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

Have a 10 year old Ariens 824, model 924082. During Sunday’s snowstorm halfway through cleanup the auger stopped turning. I did not hit anything or was there a jam. The impeller works fine and the shear bolts are good. The augers turns turn freely, both locked on the shaft. If you turn the impeller the shaft turns going inside the gear case but the augers don’t turn.  I know the augers should not turn by trying to spin them, only way to move them is to turn impeller, but mine spin freely indicating a problem within the gear case. I am hoping it’s only the pin that holds the gear onto the shaft.

Now my dilemma, I cannot pull the gears case assembly out because the collar( hub) that the auger pulley is bolted to is frozen solid. It must be removed to enable the whole gearcase assembly to be pulled out from the front of the bucket. I did remove the pulley from the hub to have more room to work.

I have spent 8 ½ hours today trying to get the hub off the keyed shaft. I soaked for hours with penetrating oil, used a torch with Mapp gas and still won’t budge a fraction. Our good friend Majorxlr8n (Marty) emailed and told me to do the following:

“If the auger shaft bearings are on the OUTSIDE of the auger casing, then all you

have to do is remove them from both sides. The next step is so simple - to pull

the augers & gearcase out, spin the impeller shaft either clockwise or

counterclockwise. The whole auger assembly will “walk” off the impeller shaft,

and VOILA - its all out!”

I will attempt this method on Thursday. I still would like to get the hub off just in case I will need to replace 
the shaft with worm gear and the main gear that meshes with it. Sadly enough my Ariens parts manual shows
the shaft and gear must be bought as an assembly (73.00), even though I may only need the gear. 
If the shaft must be replaced and I can’t get the hub off my last resort will be to use a sawzall and cut the shaft 
close to the hub, once I get the hub off, I may be able to pound the cut shaft off the hub using a vise. 

Does anybody have a suggestion of what else I can try to remove the frozen hub, perhaps there is a special tool that can get it off.

I don't know how your words became so small in your post but,
if you contact your airens manufacture and ask for a service manual, that will have all the info you would need.

well it aint so bad ...trust me.

there is a special tool ,available at your local auto repair parts place.

we call it a pickle fork.its commonly used for removing tierod ends from autos steering.

it works exceptionaly well in impeller shaft pulleys and bearings.

should be real cheep,you dont need a top line unit just a 10 dollar tool.its basically a steel bar about 3/4 inch diameter,

foot long with a fork at one end thats wedge shaped.

you just place it between parts to be removed and hit it with hammer.

in extreme cases you may need 2 of them.

i use them just about everyday in snowblower season.

now for the good part.

i doubt you hurt a gear,usually all that happens with your model is a busted key in the auger shaft.

spins right around just like you described .

let us know how you make out.

later chris

Does anyone else show two of Itsbinnice's sentences going a mile across the screen?

Never mind, I edited it to fix it.  I Don't know what happened, must be a software thing?

This can happen if you type a note on a Microsoft Word document program and then post it here....I have had this happen myself and then edited my own post quickly when I saw it.  I would consider it a software glitch do to all of the differrent OS interfaces going on.....

This is just my total ignorant opionion of course lol.....

C

I bet you're right Christopher, kuddos! 

Word can do some funky stuff when pasting into these forums sometimes. I didn't even think of that. 

Sorry fellas about the crappy text in my post, yes it was done in MS Word and pasted, won't do that again.

Snowshoveler - In my email to Marty I was thinking of the pickle fork tool you mentioned, I'm a little concerned though cause the metal housing the shaft goes through is not really that strong and I'm afraid it may bend. That puppy is really on tight. Do you suggest doing it from the top down or laying it on the bucket and doing it from underneath, both way are accesible.

You stated that you believe it's only the key on the auger shaft. I have the Ariens parts manual with schematic and it does not show a key or keyway in shaft. It looks to me that the auger gear is pinned to the shaft using those cheap hollow pins. I hope you're right cause that's quite a bit of torque being held by such a flimsy pin, a key makes more sense. I did notice some discrepencies in the parts schematic, such as they only show my hub having one set screw, whereas it has two. On Thursday I'll follow Marty's suggestion and try to walk the auger assembly out as per his instructions. If that doesn't work I'll go buy a pickle fork and attempt to remove the hub. I will let you know how it turns out. Are there any tricks in splitting the gearcase halves, I'll need to get some Ariens Gear Oil and the Locktite Gasket maker. Don't know why they just don't make gaskets for it, easier and lessy messy.

Itzbin,

I just emailed you an hour or so ago. I STAND CORRECTED - the shaft will NOT "walk out" as I mentioned. There are bushings that will prohibit it from coming out UNLESS you can split the auger gearcase halves. If the roll pin did fall out, I hope it didn't cause any damage to the worm gear or shaft. As for the hub removal, definitely try a tie rod fork. I have one that attaches to an air chisel - it will be summoned to get a auger pulley/hub off a stubborn Sears 2 stage that has been driving me nuts the past few days since obtaining it.

Marty

Marty,

Thanks for posting, may benefit others down the road. I read your email and will attempt  the pickle fork and heat tomorrow.

Snowshoveler, The problem in my case will not be a key, mine does not have one. I failed to mention that there are two gearcases available for certain models of the 1994 Ariens, a cast iron one for models 924084,85,86,87,91,92. As luck will have it, my model is the 924082, the only model with a split aluminum gearcase, the cast iron one is a solid unit and looks far better designed then the very simple aluminum casing. If you ask me this is piss poor design on any model They should have made it with split impeller shaft using a heavy duty coupling. It's easy for them to assemble when everything is new, but when rust sets in, as it will most certainly do regardless of how well maintained, disassemble will be a chore to say the least.

Not sure of your budget, but i had a 924 same vintage over the summer that had the aluminum gearbox cracked open. I purchased a complete unit with the auger shafts and all for aprox $200 and also replaced the auger bushings and main bearing at the same time. I was told after i had already iknstalled it that i could have put the cast unit in there but at that point it was too late. This might be an option for you. I also had to add the l2 gear luber because they sell you the unit dry. The complete job was only 45 min. just another option for you.

I saw a price of 233.00 for the whole assembly, not including the oil. I don't think it's worth it since I already have over 400.00 invested in it. At that point I thinks it's wisest to part the machine out and buy a new one for 1000.00. Your talking having at least 640.00 invested in a 10 year old machine, with a cheaper aluminum gearcase. Common sense tells me the new ones will also have aluminum and not cast iron, just don't make em like they used to. Once I get that stupid hub off I'll know better where I stand.

Replacing the  impeller shft and auger gear can be done for under 100.00, that's acceptable, but 240.00 or so is not. BTW the cast iron assembly that you didn't buy goes for 332.45 from RCPW.com, under part # 52403500.