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

I bought my Ariens HomeDepot back in 2005.  Sadly, this has been a disappointing machine from day one.  My previous thrower was a Sears 88799 9HP 27" and I never had a problem with it.  I was able to throw slush, wet snow, plowed crude, you name it.  This Ariens thrower always had a weak throw and would strugle with medium snowfalls.

Even though I always spray my throwers with WD40 before using,  this Ariens thrower had problems with even dry fluffy snow (10 or more inches high).  It would clog up and would not throw even hwne the chute was completely free.  Unit would not start throwing again until next day when all the micro bits of snow had melted off.   My problem with this thrower has only got worst.  Recntly we got 15 inches of very dry light snow.  The thrower stopped throwing half way thru clearing my driveway.  All shear pins are in tack.  I verified this by visual inspection and checking for loose play in the auger blades.  The auger blades are fixed and do not spin freely.  The impeller blade however does spin freely.  Is this normal?  How do I correct this problem.  Thanks in advance for any assistance.

Thanks to all for responding to my inquiries.  Your help was greatly appreciated.

Did you get it fixed?

Yes.  I was able to replace and adjust the impeller belt.   Apparently my past weak throw problem was due to a defective belt.  It wasn't until the blower stopped throwing all together that the true source of my woes was revealed.  But thanks to all the helpful advice from this forum I was able to finally fix my snow blower blues.  My 1332LE throw better then ever and was able to handle all the every from deep powder to packed plowed debris.  I cleared out 8 neighbors' driveways and even blew out  the street cul-de-sac.  Thanks to all again.

wow,

I just had the same problem with my 1332le which worked great until I pushed it during a massive storm and burned out the belt.  I brought it two an incompetent shop twice and the belt started slipping.

I opened it myself and adjusted the auger clutch 'wheel thing' so that it pushes harder against the belt and it has improved alot, but I think some belt damage has been done by it being too loose and I don't think the shop used a good belt.

So I know what this machine is SUPPOSED to do.  We just had about 12-14" in NJ, of wettish, but not slush snow.  Right now I smell burning belt when only cutting about 16" and it only throws about 4 feet using the slowest forward speed.  If memory serves i should be able to cut 32" inches at 2nd speed with snow flying out pretty darn strong and no belt damage or burning.  Is that what you are seeing now?