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

   There is usually some confusion when referencing Ariens made gearboxes.  The terms aluminum and steel are used to differentiate between the two types.  The housings are different but it is what is inside that makes the difference.  If you do not know what is inside you are left wondering why an aluminum case is better than a steel case (case iron). 

   The terms used of steel and aluminum are used to distinguish between the better quality gearbox (steel) versus the lesser quality gearbox (aluminum).  The quality connotation includes the material used in the gearbox but the real meaning mostly refers to the internal components.   Below is a link to exploded views of an aluminum and cast iron gearbox. 

It’s easy to make a very strong gearbox of aluminum as Toro has done.  That is nice but it is what is in the Toro gearbox that makes it a good gearbox.  By the way the Toro aluminum gearbox is much thicker than most other companies gearboxes (MTD, AYP, and all others that I know of).

http://www.kedawei.com/Doc1.doc

Sadly I cannot get this document to open on my computer. Would love to see it. I have office 2007 and normally do not have a issue. I have tried downloading to my computer before opening and that didn't work either :( 

Try openoffice.org. It is reputed to have better support for old MS Office documents than MS Office, go figure. I could read the document in question using it.

From the looks of it the iron gear box has more robust components and thrust bearings ( item #9, lower diagram) on the worm shaft. The aluminium unit seems to have fewer parts.

nibbler wrote:
Except that the drawing is not comparing current models.  The cast iron gearbox shown
is from an old model.

If you want to compare Ariens' current offerings for their top-of-the-line aluminum
and cast iron gearboxes first go to Ariens' Parts Radar  (go to  www.ariens.com and
select "Parts" ).

For the aluminum gearbox enter "921004" for the model number (924DLE Deluxe),
hit "Search" then select "921004 (002001 - ) ST924DLE".   Then click on
"Gear Case Aluminum" in the box on the right.

For the cast iron gearbox enter "926017" for the model number (9526DLE Pro),
hit "Search" then select "926017 (002001 - ) ST9526DLE".  Then click on
"Gear Case Cast Iron" in the box on the right.

The frames of the part diagrams can be stretched to get a better view.  If you
do the above in separate windows you can easily compare the two gearcases.

You will notice that there is just about no difference in the parts that make up the two
gearboxes other than the shape and material of the case (the apparently missing thrust
bushing on the aluminum gearbox is just shown at the other end of the worm shaft).

I believe that the big difference now between the two boxes is that the cast iron case
will better resist a shock if the snowblower swallows something solid.

Paul

I thought cast iron was kind of brittle. If its hit hard enough it cracks instead of deforming. Sort of the difference between trees and grass.

I had a look at the two diagrams and many of the part numbers are the same. The thrust bearings are no where to be seen and the aluminium gear case comes with an extra squeeze bottle of loctite. There are differences but they appear to be mostly due to a shorter worm shaft on the iron version. Kind of disappointing.

At the same time I've been using an aluminium gear cased unit for several years at 10-20 times normal usage with no problems.

Paul,

   You’re right the part numbers cross and all the good stuff in the old cast iron gearbox gone.  I knew the new cast iron gearbox was different shape but did not know about the internals changes.  The new worm assemblies are 52419600 cast iron and 52100900 aluminum.  They look the same in the drawings so not sure what differences call for a part number change.

trouts

The worm assembly includes the housing, either aluminium or cast iron so I have a hunch the internals are the same but the part numbers for the assembly are different due to the housing. Don't forget that most diagrams are from CAD systems where cutting and pasting is a way of life.