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

Picked up a very nice Ariens 1028 924116 with a mushed gearbox.  The owner hit something and continued to run it destroying the steel worm.  I've got a stash of brass gears but with a distroyed worm the only option was get a new gearbox.  Ariens does not supply parts for the aluminum gearbox anymore.  They only source an assembly with a cast iron gearbox, including the auger drive shaft and rake shaft. 

It's heavy and seems well built but no telling what is in there for a gear.  If anyone knows please post.  Some pictures show the original aluminum gearcase half.  The auger drive shaft is two parts mated with a bolt that is welded in place.  That is probably done so they can put in varying length drive shaft extensions for various models. 

I had seen pictures of this assembly at a dealer but from those it seemed puny and I was not looking forward to the prospect of one day having to buy one.  The replacement is pretty nice and will be a great upgrade to the 1028.   The assembly is $179 from Jacks and the same price for 24 and 28 inch rake.  Not sure why they include the rake shaft versus getting the price down a bit.  Possibly they assume the shaft will have a slight bend which will affect the gearbox. ?? 

What I would be very interested in knowing is if anyone knows what the gear in this is.  Is it the same as the shouldered gear used in the original aluminum gearbox or a different bigger better gear or smaller?

   Is the gearbox authentic Ariens gear?  Yep, comes with a grease leak.   The gearbox was on the box for a few hours and on taking if off there was a small pool of grease.

Here is a picture.




He was talking about stress testing one day and I think he said it took 4 sheer bolts in each rake and both rakes jammed to damage the gearboxes, but I don't quite remember that post so I could be wrong.

Shryp,

    Thanks for posting the link.  It was a fun read.  All the problems mentined have been gone through here are few times.  The guy ended up with a nice machine.   

     In my project the machine is not too old and the auger gearbox assembly replaced last year so taking everything was cake, roll pins taped out, impeller slid off.

    That gear looks the same size as the original aluminum gear.  It's got the collar and I think I see a drift pin which would be the same.  

     There was one similar post by Snowmann where he was describing testing similar to what you mentioned on an XS gearbox.  He mentioned the type of brass used in the XS gear.  It was a number something like 53xx, digits if I remember right.   No one ever talks about the type of material in gearboxes other than to call gears brass.  It points to how difficult it is to understand how good one gearbox is over another.  There are lots of factors besides case type and besides all cast gearboxes are not equal. I've never read anywhere about the type of brass used in a gearbox gear other than that one reference.   Is an MTD gear as puny as it is any good or better than an Ariens?  Does MTD use better material?  The chances are slim but who knows what they use.   

I think you are referring to the post I was trying to remember.

Hello,

          I found your post online and am looking for the brass gear that meshes with the worm  gear. In your post you said you have lots of brass gears. I was wondering if you still have them, and if I could buy one from you and how much would you want for it. As of now, I can only buy an entire gearcase assembly from Ariens. The original part I could buy from Ariens was the worm gear and brass gear, that part number was 52422700, and now I have to buy the whole new gearcase assembly with part number 52423000. You can reply by e-mailing me at joe_kubichek@yahoo.com Thank you.

   I've only got one left and I'm hanging onto it.  Gear only replacement is not recommended but I do it and have been lucky in that so far i've not had any customer machines develop problems, no callbacks over the years so I assume still running.  I had one fail in testing while here though and it was due to a not so great worm but I took a chance and installed the gear anyway.  The worm has to be in pretty good shape to work well with a new gear.