MisterED

 Hey Snowman I need your help.  I have a st824 Ariens.  I bought it in 2004.  The worm gear and shaft stripped, don't ask me how but the shear pins did not break and the brass gear stripped.   I replaced it with part # 53208800.  I replaced the seals in case they were damaged during the disassembly.  I used loctite 518 and l2 ariens lube.  I put the gearcase back together and ran it for ten minutes.  The gearcase was cool and no leaks.  My first use with the rebuilt case went well until I got to the end of the driveway and tried to cut through the plow mess at the end of the driveway.  The gearbox stripped again.  I did not hit anything.  I was just going through snow.  When I reassembled the gearbox I noticed that the gear that attaches to the auger rake shaft was made out of steel not brass.  Could this be part of the problem?  Does ariens guarantee their parts?  I assure you that I assembled it correctly and that it was in good working order when I started to use it.  I also put brand new ariens shear bolts in just in case the old ones where not ariens part numbers.

Thanks,

Ed