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

Howdy,

I'm posting here in hopes someone can enlighten me.  I purchases a 926LE  new this year.  I did the set up procedures to ensure all was good and within specs.  I consider myself handy enough to do that competently.  I live in the Minneapolis area and got a chance to test the new blower today on about 3-4 inches of very light powder with about 6-7 inches EOD. I will preface this post by saying I'm a noob when it comes to snow blowers, my only experience being with a borrowed John Deere TRS 26.

Now  I know this isn't the best test of the machine, but hey, it's what we were dealt.  Here's what was going on.  When I started out, I had 1 wheel unlocked and this thing was almost impossible to keep straight--ok, no problem, lock other wheel.  Now, it still wandered around like a half drunk snake--not wide fluctuactions, but like short jerks on a steering wheel in a car.  It got better as the machine ran, so maybe  it was just something settling  in.  The really dissappointing part was when I hit the EOD.  Like I said, maybe 7-8 inches of piled  powder.  In low gear, the machine climbed up and over the pile without really blowing anything.  Ok,  so next pass, I tried a higher gear, same thing.  It seems like there is not enough weight on the front end to keep it down.  If  I tried to lift up a little on the handles, the tires would  spin.  My neighbor's John Deere had  no trouble next  door.  It took me almost an hour to clear a 40x60 drive that is basically flat.  I don't know maybe I had my expectations to high.  After looking at the Ariens & John Deere side by side, the Ariens body is about 8-10 inches longer, which moves the CG point back due to  the position of the engine.  While that does help for moving the machine around the garage, it seems to be a problem in the snow. 

The machine also would only throw the snow about 18-20 ft, but, I'm going to chalk that up to power with no mass behind it at this point.  One other question---on the scraper height--I put a finishing nail under each edge & adjusted the shoes.  It's about 1/8' all across.  Does that sound about right?

Anyone have any similar experiences or at least tell me what I experienced today was normal. Thanks in advance

Ariens sells a weight bar that bolts onto the top of the blower housing. My 1028 had that same problem until the additional weight was put on. If you don't want to spend the bucks from Ariens (about $50 if I remember correctly) you could get some flat steel, drill some holes and paint to match. The other responses are correct on the adjustment of the scraper bar...that will throw the machine off course easily.

bbwb

The weight unit is normally sold to help counter the weight of a snow cab on the handlebars.

The other thing that can cause the machine to start climbing is when the auger is not able to feed material to the impeller fast enough to clear the way in front of the blower before the blower moves forward. If it can't feed snow to the impeller fast enough then it starts pushing it down and the front of the machine goes up. This can also happen if the stuff is too icy and the auger can't break it up fast enough. In either case, extra weight may help a bit but not much since its the engine whis is lifting the front end. In the case of too much snow select a slower gear. In the case of too icy you have to break it up by hand and then use the blower to throw it somewhere else.

Given how light the snowfall was I don't think your probelm is either of the above. Try putting a 5Kg ( 10Lb) bag of salt on the front and see if this makes a difference. If it does then its a weight issue, which sounds funny for a regularly setup machine, its supposed to be balanced properly to begin with.

I had "climbing over the snow" problems and found that if pedestrians walk on the snow first and compact it into ice, the blower will ride on top. That is why I always tried to beat the school kids right after a storm.

Make sure skids and scraper bar are set to spec on a flat surface. Also if the surface you are clearing is not perfectly flat, the blower may wander from side to side. (Finally, it is rare, but check to see if the intake chute is welded square to the blower housing.)

You can also try placing a bag of ice melt on the blower housing to see if there is an improvement.

sailor   ,  ariens does sell a weight kit for the front ends.   if you need help with parts call  763-783-9161   its an ace hardware chain.

Again,

Thanks for the quick responses.  As I read more and listen, it seems that it is mostly a factor of very low temps causing the snow to freeze and compact from it's own weight.  I will try the weight trick to see if it helps.

It is a little dissapointing that after spending a sizeable amount of money on the machine the first thing I have to do is go purchase an accessory to make it work properly.  Oh well, live & learn.  Now I'm beginning to question the Ariens. Please tell me I didnt' buy the wrong machine.

Thanks

No special brand of snowthrower will perform "magic" for you if snow has compacted to ice. These are snowthrowers, not ice throwers.

Try placing 10 or 20 pounds of ice-melt on top of the blower chute first before spending $50 on a weight kit. I think I am making sense here.

I just reread the original post and he says he's got light powder, 3-4 inches on the driveway and 6-7 at the EOD. Unless the conditions are different from described then this is NOT an ice problem. I also can't see overloading the auger/impeller with 3-4" of light powder, even at the fastest travel speed the snow should fly. He has also mentioned that the engine is reving up so it is getting enough load for the governor to kick in.

The only thing I cna think of is a slippling belt but even there he says the setup procedures were followed and implied that everything is to spec. Since it is blowing some snow the auger and impeller are turning. The only thing I can see is the shear bolts on the auger  have sheared and the auger only thing causing the auger to turn is friction. Its kind of hard to shear a bolt with out knowing it.

The hesitation and waundering sould an awful lot like the scraper bar may be to low  and the driveway is kind of "lumpy".

BTW - Per your request "Yes you got the right machine"

Maybe the shear bolt was missing altogether or the nut was loose and you just didn't notice.I was in HD last year and observed a brand new /never used snowblower waiting to be taken home missing one shear bolt.Go figure.

My 1028 climbed up over any snow build up because there was not enough weight on the front. Once the weight went on, it stopped doing the exact thing Sailor's machine is doing. <BR>bbwb

bbwb wrote:
The thing is you shouldn't have to do anything to the machine to make it work correctly unless you have changed something, such as adding a snow cab. If it is too light on the front end and you are using it in its stock configuration then there is either a design problem ( I think unlikely) or an operator fixable problem. You are right in that putting some weight, such as a small bag of salt would tell us if that is the problem but checking out the other possibilities is a good idea as well.

bbwb - I've been lusting after an Ariens DLE for some time and had just about decided on the 926DLE, what made you decide on the 1028 instead? For me the maneuverability of the slightly smaller machine was more important than the slightly larger swath. I also suspect that the engines are also the same, except for the HP stickers.