I picked up a 451 blower today

[cycub]

I'm excited! It was a little bit of a road trip, but the price was right. I am happy with it for what I paid. It is complete and turns freely. I think it sat outside and has been touched up with rattle can, so could use repainting. It looks like the PO added a turnbuckle and spring to the belt tensioner. I will need to investigate that.

[bugeye]

Congrats. Awful heavy to lift onto a pickup truck.

Looks just like mine which I purchased new in 1995. Yours looks to be in nice condition. I have never had problems with the belt using the original spring. These blowers will blow crazy amounts of snow if dry. Awesome to see the dry snow fly. Wet snow doesn't blow so far, but enough to easily clear the driveway.

You will need rear weights to offset the lump of steel snow blower mounted on the front. I use rubber chains on the rear. Rubber chains work ok but steel would be better but mark the driveway.

The snow blower will really load the engine if your take big gulps. Works great chewing through the snow plow lump at the end of the driveway. Vary the tractor forward speed with amount of snow and wetness and how far to throw the snow. Great fun with dry snow.

[J-Mech]

Blower looks to be in good shape. Congratulations on the good find!

[sir_lancealot]

Looks good! Congrats on the find!

[Redblower]

Nice blower!

[cycub]

Well, where there's smoke, there's fire.The turnbuckle wasn't the only modification. The previous owner did some modifications to the lift mechanism. New holes were drilled in the square tubing to move the lift links. I'm not really sure why, as the guy said it was on a 1440. I am able to put it back how it should be.

However, the bracket for the belt tensioner was also replaced with a homemade bracket. Could somebody that owns this blower measure the distance from the center of the top hole to the center of the most forward hole that mounts the bracket to the square tubing? Both how far it is set forward and how high above the mounting hole? If that doesn't make sense I can make a drawing. I am referring to part 2 (784-5411) on this diagram. Also, how thick is the steel?

[bugeye]

A few dimensions from my blower for you. Bracket #2 is rectangular, 2.38" wide, 3.62" high and .12" thick. Two bottom holes are 1.25" on center. Fulcrum (top hole) is 2.5" above centerline of bottom holes and centered between bottom holes

[cycub]

A few dimensions from my blower for you. Bracket #2 is rectangular, 2.38" wide, 3.62" high and .12" thick. Two bottom holes are 1.25" on center. Fulcrum (top hole) is 2.5" above centerline of bottom holes and centered between bottom holes

Perfect info. Thanks much. I guess the bracket was factory, but it was just installed wrong. I looked at the parts diagram and it looked angled to me, not rectangular.

[J-Mech]

Yes, the idler bracket is correct. So is the rusty spring. The turnbuckle and second spring are not. The OP likely did not understand how the over-center idle tensioner worked, or was running the incorrect belt.