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

I bought my first snowblower last year, an old Ariens 724 (924038)... late '70s probably. Engine and transmission run fine. Can't stop the rakes from turning. When I went to check tension to see if that was the problem, I noticed the belts were very worn. Split the case and replaced them today, but problem persists. I backed off idler completely. Belt is loose, but seems not loose enough to prevent turning rakes even when clutch is Out. Wasn't sure if there was adjustment at clutch lever or is the brake in there supposed to hold the sheave in place when clutch is Out? Thanks

Who is David?  What happen here?

Trouts2 = David = Ke Dawei (my Chinese name)

>>Well, the old belt was doing the same thing and that belt previously worked fine.

From the above, it was working properly at first then later went to the augers stayed turning when the clutch was disengaged.

>>charged me $40 for that belt plus the smaller belt behind it. He shoulda worn a mask.

7-15 bucks for a generic green belt at ACE.

>>David, you're killin' me! I bought the snow blower from you last year!

Smart purchase by a savvy buyer. The 924038 is a nice machine.

>>I tried calling you this afternoon, but no answer.

Went to Framingham to pickup parts. If you left a message I would have called you back. You should have my email address from the maintance sheet email.

>>Is that brake supposed to hold the sheave in place when the clutch is Out? I can't find an answer in the manual.

No, the break is a break like on a lawnmower.  Nothing to do with holding the belt on.

When you engage the auger clutch an arm gets moved off the big auger belt pulley. When you disengage a spring moves the arm which has a small break pad up to the drum edges. The relaxed tension on the belt can drive the pulley but not much. The break pad should be pulled in tight enough by the return spring to stop the pulley.

>>What hold the belt in place?

I am pretty sure that model came with a U shaped thick wire that bolts to the engine and runs on either side of the pulley, that pulley is the small pulley on the crankshaft.  Auger belts are fairly loose and flop around when spinning but enough to grab the big auger pulley.  Any flap is kept in check by the wire up by and on either side of that pulley. 

The break stops the pulley.  The cluch moves the break arm away.  A spring pulls it back to the pulley.

I mentioned in the prior post that the spring could be the issue. Did you check the spring? The break pad generally last but could be worn

By the way: I check the belts on all machines and should have checked yours.   The criteria is that I expect they should last for a few years at least.  They may break but I doubt they would have gone flabby and expand enough to cause this problem.   

Also, to get the belt off or on you should have had to move the break arm out of the way.  It should be under spring tension and noticable.  Since you did not mention that it makes me think that arm is loose and not up against the pulley.

I've gotten close to ten years on auger belts on two Craftsman machines I had previously owned. They were worked pretty hard too. Never replace a wheel drive belt yet. The seem to last forever.

Thanks for all the info David. I ended up doing what I usually do which is before I got your response I grabbed my tools and started taking things apart. Once I got the engine half separated from the blower half, things got more obvious in a hurry. The problem was the brake arm. It was more or less rusted in place. So, I removed it, cleaned it up in Evaporust, and replaced the clevis pin and spring. I figured out the mechanics of how everything worked with the case split. Not sure what happened to the blower belt, but it threw off a few chunks, so it was toast. I replaced the other belt just because I had it apart. So, it's all good now. Started it up and the clutch controls the augers. I suspect it'll also do a better job throwing snow, but that was pretty good already. I figured I could find the belts cheaper, but just didn't know where. And I continued to get hosed on the spring and the clevis pin. $10. Geez. But I love the snowblower and for $50 it's running great. And you're right, I definitely bought it from the right guy.

abundell, i hope while you were in there you lubricated the shaft the pulleys ride on and anything else that needed it.i ran my 8hp ariens for close to 2o yrs without touching anything but the carb.when the drive started to not disengage and drag me down the road i started looking at things closer. only other issue is with the grease in the auger differential.it was almost dry a couple years back and was never checked .i found that chain saw 00 tip roller grease stays put and doesn't leak out like the lower unit evinrude boat grease i put in did. also it's a lot easier working on things when the snow isn't standing in the drive and you have to be to work in an hour.

 

Abundell,

   Generally and depending on the weather I flip all machines up on their bucket and degrease the internals through the back cover and belt area with leftover gas and paint brushes.  Everything then gets slimed with grease applied with a paint brush.  The back areas are tough to reach so I use a spray can of lithium to coat forward springs and other movements.  If the rakes stop with the clutch I would not have checked further during cleaning.   

 

  With your ability to work on things you should be able to keep that machine for as long as you want.   Blowers are not so complicated to work on and with what you’ve done the rest of the stock things that could go wrong you can handle. 

 

 Should you need parts the Ariens parts are very available online.  Boston Lawnmower in Westboro is a big dealership for Ariens and used to be a stocking dealer.  They have lots of parts for older machines.

 

   You can sometimes find springs at hardware stores like ACE or Aubuchon hardware but they are pricey there also.  

 

   Parts are sometimes expensive and I try to locate less expensive parts but don’t complain too much when I can get them locally rather than online with the shipping cost.  The local ACE repair guy estimated he has about $50,000 tied up in parts.  The Boston Lawnmower guy estimated they have about $500,000 in parts.  The very convenient small dealer up the street who I used to get a lot of parts from just went out of business as he could not keep up with expenses so I feel a bit guilty for begrudging his prices.

David,

Thanks for all the info. I'm planning to do a little grease work over the next few days. FYI... a friend of mine who is a mechanic turned me on to Penray Red Grease 7001. It's great stuff. Comes in an aerosol and sprays on like WD-40 (complete with the little red tube that fits into the nozzle), but after 20 minutes it dries to a non-tacky grease. Great for low and high temps. Great for hard to reach places and any place you need a light coating of grease.