Snowblower drive traction


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Old 04-15-18, 06:09 AM
Z
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Snowblower drive traction

Hi, I’m looking for some info to correct my snowblower drive issue. Today, almost all the drive action wasn’t working. I would manually push the blower and all of a sudden, the drive would engage for a short period of time, then stop again.

A few years ago, I had the same problem. Replaced the belts, friction wheel and adjusted the rods attached to the handle. This seemed to work, but I don’t really want to replace all the parts again, if it’s only one cause.

A few questions:

1. Most blowers I see have a cable which controls the drive. Mine has a threaded rod. I can’t figure out which way to turn the nut on the rod. Does raising the nut tighten or loosen the drive action? Or does lowering the nut, tighten things up?

2. Could there come a point that this adjustment won’t work? I assume with a cable adjustment, you would repalace the cable once it stretches too much. Not possible for the rod to wear out right.....this should be a lifetime part?

3. Is there one part/adjustment that wears/fails more often? In what order should I check/replace parts? Adjustment rod, friction wheel, belts?

Thanks
 
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Old 04-15-18, 06:44 AM
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You did not post the make or model.
Most often there's 2 nuts not one, by tightning up the nuts against each other it keeps them from moving.
I'd try turning that nut in whatever direction put more tension on that spring.
Count the number of turns on the nut you make, it's going to do one of two things, fix it or make it worst.
If it get worst just turn the nut in the other direction past where it had been when you started.
 
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Old 04-15-18, 06:55 AM
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Typically, the drive cable/lever adjustment should be made such that, with the drive handle released (not squeezing it), there should be just a little slack in the drive cable/rod assembly. If the cable/rod assembly has a lot of slack, adjust the rod to take up most of the slack. With most units, when you squeeze the drive handle, it "pulls" on the cable/lever. So, to get better drive engagement, you probably need to "shorten" the cable/rod assembly. However, if you go too far (no slack), the snowblower will want to continually move because the drive wheel will always be engaged.
 
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Old 04-15-18, 07:05 AM
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Originally Posted by Aelk788
". . . all of a sudden, the drive would engage for a short period of time, then stop again . . ."
That "intermittent" traction makes me think you have some grease on the Drive Plate that's causing the Friction Wheel to slip periodically.
 
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Old 04-15-18, 11:18 AM
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Thanks. Funny there is nothing in the manual that I see about adjusting either the traction or auger rods.

Didn’t think it mattered since a lot of these units share similar engineering, but the unit is a Craftsman 1350 27” two stage. Model 944.528394.
 
 

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