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

Hi everyone.
I have a good friend who was given an older ariens 7 hp 24" snowblower.
He thinks he used it once last year, but does not remember. He did have a local shop replace the big impeller shaft last year, which must have been an expensive hardship for this family.
It is the really old style with the v shaped handles and the white bracket across them.

This man has disabilities and reallly needs this to work, and I want to help him out and be a blessing to him. He asked me to come over to solder a loose wire that was on the switch to his starter. I did that, but the electric starter still did not kick over the engine...it sounded funny like something was not right.

I told him let's forget about the electric starter for now and let's make sure that the engine starts. I installled a new sparkplug and new gas, and it started up on the second pull and ran great....(it ran the best on 1/2 choke.)
I next tried the auger lever, and the auger and impeller started going around fine.
I next tried to put it in gear, and......nothing. I tried everything, but nothing.

I'm going over there again tomorrow......here is what I think I'm supposed to do.

1) Take off the skid plate on the bottom so I can see if there is a linkage or a spring problem......

2) Take off the plastic cover over the belt pulleys and see if there is a broken or loose belt.

The shifter knob seems like it is not loose or anything, and the lever on the left hand side seems like it is moving something down in there.....but I'm not sure until I take stuff off to see.

Am I on the right track? Any suggestions on troubleshooting this? I'll take my digital camera with me tomorrow and take pictures if the fix is not evident.

I look forward to your help. Houses I can fix....OPE is still a bit new to me. Thank you in advance with your assistance in helping me help this good and deserving family.

Frank D.

Frank-

Based upon your pictures, this looks similar to my '74 8HP.  Replacement of the friction disk is straightforward, but unfortunately, it takes a little more time and effort on these older machines.  I think I posted detailed instructions on disk replacment before, but I can't remember if it was this forum or not.  It  may have been on the "gardenweb forums tools" pages or the old abby's guide. 

I can't say why the dealer didn't replace the wheel, except that they probably have to charge at least a half hour or more likely an hour labor to change.  I suspect the wheel chunked itself to death pretty quickly once it started going. 

If you can't find the instructions I posted or need any information, please post again.  I even scanned the manual pages- I can PM them to you.  The first time I replaced the friction disk on my '74 it took over an hour (I can't remember exactly), because the instructions in the manual were so vague.  Later changes only took about 30-45 minutes. 

Good Luck

Frank-

I saw your other post and responded there also.  Here is the text from the Ariens manual with my added comments:

These are the instructions from the Ariens manual.  The part descriptions are kind of vague, but once you get into things, you should be able to figure it out.  The item descriptions in the instructions from Ariens don’t necessarily match the item descriptions in the exploded parts view, so that’s really what took the longest the first time I did this. 

Anyway, I’ve added a few of my comments where I remembered them.  It’s been a while since I replaced the disk on my SnoThro, so I can’t offer much more detail than what I have already added.  I used a general purpose Moly/Lithium grease for the sliding surfaces.  “Left” and “right” refer to the machine as if you were operating it. 

 

1. Disconnect spark plug. 
2. I tilted my SnoThro forward for easier access, this may or may not work for you, depending on how much gas is in the tank. 
3. Remove bottom cover (two screws on the back come all the way out; two screws on the bottom have “keyhole” slots, just loosen these two).
4. Shift to second speed.
5. Remove the cotter pin and washer from the “shift connecting link” (this is the short link indirectly attached to the shift lever).
6. On the right-hand side, remove the two screws that secure the shift lever bracket to the frame, then remove the bracket from the frame.  Just let it hang out of the way. 
7. Remove the master link from the drive chain (this can be messy and a pain, try to set the chain so that the link is easily accessible.  Remove the chain.  It wasn’t easy getting back on in my situation. 
8. Remove the cotter pin from the right and left side “connecting brackets”.  These are short rods on either side of the machine.  These brackets will just hang down. 
9. Remove the cotter pin from the “fork shaft”.  This cotter pin is located on the left side of the machine- it should be visible just above the adjustment mechanism and below the left handlebar. 
10. Slide fork shaft to the left side of the frame (be careful not to slide fork shaft beyond bracket assembly) until the whole drive wheel assembly can rotate down and towards you. 
11. Hold the hex shaft in place with a wrench, then remove the five screws from the friction wheel hub. 
12. Hold the hex shaft again, then remove the hex nut from the right side of the hex shaft. 
13. Remove the four lock nuts from the bearing flange left side (these are the four locknuts near the chain side of the machine). 
14. Pull hex shaft to the left and remove friction wheel and friction wheel hub. 
15. You could also inspect the bearings inside both the left and right side bearing flanges at this point also.  Mine were a little loose three years ago, but I didn’t have opportunity at the time to replace them.  They seem to still be fine. 

 

Reassembly is basically the opposite.  Ensure that BOTH right and left connecting brackets are in position when you rotate the drive wheel assembly back into place. 

It probably wouldn’t hurt to clean the metal driven surface with some alcohol to remove any grease while you’re in there. 

I lightly greased the sliding shaft parts while apart.  Wipe off any excess before reassembly. 

I also wiped some grease onto the chain (on the inside, where the sprockets contact the chain). 

As I mentioned, some of the descriptions are vague (along with my recollection), but this is my post from January of 2005.  If you need any more help, don't hesitate to post again.  As I mentioned before, I can send you the manual pages, but they really don't help much more.  From your pictures, it looks like the shafts are well-greased, but with some little chunks at the travel extremes.  Maybe lube up the shift linkage (it looks dry).

Good Luck.

Ralph

Ralph,
You're a Godsend.
Thank you!
I'll keep you all posted on both forums!

Frank D.

Make sure both the old rubber friction disk and the drive plate both turn freely before you install a new friction disk else you will tear up the new rubber disk.

You can buy a new one from your Ariens dealer for about $24.00 or from http://zacm.com/snowblower/ariens.htm at a fraction of  the cost of an Ariens. I do not know the quality of the rubber on the aftermarket version. I bought 2 as spares myself and they LOOK good to me.

I have 2 snowblower repair manuals at home right now but none of them show anything under ariens, but they have a bunch of other brands in there, if something is similar to the ariens I can post up pics from the how to for replacing the parts if you want.

Thanks Guys,
It is in the single digits here.......I'm thinking I'm just going to go over there and try to put it on my pick up.......I think it would be easier to work on it from that height anyway, and then I can work on it in MY garage instead of the owners. Unheated, but i'll rig something up.

I'll work on it in 10 minute shifts.  Ten minutes work......30 minutes hot coffee....ten minutes work......30 minutes hot coffee.......ten minutes work........25 minutes hot coffee & pee break.....

Frank D.

Good plan, Frank !    and good luck also! 

UPDATE-
Well, I went to my local OPE dealer, a good guy, and started to buy the part.  He told me that he thought I could easily do the job, but offered to do the job at a very good rate since I was just trying to help the real owner of the ariens snowblower.
Thinking how cold my garage is this week........single digits here, and that we are supposed to get a big storm Thursday or Friday, I decided that the smarter thing to do would be to let him do it.

I just picked it up from him, and he ended up having to do more them we first thought. He replaced the friction wheel, but also found that the main jet in the carb was plugged.....carb needed a good cleaning, etc. He changed the oil, adjusted the carb, etc, and installed the broken friction wheel. He did this all at a good price, and now the owner has his blower back.

I would have really enjoyed this job during the summer, but not in the cold.  If it were just 20 degrees warmer, I think I would have done it, but it is just too cold here not to take my dealer's offer.
I paid the bill, took the blower, and the owner is now set for the winter.

Thanks again for all the help. I hope you who helped do not think it was now all in vain. It really was not. i learned some stuff, and more importantly, helped someone who needed it.

Frank D.

Just admiring the sheet metal on that old machines. Looks darn near 3/8 inch thick. Rubber parts aside, good luck trying to break one of those things.

Hey Frank, I really admire your dedication to help an elderly out. It really goes to show there is still great people out there in this world.

I'm glad the blower is working great now. I assume the plugged main jet was the cause for the engine running best at half choke.