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

I just took delivery of an 06-07 9526DLE PRO and love the machine but it seems that it moves too fast in its low forward gears. In my experience, 1st gear and sometimes 2nd are creeper gears. Well 1st gear on this machine is a regular paced walk for me and 2nd gear is a downright fast pace and I have a long stride since I'm 6'. This doesn't seem right. The 2 reverse gears work fine and are not as slow my previous machines. Is it possible to slow down the forward speeds by changing the shift rod adjustment? Or is there some other way to slow this down?

I'm not sure I understand what idle speed has to do with it. I'm talking about full throttle run speed, which is what the machine would be used at during snowblowing. Naturally if I throttle it down, it will slow the machine down.

Couple of things:

1. The throttle question could be checking out what the machine is revving at. Typically you run the machine with the throttle wide open. There is a governor that tries to maintain "optimal" engine revs so the engine isn't wide open when the manual throttle is set to "Fast". When you start blowing snow the engine will suddenly sound louder since it is under load and the governor has kicked in. If the governor is not working then the engine could be over revving; and
2. Its more likely that the "gear shift" is out of adjustment. Its not really a gear shift but a speed selector. The traction system has a rubber edged wheel that moves along a splined shaft and is pressed again the surface of a friction disk when yu engage the traction system clutch handle. Moving the speed adjustment lever changes the position of the wheel relative to the centre of the disk. The further from the centre the faster you go. If you go past the centre you are traveling in reverse. Its possible that the speed selector's linkage is out of adjustment and needs to be tightened up a bit. This will move the friction wheel closer to the centre of the disk and slow the machine down. Check and see how reverse is, if its missing that would also indicate that the linkage needs adjustment. The procedure is in the owner's manual.

 linkage rod needs adjusting.

Be careful how much you adjust this. If you deviate too far from the manual specification the friction disk gets close to the center of the drive plate reducing efficiency and could result in drive slippage.

If it is anew machine,.

Call your dealer and have it checked under the Ariens warranty!!!!!

                                                             Fred

Another possible solution is to ride a skate board while doing the driveway, let the machine do ALL of the work.

Nibbler, the skateboard idea seems to be the best at this point. I have toyed with the speed lever adjustment in every possible way. At once point, I "maxed" the connecting  rod and didn't even have a R1 or R2, which in theory should have given me the lowest possible speed, and the machine still didn't slow down. So, I followed the manual and reset the rod according to factory specs. Since "1st gear" is pretty quick, I thought I'd try the higher "gears" (I know they're not gears) Anyway, in 6th, the machine is downright dangerous if you arent prepared to take off in a sprint. I know its a transport speed and all that, but believe me, this machine is running WAY to fast. I don't have the equipment to check RPM, so I think I'm gonna talk to the dealer.  Haven't I heard of owners actually changing the friction disk size?

Changing the friction disk size won't help since its the linkage from the control down to the wheel that determine the position of the friction wheel on the disk. The only thing a smaller disk would do is allow the wheel to fall off the outer edge.

If you adjusted things so that you didn't have any reverse settings, I.E. even R1 and R2 were forward then the friction wheel is not going through the centre of the friction disk and F1 will be faster than if you have two reverse settings.The close the wheel is to the disk's centre when your are in F1 the slower you will travel and the faster the R1 and R2 will be going backwards.

Snowman once sent me the forward speeds for the Ariens blowers, they were:

The six forward speeds are:
6 = 2.81 mph
5 = 2.62 mph
4 = 2.08 mph
3 = 1.83 mph
2 = 1.36 mph
1 = 0.87 mph

The two reverse speeds are:

R1 = 1.86 mph
R2 = 1.22 mph

They are probably still reasonably accurate.

Thanks for your help. I tweaked it myself rather than sending it in for warranty work and I got it set up nicely. 1st "gear" is much slower now, probably very close to figures you posted.  I actually took the bottom plate off while I adjusted it, so I could see where the friction wheel was contacting the platter for myself. Piece of cake really.

The system is fairly simple and most manufacturers use the same basic idea, the differences are in the implementation.

Personally I'm hoping for six on the floor, positraction and a "big shift daddy" .