# Impeller drive belt replacement



## TomB985 (Dec 21, 2013)

Hi everyone,

Just yesterday the impeller drive belt failed on my HS624. 



It did so after I cleared the majority of my driveway, but we have more snow coming tomorrow so I made this a priority. The new belt was around $25 from my local honda dealer. This is a pretty easy replacement that most anyone who can turn a wrench can do. Total time was around 35 minutes, but if this is the first time doing the job plan for at least an hour to figure things out as you go. 

Tools required:

Two Socket wrenches
10mm socket
12mm socket
14mm socket
12mm wrench

To start you need to remove the end of the chute adjustment shaft where the gear mates with the sprocket on the chute. Use the 12mm wrench to loosen the nut that holds this end secure. Then pull it off and let it hang off the side of the machine. 

Then with a 10mm socket remove the four screws that hold the belt cover onto the machine. Should look like this underneath:



Remove the top bolts on the belt keepers, then loosen the bottom ones to pivot the keepers away from the pulley. If your belt is still intact you would then slip the belt off the outer crankshaft pulley. 



Next you remove the blower assembly. There's no reason to disassemble the auger/impeller assembly for this. Just use your 14mm and 10mm sockets to remove the shear bolt that secures the impeller to the shaft:



At this point if you have a wheeled model you're going to want to support the hand grips with something. I used a furniture dolly, the purpose here is to prevent the frame and engine assembly from falling over once you remove the blower housing. 

Once this is secure, begin by removing the two 10mm bolts that support the tensioner assembly to the frame. I neglected to get a good photo of this step, but it's the metal upright on the right side of the machine where the two cables from the hand grips lead. Once these bolts are removed you can push the tensioner assembly to the side and access the top bolt on the right side of the machine that holds the blower assembly to the frame. Go from top to bottom removing all of the 12mm bolts, there are five on each side. Once this happens the frame/engine assembly will lean against your support as you pull the blower housing away from the frame. Should look like this:





Since you removed the shear bolt earlier, the large pulley and shaft that powers the impeller will not be connected to the impeller. Simply pull the pulley out about an inch to gain clearance around the belt keepers on the blower housing. Slip the old belt off(if necessary) and put the new belt on the pulley. Slide the pulley and shaft back in so the belt keepers retain the belt against the pulley. 

Put the blower housing back on the same way it came off. Be CAREFUL that the impeller brake doesn't get stuck between the transmission and impeller pulleys! One tip would be to NOT tighten any of the bolts that secure the blower housing to the frame until they are all started in their holes. Once they are all started, tighten them all up and reinstall the shear bolt that secures the impeller to the drive shaft. 

Slip the new belt over the pulley and install the belt keepers. You can then admire the shiny new belt you just installed:



Put the belt cover back on, reinstall the chute adjusting gear, and go move some snow!


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