Expidia

Wow, I love Google as I asked the question as to why my 5 yr old electric start Ariens 11.5 hp was going through impeller belts? I've probably had to change the belt 4 times already. And of course, now again at the first snowstorm of the year. It was a heavy wet 8-10 inch snowstorm up here in Albany NY. I concur with the feedback here so far. My Son has a smaller Craftsman unit and he has yet to change a belt and we bought them around the same time. I agree in the fact that because its a 28 inch swath it feeds the snow into the impeller too fast and it stretches out the rather thin in my opinion impeller belt. A slower feeder speed as mentioned below speed 1 would have been a nice option. I had another 8 hp Ariens for 20 years and don't think I went through more than a few belts over 20 years. Seemed to be the exact same belt design too but the 8 hp took less of an sugar full as the 11.5hp model. belts dry out over time anyway and break. So from these threads I see Ariens is aware of the issue and offer the "Belt Drive upgrade kit" for 8.5-11.5 hp units I called a local Ariens parts dealer from their website. It was a hardware store and the service guy did not have a clue to what I was looking for! Here is where I found it: WWW.propartsdirect.net. One of the above posts had the item number correct. it's #52602500 Only $30.58 with free shipping. Site lists NH as their address. Probably does not include two new belts for that price, I'm guessing the kit is just the two pulleys to hold two belts. I already had two spare belts on order anyway. Nice part is the upgrade gives us a backup belt as Im sure if one snaps it will still throw snow like the OEM design. I'll report back as to how difficult it was to install the upgrade kit. I hope the pulley bolts are not frozen in place. Seems when I hit the heavy slush from the town plow at the end of my driveway that's when the belt stretches and it stops throwing snow. Sure I had a spare belt when it snapped last week again, but it's never fun to change it at 10 degrees and windy when they snap! Clutching on and off will slow it down, but a $30 belt upgrade is cheaper than a clutch or transmission.