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

I'm having a problem with my Ariens 1028. I had it stored in a friends garage most of the time, so it's gotten very little use. It's about 3 years old but was only used once or twice it's first year, possibly once the next and then completely unused the third. I finally have the means to store it and went to use it this year and found that the auger won't pull snow into the impeller. With the machine off, the auger spins freely. The sheer pins are intact. After reading several posts on this board I'm quite confident that the problem is with the gearbox. After reading another message on this board, I removed the bolts on either side of the auger assembly. The auger now hangs loose. The only thing holding it in is the shaft connected to the impeller. As instructed by the post I was reading, I tried rotating the impeller counterclockwise and clockwise, in both cases, the auger didn't seem to "walk" off the shaft. Does anyone have any idea how to seperate the auger from the shaft that connects it to the impeller?

Thanks
-rcollins