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

Today i picked up an older John Deere 1032 snowblower. The unit starts on the first pull and is pretty clean with minimal rust. When you put it in drive it goes with no problem but when you engage the auger there was a terrible noise like a metal grinding. My first thought was the bearing in the auger housing was bad so i removed the tractor from the auger housing. The auger turns smooth and there is no play so that proves the bearing is fine. I found that the idler pully that puts the tension on the belt when you engage the auger is mounted to a little bar that moves up and down and at the bottom there is a weld that holds it to the shaft. The weld has a crack and the idler is off kilter. The brake looks worn like it was not disengaging when it was supposed to so i think that was the loud noise.      The unit seems to be like an Ariens the way it is set up. My questions are, How do i get info on this unit to find out the age ? The only numbers on it are 1032. I am going to weld the pully and try to bend the bar to get it in line with the belts again and replace the belts. The numbers on the old belts are worn so i need info on the unit in order to purchase new ones. I will try and get pics up this week. Thanks in advance for any help.