Outdoor Power Equipment (Lawn Mowers, Snow Blowers, Chain Saws and more) Discussions

My belt broke, and I put the pulley back on and it broke another belt and the key, I called Simplicity, they said the pulley in the manual is on backwards. So I changed the pulley to be opposite the manual specs and am concerned as the Drive Shaft moves left and right, causing the pulley to rub up against the drive shaft housing, which in turn wore a groove in the pulley.. I looked closely under the Chain Guard and don't see any sort of bushing to go between the Drive shaft sprocket and the housing nor is there a spacer of any kind between where the pulley sets on the drive shaft. Seems the drive shaft moves back in forth in the housing causing the pulley to rub on the drive shaft housing. What am I missing here? I am a girl, but try my best at mechanical duties (even though I don't like it) Any suggestions would be appreciated!

  The shaft should not get hot.  It should be turning on the ball bearing inside the inner and outer flanges.   You probably should not use
it unless your in a pickle as something is wrong in there.  

  For there to be heat something is rubbing.  There should not be rubbing as the shaft will rotate on the ball bearing.  Maybe the ball
bearing is frozen.   The flanges should capture the bearing housing so it will not move so only the inner part of the ball bearing will
move.  Those are usually greaseless ball bearings but I guess you could try grease.  Many claim that's not a good way to go as it
will introduce dirt.

   From the drawing it looks like the end of the shaft will not rub on anything, i.e. that the end will go through the ball bearing, then
pulley and end at an open space in the housing.  About the only other thing there is the pulley and the washers.   Looking at the
drawing it looks like the only place to put washers is in the inside towards the ball bearing.  

   The pulley should be moving with the shaft because of the key.  If the washers are pushed too much against the bearing they
may rub.  That is the pulley causes the washers to rotate but the bearing case will be stationary.  It's remote but what else in
there could rub?

   I got mixed up so disregard post #5 above.

    Below is the install manual for the 169522 42 inch snowblower attachment with setup instructions.
    http://bsintek.basco.com/BriggsDocumentDisplay/heCyEN8cpO4rE3Cvh5kbp796Dq.pdf

   Above this post is a post of the assembly. 

   As to heat on the shaft near the pulley here are some points:

   The sprocket shaft (13 above) goes into a holder shaft (8) they call a housing assembly.  The housing assembly has
needle bearings (6) on each end and could be worn causing friction and heat..

    The housing assemble (8) must be parallel to the snowblower housing withing 1/8 inch.  I think you would get that
alignment with the housing clamp (4).

    To get proper tensions on the sprocket shaft (13) inside (8) the drive sprocket (top) must be aligned with the driven
sprocket (below inside the housing) by .06 inch.

    The housing assembly has a grease fitting.  You should pump grease into that until you see grease going out of the
ends of the housing assembly (8).  The needle bearings will probably be close enough to the housing assemble to get
grease also.  You could snug them up to the housing assembly while pumping in grease.

    Another factor could be belt tension and alignment of the tensioner pulley with the new pulley on the sprocket shaft (13).

>>The set screw for the drive alignment is only on the Auger shaft not the drive shaft?

    I'm not sure what this is saying.  The only set screw I see is the screw that holds on the new pulley.   That set screw
goes into the pulley and rests on the sprocket shaft (13).  I don't see a set screw anywhere else.
screw to align anything other than the pulley.

    There is some confusion in that they also call the housing assembly the drive shaft housing.  This is the shaft at the back
of the blower and held in place with the 2 clamps (4).  Those clamps are used to align the shaft to 1/8 parallel to the
snowblower housing.  This is the shaft with the grease fitting.  (Note: there are also grease fittings inside the snowblower
housing on the flanges which hold on the auger. 

   With everything aligned like the above and greased the sprocket shaft should ride on the needle bearings and inside the
housing assembly (drive shaft housing) without friction and not get hot.