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.