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

My old Ariens snowblower (model 910995, circa 1971) started right up this year, but for some reason the snowblower itself won't engage. I can see the problem -- there's about an inch of separation between the spinning shaft at the back of the machine and the jaw clutch it's supposed to seat into. I'm wondering if anyone out there has run into this before and has any suggestions.

Did you try lubricating the shaft so it'll slide under the force of the spring? 

You did flip the lever to engage the drive, right?

Take a look at this thread: http://www.abbysguide.com/ope/discussions/24524-0-1.html
Trouts even provided a link to the manual.

Grump: “You did flip the lever to engage the drive, right?”

   I think Grump got this one.  The description should have been something like, “When I flip the lever back and forth the clutch jaw does not move”.

   http://apache.ariens.com/manuals/PRM-10000.pdf

  On page 12, the lever (32) should move out the clutch fork (39) which will push the clutch jaw (42) on the bucket into the clutch coupling (page 11, 116) on the tractor drive.

   If that isn’t happening then the parts might be frozen but then you would not be able to flip the lever.   If you flipped the lever and the jaw did not get pushed out then one of the two roll pins (34,40) or cotter pin (38) is probably broken.