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

any real difference between the ariens belts or generic belts for the drive and attachment?  went to john deere and bought the two belts for $42.00 and I beleave they were gravely.  I checked and lubed from front to back  and while doing so I  tipped the machine up on it's auger housing and removed the bottom rear cover for inspection. one of the things I noticed was the two drive chains and gears were kind of binding some when I rotated the tires and the drive components rotated. I loosened up the drive gear shaft nuts on both ends and rotated the tires again. first thing I noticed was the bind was gone but the chains were too loose. upon tightening the gear shaft a bind was introduced onto the gearset. appears the cheap thrust washers  on each side of the gearset were bent and binding on the gears. after completely removing the gears and shaft and cleaning them for inspection I decided to narrow the gearset using a flat  diamond  hone. I took approx.  .015" off of each side, replaced the bent thrust washers with grade 8 washers, reinstalled and tightened everything down.  after assembly the chains seem to roll with allot less binding if they have some freeplay in them instead of being tight and the gearset  is now narrower than the shouldered shaft and has some visible clearance.