RedOctobyr

For what it's worth, my Generac 5500XL RPMs also sag somewhat as a load is added. It has a Generac engine.

The Generac service manual says that with no AC load on the generator, the governor should be adjusted to give 61.5-63.5 Hz (3690-3810 RPM).

Before I adjusted it, it was about 60.5 Hz (per my Kill-A-Watt) with no load. Adding 3000W of load (a little over half of its capacity) brought it down to about 57 Hz.

I adjusted it to about 63.2 Hz. Applying the same load, the RPM sagged to 60.4 Hz.

I don't have other mechanical-governor generators to compare against (my EU2000i throttle is electronically controlled). But my Tecumseh OHV snowblower RPM also sags as a load is added, even before the throttle opens fully. I replaced the governor spring, and the sag was reduced, but is still present. So mechanical governors are not perfect, they don't seem to necessarily hold the exact unloaded RPM. So it seems reasonable to me to set the RPM a little higher than desired, with no load, if that's what the manual calls for.

From what I've read about engine breakin, and synthetic oil, I would probably wait a little longer than 2 hours, before going to synthetic. You want to give the piston rings a chance to seat, using conventional oil, before going synthetic. To feel more comfortable, I would probably change with conventional at 2 hours, and try to give it 5-10 hours before going synthetic, but that's just me. I realize that a snowblower may take a long time to get to 10 hours, depending on the kind of winter you have :)

This is just my opinion; 2 hours could be plenty for the changeover. But if using a good, proper-weight conventional oil, you won't be doing the engine any harm using conventional for a little longer. Heck, most small engines probably run on conventional oil their whole lives, and if they're lucky, might even get it changed every 3-4 years!

420cc?? Holy crap :)

My Ariens 1024 Pro has a Tecumseh 10hp OHV engine (318cc), and is 24" wide. I've been happy with the performance. I was looking for a high-power, narrow-cut machine, to help get through deep/wet snow.

But you can *never* have too much power

My last machine was an Ariens ST824, Tecumseh 8hp L-head engine (also 318cc), and still 24" wide. My current one feels like it has some more power, but the difference was admittedly not overwhelming (who knows if the OHV engine actually makes another 2hp from the same displacement).

As the saying goes, there is no replacement for displacement; go big if you can! I'm very happy with my current machine, but it will still bog down when driven into heavy deep stuff from the plows (this winter has been hard on snow-clearing equipment here in MA). The 1028 you mentioned is fewer cc's, and another 4" of clearing width, compared to mine. That's not to take anything away from it (!) but putting the full width of the bucket into heavy snow will still work it hard. The Loncin engines may make more power per cc than my OHV Tecumseh, of course.

If you tip it up on the bucket, and remove the bottom plate, what do you see when you move the shift lever between forward and reverse?

The rubber friction disk should go past the center of the spinning metal disk, to the left side of the metal disk, and the right side, as you move the shift lever to the extremes.

Is the shift linkage connected properly? Is the transmission adjusted properly? Your Service Manual should explain how to adjust the transmission. The Owner's Manual may as well. On mine, I didn't even have to remove the bottom cover to adjust the transmission. If it's easy to adjust on yours, you could even try that first to see if it helps.

You can download manuals here:
http://apache.ariens.com/cgibin/ctrg0005?SESSIONID=0.2145817532233396&Site=ARIENSS

I no longer have my ST824 (mine had the 6-forward, 2-reverse setup). But on my current Ariens, I believe that spring pulls the shift-lever to the left, to hold it into the cutouts for the different speeds. I move the lever to the right to get it out of the cutouts, then move the lever forward/back to change speeds.

If yours works similarly (notches to the left-hand side, going down the gear-selector channel in the control panel), I'd look for something underneath the panel, to the left of the shift lever, that the spring could hook onto.

If yours works differently, then disregard this.