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

Hi All

Loving my Ariens, but I believe a few things need to be tweaked.  The Chute deflector is freezing up. I believe it to be the cable controlling it. There is a rubber nipple at the top of the cable where it attaches to the deflector. Is this rubber nibble supposed to be down past the plastic snap in piece on the second metal clip, or just placed over it?  I have put some WD40 down inside the cable and it hasn't helped at all.

Second, my chute rotation control is too loose when I first start the machine.  The vibration from the engine brings it back to facing front every time.  But after running for about 10 minutes it works  almost perfect. Is this froze up too?  When I say almost perfect it still doesn't stay all the way right even then. The cable seems a little short to me, if I pull some slack on the cable, its better then without.  I did read the manual and it told me to ajust the bolts under the control section.  Loose bottom nut, tighten top one.  But if I do this, will it make it work good for the first 10 minutes and then make it to stiff for the rest?

Cheers
Goofie Newfie

goofienewfie wrote:
Regarding the sticky cap. Probably not the cable. This is most likely simply too tight an interference fit between the cap and the chute. The spring back on the forming of the parts. You might want to tweak the chute or cap a bit to create some clearance. There is also supposed to be Vaseline on the surfaces between the cap and chute to keep them from sticking. Keep the WD40 away from the cable. The cables are prelubed. The WD40 only washes the lubricant out.

For the chute rotation, 1st make sure the cable is adjusted perfectly This mechansim is very sensitive to adjustment. Too much slack (any, actually) and it robs some of the small amount of stroke that is used to unlock the "finger" from the perimeter gear. If there is a pre-tension, then it never fully allows the finger to return and lock the chute. When you are adjusting the cable under the dash, have the gear cover on the chute off so you can monitor the movement of the lock "finger" while you tighten or loosen the cable. Also make sure the chute isn't hanging up on the belt cover when turning to the right. If it is, loosen the chute pedestal from the mounting bracket on the back of the housing, shift it leftward slightly, and re-tighten. Lastly, check the shim washers behind the bevel gear that is slid over the hex shaft. There should be two washers and the gear mesh should be snug. There were a few complaints this year where the chute pedestal weldment wasn't quite right and 3 washers were required or the bevel gear on the hex shaft was held to high (away from the other horizontal bevel gear) as the bracket that positions it wasn't flush with the horizontal flat plate on the chute pedestal.

I hope this helps.

PK

I'm having a problem understanding how a frozen cable will work with chute in one direction and not when it's in the opposite position.  That doesn't seem to make sense to me.  If it's frozen, it should be seized.  It sounds to me that you have a defective cable.  I had an ATV once that had a cable actuated gear shifter.  Often when I'd try to shift gears, it would hang up.   What made it worse was that it was an intermittent problem.  The cable had an internal obstruction or burr that would cause it to hang up.  I replaced the cable and the machine worked flawlessly for twenty years afterward.  If I were you, I would not be allowing the issue to go unattended.  I would demand a replacement cable and give them the unit that's causing the problems.  If they can get it to work, tell them to keep it. 

In the interim, what you could do is get a balloon and fill it with a couple oz. of isopropynol or methanol.  Remove the chute end of the cable from the machine and put the end into the balloon ensuring that it's far enough in to allow the fluids to enter a seam or joint.  Tie it off tightly, lift the cable invert the balloon to allow contents to drain through the cable.  Try to get as much as possible as far down the cable as you can.   Gently squeeze the balloon to get the contents into the cable.  Work the cable until it's free.  Once that is accomplished, put a couple oz. of WD-40 into the balloon and repeat process.  Once that is finished, clean off the end of the cable and put a little bead of silicon on the end to minimize opportunity for water to enter it.  If that doesn't keep the cable working freely (regardless of weather conditions) your cable is probably defective.         

One more thing, check the remote cap cable routing to make sure it isn't getting pulled too tight when throwing snow to the right and left.

PK