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

Used my 2001 Ariens 824 yesterday with a heavy, slushy snow. As usual, it cut through the stuff pretty well. Towards the end of two tough hours, it clogged. I got everything unclogged from both the auger and the second stage, and the auger would spin, but only at a slower than normal pace, not powerful enough to throw anything out, so it clogged again. While using it in the heavy stuff, I could hear a whistling sound from time to time as I eased into the snow (a belt burning??). Now, it's only turning slowly. Any ideas?

Two possibilities:

1. Shear bolts have been sheared and the augers are turning due to friction with the the internal bar that normally drives it when the shear bolts are intact.
2. Auger belt is loose. The owner's manual will tell you how to change/adjust the belt.

Good luck

Shear bolts are definitely in tact. I'll start looking into the belt. Thanks.

I just wore out my auger belt and had to put a new one on. Boy what an improvement in throwing the snow. The belts are made of kevlar so they don't really stretch, the inside edge just wears away and the belt becomes looser. I also noticed that when you reverse flexed the bel the material on the inside was cracking and flaking off a bit.

Symptoms were:

1. Auger slows down when snow load increases even though the engine isn't bogging down;
2. Snow doesn't fly as far as it normally does;
3. You can't move through the snow as fast as you normally do ( snow isn't being thrown as fast as normal)

Once you replace the belt you should run it in for a couple of minutes and then readjust the idler wheel to get the right tension on belt.