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

Bought this Ariens 11528DLE last year, in January. For some reason, the forward and reverse drive will stop working. The friction wheel is fine, and there is no adjustment for the belt. I brought it to the local Ariens dealer, and of course, they could not reproduce the problem. They were nice enough to look inside, clean the wheel that the friction wheel drives with brake cleaner. Next snow storm, same thing, one pass down the driveway, and it stops. The dealer says, never heard of this one, maybe water is getting inside.

Paid lots of money for a machine that is touted as one of the best, I wish I could figure out why it is happening. Any suggestions???

Thanks

Brian from NH

Maybe we need to get snow tire versions of our drive wheels for machines equipped with the B&S engine.

brjl wrote:

Actually, the baffle is extremely effective (if it is installed correctly and not damaged or modified at installation). Every slippage issue I've encoutered or heard of (which has been almost Briggs-exclusive) has been rectified by the baffle alone except bob1031. Hopefully the peened plate will get him squared away. It hasn't been necessary in combination with the baffle in my experience and is much less effective as a stand alone measure.

I would also caution against home-made solutions (the crankcase gets very hot and could start a fire and anything that would interfere with the belt drive and drive plate could make the unit unsafe). Not to mention it could make the problem worse if the root cause of the water infiltration is not understood correctly.

I owned a very similar unit with a smooth plated drive plate and no baffle for 3 years without a problem. It was Tecumseh powered though. The Briggs equipped track drive models 926021, 022, 023 are equipped with the peened plate and the baffle and would be the units that demand the most from the friction disk (they have the highest traction and most weight , which outweighs any benefit from a smaller drive wheel). I've not seen a problem on any of these models, so that's a good indicator of what you should see (I've operated and worked on those models as well).

The protective baffle is standard equipment on 926,XXX units made for the last 2 years, and there was only a small number of units in 2006 that were Brigg's powered. Your units (brjl and bob1031) are in that category. I believe there is a service letter  that describes what is needed if slippage is encoutered with such models. Any Ariens dealer should be familiar with it.

Keep us all posted on the results of your repairs.

PK

Snowmann wrote:

Snowman, I hope you are right, and it looks like I may find out tomorrow, calling for five inches. If it does work, I know I will be dancing the jig and I can put this post to rest.

Brian NH

Snowmann wrote:
Would a new 9526 DLE, with a Techumseh engine, received by my dealer early December 2008  have
the "peened plate" ?  I have the better baffle / pulley cover.

Paul

pvrp wrote:
Yes.

I have the 926004 model with the Techumseh motor and am having the exact same problems.  The unit is a 2005 and I have had problems with the drive since day one.  I had it in the shop two times the first two years of ownership and they never fixed the problem.  The first year they replaced the friction disk, the second year the pulley assembly.  The third year Ariens blew me off and wouldn't respond to the problem, and the dealership didn't know what to do.  It started acting up again the last snow we got.  It was a whooping two inches of fluff and the temperature was in the single digits. After 10-15 minutes the drive wasn't working, and then after pushing it up the driveway through two passes it pick up again.  I finished the driveway, and pulled the belt cover, and saw nothing.  I tipped it into the service position and opened the bottom plate, and saw some ice but not on the plate.  Either way some sort of moisture is getting in there from somewhere.  Hopefully the baffle will work.  Does anyone have a picture of the kit they can post?  I ordered one, but I have no idea when it is going to come in.

fabianfledge wrote:

Damn Fabianfledge, I feel for you, I have been pushing my 11528DLE for the past year. Just had the baffle installed and used it for the first time, never stopped once. The machine is working like it was designed, finally. I do not know if the baffle will fix yours, because it seems like a Briggs and Stratton problem, but hey it is worth a try.

I would like to thank everyone who responded to this thread. I just hope that the machine continues to work properly, the snow today was 5 inches of light powder. The real test will be the heavy stuff.

I will say, I am more than disapointed in Ariens. To have machines out there that have a known problem, and not sending out a recall, is irresponsible. The dealer that helped me was certainly not at fault, they never heard of the problem, which is a problem in itself, Ariens should have alerted all of the dealers.

Ariens, sent the baffle to the dealer and the dealer fixed it. This is after a year of having the issue. Ariens knew exactly what the problem was when I called them. There was no apoligy, no offer of a loaner, no nothing. I would expect that if a company values repeat customers, they would have made this right. I do need a new lawn tractor and last year I was looking at Ariens, but not anymore. I do want people to know that I am very happy with the way the dealer handled the situation, very nice people.

Again, I want to thank people who tried to help with this issue. This is a great forum.

Brian NH

Brian,

  My snowblower has the same problem as yours, but mine didn't do it everytime I used it.  They do make a kit for the Techumseh engine, so there must be an issue with them, just not as bad as the Briggs maybe.  I am praying it will work.  I know how you feel about Arien's lack of support.  My snowblower was bought at an Arien's dealer and they never heard of the problem.  The snowblower warranty paperwork was all turned in to Ariens, why couldn't they let us know about the problem? What other problems are there that we don't know about? My family has had Ariens forever.  My dad still uses a 1967 model, and it works great.  If the baffle doesn't fix the problem I guess I will try and trade it in, and my next snowblower will not be an Ariens.

I posted a rant on the "John Deere 1130 SE" thread that deals with this.

The short version is that it seems to me that the root cause of the problem is that the friction disk, as implemented, needs to be dry. The problem is that the blower works in an inherently wet environment. The traction system clutch/speed control should work in a wet environment.

At the same time it is good to "hear" from Snowman that newer models at least have a work around in place to alleviate the problem.

I just received the baffle kit for my model.  It really isn't designed to prevent the water from getting in, it just diverts it like a rain gutter.  I will install it and see what happens.  Hopefully this is the fix I have been waiting for.