Chicago area wet snow experience.
My very old Ariens 2 stage snow blower had slowly been throwing a
weeker snow stream in past years. Well this last big wet snow that
came on warm ground was impossible for my Ariens. The neighbor has a
newer single stage blower that cleaned his snow right down to the wet
asphalt and sidewalk. Mine keep jamming slush in the discharge chute.
This was with teflon and DW40 sprayed in there.
I could see the secondary ejector propeller spinning after I would
clean the chute and press down the clutch. Finnally I put a jam bar
down the chute and pushed the clutch down slowly. The ejector softly
hit the bar, stopped and the engine never missed a beat. Obviously the
belt was slipping on it.
I replaced the drive belts (2) and the bugger runs and throws snow like
new. Turned out the old Ariens had a tell-tale indicator for belt
wear. A small slot in the right side of the frame around the right
wheel area will show the belt tensioner shoe if the belt is worn,
stretched or broken.

Good post. Thanks.


wrote:
Chicago area wet snow experience.
My very old Ariens 2 stage snow blower had slowly been throwing a
weeker snow stream in past years. Well this last big wet snow that
came on warm ground was impossible for my Ariens. The neighbor has a
newer single stage blower that cleaned his snow right down to the wet
asphalt and sidewalk. Mine keep jamming slush in the discharge chute.
This was with teflon and DW40 sprayed in there.
I could see the secondary ejector propeller spinning after I would
clean the chute and press down the clutch. Finnally I put a jam bar
down the chute and pushed the clutch down slowly. The ejector softly
hit the bar, stopped and the engine never missed a beat. Obviously the
belt was slipping on it.
I replaced the drive belts (2) and the bugger runs and throws snow like
new. Turned out the old Ariens had a tell-tale indicator for belt
wear. A small slot in the right side of the frame around the right
wheel area will show the belt tensioner shoe if the belt is worn,
stretched or broken.

My blow snower is a very old Toro which requires the gas oil mix. It
ran for a couple hours after I bought it (used) and the carb jet
clogged. After doing this several times, I finally installed a fuel
filter I had on hand.

A year or so later, I jammed a pice of wire into the auger, while
blowing someone else's driveway for free. Grrrr....

The local parts place had a replacement belt, but it was tangled up
into a tiny little bag. It came out all pretzel like. I put the belt
in, and it promptly skipped the pulley, and jammed. Grr.... $15 shot
to nothing.

With some internet search, I found another place that had belts. This
time I invoked the evil eye "break your leg and your neck" and bought
two belts. The blowthrower has run perfectly since then, and the spare
belt hangs on a coat hook.

--

Christopher A. Young
You can't shout down a troll.
You have to starve them.
..

wrote in message
ups.com...
Chicago area wet snow experience.
My very old Ariens 2 stage snow blower had slowly been throwing a
weeker snow stream in past years. Well this last big wet snow that
came on warm ground was impossible for my Ariens. The neighbor has a
newer single stage blower that cleaned his snow right down to the wet
asphalt and sidewalk. Mine keep jamming slush in the discharge chute.
This was with teflon and DW40 sprayed in there.
I could see the secondary ejector propeller spinning after I would
clean the chute and press down the clutch. Finnally I put a jam bar
down the chute and pushed the clutch down slowly. The ejector softly
hit the bar, stopped and the engine never missed a beat. Obviously
the
belt was slipping on it.
I replaced the drive belts (2) and the bugger runs and throws snow
like
new. Turned out the old Ariens had a tell-tale indicator for belt
wear. A small slot in the right side of the frame around the right
wheel area will show the belt tensioner shoe if the belt is worn,
stretched or broken.