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

I purchased a 928E in November from a local dealer (not Bog Box).  Came assembled.  No problems with power throwing snow, however, I have had a problem with it not moving forward when in gear.  Feels like it's slipping.  Returned once for service and they said that it must be getting moisture on the drive wheels and that causes it to slip.  It's going back tomorrow.... again;  Has anybody had any issues with this machine not moving at the speed it's supposed while in forward gear>  Thanks

Keep reading.  You'll find plenty of posts about this problem. 

Set the speed to lowest setting.  Try engaging the wheel drive by depressing the lever.  If the machine doesn't move, keep the lever depressed and pull on the wheel drive cable to see if that gets the machine moving.  If it does, you need to adjust the tension on the wheel drive cable.  If your machine is a JD Simplicity, and the adjuster is the same as mine, you'll see that it's a very simple and not very effective adjuster.  It's a plate with a series of holes in it for a Z hook to be secured.  In order to make an adjustment, you will probably have to remove the wheel drive lever in order to get the slack needed for the next hole up.  Now, I had a problem with the adjuster on mine because the next adjustment hole was too much of a move.  The machine would stay engaged even when the lever wasn't depressed.   As a result, I cobbled together some parts to make adjustment much simpler in the future.  

First picture is of the stock adjuster.   A pretty pathetic piece of work for a machine of this quality.   The second picture is a simple roller mounted on some left over brackets from my snow cab.  I just fabbed up this piece and attached it to a bolt on the handles.  I have it set up tightly enough to allow me to move it a little further outward if more tension is required on the cable.  Waaaay simpler than the piece of crap stock adjuster.  

I don't understand this phenomenon.  I've used a basic Ariens snow thrower for 20 years in all kinds of wet snow and slush and the drive wheels never slipped or sputtered.  Ditto for my 2 year old model.  Has something in the drive system been redesigned that will fail when it gets wet?

I suspect that some of it has to do with adjusting the cable.  I know that after an hour of moving a lot of deep snow with lots of it falling onto the top of the intake area and around the engine,  mine started to lose forward pressure under heavy load.  As per previous post,  the stock adjuster wouldn't allow the correct setting.  I was surprised how limited the tolerance is between enough force and too much.  It's a very fine line of adjustment.  With the piece that I made, it makes adjustment on the fly possible and can get it spot on every time. 

Concerning the lack of forward movement with the JD 928E. I purchased one in November '08, used it for a few times during moderate snowfall, and I noticed that there wouldn't be any movement forwards in first gear, and barely in 2nd gear, and when selecting 3rd gear it would begin to crawl forward. And when I returned it back to first gear, it almost ran me over starting to go in reverse.

I phoned the John Deer dealership where I purchased it, and after a week of repairs they told me that the issue was a manufacturers defect that when they greased the chain inside they put grease on the rubber clutches, which caused it to slip inside. Now they cleaned the grease out of the rubber clutches, but they did not change the clutch. I'm now just concerned about the longetivity of the clutch that had the grease on it and was cleaned up. Because I am aware that the clutches do not have any warranty on them.

Do you feel that I should have been more forceful and demanded a new clutch that had grease on it? And do you think that it will make a difference in the operation down the line?

Now the blower is working fine, but for how long...

oscar wrote:
This is just the drive engagement that is out of adjustment.  The friction disk was not positioned properly with respect to
the center of the drive plate.


I wouldn't worry about it.  The rubber is around the rim of the friction disk and I doubt it wore much seeing as it has
grease on it.

Paul