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

So today I woke up to a beautiful White Christmas.  Did the presents, coffee, and breakfast, and headed out to maybe 5" of fresh powder.  This is the 3rd time using the machine.  The problem is I leave trails on each side of the cage w/ every pass.  Speed does not seem to matter.  Even in first gear, and again, only 5" of snow, I leave trails.  I tried one pass of taking maybe an 8" wide path and it still kicked out snow to the far side.  I'm at a loss.  It almost seems like the auger is churning it too agressively and spitting it forward.  The impellar is throwing fine - 35 to 40' I would guess.  But it is very aggravating to have to keep retracing my tracks to clean up the lines.

Any ideas?  I bought it from a local Ariens dealer and they said they will check it no problem.  I went with the 24" as it fits in my garage better, but am sensing it may be too heavy duty a machine for a slim 24" path.  I never had this issue w/ my older 29" Crafstman.

On the plus side, these Ariens are super heavy duty.  The automatic traction control is sensation.  I can turn the machine with one hand, and thus rotate the chute even while turning.  Definitely the best feature of the machine.

Merry Christmas everyone!

What causes this is the same phenomenon that makes you unable to pick up large amounts of fluffy snow when shoveling because most of it falls over the sides of the shovel as you lift it up. With a snowblower it's normal to have it happen as well with light fluffy powder because the snow flakes don't aggregate (bind to each other) as readily as they do with heavier snow. The result is that the auger is unable to pull a sufficient volume of  snow towards the impeller for efficient  single-pass removal. This happens even with blowers that have hydrostatic trannies and are able to slow down to a pace of a few inches a minute if need be so there isn't much you can do about it other than multiple passes. The snow pushed to the sides becomes denser so the second pass usually picks it up.     

With light fluffy snow like that, I use a leaf blower or sweep it to gather it up.  By the time I have it all in a row, it has usually compacted and becomes easier to move with a snow thrower. 

With the engine off, try to spin both augers with your foot one at a time. If one turns, you have a broken shear pin on that side.

I'd use a 2x4 or stick ( clean out device is OK too) instead of the foot.

What happens if you speed up and go faster? 5" of light fluffy snow might not put enough load on the machine to get the engine revving up. I select speed by going as fast as possible without starting to snowplow.

Thanks for the replys.  Shear pins are just fine.  Last night after Christmas dinner I went out for two hours clearing sidewalks and neighbors drives.  First drive I did had not been touched and had about 8-9" on it.  In 3rd / 4th gears it cleared it easily, but still had the trailing problem.  Just to see I tried first gear, and it left about the same amount of snow.  So the speed does not seem to matter.  On a sidewalk again w/ about 5", I hammered through it in 6th gear.  Trying first gear again just to see, the result was the same.

So the machine is effortlessly doing the bulk of the work, but I am needing to clean up afterwards.  Personally, I feel it is such a heavy duty 24" machine that unless I am in a heavier snow it is going to keep happening.  I would love to try the 30" 11.5HP machine and see if the same thing happens.

Honestly, the worst part about it is hearing my wife complain about how my older, less expensive machine seemed to do better...

I never heard back on why this happens or how to prevent it.