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.

got it apart yet or what...the suspense is killing me ,come on will ya.

seriously though there should be a key on the shaft in there somewhere.

later chris

Snowshoveler,

The gears with the keys are on the smaller units with 3/4" rake shafts. I believe the one itzbinnice is referring to (with a 1" rake shaft) has a similar gear with a "shoulder" and cross hole on the casting for a hardened groove pin (it's not a roll pin/spring pin).

PK

 

     

any chance that hardened grove pin snapped or sheered of in some way.

would be an eazy fix wouldnt it.

i have to get some of those service manuals for the new ariens product.

we sell some of it now and i would like to be well informed.paper always makes you look good

later chris 

Sorry for being late, busted my tail off today. I tip my hat to you guys that do this for a living, you damn sure earn your money. I got the hub off today using a pickle fork for ball joints (15/16) spread. The ones for the tie rods are too small (21/32) because the shaft is 3/4". Took a while but I didn't damage anything and the hub can be reused. I found the problem, the brass gear that is pinned to the 1" auger shaft was completely wiped out, didn't even look like a gear. Yes the pin that holds it is solid and strong, not the hollow type I thought it would have. The worm gear looks OK but I went this far so I think I'll replace the whole shaft, including the rear bearing that mounts on the rear housing. According to RCPW.com the brass gear can't be bought separately, only in tandem with the impeller shaft.

I'm going to the local Ariens dealer on Saturday and confirm that the gear can't be purchased alone. I'll bring the shaft with me and ask them if they suggest replacing if the gear can be bought separately. I still have one problem, I can't get the impeller of the shaft, I'll have to bring it somewhere and have it pressed off. The gear box had no oil in it, but plenty of brass shavings. I just bought this used recently off Ebay as a buy it now. When I picked it up I saw it had two nails substituing as shear pins, a flag right there but it was too late, already paid for.  The auger did turn though, I used it on a 4" snowfall. I summize the guy hit something or something got stuck and the nails didn't snap and chewed up most of the gear. Just enough meat to move the auger. When I did the EOD and met resistance, along with the sloppy rear bearing, it chewed off the fraction of the gear that was remaining. Lesson learned, shear pins are designed for a reason and alot cheaper than what I'm going through. I did scold the guy and told him you should be ashamed of yourself for doing that, the guy was carpenter/handyman and should have known better. First thing I did was put OEM shear pins in, but I did  not check the gearbox oil, as it turns out it had none, it did have some grease in ther but not much Speaking of that, looking at how it is engineered, it appears if it were filled with oil, it would leak out the shaft. Sorry for sounding stupid, it's because I am, but should that gearbox be filled with gear oil or some sort of grease? 

Glad you asked! Some trannys require oil, while other require greese. If yours had some greese in it, then that is what it requires. But you do not want to fill it up the whole way with greese, only half way. Lithum greese is what you want to put in there. I hope this helps you out...

Terminator20,

Thank you. I don't trust any maintennce this guy did, for all I know he could have put anything in there he had available. The parts manual calls foe a 16 oz bottle of Ariens L-2 lube, I only assumed it was liquid, looking at the illustration of the plastic round bottle, it appears it would be liquid and not grease. 

L2 lube is actually a Lithium #2 multi purpose grease if I am not mistaken.

Most OPE manufactures offer this, Simplicity offers it in a 8 oz. tube for example. You can buy a 16 oz. bottle of Ariens for 7 bucks on Alamia.  You can also pick it up at Wal Mart or any parts house.

If the Ariens is different, someone correct me.

Marshall,

Thanks, sounds right, the L standing for Lithium. I think it's Walmart for me for the grease. First I have to stop at the drug store and pick up some Vaseline before I go to the Ariens dealer. I'm gonna need it to ease the pain of the shafting I'm gonna get. Looking at some prices they want 4.04 for a crappy little seal, need two of those  for the Auger shaft, and another one for 3.28 for the rear impeller shaft. Then they want 10.95 for locktite gasket maker, I don't think so. Geez, Ariens parts are worse then car dealers parts pricing.

I once paied $10.00 dollars for a seal. Its crazy I know. What ever happened, to 25 cents for a seal and 50 cents for a needle valve?

L2 lube is a special 90W AGMA 5 gear oil, not grease. I would not assume just because there is grease in the gearcase that it should take grease. After all, there were nails for shear pins right? I believe there was a liquid #00 grease used at one time, as well as  lithium complex #2 EP-rated grease. For worm gearcases make sure you get an EP rated grease and not the standard stuff. I'll check your model for you tomorrow to see what lube it takes. A serial number would really help out for this. It should be six digits long right below the model #.

The parts manual probably calls out the shaft/gear combo. It's likely you can get the gear alone, but not recommended. If the current worm shaft were damaged you could ruin the replacement gear. If you re-use the shaft, be sure it is perfectly straight and make sure there's no damage to the worm profile (most times the damage, typical bent shafts, is not easy to see without V-blocks and a height gauge). The gears are made from manganese silicide bronze with a partical hardness of Rc70 (micro hardness, not macro). Pretty hard, but a damaged worm shaft can tear it up in no time.

PK