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

I have an Ariens 928 with a Techumseh Hmsk80-  I want to enhance its performance by slowing it down.  I want the engine to run at full speed for performance , but I want to go slower in first gear.  I here Honda are known to be able to creep and chew up ice.I'm trying to get my Ariens to to the same. I put a 25 lb weight on the bucket to hold it down. Now I need it to go slower. I read of you guys changing pulleys. Ware do you get these pulleys and different belt sizes. I want a smaller pulley for my drive and a slightly bigger one for the auger. Are all belts the same? Is ther anything special in a Snowblower belt other than size. If I change belt sizes I want to know what to look for in quality.

As for belts, any heavy duty belt should work.  Kevlar reinforced probably.

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As for pulleys, there are plenty of places online you can get them.  Remember that going with a large pulley for the auger is going to suck up more horsepower, so your engine will bog down more.
Think of it like a bicycle.  The bigger the gear on the pedals, the harder it is to pedal.  This is why most people end up putting a bigger engine on it when they do the change.  One other thing to
consider is will a large pulley fit under your belt cover.  Some are a tight fit and will need modified.

First you have to measure your engine crankshaft size and the diameter of your current pulleys.  HMSK80 is probably 1" diameter crank.

To slow down, you need to use a smaller pulley on the engine or a large one on the drive disc.

To speed up your auger you need a bigger pulley on the engine or a smaller one on the auger.

I am not really sure if one way is better than the other.  I was actually wondering that myself.  For example 1" and 3" pulleys would have the same gear ratio as 2" and 6" so would one setup be better than the other?
I can only think of 3 reasons for 1 setup over the other.

1 cost - Smaller pulleys would be cheaper.

2 grip - bigger pulleys would give you more surface area and theoretically the belt would slip less.

3 space - smaller pulleys would fit in tighter places.

If anyone has any insight on using different sizes to achieve the same gear ratio I would love to hear it.


Some snow blowers use 1 pulley for both belts and some use 2 separate pulleys.  If yours is using 1 giant double belt pulley,  you are going to have to replace them both, or maybe put it back on backwards?


Here is a simple belt length converter.  I tried the rope trick and always had my rope to thin and ended up with the belts too short.
http://www.baumhydraulics.com/calculators/belt_length.htm

The only places below I have ordered from are Jacks and MFGSupply so use at your own risk.
http://www.surpluscenter.com/powerTrans.asp?catname=powerTrans
http://www.tractorsupply.com -- Tractor Supply has a local store if you want to see if they are available in your area.
http://www.mfgsupply.com/Mower.html
http://www.phoenix-mfg.com/acatalog/Pulleys.html
http://www.rcpw.com/
http://www.milfordpower.com/Pulleys_s/406.htm
http://www.jackssmallengines.com/index_idlers.html

Pulleys are often called sheaves if you want to do some google searching and see what you come up with.

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You might be able to adjust your shift linkage to change your gear speeds.  If you move first gear closer to the center of the friction disc, you will go slower.  Doing so will also make reverse a bit faster.  Also, making first gear slower with a pulley change will make all forward and reverse gears slower.  If you get to close to the center, I think you will wear the friction wheel down faster though.

Hondas are not the only snowblower that can creep.Simplicity Pro snowblowers have a creeper gear.

mikiewest wrote:

The original poster asked about how to make his Ariens go slower, not asking about buying another snowblower to achieve the same goal. Unless you are gracious to donate your Simp Pro with creepers gear, that would be more helpful than throwing a few brand names around.

bus708 wrote:
Pulley and belt change can be involved and requires some experimentation with reduction ratios.

Have you tried feathering the drive lever on and off?  It would be start stop movement for attacking EOD piles.  Not sure if you want to run in first gear all the time and you want that gear slower overall.  In that case, it might be worthwhile to do the pulley belt changes.

    One thought on the pully ratio reason as to  why go with larger pully diameters when choosing ratios... When a belt has a tighter radius to turn on a smaller pully the belt has more internal friction from the flexing over tighter diameters,  hence the belt gets hot and wears/ breaksapart quicker..  (slip/ glaze/ fail/ break)...

I am all for it,   change the pullys,  cut the belt cover and build up  a new one...   That's what we do in America -  make sh!t better...

Be sure to post pictures,  work  quick winter is on the way!

Good Luck,

Friiy

Disclaimer---------This post is not endorsed by Friiy or his attorney

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friiy wrote:
My local dealer has a old Toro 20-ish inch 2 stage snowblower with a 23 hp V-twin engine, no belt covers.  The engine itself was the size of the bucket!  With that kind of power, there's no need to slow down first gear

I was just letting him know honda is not the only snowblower that creeps.So dont worry bout my reply AA .

mikiewest wrote:
No problem.  I know that's what you meant to say.

By the way, is there a separate actual creeper gear in that Simplicity of yours?  Or is part of the friction drive?  How do you engage it?  I was down my local Simplicity dealer checking out the Simplicity Pro 28 and could not find the creeper gear, just 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and reverse detents.    Asked the salesman about the creeper gear and he gave me a blank stare.  :)

Oh yeah, the chute deflector angle lever goes in detents too, not one smooth continuous motion as you mentioned.  Nice machine by the way for $1800, but I think the Deere 1330SE is looking better with more features and since I didn't notice any difference in the C-channel handle stiffness between the two.

Mine is one smooth action and I can lock it at any angle.You must be looking at the newer models Mine has a manual chute rotator and my chute deflector looks like an engine oil dipstick.

That's a nicer set up.  I did not like how stiff it was to get out of those detents on the current model.  Wonder why they changed it?