Auger problem

[Guest]

I have a Strikemaster mag 3000 auger that is only a couple years old but I have been having a problem with it this year. Just about every hole I cut with it it has been binding. It cuts well up until it is about to poke through and all the sudden it binds. I replaced the blade twice and still the same results. Any ideas?

[Swill]

Call D-Rock Center in New Brighton they are an authorized Strikemaster dealer and the service is great.

I had the same problem and they helped me out. I actually installed the blade on wrong which you coult not tell by looking at it but just a little tweak and it was fixed.

There phone number is 651-639-0446

And here is a link to their web site.

http://www.drockicecenter.com/augers.html

Good luck..Swill

[Guest]

Thanks for the info, I will give em a call.

[Fishn'Lady]

I would probably suggest calling Strikemaster headquarters. They did have a problem with their auger drill units. Something to do with the pitch of the blade being off, I think?? That would cause it to bind and make corkscrew looking holes. But if it worked fine before and you have a problem now then it may be something minor.
Good Luck!

---------------

Fishn'Lady

[Fish-n-Freak]

I would suggest calling Strikemaster, I called them a last winter when my NEW lazer 3000 would do the same thing you are describing. I thought the auger had NO power and would bind when it tried to punch the bottom of the hole.

I talked to an "Old Timer" in the service department, he had me make a couple of quick ajustments and the problem has gone away. One adjustment I made on my own was to bend the throttle trigger down so it would go under the handle rather than hit the handle when I squeezed it. This allowed me to "open it up" and I could hear and feel the power increase. With the trigger hitting the handle you can't "Floor it"!

Good Fishing!
Steve

[Steve Foss]

I'd be careful changing that throttle lever. I have the same thing on my Strikemaster, and it's that way with Jiffy too. Likely they designed it that way specifically so you CAN'T floor it.

My Strikemaster cuts much better when the auger is turning at moderate speeds. The faster it turns, the more likely the blades are to skip along the ice as the hole deepens, which will take slimmer shavings and take a lot more revolutions to drill a hole. Fewer spins of the auger per hole yield longer blade and motor life. And slower spinning with a bigger slice cuts holes just as fast as a faster spinning with a smaller slice.

Any time I hear someone's auger screaming high rpms on the ice, I know there's trouble right there in ice city.

And the adjustments the old-timer made probably allowed the auger's governor to kick in hard when the blades wanted to bog down.

[iffwalleyes]

Buy a Jiffy.

I have one that is 20 years old and it will drill circle around any strikemaster. Once I out drill a guy with a strikemaster 5 holes to 1.5. It reopens hole as good as any other auger I have used. The person who said that there are more revolutions the shorter the motor life is wrong the motor spins at the same speed were there is a different is in the gear box. Jiffys are a 12:1 were strikemasters I believe are 25:1. If anything strikemasters will burn up quicker with the popular 2 hp model since it is smaller then that the more popular 3 HP Jiffy. If you aren't able to hold that sucker wide open there is something wrong in the carb. Another bonus is that with a jiffy only 1 auger blade to sharpen instead of the lazer mag's 2. Also with Jiffy they stay sharper longer. I put one blade on per year and I fish a lot. Probably a minimum of 30 holes every weekend from Dec.-Apr. I know if I was to buy a new one it would be a Jiffy.