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

I learned from the Ariens independent retailer that I should use a grease gun to lubricate the auger shaft assembly through the zerk fittings. How often do I need to do this? How much grease do I need to put in and how will I know when I have put in enough? I don't want to put in too much.

My apologies for these newbie questions. Thanks in advance for your advice.

--C

Once a season is usually enough. Use a good quality, water resistant grease. Snowmobile grease is very good. Hook up the grease gun to each fitting and keep pumping until you see grease start to ooze out at either end of the auger shaft. Sometime it will come out at both ends sometimes not. If you see it coming out one end, give a couple more pumps. If it does not come out the other end, that's not a problem. As long as you see it come at one end, the job's done.

To add to that, you might want to remove the shear pins while greasing so you can freely spin the auger shaft to get the grease evenly spread around inside there.

Thanks for the advice!  The manual recommends Ariens Hi-Temp Grease, but I definitely will look into snowmobile grease as well.

--C

Craig24 wrote:
Hi temp grease for the auger shaft? That sound a little weird. The shaft is in constant contact with snow, and there is no heat/friction involved between the auger drive shafts and auger tubes due to the fact that they're both pinned together with shear bolts/pins and turning at the same speed in the same direction.

Perhaps I misread the manual.  I will check again on the recommended grease.  Either way, it is good to know that snowmobile grease is an option.  Thanks again.

--C

I use marine grease. Easy to find in any auto parts shop and probably cheaper than anything that says snowmobile!

I bought a used Ariens and my manual also recommends the Stens (Ariens) Mix Hi-Temp grease.  I went ahead and purchased the Stens, assuming this is what was originally used and not wanting to mix grease types, before I discovered that Stens brand is owned by Ariens Company.  Take a look at the fine print at the bottom of Ariens website to see this.  Anyway, that being said, I suspect that is the reason Ariens is recommending "Hi-Temp" grease for an application that creates virtually no heat.  It's likely the Hi-Temp rating is overkill for the auger shafts, but I'll use it since I have it on hand now.  Just my 2 cents, fwiw.

Bacon fat will work for that application if it's all you have. All it has to do is keep rust from forming between the two surfaces. I sure wouldn't be paying for premium grease to put in there.

I suggested snowmobile grease because it's good for other applications on the machine. Wheel axles, control rod pivots etc. It's pretty much the same price if bought from any place other than a snowmobile dealership. I agree that marine grease will work just as well. I doubt that there's much difference between snowmobile grease and marine grease. Bottom line is that you want a grease that will resist being washed off with water and won't harden in cold temps.

AreoShell 7..... Good for -55 degrees in a wet use area.....


Friiy