Chicago area wet snow experience. My very old Ariens 2 stage snow blower had slowly been throwing a weeker snow stream in past years. Well this last big wet snow that came on warm ground was impossible for my Ariens. The neighbor has a newer single stage blower that cleaned his snow right down to the wet asphalt and sidewalk. Mine keep jamming slush in the discharge chute. This was with teflon and DW40 sprayed in there. I could see the secondary ejector propeller spinning after I would clean the chute and press down the clutch. Finnally I put a jam bar down the chute and pushed the clutch down slowly. The ejector softly hit the bar, stopped and the engine never missed a beat. Obviously the belt was slipping on it. I replaced the drive belts (2) and the bugger runs and throws snow like new. Turned out the old Ariens had a tell-tale indicator for belt wear. A small slot in the right side of the frame around the right wheel area will show the belt tensioner shoe if the belt is worn, stretched or broken.
- posted
17 years ago