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

Hi, I bought this snowblower from HD last year. Used it about 3 times. This year it started right up but the auger didn't turn. I took the belt cover off and saw that both attachment belts were destroyed/shredded. I bought two new belts, put them on, and I see that the attachment pulleys on the engine shaft do not line up with the attachment pulley. I see no way of fixing this and the manual is worse than useless. Can anyone help?

Thank you,

Pete

kinger wrote:
Kinger, can you describe this a little better? I may be able to help.

You're saying the traction drive pulley is fine, but the dual belt auger belt alignment is off...

Assuming the engine pulley is correct, which direction and how much are the idler and/or lower pulley off?

PK

   I missed it.  The pulley's are bolted on, not keyed and no set screws - have flats but there are two distinct pulleys and the outside one with the two belts could be reversed.  No harm in unscrewing the bold and see what there is for play if any.  As I mentioned there's an extended spacer sleve on the outer pulley which should be to towards the engine.

Snowmann wrote:
Yes, the traction drive pulley is lined up perfectly, and the belt shows little to no wear. As for the attachment belts/pulleys:
The lower pulley is slid over and bolted to the end of the attachment shaft. There doesn't seem to be any room for adjustment there. The idler pulleys overlap the lower pulleys such that the idler pulley closest to the motor aligns with the lower pulley closest to the attachment. Within 5 seconds of running the snowblower the belts try to jam between the lower pulley and the attachment. They walk right off the lower pulleys. The finger is keeping the belts in place on the idler pulley, I assume.

kinger wrote:
There is no adjustment. I think there may have been some procedural errors at the assembly plant. There is an "order of operation" and gauge tool used when the gear case is affixed in the housing. They were clearly not used (or yours is loose). The gear case mounting brackets will need to be loosened (at the housing and gear case, 4 bolts), the pulley must be aligned and held in place (stick something behind the impeller to gauge it properly through the discharge opening, - remove the spark plug first), then the gear case supports tightened (really though, this is covered under warranty; take it back and have a dealer fix it.)

PK

If I'm reading your last post correctly the double pulley on the engine shaft is aligned with the double pulley on the attachment housing. The double idler pulley is out of alignment such that the sheave closest to the engine is aligned with the front sheave of either the engine or attachment pulleys.

| | |         Engine
  | | |       Idler
| | |         Attachment

nibbler wrote:
No, I guess I didn't explain it properly. With the snowblower facing so the handle is to the left and the attachment is to the right:

   I I I      Engine Shaft Pulley
   I I I      Idler
 I I I        Attachment Pulley

The misalignment causes the belts to come off the attachment pulley and jam between the attachment pulley and the housing.

I wonder if the lower pulley ( attached to the impeller) is on backwards. If the top two are in alignment then its probable they are in the correct position.

If you cna't fix it yourself it sure looks like a waranty issue.

nibbler wrote:
The lower pulley is definitely not on backwards. It goes on one way only. Since I bought it at Home Depot, I called them. They told me it is past their 60 day warranty so its up to the manufacturer. I have to contact Ariens, I suppose. It'll be summer before I get this straightened out, I suppose. There has to be an easier way. Maybe I dismantle the whole thing and start from scratch?

I noticed something on my 9526 DLE that may be pertinent to this thread.
Like kinger's 1027 LE my machine has one drive belt and two attachment
belts, with the engine pulley being a single piece with the three grooves
turned into it.

Because of the way the traction is engaged the groove in the engine pulley
will only line up with the drive plate/pulley when the traction is engaged, as
this pulls the driveplate back (to rub on the friction disk).  Kind of strange
in my mind.  It means that whenever the engine is running but the traction
is not engage, the engine pulley, belt idler and drive plate/pulley are very
much out of alignment.

The result is that at idle there is no way that all the belts, pulleys and
idlers can line up properly and may seem to be out of adjustment when
they're not.  However, in kinger's case, it seems that his engine pulley is
not positioned properly since it lines up ok with the drive plate (which it
shouldn't) and does not line up ok with the attachment pulleys (which it
should).  Seems to me that moving the pulley forward (somehow) should
solve the problem.

Paul