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

I just got a call from my dealer telling me that my machine just arrived.
It should be interesting to see if it has a guarantee-less Tecumseh
or a B & S engine.  I don't really care much, I understand the Briggs
doesn't have a throttle which I really like, though it does have other
advantages.

Should be picking it up sometime this week.  I'll report back.

Now to stock up on some grease...

[ EDIT :  For anyone reading this in the future I suggest reading the entire
              thread since my opinion of certain aspects of the machine changed
              while I got to know the machine better.  ]

Paul

borat, you write:
I have every intention of hanging on to it.  I kept it for here in the suburbs, figuring this is
where I needed the stronger machine.  Our street is cleared by a big grader who does his
first pass with the side blade down and clears maybe 2/3 of the street in one shot.  This
can produce an enormous snowbank often higher than my waist.  This happens to the
other side of my street but for the last couple of years I've been volunteering to clean the
driveway across the street because the man living there is getting old.  I may actually have
saved his life since the year I offered to remove his huge snowbank  for the first time he
was diagnosed with cancer and when they checked him out for that found that  he needed
triple bybass heart surgery.  The year before I'd felt pretty guilty breezing through my
snowbank while he toiled away by hand (he's apparently back to being in good shape).

I rebuilt the 1024 last month, repainted everything that needed it and replaced all the
bearings and belts.  Can't wait to use it, but still no snow here in the city.   The thing just
chews its way through the snowbank, even if the snow is a foot over the top of the intake. 
It's pretty fun to do and impresses everyone.  I don't think they were all that common. 
If I could find another one, even in not terribly good condition, I'd probably buy it.

Paul

I have to say, I wondered why Ariens changed to square vs circle for the impeller exit. I thought it would effect performance as well, tho it did not seem to after operating it. If it is effecting it, I don't see it being a major issue. My machine eats lots of snow and throws it further then I would even like it too. Sometimes I have to take notice that I am not putting it in the neighbors driveway or out on the road. For me, my unit handles as much snow as I would like it, not sure as if the circle would make a big difference.

To bad you had to get your machine ready outside, but sounds like you made good work out of it. Looks like your already to eat snow. Congrats on your purchase.  One Area you may also want to look at with the grease is the under the chute. Mine didn't have any grease there either, even tho it was suppose to. It did seem like it had some, until I removed it and saw it was sliding on a plastic piece. Once I put that snowmobile grease on it, it was sweet. Made a big difference to the smoothness of rotation. Last year snowmann also said the deflector should have vaseline on the insides where it touches the chute. Might want to put some there.

Also should say, keep a eye on the chute, deflector and speed control $#%*. Last year one of mine came loose and flew off during a snow storm. Unsure to this day how I managed to find it in the snow, but I did. I was lucky. I now always make sure to notice as to weather they are tight or not before moving out in the weather.

Cheers

goofienewfie wrote:
I found it only a problem with snow that was over a foot deep, and old snow at that,
otherwise it worked fine.  I guess I'm just used to my older machine which can really
output a lot of snow without choking.  I get to try my old machine this evening now that
we're finally getting snow in town so I'll be able to better compare the two machines.
Just waiting for the plow to go by.

goofienewfie wrote:
Mine had a small smear maybe a third of the way around.  I packed it with grease.

(ah, there's the plow ! )

goofienewfie wrote:
This forum software is pretty sensitive to certain words though for some reason it shows
them just fine while editing a post.  Let's try : b-a-l-l-s   ->  $#%*.  You say you lost one during
a storm ?  :-)  Thanks, I'll be careful to hang on to mine !

Overall I expect to be fairly happy with the new machine.  It'll just need a bit more care than
I'm used to.  I used to be a mechanic but I don't really enjoy it anymore, too dirty and toxic,
and I converted my garage to woodworking so I have to work outside.

Paul

pv

While on another big snow blower and lawn mower forum, I made a list of questions about Ariens blowers regarding gear boxes, bearings, and bushings.  Check it out for some good information.  Your comments about the discharge chute is interesting.  I wouldn't even know whether this is going to be a problem for everyone out there with a newer Ariens, or what.

coasteray wrote:
I may have changed my mind about the chute lately, now that I've gotten to use my old machine
several times.  I've been waiting to get a chance to use my new machine again before updating
my opinion here.  I won't get the chance until next weekend.

I have a feeling that the exit speed of the my new Ariens is a lot higher than on my 1999 machine.
Not only does this mean that it may blow snow further, but it may also permit a smaller opening
to the chute without adversely affecting the total amount of snow being blown.  My old machine
has six wide vanes on the impeller, the new one three narrow ones.  I can imagine that if the
new impeller is turning fast enough it could compete with the old one.  I'll post an update here
once I've gotten a better idea of what's going on.

Just a word on bushings.  They should work just as well as a bearing while they're in good
condition.  The major difference between the two should be in service life.  Hopefully the
thin plastic ones don't cost a fortune and can be replaced regularly.  The bearings don't last
forever either and cost about 25$ each.  A bigger problem is in places where there is no longer
a bearing nor a bushing which means wear will have to be fixed by replacing whatever shaft,
sprocket or axle suffered the wear.  This could be expensive.

Paul

pvrp wrote: The owner's manual claims 200 degrees, but it would be hard to notice a 10 degree difference on either side.  Assuming it's the same as our new 924DLE, I agree with you that it's not as far back as our older machine (an ST826), and that it would be useful to go back further, but it suffices.

As for the two hour oil change, one of my motivations for making an early pass on Friday (rather than waiting to challenge the machine with a full foot of snow) was to get in the two hours of use, before the second storm today.  I can't speak for others, but we did the oil change.  It's not that hard, as there's plenty of clearance for a drain pan under the plug.  The hardest part is judging the quantity.  Why couldn't they make it an even quart instead of the 1 5/8 pints (= 26 ounces = 0.8125 quart)?  (Metric is no better, at 0.77 liters.)

Actually, the liter measurement is pretty simple.  Just leave 250 ml. in the bottle.  I doubt that the machine will notice 20 ml. difference. 

I've got a 1336 dle pro and its a piece of garbage.  I had a 1960's Snow King, and if not for the color I'd swear they were the same machine.  Difference being the Snow King actually did its job.

Here's an update on my new machine now that I got to use it again a couple of days ago.

While injecting grease into the augers one of the zerks pulled out.  They are only press fit with no
threads (and have no spring-loaded ball to block the hole).  One way of getting the grease gun
nozzle off the zerk without pulling on it is to use a pair of wire cutters carefully not to damage the zerk.

The chute deflection cable is installed in such a way that the end points up allowing water to run
down into the cable sheath.  When I first tried to use it (the machine lives outdoors)  it was stuck
but freed up after a bit of fiddling.  I had lubricated the cable a few weeks ago.  It would have been
better if Ariens had installed the cable coming down from above instead which would have prevented
water getting into it.

I used the snowblower for 2-3 hours in one to three feet of old snow which was quite wet from it
having rained a lot the same day and the day before.  During this time I slowly lost drive to the wheels
though never completely.   I did adjust the drive engagement cable so that's not the problem.  This
may be the drive belt slipping (the manual does not mention a belt tension adjustment) or maybe
the "water on the drive plate" issue that was mentioned in a recent post, or a destroyed friction
wheel from lowering the first forward speed.  I'll know with the next couple of days, the machine in now
in the basement drying out and I'll take it apart to see what's going on.

On the plus side, this machine can really throw snow.  Though it doesn't output a terribly impressive
amount it can easily send it 40-50 ft.  This is useful in my case since it allowed me to throw the snow
clear over my driveway when I was doing the wheelchair ramp which runs along side about 8 feet
from the driveway.

Apart from the traction issue I was reasonably satisfied with the machine, more so than last time
I used it.  It's a powerful machine, I was clearing the equivalent of an EOD pile the entire time.  Sometimes
the snow was a foot or more over the top of the intake.   I don't see the fact that the front lifts in really
deep packed snow as a problem since it allows you to take a bit off the top in one pass, let the machine
slide back down and then take some more in another pass.  I like the balance of the machine.

I'll post an update once I open the machine.

Paul

The lifting can occur due to two things both related to forward motion.

1. Hard Snow - The augers are not breaking it up faster than the forward speed of the blower requires so that they lift the front end. More weight might help, a slower forward speed might help, softer snow will help. I've used a shovle and ice chipper to break up really hard stuff and then used the blower to make it go somewhere else.
2. Too Much Snow - The augers feed snow to the impeller which makes the snow go some where else. The maximum volume of snow that the impeller can process is determined by the engine RPM and can be less than what the augers feed it. If there is so much snow coming in that the impeller can't handle it then the augers push it over the top and start to scoop it back in again. This causes a build up of snow in front of the blower. You are "snow plowing". Once the pile gets too big the augers start to climb the pile and the nose lifts up. The only soutions are to either slow down the forward speed or to "blip" the traction clutch so that you move forward in a series of jerks, effectively slowing your forward speed.

If the impeller seems to handle the load and then slows down the throwing you could have a slipping belt.