Bill_H

jariman wrote:
You may have already found this but you didn't say if you had:

Last winter (I think, it may have been the winter before that, sorry) there was a thread here about Jaris with some pics too. There was a guy in NH giving one away if you wanted to pick it up. Even the son of the founder(I think) was here with some info. Search for that if you haven't seen it.

Every freakin year I tell myself I'm going to put a Tee in the gas line so I can drain the tank. Every year I forget to go get the parts :(  It's like a 15 minute job and only costs a few bucks. This weekend I (once again) ended up holding a glass jar under the carb and holding in the drain button and getting out 1/4 tank a few drips at a time. As much gas ran down my elbow as went into the jar.  Anyway, it's something you might want to consider. A T, a shutoff valve, some clamps, a short piece of tubing, and a carriage bolt that fits inside the tubing. Clamp that in because you don't want to trust that shutoff valve.

Personally, I don't trust WD-40 all that much, it evaporates too quickly for me. I use Brak-Free CLP instead, just cover everything that might rust with it. It collects a lot of dust over the summer but it all gets cleaned off the first time it gets used the next winter. I also spray it inside the cables. At one time I would wipe everything down with an oily rag, this is a lot easier and seems to work just as well.  Just don't get anything anywhere close to the belts or pulleys. Check the auger bearings and see if they can be lubed.

BTW, the manual should have a checklist of what you do to put it away for storage - I don't have an Ariens so I'm not sure if it does, never hurts to look, though.

A quick google found this one: http://www.planopower.com/store/honda/h1011sa.shtml 6th item down.

Go to the main page and search to make sure it's the right model (have your serial # ready). Or if you have a manual, just google the part number.

That leads to a question I have regarding ground speed. In the upper gears, is it still fast enough? For example, if you have a light 3", do you find the top speed too slow?

Also, is there a way to get it to turn itself? For example, my MTD tracked unit lets me disengage either tread with a finger lever, thus making it turn pretty quick all by itself. Does the Ariens do something similar?

How about the Simplicity tracked model, does anyone know if it is the same way as the Ariens?

My neighbor had a pressure washer with a propane heater built in, it was really expensive - lots of SS tubing and a burner. I wonder if they make one you can use with an external heater, probably be a lot cheaper.