Paul7

DON'T DO IT! The minute you do a nor'easter will dump 24 inches on you...LOL. No, I'm with you...my daffodils are starting to bloom.

Certainly. With the original factory set up (one belt) my blower would throw fluffy snow just fine. But when the snow was really wet and heavy the single belt would slip just enough that the snow in the chute would turn into slush and come out of the chute like toothpaste. With the dual belt kit it doesn't matter if the snow is heavy, wet or slushy...the impeller doesn't slow down..no belt slippage. I think Ariens made the dual impeller belts standard on the model year after my blower was made. Not an expensive upgrade but it was a pain removing the pulleys. The one on my motor shaft was rusted on so it took a day of PB Blaster to loosen up. Here's a YouTube video of someone making the upgrade. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-PQISVTk_I

Worth a try. Thanks for the tip.

Last summer I finally got around to installing the dual auger belt modification to my Ariens 11.5hp blower. Wow, what a difference in performance over the factory single belt. Yes it was a pain getting off the old pulleys that were frozen on but it was worth it. Speaking of "frozen". I took a break from Storm Jonas and went inside for dinner...when I went back out the chute deflector cable was frozen. Had to bring it in my heated garage to let it thaw out before I could use it again. Anyone have a solution for keeping control cables from freezing.

HOLY SMOKES!