Hello,

Have an Ariens 7524 Snowblower.

It looks like the Attachment/Clutch Brake cable has stretched and
loosened up. This is the cable that connects the right hand handle bar
squeeze lever to engage the Auger and Impeller.

So, there is apparently not enough pull on the cable when the handle is
squeezed to put enough force on the belt that connects the engine to the
Auger/Impeller pulley drive to prevent its slipping during operation.

Would like to tighten up the cable a bit.
I do realize that when the handle is released, the cable needs "some"
slack to make sure the Auger does not turn.

Unfortunately, the cable is not the type with as threaded barrel which
would make adjustments easy. Rather, for this model, they use the cable
with the adjustment nuts on each end of it.

The manual (http://apache.ariens.com/manuals/00429300B_ENG.pdf) [pg 21]
has a bit about adjusting them, but for someone without a PHd in
engineering, it is really poorly written and hard to understand.

Was wondering if anyone who is familiar with the procedure could perhaps
walk me thru it, in excrutiating detail.

Would be most appreciative.
At my age now, this kinda "stuff" seems to be getting harder and harder.
Would like to try, though.

Thanks,
Bob

On Feb 17, 8:51*am, Bob wrote:
Hello,

Have an Ariens 7524 Snowblower.

It looks like the Attachment/Clutch Brake cable has stretched and
loosened up. *This is the cable that connects the right hand handle bar
squeeze lever to engage the Auger and Impeller.

So, there is apparently not enough pull on the cable when the handle is
squeezed to put enough force on the belt that connects the engine to the
Auger/Impeller pulley drive to prevent its slipping during operation.

Would like to tighten up the cable a bit.
I do realize that when the handle is released, the cable needs "some"
slack to make sure the Auger does not turn.

Unfortunately, the cable is not the type with as threaded barrel which
would make adjustments easy. *Rather, for this model, they use the cable
with the adjustment nuts on each end of it.

The manual (http://apache.ariens.com/manuals/00429300B_ENG.pdf) [pg 21]
has a bit about adjusting them, but for someone without a PHd in
engineering, it is really poorly written and hard to understand.

Was wondering if anyone who is familiar with the procedure could perhaps
walk me thru it, in excrutiating detail.

Would be most appreciative.
At my age now, this kinda "stuff" seems to be getting harder and harder.
Would like to try, though.

Thanks,
Bob

Turn one of the adjusting nuts a turn or two and see if it gets better
or worse, then follow your brains from there.

Actually, it's been my experience that the drive belts will gradually stretch a bit with time and use.

I wouldn't touch the cable adjustment.

I would take the plastic "belt cover" off between the engine and the scoop.

Once you do that, you'll notice a bar on the left side (as seen from the front of the snow blower). That bar has an idler wheel at it's top and a brake pad at the bottom and it pivots on an axle near it's middle. There's a spring around that axle that presses the brake pad at the bottom of that bar against the auger drive pulley and (simultaneously) moves the idler wheel at the top of the bar away from the auger drive belt.

So, when you depress the handle on that side of the machine, what that cable does is overcome spring tension so that the bar pivots on it's axle the other way, causing the brake pad to move away from the auger pulley and the idler wheel to press against the belt that turns the auger pulley, thereby causing friction between the belt and the engine pulley and between the belt and the auger pulley. Thus, power flows from the engine pulley through the belt to the auger pulley and the auger starts to turn.

Tangent alert: This is where I fly off on a tangent. (The snowblower has two idler pulleys; one on the other side of the machine too if I recall correctly. In the Ariens literature I think they call the idler pulley on the right side of the machine (when viewed from the operator's position) the "Attachment Belt Idler". That's because they can use the back half of the machine to drive other attachments, such as a large rotary brush for heavy duty sweeping. So, your auger and impeller are just the particular attachment you're using with that engine and drive train.) And this is where I come back off the tangent and get back to the story.

But, regardless of what they call it, there's a spring loaded bar that effectively presses a brake pad against the auger drive pulley if it's turned one way, or a free spinning wheel against the drive belt for that auger drive pulley if it's turned the opposite way. The spring turns the bar to engage the brake pad and disengage the idler. When you depress the auger handle, you overcome that spring tension to disengage the brake pad and engage the idler wheel.

That's how the machine works.

Now, what's wrong and how do we correct it...

Most likely the auger pulley belt has stretched a bit with use. I don't believe that cable has come out of adjustment because that seldom ever happens.

Now, at the top of that pivoting bar, the bolt holding the idler wheel to the bar doesn't go though a HOLE in the bar. If it did, you couldn't adjust the idler wheel's position relative to the bar. The bolt holding that idler wheel on goes through a SLOT in the bar. So, by loosening that bolt through the idler wheel, then sliding that idler wheel over in the slot closer to the belt before tightening the bolt again, you take up any slack in the drive belt that may have come about as a result of the belt stretching.

So, that's what I want you to do instead of adjusting that cable at the back of the machine.

And, if you follow the mechanics of it all down through the bowels of your snow blower, moving that idler wheel over a bit has the same effect as adjusting the cable you were talking about.

It's just that the chances are very much more likely that your auger drive belt has stretched a bit than your cable has come out of adjustment.

Actually, on both snow blowers that I've done this on, I pussy footed around with small adjustments of moving the idler wheel over 1/8 inch or so at a time, but I found it works best when I move the idler all the way over in it's slot for maximum tension on the belt when the handle is depressed. I don't think the slot at the top of that bar is long enough that the idler can be moved so far over as to engage the drive belt ALL of the time, even when the handle is released. So, I'd move that idler wheel over in it's slot as far as it'll go, and test the operation of that right side handle with a helper watching the auger to confirm everything's working fine before putting the belt cover back on.

Now, if moving that idler wheel in it's slot doesn't help, THEN talk to your local Ariens snowblower mechanic before adjusting that cable. There may be something else wrong that I'm not thinking of.