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

I maintain a building and have to snowblow the walkways. They have an Airens 11528LE  drive problem and no manual with the machine.  I have taken the access plate off the bottom and can't figure out how this thing is supposed to work.  I had an old Airens with a knob on the side of the wheel that allowed you to switch from 1 to 2 wheel drive and this has a lever on the left handle that I had been pulling once and it would be in 1 wheel drive, I would pull it again and be in 2 wheel drive.  It worked all winter untill recently when it will most often stay in 1 wheel drive and occasionally slip in and out of 2 wheel drive.  I read in another post that I should adjust the barrel that is secured to the body in the rear where the cable goes through to have no slack.  I did this and I loose any 2 wheel drive altogether so I gave it a lot of slack and I still have no 2 wheel drive.  I started to adjust it turn buy turn (This took a bit of time) untill I reached a spot where I had some kind of 2 wheel drive but again it would slip in and out of 2 wheel also there was a lot of clicking going on when I would push the machine forward (no power or levers engaged) is this normal? Inside the access panel under the machine the lever cable is attached to the top of the left gear and a spring is attached on bottom of the right gear.  Thanks for any help you can give me.

Hardir wrote:
If you ran the gamut of adjustment (the correct setting is to remove the slack while being careful not to overtighten and pretension the cable) then the problem sounds more like lack of lubrication and/or contaminants in the mechanism. There were also reports of a few "short" springs that made their way onto such machines (but not many). You want to get this fixed before you do permanent damage to the dog clutches. I'd bring it back to the dealer. If you're handy and ambitious you could take the assembly apart, clean and lubricate (grease). The compression spring could be shimmed with washers if it is not applying enough force (note:very low profile washers or spacer to clear the friction disk when it shifts from side to side).

PK

Thanks Paul & PK.  It sounds a bit complex but I will review the manual online and probably take it to a dealer...Thanks,Rich

I have the exact same machine and I think that the remote lock/unlock trigger is the feature that I like the most.  Last season it worked perfectly.  This season it works but it developed a small quirk.  One squeeze of the trigger is all that it takes to go from single wheel drive to dual wheel drive.  However this year it takes around six trigger squeezes before it clicks from dual wheel drive to single wheel drive.   Does that sound like a cable adjustment or lubrication issue? 

Paul7 wrote:
Yours sounds more like a cable adjustment issue. Perhaps your cable has "broken in" and developed some slack. Lubricating the mechanism wouldn't hurt either. NLGI #2 lithium grease. Make sure you get it to penetrate into the dog and splines interior to the mechansim. Both are ery easy to do.

PK