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

hello, I am a frustrated DIY'er and having trouble removing the shaft from the impeller on my Ariens ST824.  The roll pins are stuck and wont give , any suggestions? also how do you remove the woodiff keys from the shafts thanks  Billy

I've done a few impeller separations and unsure what success was due to but I soaked the pins continuously over a day with PB Blaster which was recommended to me by a guy who works on older snowblowers.
Lots of repeated hammering and soaking over several hours and they finally gave. Having a punch just smaller than the pin helps get it through.

After the pins come out removing the impeller is much worse or at least that's the way it's been for a few of these. What worked was repeated soaking with PB and hammering with heavy taps on the auger side lip of the impeller. After two days of soaking an repeated hammering on the lip the impeller finally moved.

I think what happens is that the penetrant gets so far and steady hammering moves the piece slightly along with breaking more rust. Another soaking goes a pinch deeper and so on until the rust lock is broken.

The other option is bring it to a dealer. I left off an open auger gearbox today at the dealer to put a key on the worm gear which was broken. He asked me if I wanted him to assemble it and put in a new rear grease seal. He said I could do it but if I did I'd have to remove the impeller to get the seal on. He said he had a press so I decided to have him do it. I'm sorry I did that now as this machine was not as rusted much compared to the others I've done. The guy said he had a press for impellers.

I've read that heavy hammering distorts the pins and that after the rust is broken some people cut them off then remove the distorted part to make it easier to get the reminder through.

For the woodruff key ?. They just come out with continued yanking. I locked on pair of vice grips to have something to grip. On a few wedging a very large screwdrive head under the key end for upward push worked well.
trouts2