# 924036 - Auger issues



## ajpleblanc (Dec 9, 2013)

Hey all, 

I got my engine woe's under control with the help of NT40lanman, and after smooth sailing for a few storms, I've got another issue. 

At the end of the last storm I ran into a rubber mat that I park my snow blower on, with Auger running. It got jammed in there a bit and the motor died. I pulled everything out, and today it started up on the first pull. 
The impeller is working great, but the auger is not turning. 
At first I thought It's probably just a shear pin. but when I tried to pull them out, I noticed that the tops were turning when I tried to turn the nut on the bottom. To me that seems like the shear pins are not the problem?

When turning the auger manually, it looks like the shaft on the inside is turning. I don't hear any grinding or odd noises from the gearbox (which is aluminum) 

Any ideas on what the issue might be? It's tough because I have no garage to work on this thing in, so anything I do is out in the cold. 
I'm shoveling our latest storm, and I see at least 2 more on the horizon so I'm hoping I can get this figured out. Any help is greatly appreciated. 

Thanks


----------



## scipper77 (Dec 4, 2013)

Can you take out the drain plug and look at the gears with a flashlight? I really don't know if this works , its just the first thing that popped into my head.


----------



## Shryp (Jan 1, 2011)

Most likely either the gears are stripped, or the pin holding the gear to the axle broke. Have you ever taken your shear pins off to grease the augers? If you don't grease them eventually they will rust to the shaft which makes the shear pins useless. If that happens the gears take all of the force if you hit something.

If turning one auger makes the other side turn as well then it sounds like your shear pins are fine. In your case if the head of the bolt is connected to the nut on the other side like you say then yea it sounds like you have worse issues unfortunately.


----------



## Shryp (Jan 1, 2011)

scipper77 said:


> Can you take out the drain plug and look at the gears with a flashlight? I really don't know if this works , its just the first thing that popped into my head.


That should work. I have heard of people replacing a broken roll pin that way without taking anything apart.


----------



## ajpleblanc (Dec 9, 2013)

Thanks guys. I'm not sure if I'll take anything apart on my own. Lately I've been breaking everything I touch,so I might make things worse


----------



## Shryp (Jan 1, 2011)

ajpleblanc said:


> Thanks guys. I'm not sure if I'll take anything apart on my own. Lately I've been breaking everything I touch,so I might make things worse


These things are fairly simple, but if rust has gotten a hold of some of the parts they can be a real pain to get apart. Specifically the pulley behind the impeller and the augers on the auger shaft. The impeller can also be an issue, but most times that doesn't need to be removed.


----------



## CTSkidoo (Feb 14, 2014)

Pull the bolt and at least see if it is the gear or roll pin. Purchased new you could be lookn at a pretty big number$$$ to replace the gear, $200+ for the whole gearbox.


----------



## CTSkidoo (Feb 14, 2014)

This is taken from another site 
"Before you tear it down and spend the money for the gears, check reference #49 on the IPL, it is a roll pin and if sheared augers will not turn. If you tip machine back on handles and open gear oil fill hole and you can see it. Could be a $1.00 fix. If it is roll pin you can replace through fill hole also without opening up gearbox. I have had several machines where this is the problem."

Read more: Ariens Snowblower - DoItYourself.com Community Forums


----------



## HCBPH (Mar 8, 2011)

*Roll pin*

If it is the roll pin and if you can replace it without disassembling the gearbox, remember to get the pieces and parts of the old one out of the gearbox before using it. Sounds silly but I'm sure someone won't and jam it up.


----------



## ajpleblanc (Dec 9, 2013)

Thanks guys. 

I tried an earlier "simple repair" to do a quick cleaning of my carb, and I ended up screwing that up. 

One thing I noticed is that the shaft coming from the auger into the auger gearbox does NOT appear to be turning. If that's the case, does that point to any other potential cause? It was pretty dark, so the shaft may have actually been turning.


----------



## scipper77 (Dec 4, 2013)

We all seem to be in agreement that it is either the gears are ruined or with luck the pin that holds the worm gear in place sheared off. Until you rule those two things out it is not constructive to speculate on other failure modes.


----------



## HJames (Oct 28, 2013)

Easy way to tell if the shaft is turning is to look at the side of the bucket, If the bolts are turning then the shaft is turning.


----------



## nt40lanman (Dec 31, 2012)

Andy, do you mean the shaft from the impeller going forward into the auger gearbox? Is it not turning but the impeller is turning?

I may have some time to get a look at it next week if you don't get anywhere with it.


----------



## ajpleblanc (Dec 9, 2013)

After checking things out a bit, the shaft coming out of the impeller IS turning.

Both sides of the Auger are turning free by hand. 
There isn't any audible "crunch" coming from the gearbox.

So it's likely the roll pin, or I stripped the gears. My wife and 4mo old baby were both sick this weekend, so I didn't have time to really do anything with the machine. Now I've got what they have, ugh... 
Hopefully the snow we get today will be the last of it and I can make sure to have it fixed for next year. 

Thanks for all your help guys.

Andy


----------



## scipper77 (Dec 4, 2013)

Can anyone comment on the process for swapping out the bucket section on the 924xxx series blowers? If the gears are stripped then a donor machine with a blown motor would likely be the easiest and cheapest path forward assuming that the bucket will swap directly.


----------



## Jackmels (Feb 18, 2013)

I have an Auger Assembly. $100


----------



## ajpleblanc (Dec 9, 2013)

Jackmels said:


> I have an Auger Assembly. $100


Thanks Jack, is it the aluminum or cast iron set? 
Mine is aluminum, but in 1979 model year, I've seen different gearbox models.


----------



## Jackmels (Feb 18, 2013)

Cast Iron. Send PM if interested.


----------

