Kmorgan

Hey folks,

I'm a long time lurker here (purchased an Ariens 1027 this fall), and have really enjoyed and appreciated all the discussion and advice.  Not being very handy at all, it definitely helps.  I wanted to share my experience with this issue, as I just had it occur tonight.  I could not keep the drive lock engaged, and given the blizzard we got in Newfoundland + the freezing rain, traction wasn't going to happen with one wheel driving it.

My friend and I flipped the machine over and looked at the cog lock mechanism.  Whenever you spun the right wheel fast enough, the lock would slip and disengage.  Tensioning the differential cable was of no help.  What we ended up doing was taking the wheels and shafts off and trying to see what was causing the slip.  We think some of the bits of the rubber that wears off the belt had gotten in and gunked up where the mechanism was trying to lock (nice technical terms!).  We regreased the mechanism and other parts with silicon grease and low and behold, the lock started working again.  I'm not sure if it needed grease, or if the grease removed some of the flecks of rubber from the lock, but all I can report is my remote differential lock works again and I happily cleared two driveways.

Not sure if my rambling will help anyone out (I'm sure those with much more capability with this stuff can probably better describe what we did).  Hope it helps!