Snapper snow blower?

[Don B.]

Not really a "tractor" but "garden tractors" seemed closest. I just got a 10300s. (Or is it 10305?) Snapper 10hp 30" snapper 2 stage snow blower. This thing is. A heavy monster.
I don't know when they quit using the triangle. "OPEI" sticker on yard and garden equipment but this one still has one and said meets their spec for 1975 equipment.
Grease fittings all over. No flimsey plastic or aluminum foil thinness metal.
Just got done swapping engines as it sat too long and rusted the cylinder on the original engine, got everything freed up and it self propelles and the impeller tossed a bunch of cobwebs and dust ...
I had a Deere 828d for years and sold it in a weak moment among a couple of weak winters in a row, wish I still had that one. That one was an absolute beast. This one is at least as heavy/beefy, tires are huge but walk behind snowblower standard. 16/8.50-8. Same as my garden tractors have for front wheels.
Does anyone know when Snapper started making snow blowers? And when they stopped making heavy duty ones like this and went to tinfoil and plastic?

 

[TomIn]

Not really a "tractor" but "garden tractors" seemed closest. I just got a 10300s. (Or is it 10305?) Snapper 10hp 30" snapper 2 stage snow blower. This thing is. A heavy monster.
I don't know when they quit using the triangle. "OPEI" sticker on yard and garden equipment but this one still has one and said meets their spec for 1975 equipment.
Grease fittings all over. No flimsey plastic or aluminum foil thinness metal.
Just got done swapping engines as it sat too long and rusted the cylinder on the original engine, got everything freed up and it self propelles and the impeller tossed a bunch of cobwebs and dust ...
I had a Deere 828d for years and sold it in a weak moment among a couple of weak winters in a row, wish I still had that one. That one was an absolute beast. This one is at least as heavy/beefy, tires are huge but walk behind snowblower standard. 16/8.50-8. Same as my garden tractors have for front wheels.
Does anyone know when Snapper started making snow blowers? And when they stopped making heavy duty ones like this and went to tinfoil and plastic?

I'm not much help on when Snapper made various models. I suspect you have a 10300S. The 1030 seems to stand for 10hp 30" width which would make it what they considered a "large frame" model. A search for a manual turns up:

SNAPPER 5230 PARTS MANUAL Pdf Download

View and Download Snapper 5230 parts manual online. 2-Stage Snow Throwers. 5230 snow blower pdf manual download. Also for: 8230, 8260, 10300s.

www.manualslib.com

The date on the manual is 3/97 There may be some sort of tie in between Snapper and Simplicity snow blowers during that era.

 

[Don B.]

I have found similar dated 1983. Was hoping to get something earlier than that. I know my machine to be older than that 1983 publication.
It's just weird there's nothing out there about this like other brands. All I can find on snapper is about their mowers

 

[TomIn]

I have found similar dated 1983. Was hoping to get something earlier than that. I know my machine to be older than that 1983 publication.
It's just weird there's nothing out there about this like other brands. All I can find on snapper is about their mowers

I have more luck using duckduckgo as a search engine for information on old machines. There is a lot of information on Snapper snowblowers. From what I can find, the 1030 line must have started about 1975. Briggs and Stratton bought Snapper/Simplicity in 2004 and redesigned the snowblowers. Perhaps the last of the heavy duty Snapper models was made in 2002 or 2003?

https://www.snowblowerforum.com/threads/real-snapper-series-0-6-first-and-final-year-of-production-start-197-end-02-or-03.115609/

 

[Don B.]

Then mine had to have been one of the very first ones they built.

 

[T.R.K.]

If your original engine was a Briggs/Stratton, the first two digits of the 'code' number is the year. This is the year the engine was built, asuming the engine was original on the machine when new.
If your original engine was a Kohler, the first two digits tell the year. I think this sytem started in 1970. making 00 was year 1970, and making 30 as year 2000.

 

[Don B.]

Never seen a Kohler on a snow blower
I know how to read a code number for a Briggs but still good for those who don't know
I took a Tecumseh off and replaced with another Tecumseh. The shroud was hard to read but I think the serial number started with a 3.
The "OPEI" sticker on the bucket said "conforms to 1975".

 

[Mule Meat]

1030 is the model number.
The 5 at the end means it is fifth in a series. 5th series was the last ones made

Serial number begining with 2,3,4 is between 1970 and early 1980.
Serial number begining with 7, 8 is between 1987 and 1988.

Edited to add... My guess with yours being a series 5 (last ones made of that model). It would be a 1988 model.

OPIE - Outdoor Power Equipment Institute.. Nothing more than stating your Blower meets OPEI safety standards set forth in 1975.

 

[Don B.]

That last number could be an "s" not a 5 in the model. There's no way this thing is 1988. Not with the sticker showing 1975 and not with the original engine being a points ignition. Other than a couple of stickers they apparently didn't change much. And with this having had a 12v starter and no light also with no empty holes from where one could have been mounted but later taken off and no stator winding it's definitely not 1988 "new".
I'm not looking at the machine right now but I'm 98%sure serial number started with a 3 I'll check that again after work. They wouldn't build a machine in 1988 that conforms to 1975

 

[Mule Meat]

Let me break it down for you..
10305

No letter at the beginning means it can be sold in the US except in California.
N - Meets California Emissions
E - Europe

10 - 10 horse power
30 - 30" auger
5 - Series number.

If it has an E at the end of the model number it would indicate that its an Electric start model.


I am willing to bet that if you look on the OPEI sticker. You would see, "Model certified by independent laboratory" with an ANS number and year. Again. Nothing special and Does Not mean it was built in 1975..

All you need to do is Google Snapper 10305 and you will find tons of information on your snow blower.

 

[Don B.]

Ok but why would they build a machine to a 13 year old spec? That don't make sense.
Also it's a bit pitted and rusty but I'm sure the 1st number of the engine serial number is a 3. Which would be 1973 or 1983. And again points ignition was definitely history well before 1988.
I'll look at the numbers again. There's a nick in the model sticker right by the "5" or "s" as it might be. I've seen info on 10305, 10300, 10300S when I've looked. All "pretty much" the same machine with slight difference mostly in stickers.

 

[TomIn]

Ok but why would they build a machine to a 13 year old spec? That don't make sense.
Also it's a bit pitted and rusty but I'm sure the 1st number of the engine serial number is a 3. Which would be 1973 or 1983. And again points ignition was definitely history well before 1988.
I'll look at the numbers again. There's a nick in the model sticker right by the "5" or "s" as it might be. I've seen info on 10305, 10300, 10300S when I've looked. All "pretty much" the same machine with slight difference mostly in stickers.

I would think that it should not be too hard to determine whether your model was 10305 or
10300S

A "5" and a "S" look similar, but a five digit model should look different than a six digit model

Mule Meat seems to be correct on his identification of a model 10305. A parts look-up site suggests that the model may actually be 84372-10305.

https://www.jackssmallengines.com/jacks-parts-lookup/manufacturer/snapper/snapper/snow-throwers/two-stage-snow-throwers/two-stage-large-frame-snow-thrower

The 10300S is shown as a series 0 model 86438-10300S on this link.

The OUTDOOR POWER EQUIPMENT INSTITUTE (OPEI) develops standards for the AMERICAN NATIONAL STANDARDS INSTUTUTE . The standard for snowblowers is ANSI B71.3 which was adopted in 1975. It appears to have been revised in 1984, 1995, 2005, and 2014. This information is from:

https://standards.globalspec.com/std/14305817/ansi-opei-b71-3

Based on this information, the OPEI 1975 sticker would have been used until at least 1984. (It isn't clear to me how quickly changes made by OPEI are adopted by ANSI and actually put into place.)

You earlier mentioned that you found a 1983 manual Was it this one??

As best I can find, Tecumseh switched from ignition points to "electronic" ignition about the early 1980's. I doubt that all engines were changed at the same time. I'm assuming that the demand for snowblowers varies from year to year and that there may be a lot of carryover of inventory at the manufacturing and retail levels from year to year. I recall that was the case after the "blizzard of 1978" in Indiana where I live. There were no snowblowers to be bought when the blizzard hit. The following year all the retailers seemed to have a three year inventory on hand.

VTG 1983 Snapper Snow Thrower Manual 06004 5230 8230 8260 10300S | eBay

Form 06004 (1-3997). January 1983 Update. 18-Page Manual.

www.ebay.com

Fro

 

[Don B.]

Yeah I don't live far from NW Indiana, I'm on the Illinois side
I was 12 in 1979 when dad bought us a new sears 4/20 2 stage blower. The late 70s to early 80s winters were bad.

 

[Mule Meat]

Should be a sticker on it that tells the year it was produced.

Were no "S" at the end of the model numbers. If it has a letter it would be an "E" indicating it has an electric starter.

 

[Don B.]

Definitely know there's no "E" on it. But the original engine had an electric start on it and a sticker on the handle where the start switch used to be that has the 3 positions on it including "START". The original starter was a12v (it's still on that engine and the same faded white as that engine leading me to believe it's original. Somewhere online I did see references to an optional 12v starter in some of the early ones

and I see holes on the bucket where a battery box may have been mounted.
And no stickers like what you're showing, any of them.
I have a little bit of work to do with it this weekend, I'll be looking at it again. And I'll let you know

 

[Mule Meat]

I have never saw a Tecumseh snow blower engine with a 12 volt electric starter. All of the ones I have saw used a 120 volt AC starter. Plugged one end of the cord that came with the machine to the receptacle on the engine, the other into a 120 volt outlet.

Cords receptacle. Circled in red. Plug it in and press the button to crank the engine.

Red knob circled in green.
Start - Choke on
Run - Choke off
Stop - Engine stops

Red or black plastic flat "key" was a safety item that grounds the ignition system and doesn't allow the engine to run if removed.

 

[Don B.]

I do know what those look like. I've messed with a few Tecumseh 120v starters over the years. And also with 12v version on things that weren't snow blowers. This is a first seeing a 12v one in a snow blower.
The plastic key thing definitely suggests newer machine. Most of them (various brands) I mess with have a 2 position INDAK key switch with the common as dirt, INDAK key. Dads newer mtd blower had the plastic deal as did my Deere 828D. I'm not good at such things tech-y but I'll TRY to get some pix up.
The 11hp Tecumseh ohv engine that I transplanted into this blower does have the 110v version.

 

[TomIn]

I do know what those look like. I've messed with a few Tecumseh 120v starters over the years. And also with 12v version on things that weren't snow blowers. This is a first seeing a 12v one in a snow blower.
The plastic key thing definitely suggests newer machine. Most of them (various brands) I mess with have a 2 position INDAK key switch with the common as dirt, INDAK key. Dads newer mtd blower had the plastic deal as did my Deere 828D. I'm not good at such things tech-y but I'll TRY to get some pix up.
The 11hp Tecumseh ohv engine that I transplanted into this blower does have the 110v version.

The 1997 (revision date) manual I linked in my first reply contained a page for a 12 V Battery System on the model 10300S. The kit 6-0651 contained charging wiring harnesses for both B&S and TEC engines.

12 V Battery System - Snapper 5230 Parts Manual [Page 17]

Snapper 5230 Manual Online: 12 V Battery System.

www.manualslib.com

 

[Don B.]

Here's some pix of what I have

 

[Don B.]

Should be a sticker on it that tells the year it was produced. View attachment 138281

Were no "S" at the end of the model numbers. If it has a letter it would be an "E" indicating it has an electric starter.

View attachment 138282

No such sticker on my unit