rukey

I have noticed some slippage on my machine also on two separate occasions. The symptoms are similar to what others have stated, generally the machine works fine until snow accumulates on or around belt cover / engine then some slippage occurs, moving the gear selector between speeds for a moments usually solves the problem. After the second occurance I took a look at both the cable attachment form the control panel, and the belts, but both appeared fine. I then tilted the machine on the auger housing and removed the bottom panel, to my surprise there was a considerable amount of oil/grease/water on the drive plate and friction disk. I cleaned this with solvent and the problem went away until the next time snow accumulated on or around the engine.

I believe Snowman is onto something because the amount of oil/grease/water on the drive plate cannot simply fall from the belt cover opening alone onto a vertical drive plate, but rather must contact some oil/grease on the way down. The rubber on the friction disk appears to be quality and the grip on a clean drive plate is considerable. If anyone has an approach for how this leakage can be solved I'm all ears.

Turning? I consider the machine relatively easy to turn for its size, I do however need to mucle the machine a bit. If you get the opportunity to handle the machine at a dealer, you will be able to judge the amount of force needed to turn. Whether the machine is running or not, it takes the same amount of force to turn it. 

Chute rotation? I did need to properly grease the chute, as Lowes only had a squirt of grease on it. Once I correctly greased the chute and the worm gear, the rotation is effortless.

Grease zerks? There are grease zerks on both augers (left / right)

Bushings / bearings? The friction disk definately turns on bearings (from manual). The auger appears to turn on bearings, but I would check with JD to verify.

Differential? I am hesitant to comment on the robustness of this feature. It works well so far, but I have only use the machine for a couple of months, and have no other machine for comparison. If JD sent you a brochure, the inside of the machine is pictured at the top of the second to last page.

A subtle difference between the engine on the 928 and 1130 other than size is that the 1130 is the Snow Series MAX which has throttle adjustment.

I have been reading posts on this board for some time, but have not contributed as I have primarily been learning from the rest of you. Just wanted to say 'thanks' for all of the useful info. Now onto the intial question posted...

I purchased the JD 1130SE from Lowes in Canada earlier this fall, so I can hopefully answer some questions related to this machine.

• What is Easy Steer? Unfortunately, JD has not provided a great deal of info on this feature to help consumers, but I can tell you that there are no triggers on this machine. Each wheel is independently powered, so steering is very easy. I can't comment if this is the same as the Ariens differential as I have never used one of those machines
• Chute control? The chute control uses the more traditional hand crank connected to a type of worm gear located at the bottom of the chute. Mechanism appears robust, but takes 5-10 cranks to move from left to right.
• Auger/Impeller? Auger is listed as 14", and impeller as 12", but I have not measured.

Let me know if there are any other details I can provide.