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

Have a new Ariens 7524 Snow Blower that I have been using for much of the season, and haven't been able to get it working correctly. Driveway is fairly steep, but I have similar problems on flat areas. Today we had about 10 inches of quite heavy snow. It will work OK for small stretches, but quite quickly it is just pushing snow instead of blowing it. I have had this problem even in relatively light snow falls. If does seem that the auger area is getting clogged with snow. Any advice? I just bought some silicone spray, but this seems to be a bigger problem than just that. Does it need belt adjustment (I admit, I never adjusted anything when I set it up). Any help would be appreciated. My next door neighbor has a 11.5 HP Ariens (which he also set up without any adjustments) and it has absolutely no problems, but I can't imagine that the difference in HP is the issue. Or is it???