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.

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?

Their old literature referred to the 1st gear as creeper gear.Now the literature just says 5 forward gears and 2 reverse gears.

Is it safe to say that everybody's 1st gear is creeper gear?  Some do creeps slower or faster than others.

I guess someone would have to get hold of a large frame and a pro simp model and see if 1st gear for the pro is actually slower than the large frames 1st gear.Any volunteers??But I must admit my 1st gear is pretty slow .