# Stuck on hs828 auger spring replacement. pictures included.



## orangputeh (Nov 24, 2016)

broken auger spring and also would not go forward or back. drive belt was almost torn up so got new belt and new auger spring.

matched up springs to make sure right one.

split machine apart, installed spring according to factory manual pictures. installed drive belt no problem.

problem I am having that I don't have enough tension with auger cable. have to have lever halfway down to keep tension so spring does not fall off. if i put the lever all the way up then it is way too loose and the spring falls off. I had to take box off twice.

this may seem dumb but can't figure it out. i tried adjusting the cable a couple times and even adjusted out it is too loose.

either i ankored the bottom of the spring in the wrong hole ( i don't think so ) or something else obvious.

have included a couple pics. have replaced belts and a impeller bearing in the past so this is my only 4th time splitting a machine.

before putting the box back on I tested the new drive belt and moved forward and backward. and I checked the auger lever and clutch brake. It seemed fine with tension on spring through range of motion. i clamped the auger lever down when replacing the box . Could something jam up the auger clutch leverso it won't move through it's whole range?

the pics show the new spring and pulleys. I know the pics are not that good but what do you all think i am doing wrong?

anyone else have a similar problem and fixed it?


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## jrom (Jan 10, 2014)

First thing that I see is that the locking nut is supposed to be on top of the cable holder (red ellipse).

I also noticed that the spring at the auger clutch handle is missing and I'm not sure if you took it off or not. It needs to be there.

Later I can take some photos of mine under the cover if need be.


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## jrom (Jan 10, 2014)

Here's two shots of under the belt hood. First one not engaged, second one engaged. I unhooked the spring at the handle and it didn't seem to make any difference.

The bottom return springs at the tension rollers are what keeps the rollers away from the belts.

It's been 6 years since I was in there. Got some cleaning up to do next summer.


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## orangputeh (Nov 24, 2016)

Thank you.

I will check these things. for some reason the head dealers mechanic routinely takes off that auger lever spring because he said it causes some kind of problem. 

anyway , this is a friends blower and it was working fine for the last month until a huge piece of ice jammed the impeller and i believe this caused the spring and belt to break. 

they are new to this blower and have a tendency to force things even though I tried to advise them to let the machine to do the work and clean the chute and augers after using. plus they leave it outside to the elements.

I have a nagging suspicion that I am not doing something obvious or left out an important step in the process.

I hope i do not have to take the box off again.

I'll be back with an update. Is there anyway to get email notifications on a thread ?


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## YSHSfan (Jun 25, 2014)

orangputeh said:


> Is there anyway to get email notifications on a thread ?


Yes, there is.
When you go to "go advance" you'll see that below "manage attachments" there is a "tread subscription" "notification type", there is where you can activate notification(s).


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## orangputeh (Nov 24, 2016)

thanks.


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## jrom (Jan 10, 2014)

Keep us posted on the outcome. Sure you'll get it done.


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## orangputeh (Nov 24, 2016)

jrom said:


> Keep us posted on the outcome. Sure you'll get it done.


got it done. something was holding up the auger brake arm . noticed when i put it on the box to loosen the 2 bottom bolts cause was gonna take box off again.

loosened up the box bolts and the lever clicked into place and now the auger lever is taut again. just had to adjust cable a little.

we are expecting another foot on wednesday and will be able to give it a good test.

thanks.


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## YSHSfan (Jun 25, 2014)

That's great.....!


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## orangputeh (Nov 24, 2016)

I'm 0 for 2 today.

double triple checked all adjustments and everything seemed fine. ran it back and forth and watched belt. it did not seem loose at all.

then put it at high speed to test it on snow . went 4 feet and the drive belt came off.

back to square one.

very discouraging after all that work.


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## YSHSfan (Jun 25, 2014)

orangputeh said:


> I'm 0 for 2 today.
> 
> double triple checked all adjustments and everything seemed fine. ran it back and forth and watched belt. it did not seem loose at all.
> 
> ...


Not good...!


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## YSHSfan (Jun 25, 2014)

I may be separating the tractor on an HS828, I'll post pictures if I do it, but I do have an HS724 apart and I can take pictures of the springs mechanism......


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## YSHSfan (Jun 25, 2014)

*HS724 pictures*

I took some pictures of my disassembled HS724, maybe they are of some help


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## orangputeh (Nov 24, 2016)

That is a tremendous help. just from these pics I am noticing that my spring for the clutch brake is missing. when the whole thing went it must have been thrown. And I did not know it was supposed to be there.

I may have thrown the new belt because it was too loose. It worked fine at slow idle going back and forth but after I put it together and tried it at high speed it threw.

Think my mistake was an improper adjustment. Maybe that missing spring had something to do with it.


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## orangputeh (Nov 24, 2016)

hsblowersfan said:


> I took some pictures of my disassembled HS724, maybe they are of some help


the spring I replaced seems to be ankored right according to the factory manual and your pics.

i put the new belt on and put it on slow and noticed that the belt is almost running off the tensioner wheel or pulley. when i put it on faster I could see that is how the belt cam off as the belt was practically on the rim.

can this tensioner arm be pried forward so the belt runs closer to the middle? 

then the auger tensioner would have to be repositioned also so they don't get caught up with each other?

i was looking at my good 624 as reference and it appeared that the belts ran in the middle and the tensioners were far apart enough not to collide.

i could not find a measurement in the honda manual. this 828 is real old with a ton of hours on it and it seems there is a lot of play everywhere. I wish I had a good 828 for reference.


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## YSHSfan (Jun 25, 2014)

The belt should be running in the middle of the tensioner. 
Some times either excessive wear or unintentional force when removing/reinstalling the auger housing can result in misalignment of the tensioner pulley. 
I'll remove the cover on my HS828 and take a few pics for reference (within a few hours).


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## YSHSfan (Jun 25, 2014)

I got some pics of my HS828


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## YSHSfan (Jun 25, 2014)

By looking at my snowblower I see that if everything is properly align it would be very hard for the belt to come off while in use as the pulleys have deep groves and it also has belt keepers/guides.


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## orangputeh (Nov 24, 2016)

I'm hoping I can realign these pulleys without causing more damage , haha


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## don49453 (Dec 25, 2017)

just purchesed honda hs720ama works great but the auger engauge bar keeps falling off.???


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## orangputeh (Nov 24, 2016)

it's funny reading my thread from almost a year ago. What i eventually found out what was wrong is when I rehooked up the cable holder back onto the engine bed i lined it up on the wrong holes !!! that is whey everything was so loose.

when i compared it to another machine i immediately saw the problem. what i have learned here in the last year here on these forums must be a hundred times more than i knew last january.


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## orangputeh (Nov 24, 2016)

don49453 said:


> just purchesed honda hs720ama works great but the auger engauge bar keeps falling off.???


welcome.

you should start a new thread and maybe post a picture of what you are trying to describe. then the experts here can give you some advice on a solution.

or try to better describe your issue.


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## snowblower828 (Apr 12, 2019)

*Springs and belt tension*

Hi there,
I had to service my right transmission case which went fine but after starting the engine the clutch always engaged the auger and wheels. It seems every combination of springs including (I tried figuring it out via partstree) I tried did not work the way it did before taking it apart. I attached a picture in the current condition. It's still moving slightly when the clutch handles are not pushed down. Maybe someone can tell me which springs should go where or if I did something else wrong. I can provide further pictures if needed. Thanks in advance!
Snowblower is a Honda 828 SZAK


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## orangputeh (Nov 24, 2016)

snowblower828 said:


> Hi there,
> I had to service my right transmission case which went fine but after starting the engine the clutch always engaged the auger and wheels. It seems every combination of springs including (I tried figuring it out via partstree) I tried did not work the way it did before taking it apart. I attached a picture in the current condition. It's still moving slightly when the clutch handles are not pushed down. Maybe someone can tell me which springs should go where or if I did something else wrong. I can provide further pictures if needed. Thanks in advance!
> Snowblower is a Honda 828 SZAK


you should start a brand new thread with this problem and provide more pictures from side and front. check to make sure you put the cable holder in the correct mounting holes on the engine bed cover.
also make sure the tension arm was put in right mounting holes. there are two sets of holes where it could fit. the tension arm ( that holds the idler wheels ) should be in the top set of holes. otherwise everything is too tight.

I'll check back with picture of mine if you need a reference. but start a new thread and more Honda people will check it out and offer advice.

welcome to SBF


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## orangputeh (Nov 24, 2016)

orangputeh said:


> you should start a brand new thread with this problem and provide more pictures from side and front. check to make sure you put the cable holder in the correct mounting holes on the engine bed cover.
> also make sure the tension arm was put in right mounting holes. there are two sets of holes where it could fit. the tension arm ( that holds the idler wheels ) should be in the top set of holes. otherwise everything is too tight.
> 
> I'll check back with picture of mine if you need a reference. but start a new thread and more Honda people will check it out and offer advice.
> ...


from your picture it looks as if the tension arm assembly may be mounted in wrong holes. if this is the case the just loosen that side cover enough so you can mount in upper holes. if not sure take picture of side cover so we can see better. the tip would be that the idler wheels are pushing the belts in so they are engaged all the time and the auger and drive handles hardly move.


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## snowblower828 (Apr 12, 2019)

*Solution tension too high*



orangputeh said:


> from your picture it looks as if the tension arm assembly may be mounted in wrong holes. if this is the case the just loosen that side cover enough so you can mount in upper holes. if not sure take picture of side cover so we can see better. the tip would be that the idler wheels are pushing the belts in so they are engaged all the time and the auger and drive handles hardly move.


Cheers! Problem solved! Now she plows through the piles of snow again :wink2:
For future reference I included the picture of the right side of the engine bed with the tension arm mounted correctly in the upper two holes (circled in red).

Thanks again for the quick and good advice!


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## orangputeh (Nov 24, 2016)

snowblower828 said:


> Cheers! Problem solved! Now she plows through the piles of snow again :wink2:
> For future reference I included the picture of the right side of the engine bed with the tension arm mounted correctly in the upper two holes (circled in red).
> 
> Thanks again for the quick and good advice!


that's great news. the reason i suspected this is because i did that myself! don't know why there are 2 identical sets of holes like this. when i was doing my right side tranny service and putting the side cover back on that tensioner assembly just went into those lower holes easier.

now i mark everything with a paint pen so I don't make that mistake in the future.

thanks for replying back.


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## contender (Jan 18, 2018)

Orang, I believe that a HS724 uses the bottom holes , while a HS928 and the HS1132,uses the top holes, I am referring to track units, I have never worked on wheel units....or on a HS828


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## orangputeh (Nov 24, 2016)

contender said:


> Orang, I believe that a HS724 uses the bottom holes , while a HS928 and the HS1132,uses the top holes, I am referring to track units, I have never worked on wheel units....or on a HS828


thanks. it's just curious that the 828-928-1132 have these 2 set of holes.


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## contender (Jan 18, 2018)

Orang, I believe its a cost deal for Honda, the right stay p/n 51170-767-A10, is used on the 724, 828, 928 and the 1132, from my research


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