# Mods?



## Subseven (Jan 5, 2021)

What mods have you guys done to your Ariens? Mine is a 1028 model number 924119. I want to soup it up some.


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## Oneacer (Jan 3, 2011)

If your an actual commercial shop, pretty much everything.

If your just doing side repairs,* Full Synthetic* 5W30 motor oil, and a good 75W90 and 80W90 gear oil ... the rest will be accumulated as you need further repairs and quantities, including specialized needs. No sense putting too much into stock that you may never use. Just pick up locally.


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## Subseven (Jan 5, 2021)

oneacer said:


> If your an actual commercial shop, pretty much everything.
> 
> If your just doing side repairs,* Full Synthetic* 5W30 motor oil, and a good 75W90 and 80W90 gear oil ... the rest will be accumulated as you need further repairs and quantities, including specialized needs. No sense putting too much into stock that you may never use. Just pick up locally.


Thanks. I changed the post as to put that one in the repair forum. You don't use the Ariens oil in your auger gearbox?


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## Oneacer (Jan 3, 2011)

Actually, I am currently using a Full Synthetic 75W-140 gear oil.

Unless the aluminum clam shell, then "00" grease.


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## Town (Jan 31, 2015)

Subseven said:


> Thanks. I changed the post as to put that one in the repair forum. You don't use the Ariens oil in your auger gearbox?


The Ariens gearbox oil is very thin and subject to leaking through impeller seal and auger seals. So I have used the Ford Motorcraft 75w-140 synthetic differential oil for several years now. It is a little thicker when cold than the Ariens oil but the seals have not failed.


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## Town (Jan 31, 2015)

The plastic Ariens skid shoes improve the Auto-Turn operation significantly and last a very long time.


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## Auger1 (Dec 4, 2020)

I put the Arnold roller wheel skids on my Ariens this year and what a difference when plowing. Got some bearings at the hardware store to make some for the other big machines I have as there are none for them.


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## legarem (Sep 9, 2017)

Many Mods done to my Platinum 30 SHO. 1- increased the motor RPM to 3700. 2- changed the pulley for a 3.25. - changed the 3 blades fan for a 6 blades. 3- added pads on the blades made with timing belt material. 4- added grease fittings to bushings (wheel shaft) 5 - changed the rubber seal in the gas cap for a Honda rubber seal. There's no comparaison between stock and modified about performance. In wet snow, my modified Ariens gave a lesson to my neighbor Honda 1332. Now the only thing I hate on my snowblower is the stupid low volume gas tank I have. Someday Ariens will wake up and they will correct this situation. I'm not ready to do what Town did on his platinum 30 to correct this situation.


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## Subseven (Jan 5, 2021)

legarem said:


> Many Mods done to my Platinum 30 SHO. 1- increased the motor RPM to 3700. 2- changed the pulley for a 3.25. - changed the 3 blades fan for a 6 blades. 3- added pads on the blades made with timing belt material. 4- added grease fittings to bushings (wheel shaft) 5 - changed the rubber seal in the gas cap for a Honda rubber seal. There's no comparaison between stock and modified about performance. In wet snow, my modified Ariens gave a lesson to my neighbor Honda 1332. Now the only thing I hate on my snowblower is the stupid low volume gas tank I have. Someday Ariens will wake up and they will correct this situation. I'm not ready to do what Town did on his platinum 30 to correct this situation.


Now that's what I'm talking about. I heard about how changing the pulley makes a huge difference. That coupled with the rubber paddles are supposed to be huge. Tell me more about how you upped the rpms. I would love to know what pulley and 6 blade fan fits mine!


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## Town (Jan 31, 2015)

Subseven said:


> Now that's what I'm talking about. I heard about how changing the pulley makes a huge difference. That coupled with the rubber paddles are supposed to be huge. Tell me more about how you upped the rpms. I would love to know what pulley and 6 blade fan fits mine!


I didn't realize you wanted more snow throughput.

The governor mechanism on the various AX (LCT) engines are not all the same. What Ariens model do you have? For the 414 cc the governor spring can be moved from the stock hole to the outermost hole to increase governed rpm to about 3,700. The next step is to lengthen (make spring stronger) by moving the fixed spring mount farther from the governor arm to increase rpm to 3,900 rpm (LCT rate most of their engines for 3,850 +/- 50 rpm). Engine seems happier to run at 3,900 than at 3,700. Engine and impeller transmission do not have any vibration at the handlebars.

I have had the 6 blade impeller from the Ariens 926501 model for several years and it works well. Even better with welded plate at back of blade tips to close gap slightly and make the gap even across the blade width and up the forward side. 

I bought a 3.25" double pulley and a machine shop converted it into a copy of the SHO pulley since the crank is too short to fit a regular double pulley. I had lots of help on this from the experts on here. The stock impeller speed is 1083 rpm with 2.75" SHO pulley at 3,600 rpm and with the 3.25" double pulley and 3,900 rpm the impeller speed is 1,447 rpm using a laser rpm device. The impeller pulley is 8.5" in diameter. I use the stock belts since I slotted the idler pulley adjuster slot allowing the idler pulley to move farther from the belts. The throughput of snow is much better (can run 4th instead of 3rd) and it throws farther, but farther is a problem in my urban neighbourhood. 

I also have the B&S Ariens Pro 6 liter gas tank since I do 6 driveways and the stock 2.5 liter gas tank (refill amount is not close to 3 liter spec) is ridiculously small.

The chute rotation from side to side can be increased by reducing the stops and cutting the gear for the chute locking pin for 2 extra pitches on each side. 

I have added a tach/hour meter to the dash to monitor engine load and maintenance in hours of use. 

I don't have extra grease nipples for the wheel bushings since I remove the wheels every spring and grease the axles and the inside of the short (right side) axle fitting into the Auto-Turn differential to lubricate the bushings there. Installed a new Auto-Turn differential which does not click at all but otherwise performs the same as old one. The old one has been taken apart and cleaned and greased as a spare since none of the parts (including seals) can be replaced.

The next improvement will be the double hinged articulated chute deflector to allow better snow flow closer to machine and allow a lower trajectory to limit throw distance somewhat. That appears difficult fabrication for me, so hoping Ariens is moving in that direction.


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## legarem (Sep 9, 2017)

If I had to redo mods on mine I'm not sure I would change again the 3 blades fan for a 6. I consider that adding pads to the 3 blades fan did better job than only changing it to a 6 blades without pads. As throwing distance, I remember my 926LE with a GX390, three blades fan with pads had same or near the same performance as my modified Platinum. I have to compare the two snowblowers to be sure.


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## nwcove (Mar 2, 2015)

10000 series, honda clone swap, drilled main jet, diy carb linkage shield, rpms upped to 3900, impeller mod, holy grail tall chute swap, diy drift cutters/light bar.


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## Subseven (Jan 5, 2021)

Town said:


> I didn't realize you wanted more snow throughput.
> 
> The governor mechanism on the various AX (LCT) engines are not all the same. What Ariens model do you have? For the 414 cc the governor spring can be moved from the stock hole to the outermost hole to increase governed rpm to about 3,700. The next step is to lengthen (make spring stronger) by moving the fixed spring mount farther from the governor arm to increase rpm to 3,900 rpm (LCT rate most of their engines for 3,850 +/- 50 rpm). Engine seems happier to run at 3,900 than at 3,700. Engine and impeller transmission do not have any vibration at the handlebars.
> 
> ...


I have a 1028 Model 924119.


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## Subseven (Jan 5, 2021)

Town said:


> The Ariens gearbox oil is very thin and subject to leaking through impeller seal and auger seals. So I have used the Ford Motorcraft 75w-140 synthetic differential oil for several years now. It is a little thicker when cold than the Ariens oil but the seals have not failed.


Good to know because I'm experiencing that right now. We just had to put a new gear in that gearbox and the Ariens red oil is leaking right where you said! We changed the 2 side seals but not the rear one on the shaft because Jack's didn't send that one! I was pissed. Might try some Rotary 00 Grease or that Motocraft. I'll probably try the Rotary stuff first.


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## Town (Jan 31, 2015)

Subseven said:


> Good to know because I'm experiencing that right now. We just had to put a new gear in that gearbox and the Ariens red oil is leaking right where you said! We changed the 2 side seals but not the rear one on the shaft because Jack's didn't send that one! I was pissed. Might try some Rotary 00 Grease or that Motocraft. I'll probably try the Rotary stuff first.


It may be better to replace the impeller shaft seal in the back of the geabox than put 00 grease in. I have replaced the seal without splitting the gearbox, it just pulls out easily. You just have to remove the impeller and clean up the shaft. 

I am not familiar with the 924 series, but you can get a 6 blade impeller for them, and the engine crank mounted impeller pulley is just a single belt type and easily replaced with one of a different size inexpensively. If you want to increase impeller rpm then resize the pulley starting with a 1/4" diameter increase since power requirements ramp up quickly. The current model Ariens usually have a 2.5" pulley and the SHO models increase that to 2.75" with a meaningful snow throughput increase. Pro models use the same size 2.75" pulley with the same size impeller pulley so run the same impeller rpm as the SHO (at 3,600 engine rpm spec).


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## Subseven (Jan 5, 2021)

Town said:


> It may be better to replace the impeller shaft seal in the back of the geabox than put 00 grease in. I have replaced the seal without splitting the gearbox, it just pulls out easily. You just have to remove the impeller and clean up the shaft.
> 
> I am not familiar with the 924 series, but you can get a 6 blade impeller for them, and the engine crank mounted impeller pulley is just a single belt type and easily replaced with one of a different size inexpensively. If you want to increase impeller rpm then resize the pulley starting with a 1/4" diameter increase since power requirements ramp up quickly. The current model Ariens usually have a 2.5" pulley and the SHO models increase that to 2.75" with a meaningful snow throughput increase. Pro models use the same size 2.75" pulley with the same size impeller pulley so run the same impeller rpm as the SHO (at 3,600 engine rpm spec).


924? It's a ST1028. Model number 924119.


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## Town (Jan 31, 2015)

Subseven said:


> 924? It's a ST1028. Model number 924119.


Ariens uses the first three numbers of the Model # (924 in your case) to define the series. The series includes a particular architecture which is common among the machines (engine and bucket sizes) of that series such as your ST1028. The 924 series works very well and is a favourite of many experts. It works very well with a single impeller/auger belt. The later series 926 started with the single belt but it slipped so was upgraded to the dual pulley impeller/auger belt system that is the current standard with Ariens.


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## Subseven (Jan 5, 2021)

Town said:


> It may be better to replace the impeller shaft seal in the back of the geabox than put 00 grease in. I have replaced the seal without splitting the gearbox, it just pulls out easily. You just have to remove the impeller and clean up the shaft.


I'll try this. I actually orderd the seal and never got it from Jack's. It also took them forever to get me my parts. Arrrrgh! And hey...thanks for the tips and the education! Very much appreciated.


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## WVguy (Nov 24, 2018)

Mine's bone stock. Works fine. It ain't broke so I'm not fixin' it.


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## peterk (Apr 30, 2014)

Sorry! I am with WVguy on this issue. Give me a 10,00 series with a 7 HP and I can move all the snow given to me!


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## Scuba_Steve (Oct 26, 2016)

The only thing I have done is replace the metal skid shoes with the Ariens polymer non-abrasive skids. Handling is fantastic, but mine is a 2016 model, so I think they had already resolved some of the auto-turn issues by then.


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