaphragm and inlet valve and seat too.


Not all Walbro carbs are the same. Some use both Low speed and High Speed mixture adjustment screw. Most times you can adjust the mixture to get the auger to run at its best but not if the diaphragm or valve/gaskets are bad.

Some and most new engines have internal jets. You'll have to take that carb apart to clean and replace the diaphragms and clean the jets. The jet is made of brass, its inside diaphragm is tiny so it doesn’t take much restriction to effect how the auger runs. Brass is also soft so don't enlarge the hole when you clean it.

Some augers with the fixed main jet will benefit from replacing that jet with a larger jet. I did just that with my Nils. Your auger might benefit from that too. Modern small engines have to conform to EPA standards. It’s impossible to get peak performance out an engine that has to meet those standards in cold weather conditions.
Normal operation was a good warm up till the auger would cut. Now you should warm any engine up before putting a load on it but the warm time up required for the Nils seemed extreme. Once warm though it cut like no other auger.
I went from a .37 to a .38 main jet. End result, no long warm up times and more power when under load. I'll get into that mod with pictures at a later date.

Back to the tune up.
This will be for the Walbro carbs with the High and Low Speed mixture. Your carb will have an L and k stamped into the carb body. There’s also an idle speed set screw.
Let the engine warm up. Start with the Low speed mixture. Turn it in (clockwise) till the engine starts to run high and or slow down. Now turn it out till the engine runs at its highest RPM. You can go in and out to get it at that point.
Once you get Low speed adjusted so the engine run at its highest/smoothest point you turn the screw out till it starts to just slow down. Why wouldn't you leave it where it runs at its highest point? Because it’s running lean there and will be hard to get started. Turning out will richen the mixture so you won't have to pull on the rope more then a couple times to start it.

Now you have to adjust the High Speed. This should be done under load/cutting ice. Adjust till you get to the point of max RPMs and then again turn the screw out till it you notice the engine slowing down. Do that and you won't be running lean; Running lean will burn an engine out. That’s especially important if you like drilling a series of holes one after another.

Basically there are 3 adjustments to a carb. Idle speed- is a simple stop screw on the external linkage to set idle speed.

Low Speed Adjustment- this will meter the gas/air mixture inside the carb.

High Speed- this will meter the gas/air mixture at high speeds.

Turning in - Clockwise = lean
Turning out - Counter Clockwise= Richen.

If the won't run without having to prime or without giving throttle you are too lean at Idle Speed. You want to richen that mixture.

At high speeds if the engine won't run without priming you'll need to richen that adjustment.

In an attempt to make small engines friendlier, we start seeing limiter caps on High and Low Speed adjustments or no adjustments at all and fixed jets are used.

If this is a problem that has just started then you should look into having the carb cleaned and rebuilt.

[Jack&7]

Good stuff, Gib!

Thanks for posting. I have the Model 77 Legend Lightning. An oldie but a goodie...

As we discussed, she will start and run, but as soon as I am done drilling my hole, I cannot keep her running. I definitely should get a tune-up kit for the carb and re-do it...

But oddly enough, my manual suggests 40:1 mix...and that causes it to smoke like crazy, yet 24:1 doesn't. This baffles me.

Anyone have any thoughts on this?