In case anyone was looking for a way to quickly put their snowblower out of commission, I’ve got a great one:
Wait until you get 15-18 inches of snow. Fire the sucker up and set to work on the driveway.
The trick though is to forget that the newspaper has been delivered early in the morning and is now buried under all that snow.
Sucker almost chewed it up too, it got just far enough in to really jam up the works. The fact the paper was wrapped in plastic really didn’t help.
My brother did that once. And only once. My condolences.
Be mighty careful getting newspapers out of there; a friend of mine in high school got a paper caught in the blower, reached in to get it out, and somehow got his hand hideously, permanently mangled. As I recall, the thing shut off automatically, but there was some kind of plate that was supposed to slide down and block some kind of opening; the plate malfunctioned and happened to slide down while his hand was in the way.
Or something like that. I’m not 100% clear on the details, but I saw his hand up close and personal. You don’t want that to happen to your hand.
My grandfather once tried to put something through a snowblower that wasn’t supposed to; two fingers and half his thumb. History does not record what happened to the snowblower.
For this reason, it is highly advisable to pull the spark plug wire off before digging inside any sort of gas-powered yard equipment.
I appreciate all the safety pointers. I already knew about the disconnecting the spark plug but that is the kind of tip that always bears repeating, if for no other reason than that someone reading this might be hearing it for the first time.
As it was I managed to get it out and I didn’t have to dismantle the snowblower like I thought I might.
The newspaper of course got wet from the snow, and then the whole mess went through several freeze-thaw cycles in the garage (the actual incident was last Friday). When I tackled it this afternoon the newspaper had the kind of rock-hard gooiness that only soaked newspaper can attain, along with some of the stickiness of paper mache.
First, I disconnected the spark plug.
Then using a serrated kitchen knife, a large screwdriver, and two sets of pliers (one needle nose) I pushed, pulled, sawed and finally yanked the sucker out of there. It took me about two hours, including a trip to the hardware store to get a better set of pliers.
Labor saving device my foot.
What? You didn’t drag it into the kitchen to thaw out for several hours, leaving dirty puddles and bits of paper pulp sticking to the fridge, stove and kitchen table?
Well, I can safely conclude you’re not my brother. 
Last year when my husband was in Afghanistan, I had the pleasure of snowblowing the drive all by myself. I had forgotten that laying next to the driveway were several aluminum rods about 10’ long and about the diameter of rebar.
I can attest to the fact that a John Deere 2-stage snow blower will surgically inhale said rod into the auger and the chute. It was a mess to get undone but I did it myself! I am woman, hear me roar! 
Lucky for ME that I happen to have a paddle-type snow thrower and not the auger-type snow thrower.
That’s because GrizzWife had left a WHITE plastic bag of WHITE disposable diapers in the driveway beside the house one evening… before it snowed heavily… and conveniently forgot to tell me it was there.
Well, NOW we laaa-aaaugh about it when I tell the story about how whole, frozen, soiled diapers went sailing through the air and bounced off the siding of the neighbor’s house after having been ejected from the chute of my snow-thrower.
Thankfully, I have no stories of aluminum-bar-engulfing nor hand-mangling to share.
First snow of the year all went well, didn’t notice that the blower shed a tire chain. Second snow the chain got sucked in to the auger and broke a large(big as my thumb) chunk out of the gear box.
Luck was with me. Local dealer had the part in stock. Took less than two hours to replace it. While I was at the dealer picked up a set of plastic chains. Better late than never.
How not to suprise Dad after a snowstorm.
Take his brand new big ass snow thrower, set the choke fully open to start the thing, plow the whole driveway, leaving the choke fully open.
You know, this is probably the first time I’ve ever been grateful for our plain, old-fashioned snow shovel.
If you had one of these http://www.gizmag.com/go/4889/ the diapers would have been on the next block!
I worked with someone whose husband slipped and banged his head on the snowblower and layed in the driveway bleeding and unconsious for hours before anyone found him. He survived, but damn…what a bummer.
Still not completely safe.
Those lawnmower blades and snowblower screws can still retain unreleased energy if they are held back by a jam. Sure, it won’t start up on you, but a sudden movement of a couple inches is enough to cause real damage once the obstruction is removed.