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You know Elbrecht, you may be right.

I was in there the other night and I'm not terribly impressed with the precision of the mechanism. The impeller/pulley/bearing has alot of end play and a little radial play.

The housing has a couple of big seams and I'm not even sure how round it is.

I was surprised to see how much abrasive wear has occurred over the years. I have about a 3/8" gap between the impeller and housing! I COULD weld something in there to take up SOME of the space (allowing for tolerances, etc), but I think I'd be selling myself short.

I think I'm back on the squeegee idea. But I'm definitely going to use elastic stop nuts to secure it. The last thing I want to do is have to tighten those thingsfrom time to time. I suppose once they wear I can flip them too.

It looks like alot of work to do though. Did you remove the auger assy to do it? Did you have to undo the rusty set screws holding the impeller on?

If you go to the Ariens website and if you have your model& serial no you can download the service manual that explains the procedure. If not, send it out and have belts replaced. Maybe $150 or so?

I believe you are refering to this item:

http://smllengns.tripod.com/

The concept is a great idea and makes alot of sense, especially with wet, watery snow. A snowblower is nothing more than a glorified pump. The tighter the clearances, the better the performance. I bought the impeller kit, but I am having second thoughts when I heard the mention of projectile.....or, lets say a nut or bolt gets loose, etc. I'll bet it would be OK if elastic stop nuts were used (those nuts with a tiny ring of plastic inside that you can't tighten by hand and need a wrench).

I also called Ariens Tech Supt and they were fully aware of the item but the lazy $5/hr ding-dong said he never brought the issue up with his engineering dep't nor did he know if they were considering it. What a dolt.

I have a welder and now that I think of it I may WELD some tabs onto my impeller to tighten up the clearances. I have about a .25" - .38" gap in mine!....its pretty big!

I may 'proto-type' the idea first with the rubber and see if it works. If it does not work I can easily fill the holes w/ weld. I can back away from the idea with minimal inconvenience. If it does work I can easily fill the bolt holes w/ my welder and weld on steel tabs, which is a fair investment in time getting the clearance on each tab JUST RIGHT, making sure the same ammt of metal is used (balance), etc. Probably a better job to do on a nice spring day  with a beer out in the garage.

I'd have to say from a conceptual standpoint its a good idea and I doubt the guy is a liar (see his before & after pics). I think the bigger issue is maintainence and wear. Lets say you suck a rock in. It will probably damage the rubber although you can flip the squeeges one time. If you have a gravel driveway I'd say no way to rubber.....

Comments?..........

First check that the HOUSING is level to the flat surface (you can reat a carpenter's level on the chute or use a tape measure) If not, check the tire pressure and it is also possible the chute assy was slapped on there $#%*-eyed. If the housing IS level, you just need to adjust the 2 skids on the side and the scraper blade. Set the 2 skids on the side so that the scraper blade is @ 1/16" off the ground. The skids on the side are a sacraficial item that wears out.

I have your basic Ariens 824 that uses Carlisle 'Snow Hog' 4.80 X 8 tires. They are OK, but sometimes they slip. I was wondering if there is another larger tire configuration that would fit on the same 8" rim. I was considering putting studs in them but the lugs are only .5" high....not enough grip for a sheet metal screw like used on ice racing tires. Another consideration is to use a larger diameter tire and rim that will fit the same lug pattern.....Has anyome experimented with any of this?