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

I have probably the first snow blower ariens ever made.  It is a 64 model.  I got iit from a neighbor and I'm 'fixing it up'.  All is well except dealing with the "self locking" hub on the right.  I have never seen one of these before.  It has a 'dog' that floats inside a larger casting hub.  Not knowing for sure what other parts are supposed to be in there...let me descibe what I found.

The large hub has broad teeth inside and the axle has a sleeve that holds a a'dog' that can flop into those teeth in both forward and reverse directions.  Because the engagement toothe on the dog is at an angle the hub disengages when you manually move the blower...but will engage when it is powered in drive.  The parts are loose and I can free them up but what other parts and pieces should I be looking for that might not be there???

Dave

I have a similar machine. Mine was made (I think) in 1969. It's a Bolens Artic 75. Everything is heavy duty, as if it was a two-wheeled tractor.

I had a similar arrangement on mine. There was a lever that slid a dog into the driven side of the machine giving you 2 wheel drive. If the snow was light, you could slide it away, and have easy turning. My machine is old, and it always tracked poorly when in left wheel drive, so I always kept it in 2 wheel drive. After 40 years, the springs started to wear out, and it would continuously disengage. When I was using the machine, I'd find myself hopping on one foot with the other trying to keep that lever pushed in. Having been laughed at enough, and having purchased a welder, I cut the lever off and welded the axle solid.

The only thing I was concerned with was having too much traction, so I ditched the turf tires with chains, and replaced them with modern snow tires. They grip ok, but tend to slip/spin before the machine bounces like it used to.