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

I have an Ariens two stage blower (520).

I have not been happy with the amount of snow left on the driveway after using it.

In the summer I looked at the skids and as I recall they were adjusted at the limit for the low setting.

I am now wondering if it might be the blade height..

My questions are:

• How can I tell if it is the blade?
• How do Adust the blade?
• Do I need to flip the machine and spill all the gas?
• How do I know how far to lower it?
• Anything Else I need to know?

Sounds like your front scraper bar is up too high in comparison to the skids. You need to lower it down to the pavement. 

Its important that you make the adjustments on a perfectly flat level surface like a garage floor. (burrr, I toss down a thin sheet of foam insulation on the floor that I scrounged up from a construction site dumpster)

First, grab two  wooden paint stirring sticks, tilt the blower nose off the ground and slide the two paint stirring sticks under the front scraper bar.  The sticks need to be double stacked, to raise the front 1/4 inch above the floor.

Next, loosen the skid bolts and push them down a 1/4 inch.  (That right, you're raising the height not lowering it ) .  Make sure they rest flat on the garage floor. Then retighten them.

Next,  slide rubber tire chaulks under sides of the snow bucket to raise the front up (or find something else to securely support the bucket from the sides) .  Leave the blower  in first gear and then put something behind the tires to keep it from rolling backwards.  Now you've go the front raised about 8 inches off the the ground. 

Loosen all the bolts holding the scaper blade but do not remove them. 

 I have a glass smooth driveway and I like the front scraper to go almost all the way down. Yes, that's right all the way down.   I take a few sheets of paper and fold them over once or twice to use as a gauge. Now lower the snowblower and push the scraper blade down until it rests evenly on the folded paper.  (use one paint stick if your driveway is in rough shape)

Tighten the two end bolts that secure the scraper bar.  Now raise the bucket back up onto the side supports and tighten down all the scraper bar bolts with a rachet wrench.  

You should be good to go.

(note: i like to run the scraper bar as close to the driveway surface as I can.  I live in a part of new england where that littlle 1/4 of snow can build up and build up and build up until you are skating around on a driveway with and inch of packed frozen ice.  Better to wear out the scraper bar and replace it once every 5-6 years.  I scrape down to black and let the sunshine do the rest of the work. )

I'm sure others will chime in with some helpful tips. Good luck.  

Scrapers don't last forever.  They are a wear item.  Have a good look at your scraper to see if there's any adjustment left in it.  The scraper bolt holes are oblong to allow for the blade to be lifted or lower.  Some blades can be reversed or flipped over to put the fresh (top) side down.   Before you take it apart.  Get some new replacement bolts & nuts.  There's a very good chance that you'll be snapping most of them to get the scraper off. 

When you adjust the scraper level, make sure your skids are still serviceable.   Set your scraper at a high enough level to allow adjustment of the skids to keep the scraper just clear of the ground.  The scraper is not intended to actually scrape the driveway.  It's supposed to be kept just clear of doing so.  However, as the skids wear, the scraper bar is lowered and it starts to make contact with the ground thus resulting in wear if the skids aren't regularly adjusted.   It's a lot easier to adjust the skids than it is to change scrapers.  My operator's manual recommends to keep the skids adjusted so that the scraper is 1/16th to 1/8th of an in off of the ground for paved surfaces and more so for snow packed gravel etc.   I'm sure that most of us are guilty of not making skid adjustments as frequent as required to minimize scraper wear.  I know I've let mine slide with my old Craftsman machines.   My new Simplicity has much beefier skids than the Craftsman machines had and appear to be made of some pretty hard steel.  So far, they've held up very well but the machine only has one season on it so far.    

timmy wrote:

I have an Ariens two stage blower (520).

I have not been happy with the amount of snow left on the driveway after using it.

In the summer I looked at the skids and as I recall they were adjusted at the limit for the low setting.

I am now wondering if it might be the blade height..

My questions are:

• How can I tell if it is the blade?

I'd check that your skids are indeed all the way up before looking at the blade since they're
a lot easier to adjust.  You just loosen them, put a piece of wood or something the thickness
of the snow you want to leave behind under the blade, lower the skids flat on the ground and
tighten them down.

If the skids are all the way up you have no choice but to lower the scraper.  Just make
sure the skids prevent the sides of the auger housing from running on the ground.

• How do Adust the blade?

You'll have to loosen all the bolts that hold it in place.  If your machine is not new the
bolts may be rusted and break when you try to remove them.  Then you'll just have to buy
new ones.  Grease them well before re-installing.

• Do I need to flip the machine and spill all the gas?

Just put a block underneath somewhere to lift the front up a bit.  I wouldn't turn the whole
thing upside down.  If you're not young this work will probably be a bit  uncomfortable.

• How do I know how far to lower it?

If your driveway is really nice pavement you can lower it so it's just barely off the ground.  If your
driveway is gravel or is uneven the blade should be higher.

Paul

I've heard that if a driveway is paved, putting a wooden paint stirrer under the blade before adjusting the shoes will give you a good height between the pavement and blade.