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

Hello,

I purchased a new Ariens 1027 this past fall, and am having a problem with the wheels locking. While the machine is under a load, the wheel lock disengages on its own. I've taken off the bottom plate and watched the mechanism of the remote wheel lock engage and disengage and looks to function properly. When engage the cogs of the 2 halves of the gear-like thing that puts the machine into 2-wheel drive do go together tightly. The tension of the cable does also look to be correct - the mechanism engages and disengages properly with each squeeze of the trigger.

With the machine resting on the snow intake (attachment), if I rotate the left wheel back and forth (the side with the locking mechanism) with the lock engage I can actually witness the locking mechanism slip. Looks like the stress on the 2 halves of the gear cause it to just open up and slip. This led me to think that there was a problem with the spring that covers the shaft not having enough tension on it to keep the this gear firmly together. As a quick workaround I tensioned the string and wound a good 1/4" of duct tape around the shaft to hold it in place with the increased tension. For a while I did think that this solved the problem, but low and behold the problem has started to act up again.

Any suggestions on how to go about fixing this would be great. I really don't want to have to put my machine in the shop heading into the snowiest month of the year!

Thanks!
Dave