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

Not to happy with my 1130 .... still have the friction wheel slipping problem ..... had the dealer install the seal kit but that seems to fall off every time I open the belt cover to see if I did break another auger belt.  I am going to follow the advise on another thread and use some sealant under the engine and get all the openings and then install my own foam or use some sort of sealing tape/duct tape.

 That aside the real problem is that since the machine ingested a 3 inch rock and broke the auger belt the first time I've broken 2 more since then.  The last was the other night .... after clearing two large driveways I was about to put the 1130 away and I went to clear a 8'' high strip of wet slushy snow which should be no problem at all and that broke a belt.  I suspect it may have already been weak or frayed.

I had the dealer replace the first two and the last time they had to bend the blades/auger as they were slightly rubbing but I still broke another belt yesterday.  There has been lots of snow in Ma. this year and the machine has worked hard and works good when it works but this belt thing and drive slipping is urking me .... especially for an expensive relatively new machine.  This one replaced a Bobcat Snowblower that I had since 1971 and never had a problem at all.... never.  This machine use it a couple times and it breaks a belt.... fix it ... same thing.

So my question is does anyone have any thoughts on why the auger belt may be breaking?  Seems odd the shear pins don't let go first.  Also is it a difficult job to replace the belts?  I don't really have much room in the garage but if easy enough I could try to change the belt myself.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

Tate

Sounds like something is mis-aligned. 

I have a Simplicity which is very similar to your machine.  It's got four seasons on the original belt.  If you had bent impeller blades, I wouldn't be surprised if some of the other impeller geometry might be out of whack.  Maybe the plate that holds impeller bearing was compromised??   You might want to have someone rotate the auger while you watch the impeller pulley.  Attach something to the chassis that will line up close to the pulley and watch for variation of space between the fixed piece and the pulley as it rotates.  Let us know what you find.   

Thank you for the response.

The dealer called this morning and said it is ready to be picked up.  They said they replaced the belt and loosened the engagement cable and tested it.  Should be interesting if it is really fixed and will the belt now be to loose and slip.  Not very happy with this machine.

Anyone know how to replace the belt?  I guy I work with has an old machine and I overheard him talking this morning saying that he replaced the belt on his old machine in around 5 minutes.  Two bolts the machine splits open on hinges and the shaft disengages, slip the new belt on and good to go.  For some reason I bet the JD is a pain to replace the belt.

Sounds like your friend has an Ariens.  I always heard the old ones were easy to work on and after getting one I agree.  Not sure how your Deere is built, so you might just have to dive in and have a look for yourself.  If you want some videos here are some to look at for other brands.  I think part of why the Ariens are easy to work on was because they were designed to actually have different attachments bolted to the front.  That probably made them need to make them easy to take apart and switch around.

http://www.youtube.com/user/donyboy73#g/search

Just type belt in the search box.

Another set of videos you might be interested in here.

http://www.youtube.com/user/31pockets#g/u

He has a Deere 1032 that he rebuilt and has some great videos on the process which will show you how the front comes apart.  His Deere is very similar to the old Ariens.  Be warned that his videos are 10+ minutes each and I think he has 11 or 12 of them, so be prepared to skip some or have a lot of time.