Here is a link to download the manuals for yours.
http://www.ariens.com/corporate/Pages/OwnerManuals.aspx
Another thing with the sheer bolts, remove them now and see if you can spin the "spiral things".
There are usually called augers, rakes or collectors.
Your sheer bolts should be in the center of them.
If they spin just fine, then grease them up, spin them some more after greasing, and put the sheer bolt back in.
Without an exact model number, we can't tell you what sheer bolt is proper for your machine.
Here is what mine uses.
http://www.mfgsupply.com/m/c/41-916.html?id=DeLCR55E
You can see in addition to being a softer metal, it also has 2 grooves cut into it.
If you pull the bolts out and find that you can't spin them, that means they are rusted on the front axle shaft and they will not break when they are suppose to.
The end result is the same as if you have a hardened steel bolt in there instead of proper sheer bolts. If you hit something that you shouldn't be hitting, you
will break something in the gear box and instead of spending $1 for a new bolt, you will be spending $150 for a new gear box.
This message was modified Oct 14, 2010 by Shryp