# TroyBilt 2840 squeal and clunk



## lander (Feb 14, 2018)

I noticed that whenever I activate the auger, there's a short squeal then a clunk as it gets going. Now and then it activates quietly without that. Doesn't matter whether I activate it before or after putting the snowblower in drive. 

Is this something I should be concerned about and fix or is it normal? Should I repost on the maintenance page?


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## Big Ed (Feb 10, 2013)

lander said:


> I noticed that whenever I activate the auger, there's a short squeal then a clunk as it gets going. Now and then it activates quietly without that. Doesn't matter whether I activate it before or after putting the snowblower in drive.
> 
> Is this something I should be concerned about and fix or is it normal? Should I repost on the maintenance page?


Squeal could be a belt, clunk can be in the impeller/auger, did you check them for play? Impeller bearing or the auger bearings?
Clunk may be in the gearcase too.


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## Kiss4aFrog (Nov 3, 2013)

Have you adjusted the belt tension per the manual ?
Can you post the model number off the ID tag at the rear of the machine?


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## lander (Feb 14, 2018)

Everything seems tight but you can grab the impeller and rotate it with the machine off. When you do it squeals. According to the manual, there's no way to tension the belt. It's tensioned by a spring which you unhook to change the belt. The serial number is 1J168B10016.

Although I bought it "used" it was pretty much new. Store hanger cards or stickers still on it. I haven't used it very much since we don't get a lot of snow. So it seems odd to me that something would be going wrong already. It's been stored indoors for its entire life.


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## tpenfield (Feb 24, 2015)

The old squeal and clunk issue . . .

As stated check for belt and unrestricted movement of the impeller and augers, shear pins in good shape, etc.


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## Kiss4aFrog (Nov 3, 2013)

The impeller should be pinned to the shaft. If you can rotate the impeller the only way it should move is if the augers are moving too. If you can move that impeller by hand and the shaft isn't moving nor are the augers then the roll pins or shear bolts that hold the impeller to the shaft have sheared and that's likely your noise.

Can you post the model number from the ID tag on the machine ? Should look like - - > 31AH64Q4711
I pulled up the parts diagram from the above model but I can't see if the impeller is using a roll pin(s) or shear bolt(s) to fix it to the shaft.
Diagram - - > Troy-Bilt Storm 2840 | 31AH64Q4711 | eReplacementParts.com

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## lander (Feb 14, 2018)

The model number is 31AH6WQ4711 then underneath that is 189237. The blower throws snow just fine so I'm puzzled how it could if pins or bolts were sheared off.


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## Kiss4aFrog (Nov 3, 2013)

The impeller should be pinned to the shaft. If you can rotate the impeller the only way it should move is if the augers are moving too. If you can move that impeller by hand and the shaft isn't moving nor are the augers then the roll pins or shear bolts that hold the impeller to the shaft have sheared and that's likely your noise. 

When you rotate the impeller, does the shaft turn too ? Do the augers turn ?


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## RIT333 (Feb 6, 2014)

When checking for shaft movement, please remove your spark plug wire...please !


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## lander (Feb 14, 2018)

I couldn't find the spark plug, looked all over with a flashlight but I pulled the key out and put the on/off switch in the off position.

When I turn the impeller, the shaft does turn. There's even squealing with the snow blower off, caused by just depressing the impeller/auger handle. It's coming from the pulley/belt area but I can't find the reason for that.

It also seems like the impeller cable is a bit loose because when the handle is all the way down, I can move the impeller a little. But if I push the outer pulley over tightly by hand, I can't budge the impeller.

I traced the cable from the handle all the way to the other end and it doesn't look like there's any way to tighten it. Also the outer pulley is not adjustable. No slot to move it over with.

The belt looks brand new in appearance and has few hours on it.

All this is dealing with the squealing but there's also a "clunk" problem when the impeller/auger activates. Perhaps I should deal with the squealing first and when that's sorted out see if it still clunks.


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## tabora (Mar 1, 2017)

lander said:


> I couldn't find the spark plug, looked all over with a flashlight


OK, STOP. Take your snowblower to a shop...


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## lander (Feb 14, 2018)

Looks like this thread has lost interest but I wanted to give an update. I ran the snowblower, activated the impeller/auger and carefully sprayed the belt in question with belt dressing from Autozone, using the tiny tube to put it directly where it's needed. That helped. Not perfect but a good bit better. Small "clunk" but not as bad as before. So I'm waiting for the next snow to see if what I did fixed it.


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## tabora (Mar 1, 2017)

lander said:


> sprayed the belt in question with belt dressing from Autozone


That's two...


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