# Craftsman 536.881851 drive issues



## robdenuto (Feb 1, 2015)

Hey Everyone,

I bought a used 536.881851 last year and seem to be having some trouble with getting it to drive. At times, when the drive lever is depressed the unit fails to move. Sometimes after changing the drive speed and trying again it will go, other times changing the drive speed does nothing. The auger moves like a champ, but the drive isn't doing as well.

I did some digging around and it seems like the two most common causes are a worn friction disc or grease/dirt buildup on the friction wheel. I took the cover off and the disc seems in good shape and the wheel was mildly dirty. I cleaned both with some gas to give them a nice surface to hook up. I also checked the adjustment on the cable for the drive and it seemed fine as it was easily bringing the two into contact.

I buttoned it back up, fired it up and gave it a go. With the shifter set to forward 1, squeezing the handle resulted in no movement again  . I changed the gear to forward 2 and got nothing. Changed to forward 3 and then gave her a squeeze and she jumped to life. I stopped and changed back to forward 1 and she started forward.

Anyone have any insight or ideas of what to check next or what might be causing this?


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## Shryp (Jan 1, 2011)

Sounds like the adjustment is not tight enough or some bearings are worn out. It could also be getting wet with snow or oil dripping in there.


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## Motor City (Jan 6, 2014)

Was their much black debris in the lower housing when you pulled the cover off? You may need a new drive belt, it could be slipping.


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## robdenuto (Feb 1, 2015)

Shryp said:


> Sounds like the adjustment is not tight enough or some bearings are worn out. It could also be getting wet with snow or oil dripping in there.


I was going to make the adjustment tighter, but feared that this would put too much travel/tension on the springs. I thought the same thing about oil, but the wheel didn't seem to be oily.


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## robdenuto (Feb 1, 2015)

Motor City said:


> Was their much black debris in the lower housing when you pulled the cover off? You may need a new drive belt, it could be slipping.


The cover did had a black residue/buildup on it that seemed to be more fibrous than greasy. 

Is there a way to confirm that the belt may be slipping or should I just replace it?


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## Shryp (Jan 1, 2011)

Just drive it around with the belt cover off. Tip it up in the air with the bottom cover off and check all the parts of the drive system for a large amount of movement in them as that would indicate worn bearings which might be part of your issue.


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## robdenuto (Feb 1, 2015)

Shryp said:


> Just drive it around with the belt cover off. Tip it up in the air with the bottom cover off and check all the parts of the drive system for a large amount of movement in them as that would indicate worn bearings which might be part of your issue.


Yeahhh... So I took the belt cover off to have a peek as you said and it looks like not only do the belts need to be replaced, but someone hacked the idler assembly onto the block and it's sitting at some crazy angle. 

Definitely going to be more involved than I thought!


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## Shryp (Jan 1, 2011)

A lot of them mount to the block like that. Maybe your bolt just came loose. See what happens if you tighten it up.


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## Big Ed (Feb 10, 2013)

I would say that might be a problem. 

How much rubber is left on the friction wheel? 
They do wear out.


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## Big Ed (Feb 10, 2013)

Shryp said:


> A lot of them mount to the block like that. Maybe your bolt just came loose. See what happens if you tighten it up.


That is normal?

I am glad mine is not like that.


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## Shryp (Jan 1, 2011)

Big Ed said:


> That is normal?
> 
> I am glad mine is not like that.


Mounted right to the engine - yes.
Bolt half hanging out and the idler at 45 degrees - no.


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## robdenuto (Feb 1, 2015)

Shryp said:


> A lot of them mount to the block like that. Maybe your bolt just came loose. See what happens if you tighten it up.


I thought it was loose too, but the bolt seemed to be pretty tight when I put a wrench on it. It looked to me like they put a piece of metal behind the idler assembly to space it away from the block. Based on a video I saw on youtube (http://youtu.be/HNjvESJSW3o?t=52s) of the same blower, the block should naturally space it far enough away. I guess I won't know why it's like that until I take it off and see what's going on.


#12 on the diagram:


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## robdenuto (Feb 1, 2015)

Big Ed said:


> I would say that might be a problem.
> 
> How much rubber is left on the friction wheel?
> They do wear out.


The friction disc looks good, but I didn't get a pic of it.


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## Shryp (Jan 1, 2011)

Maybe you will need a shorter bolt and play around with different size washers and spacers.


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## robdenuto (Feb 1, 2015)

Shryp said:


> Maybe you will need a shorter bolt and play around with different size washers and spacers.


That's what I'm thinking. Put a few washers behind to shim it out. I'm also going to replace the bolts while i'm in there. Hopefully it will run strong after that!

Thanks for the help!


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## Shryp (Jan 1, 2011)

If you have a local farm supply store that is a good place to get belts. Tractor Supply Company and Rural King here have them for around $4 - $7.


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## Big Ed (Feb 10, 2013)

robdenuto said:


> The friction disc looks good, but I didn't get a pic of it.


Not the disk plate, the friction wheel, it has the rubber on it.
It would be cheaper replacing that then the plate.
The friction wheel is around $20. The plate is over a $100.
You can buy just the rubber for a lot too.

When the rubber on the wheel wears, you have to catch it in time to prevent damage to the disk plate. If the rubber is just about down to the wheel (pulley) that it is on it is time to replace it. Once it gets too far down you start eating up the expensive disk plate.

Check out some pictures?
Snowblower Stops Moving - Replacing A Worn-Out Friction Wheel In A Craftsman Or MTD Snowblower


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## robdenuto (Feb 1, 2015)

Shryp said:


> If you have a local farm supply store that is a good place to get belts. Tractor Supply Company and Rural King here have them for around $4 - $7.


I called around and apparently they're sold out due to all the recent snow (NJ) so I ordered them from Amazon. $23 for the pair.


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## robdenuto (Feb 1, 2015)

Big Ed said:


> Not the disk plate, the friction wheel, it has the rubber on it.
> It would be cheaper replacing that then the plate.
> The friction wheel is around $20. The plate is over a $100.
> You can buy just the rubber for a lot too.
> ...


I think we're talking about the same thing, but by different names. I checked the friction [insert proper name here] (the wheel with the rubber on it) and it has a little less than 1/4 inch of rubber left. How long do they last?


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## Hankfard (Feb 17, 2014)

Here's an example of a badly worn friction wheel, cracked and shiny. It worked but slipped quite a lot.


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## Big Ed (Feb 10, 2013)

robdenuto said:


> I think we're talking about the same thing, but by different names. I checked the friction [insert proper name here] (the wheel with the rubber on it) and it has a little less than 1/4 inch of rubber left. How long do they last?


It is (blank) Friction wheel.
The Friction wheel rides on the disk plate.

A 1/4" is getting down there, if you start hearing a metal on metal screeching sound it is most likely too late to save the disk plate. You will be putting grooves into the plate.
The disk plate is 5/6 times more then the fiction wheel assembly. The Friction wheel is around $20 bucks?
You can just buy the rubber and replace it cheaper yet.

You want to catch it before it damages the disk plate, at a 1/4" you still have some time yet.


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## SevenFortyOne (Feb 15, 2015)

I've found that melting snow was causing problems with the drive train. Even after replacing the belts and friction wheel I still had problems. I came up with a way to block snow melt from getting into the drive train using some scrap metal I had lying around and an old can of expanding spray foam. The machine never slips anymore even in 2 feet of snow.

Here is a link to a video I made showing what I did:


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