# Practically New Troy Bilt 2890 drive issues - Friction wheel? Cable?



## DrClaw (Nov 15, 2016)

Hi everyone, new to the site. We received a sweet Troy Bilt 2890 3 stage snow blower 2 years ago for xmas. we live in the northeast so we used it a lot the first year and dont think we took it out last year. Towards the end of the first year of use it started to stop driving, it would lurch forward a foot maybe then the wheels would stop turning. I would have to find this impossible to hold position on the drive lever that was somewhere in between released and held down. 

Im getting the snowblower prepared for this year and went through some basic troubleshooting including checking the cable tension by loosening the bracket at the bottom and adjusting it from max tight to max loose. Neither helped. Ive also removed the belly cover and checked the friction wheel to check the friction belt/pulley and the friction plate to make sure it wasnt greasy. The friction belt and plate were clean but I wiped them down with gasoline to be sure. Still no luck. Engine starts fine. Friction plate spins well but as soon as i pull the drive lever down it moves a foot or so then stops. 

I think the cable is too tight even in the loosest position. Ive held the drive lever down while observing the engagement of the friction wheel and it appears that its so tight that its stopping the friction plate from spinning. I also suspect its too tight because if i find that sweet spot on the lever where its just engaging it will drive fine. I dont know how this would have changed all of a sudden, blower was fine in the beginning of the season then started acting up towards the end. Could something like the friction plate moved so its has less distance to come into contact with the friction wheel or vice versa? I dont see anything obviously degraded. 

Any thoughts or next steps I might try would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks everyone


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## UNDERTAKER (Dec 30, 2013)

* Here is a shot in the dark what about the belt????? otherwise post a vid of this problem that is presenting itself onto us here. because I am not schooled on that brand of blower. anyhoo ALOHA from the paradise city.:smiley-rpg027::smiley-rpg027::smiley-rpg027::smiley-rpg027::smiley-rpg027::smiley-rpg027:*


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## micah68kj (Oct 8, 2011)

It's possible ther may be a roll pin or setscrew that is loose or broken? Maybe even a snap ring. It sounds like something in your drive system is working intermittently. 
I think this is a pic of your drive system. Look at it and check the pertinent parts.


Troy-Bilt 31AH55Q8711 - Troy-Bilt Vortex 2890 Snow Thrower (2014) Drive System Diagram and Parts List | PartsTree.com


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## YSHSfan (Jun 25, 2014)

+ 1 with checking the drive belt condition and proper tension before digging any deeper.


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## bad69cat (Nov 30, 2015)

Yeah - check that the drive belt pulley bolt on the end of the motor shaft has not backed out on you too - feel the tension of the belt - it should be pretty snug when the lever is engaged and the belt should not be bottomed out. With it not running, strap the lever down, and try rolling the tires by hand as you watch what's going on with the the gears and shafts. You may spot where the trouble is......


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## DrClaw (Nov 15, 2016)

Just replaced both belts (auger and drive) and seems to be just a little better. it wasn't fully stopping any more but as soon as it felt friction from the skid plates dragging it would hesitate/slow down/ then stop. If i pivoted the machine back a little to clear the sid plates from dragging it would run fine. 

I checked the drive pulley bolt and belts were in ok condition. no noticeable degradation. It still feels like the throttle lever that engages the friction plate is too tight but i have checked all that, adjusted from full tight to full loose and no difference. 

Any other thoughts? How can i post a video?


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## nwcove (Mar 2, 2015)

have you had the belly pan off yet to see if anything is amiss there ? you can upload a vid to youtube, then copy/paste the link here.


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## DrClaw (Nov 15, 2016)

yes belly cover has been off for a while. Ive observed the friction wheel with the engine running. When i pull the lever the friction wheel engages and spins, then stop spinning after a couple feet of forward travel.


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## nwcove (Mar 2, 2015)

DrClaw said:


> yes belly cover has been off for a while. Ive observed the friction wheel with the engine running. When i pull the lever the friction wheel engages and spins, then stop spinning after a couple feet of forward travel.


i need to ask......how exactly did you observe the friction wheel with the engine running ? have you cleaned the friction disk and wheel ? did you check for any "flat" spots on the wheels rubber ?


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## DrClaw (Nov 15, 2016)

cleaned the wheel and plate. rubber gasket on friction wheel itself look in good shape. 

I observed the friction wheel in in progress by starting the blower, belly cover off and crouch down behind the machine so i could look under it, i would then reach up and engage the drive lever, it would stop moving before it got too far. I could see the friction wheel spin, engage and spin for a couple revolutions then seize up.


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## Motor City (Jan 6, 2014)

Does the engine bog down, when you engage the lever? The belts possibly slips, to keep the engine going? I wonder if you have a bad friction plate bearing.


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## DrClaw (Nov 15, 2016)

Motor City said:


> Does the engine bog down, when you engage the lever? The belts possibly slips, to keep the engine going? I wonder if you have a bad friction plate bearing.


Doesn't really big down. The drive belt slips and I lose propulsion. The friction plate doesn't slip it actually appear to be binding then freeing up.


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## DriverRider (Nov 20, 2016)

The friction disc is driven off the engine by belt, the one towards the rear. The pulley on the shaft other side of disc should always be turning. If that pulley stops turning then there is a problem with belt and tensioning mechanism.


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## DrClaw (Nov 15, 2016)

DriverRider said:


> The friction disc is driven off the engine by belt, the one towards the rear. The pulley on the shaft other side of disc should always be turning. If that pulley stops turning then there is a problem with belt and tensioning mechanism.


I think the issue might be with the tensioner. Any idea on how to check or adjust it?


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## DrClaw (Nov 15, 2016)

Still have not been able to figure this out. Here are some videos showing the drive belt and friction plate. Youll see the drive belt spinning at first but no movement (drive lever not engaged). Then I pull the lever and the blower moves a few inches as i pass through a sweet spot of engagement on the drive lever then the belt slips and stops. You can see this phenomenon on the friction plate and belt video. In all the videos I pull the lever to the "sweet spot" about halfway down and the blower will move forward. Maybe the easiest solution at this point would be to put some kinda wedge on the drive lever so i can hold the lever in that position.

Thoughts?

Drive belt 





Drive belt from front/side





Friction plate


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## Normex (Feb 21, 2014)

Hi like you I tend to think it may be a tensioner issue.
Look closely at the tensioner bolt and it should be with a slot where you can loosen the bolt and press to tighten belt.
When done make sure the belt doesn't attempt to turn when not pressing on the drive handle.
Furthermore the drive cable should be adjusted before playing with the tensioner.

Good Luck

Norm


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## DrClaw (Nov 15, 2016)

thanks ill check that. drive cable has been adjusted to all setting and no change.


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## DennisP (Jan 10, 2016)

DrClaw, well your videos show exactly what is wrong.

The drive pulley is spinning on the output shaft of the engine.

Both halves of that pulley must have their keys sheared off. The pulleys themselves have a key built in. If one was broken/missing from the factory than the other half was taking the full torque of both pulley halves. Thus it probably sheared off.

To fix it pull the bolt off the front of the output shaft, pull off the front pulley halves, pull the spacer and then pull both of the drive pulley halves. You will noticed key "teeth" still intact on your auger pulley halves, but not on your drive pulley halves.

Simple fix. Now, getting parts this late on a Saturday? Good luck... 

You could always also just grind slots in the pulley halves and buy a woodruff key from a hardware store (probably just a piece of square-stock) and cut it to length and key the pulleys that way. Would be even better than the "factory" solution of built-in keys.

All the old-style pulleys have slots with separate keys. It takes a lot to shear a key, especially on a belt-drive. That is why no-one figured this out before, most would have never had to deal with it.


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## DrClaw (Nov 15, 2016)

Thanks for the reply. Ill definitely investigate further. If this is the issue, does this agree with the observation that the drive belt will engage correctly when i pull the drive lever only half way?


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## DrClaw (Nov 15, 2016)

How do you brake the engine output shaft so I can un torque bolt holding the pulleys on? Right now when I try to take the bolt out the shaft spins too. I've tried holding the drive lever down.


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## DennisP (Jan 10, 2016)

Try holding the auger control down. If the drive pulleys are spinning on the shaft, it won't hold to untorque the bolt.

Also, if you have an impact wrench, that will make short work of removing the bolt.


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## Shryp (Jan 1, 2011)

Impact wrench, pipe wrench on the crank. You can also put a rope down the spark plug hole, but I don't think that is advisable with an overhead valve engine. You might bend the valves.


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## DrClaw (Nov 15, 2016)

Problem solved! I used a pipe wrench and Ratchet to get the bolt off. I disassembled the drive shaft and pulleys and they appear to be fine no damage. I put it all back together and everything runs great now. I didn't inspect the key before I pulled the pulley off. When I pulled them off everything was fine though. The key is intact and the slot on the drive shaft is good too. Thanks everyone for the help, ready for winter now.


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## Big v (12 mo ago)

DrClaw said:


> I think the issue might be with the tensioner. Any idea on how to check or adjust it?


 remove the tensioner and take the spring, force the spring against it self creating a bigger loop around the spring giving it more tension. Put it back tougher and the belt will be tighter.


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