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

After checking all the external linkage and making sure the wheels are engaged to the axle on models that allow one or both to be disengaged, the next thing to do on any snow thrower that uses a friction wheel drive system is to remove the belt cover, which is easy to do. With the belt cover off, make sure the drive belt is ok and properly adjusted. If you pull the starter rope (with the ignition switch off) you should see the belt and it’s top pulley and bottom pulley all move as the engine is rotated. If not, the top pulley has broke it’s key, bolt or other means of keeping it from turning on the shaft. If the belt and pulley look ok you need to remove the bottom panel to get access to the friction drive mechanism. That usually means removing the gas from the tank and then standing the machine up on the auger housing. On some machines you also have to remove the engine oil before you do this.

With the ignition switch off and with the bottom panel off turn one of the wheels manually. If all is ok, the friction wheel should also turn. If not, look for a break in the motion. That is, look to see where there is motion on one shaft, sprocket, gear or pulley, but no motion on the connected shaft, sprocket, gear or pulley. That’s the location of the problem. If the friction wheel turns, pull the drive engagement lever, which should cause the friction wheel to come into contact with the friction disk and you (or a helper) shouldn’t be able to turn the wheels manually. If you can, look for the break in the motion. If the friction wheel doesn’t engage the friction disk, then look for a break in the linkage between the drive engagement handle and the swing plate (or other mechanism) that moves the friction wheel into contact with the friction disk. If that all looks good and the friction disk turns, but the bottom pulley of the drive belt doesn’t then either the pulley or the friction disk has broke it’s key, bolt, or other mechanism that keeps it from spinning on the shaft. On some machines the drive pulley and the friction disk are a the same part. Check the shaft the swing plate pivots on to make sure it’s ok.

Also look for oil on the friction wheel and the friction disk. If you find oil, use an alcohol based cleaner to remove it. Some machines use chains and sprockets to reduce the speed to the wheel axle (Simplicity), and if these chains have too much oil on them it can get on the friction wheel and disk and cause a loss of drive. If water gets on these parts you’ll also have a loss of drive but it won’t be complete and it will dry on it’s own. You can spin off most of the water by putting the machine in its fastest speed and running it up and down the driveway without throwing snow a few times. This won’t work if it’s oil.