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.

I knew it was done someway, I just didn't know exactly how.  Again, great picture.  Were the belts tight Knee?

The belts were tight and everything was functioning as should except it would only throw snow a few feet at best. I was baffled.  AJace wrote:

Ariens 8x24's throw snow like crazy, maybe the engine is tired?

I'm going to put  Impeller kits on mine this year  - http://smllengns.tripod.com/

I have an antique Ariens just like yours 7hp 24" that throws unreal, also my ariens 1128 which is great. The old ariens 8 32 was running strong with no signs of the engine struggling at all, the belts were new and tight, the auger was spinning smooth, the fan was spinning fast but if i put my hand in front of the chute when it was running i could not feel powerfull wind coming out like i do with all the others, and it dribbled the snow instead of shooting it. the fan was in perfect shape with no bends. it baffled me to the point i gave it away. I might pick up one of the kits in the link and give it a try on my Deere if i decide to keep it. Where in southie are you ? have you lived there a long time ? I have some old friends there. Garandman wrote:

Hi Knee. The first snowfall last year was a wet one and it clogged all day. I tightened the belts before that pic was taken. The next two storms after that were wet and I think it only clogged once or twice. Of course this was after I bought a Sno-stick to unclog it. LOL
For now it does the job for me. I'm sure these were made by Ariens.

Jubol, it has been a pretty warm summer here so far. Just looking at that pic cooled me off a little, but I'm in no rush for winter to get here. Think of a scene like this.

Kevin

I posted a message on another forum and it was claimed they're made by AYP for Deere?

Garandman wrote:

I would not know for sure even if the pictures were larger. The new Fronteers might be AYP?

What question did you post on the other forum?

From memory, and maybee SNowmann knows, But deere for a long time was Genuine Deere, then Ariens was making the Deere line, now Frontier ( For Deere) is made by Murray.

MountainMan wrote:

It is my understanding the above is correct, except with Murray now in bankruptcy, I don't know the future of the relationship, but that wont affect who made machines in the past.

I asked, "Do they make their own, or are they OEM'd?"

Got two answers:

- "Ariens made them for a few years but did not supply JD with the sweeper attachments."

- "I forget who makes them for JD though. I believe it is AYP."