Jiffy Auger won't turn over? Issue found.

[Phil]

Yesterday while on the ice my Jiffy Model 30 ice auger seemed to seize whereby the pull cord would move about 3" and at that point it hit a wall and it wouldn't turn any further.

The auger worked fine all morning and in the afternoon I switched lakes and when I tried to start it I had the problem. I tried looking at it and it did pull properly once but then again hit that spot where it wouldn't pull past.
I removed the starter assembly thinking the rewind was the issue but it works fine. When trying to turn the top of the motor by hand it hits that stop and won't turn. With a little jiggling it will occasionally turn completely but then hits the wall again.
The top motor assembly seems to have some movement/play between it and the bottom of the auger which I'm sure isn't normal.

Any suggestions as to what the issue might be?

Thanks,
Phil

[pikergolf]

Pull the plug and see if it will turn over.

[Phil]

I pulled the plug and there is no difference. I have noticed if I lift on the top of the assembly where the starter would engage that it will turn completely. It appears something has come loose and is jamming inside.

There is play where the motor attaches to the bottom assembly. Immediately above the green tape in the photo.
Any idea how to tighten the motor assembly to the bottom housing?

Thanks,
Phil

[Bushleague]

Originally Posted by Phil

I pulled the plug and there is no difference. I have noticed if I lift on the top of the assembly where the starter would engage that it will turn completely. It appears something has come loose and is jamming inside.

There is play where the motor attaches to the bottom assembly. Immediately above the green tape in the photo.
Any idea how to tighten the motor assembly to the bottom housing?

Thanks,
Phil

Can you manually turn the auger itself? Just out of curiosity. I've never got terribly far into an ice auger, but I would think that if you can't turn the auger you might have a clutch/ gearbox problem, if you havn't tried warming it up it might even just be ice in there. If you can turn the auger then its in the motor.

If you can turn the recoil, and the auger, but not the motor with the plug pulled, then it sounds like you might have cylinder/ piston problems. Once again, augers aren't something I've gotten too far into so somebody correct me if I'm wrong.

[mountain]

Had a screw that holds the rewind together fall out and down into the cooling fins .....sounds pretty familiar .

[pikeman06]

Hard core jiffy guy here and first thought was recoil. Turn it upside down and shake it. It's not seized if it still turns over especially with the plug out, it wouldn't just be tight in one spot in that little piston/cylinder. Let us know please...jiffy's started it all and I am sure I am not alone when I say they seldom let a guy down for the amount of use and abuse an avid ice angler put them through. Heavy but so reliable and they got a nice bark to them when running proper. Hope you getter running.

[Skull Man]

When you pull the spark plug, and look in the cylinder, and pull the cord, does the piston stop as it moves toward the top of the cylinder? Could be that a piece of the spark plug or something else has dislodged and not allowing the piston to go through th top of the stroke.

[Phil]

When I pulled the bottom end of the auger off I found 2 of the 4 bolts that hold the motor to the clutch assembly had came loose and fell out. They were jamming on the clutch and preventing it from turning. Looks like the previous owner had an issue because I found 2 of the bolt holes partially stripped. I'm not sure how it didn't cause damage to the clutch but everything seems okay.

Thanks for the suggestions.

Phil