dcassell

Thanks guys for all of the comments, and the parts numbers (trouts). I will not use the electric starter until I replace the gear on the starter and inspect the ring gear. In the danyboy video, he uses a special Tecumseh tool to get the gear off the starter. This tool kit is about $50. Any comments on the feasibility of doing this without the special tool set?

How do I properly inspect flywheel/ring gear? Sorry, my first time with this stuff.

For what it's worth, the "springy" action of the gear seems fine.. and if I manually put pressure on it and twist it seems to wind out the shaft with ease.

So I pulled the starter motor off (easy enough, two Torx style screws) and at the end of the starter motor shaft is a metal gear with a broken tooth. Can I somehow get this gear off and replace it, or do I have to replace the whole starter motor unit?

Thanks for the suggestions. I will pull the starter off and have a look.

I have an Ariens 926PRO (model #926004) with 120v electric start which I use almost exclusively to start the machine. Today I went to start it up, and the electric starter sounds very sick, makes a much higher pitch squealing noise than usual and some other crunching type noises. Engine does not start. If I pull start, the engine starts fine. Unit was recently in the service position and I tightened up everything in the owners manual to spec with regards to controls and auger belt. Unit started by electric right after this, and that was 3-4 days ago. Now this. I have a youtube video of the problem here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CFQtmSkE18c

What am I looking at here? A bad starter motor? Does something else need fixing/adjustment? Help would be appreciated. I would like to try to repair this myself.