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

I spent about 2 hours clearing a couple of long driveways on Saturday. They had about 50cm ( 20" ) of slightly crunchy snow so there was a lot of low gear work. I noticed when I was backing the blower under power up the ramp of the trailer that the wheels weren't turning so I have a hunch the rubber on the friction wheel is just about gone.

Is there anything that can be done other than replacing the whole mechanism? It would be nice if I could scrape of the old worn rubber and glue a new piece on.

The last time I replaced the wheel with the rubber "tire" on it the part was about $30.00. This was a shaft with a chain sprocket and rubber wheel attached. It had to be removed from the traction housing and the new one inserted. Since the whole thing was covered liberally with grease it was an interesting hour or two of work, out in the cold. I suspect that cleaning off the old material and gluing on some new would be a bit easier, hence the question.

Hi:
This may be my first post, but I've been lurking at this great site for a long time and I've learned a lot, thanks to all of you.
I've had this exact problem with my Ariens Pro 1024 a couple of times, and I've been able to fix it with a one-minute adjustment of the clutch cable, the adjuster on my machine is a nut where the cable attaches to a rod right near the housing.  If your machine hasn't been fully "taken up" this might work for you.  Good luck.
CHarley (2006 Super Glide Custom)

CHarley wrote:
Bangs head with flat of palm and says "duh". Some times you can't see the forest for the trees. As my previous post implied I had replaced the gizmo relatively recently. I had to do that since I had adjusted the linkage as far as it would go and the rubber was basically all gone and the chain socket had broken a tooth. This time I immediately jumped to the "replace gizmo" solution before doing the "adjust the linkage" solution.

CHarley - Thanks for stating what should have been obvious, once I finish my breakfast of egg on face I'll go out and make the necessary adjustments.

It still begs the question of "once the friction wheel is worn out" can it be refurbished ( new rubber on wheel) as opposed to replaced? If so how hard is it to do? Has anyone done it?