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

My new to me winter 2012 Snapper 11327 or as snapper has it p/n 1694604, serial #1694604 50230837 stood me up in the blizzard. Wasn't able to use it until now as this was the first snow of this magnitude since I bought it back in January 2012. All was going well when to my demise after 15 minutes of use the trigger release which free wheels the right wheel stopped engaging the wheel back to its normal mechanical mode when released. I did use it several times in those 15 minutes without a hitch to help turning. I would use it for free wheeling even not in power mode just not to have to muscle it around. The last time I used it when it failed I was reversing and again found it necessary to help maneuver. Ok ,so your thinking frozen, well not so as the cable was moving its full amount when engaging/disengaging. A week later after it was garaged, still same issue. The trigger is fully functional but it feels as if I broke possibly a pin or something. As much as I tried could not get it back to drive mode with both wheels powered. I also noticed the axle on the inside of the right wheel moving out a bit more, say one half inch in the direction away from the snow blower. Hadn't had the chance to dive into it yet and since its too big for the regular snows we tend to get around here I figured I will shout out on the forum for some insight. Thanks in advance, Allan.

Have you pulled the bottom plate off to look at the coupler mechanism?  It's a pretty straight forward arrangement.  That is if it's the same as on my Simplicity.  The way mine works is that there are two pieces to the coupler.  one on the drive axle side the other on the driven axle side (release wheel).  When the lever is engaged, the cable pulls back the coupler on the drive side which compresses a coil spring on the shaft.   As long as you compress the spring the driven wheel will be disengaged.  Realse the lever and the spring should push the drive side couple toward the driven side coupler and engage. 

A problem that I had was using too heavy a grease for the coupler mechanism, which in cold temperatures made the wheel release almost useless.  I could disengage it alright but the cold grease caused to much resistance for the spring to overcome and it wouldn't engage.   

Borat, No,I haven't had the chance to remove the belly pan yet.I did take a look at a diagram and it does seem to be similar to what you have mentioned.I also didn't think it is something major but one never knows what you find. Will keep you posted what I find. Thanks,Allan

I have had a similar issue with my drive wheels.  I have a fairly new less than 20 hour use old Ariens deluxe 28 inch. The cable that operates the release mech was slightly to loose so I tightened slightly and with the machine running I wiggled the lever up and down and had posi drive again. I don't use that function very much but it works better than when machine was new.