# Ariens disc o matic slipping



## Roy (Feb 7, 2014)

My 3 year old Ariens 11528LE snowthrower looses forward drive after about 3000 sq ft of snow clearing... I had a 7 hp Ariens that did the same thing.. After the Snow thrower is rested and all the ice melts off it... It works again for another 3000 ft of clearing.

I believe the problem is that the body of the machine has plenty of factory holes and seams that provide openings for snow and slush to enter inside and ice up the Disc O Matic transmission..

Would it be a good idea to cover most of the holes and corners of the body that have openings, with waterproof duct tape?

This would block out blowing snow and splashing water etc.

I'm just concerned that the openings may be providing some other important function.

Thank you for your input


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## motorhead64 (Dec 15, 2013)

Hi Roy
Tape shouldn't hurt anything, and cooling while snow blowing due to outside temps is not a problem. The holes are usually there to facilitate adjustments. Melting snow has proven to be problematic with some equipment for just the reason you stated. I would give the tape a try. Let us know how it works out. If things are still slipping after taping her up, well you have something else going on. MH


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## mkd (Dec 31, 2013)

roy i would look into making sure the travel lever adjustment for the drive to the disc and friction wheel is adjusted correctly and inspect the friction wheel for excessive wear. once that is done use brake clean to thoroughly clean the friction wheel and drive disc to make sure there is no oil residue on either and they are bone dry. then i would remove the belt cover and inspect the drive belts for wear or being too loose.


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## Sid (Jan 31, 2014)

Check to see if the rubber disc is glazed, if so I use a little sandpaper to get the glaze off [ with the engine off of course]
Sid


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## Roy (Feb 7, 2014)

Thank you for your responses.

I will clean the disk with break cleaner and lightly sand the rubber drive wheel when I lube things up in the spring. For now I believe the tension is correct on the drive lever because as soon as I bought it from Home Depot, the pull start broke because the compression relief valve was not adjusted, so.... the local small equipment shop fixed and adjusted the machine....

If I may ask one more thing... 

Does this slipping problem happen on most Ariens machines? Or just a few? Is it just on the ones sold by Home Depot?


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## Mr Fixit (Nov 19, 2013)

I had this same temporary dead drive issue. I think the snow came in from the cover between the wheels under the machine. If you backed up over harder snow the weight of the machine on the cover bent it inward slightly and it would knife a thin layer of snow inside. It was always soaking wet inside if I opened the lid. I found the cover developed a slight inward bend over a few hours of use. I contemplated it for a long while and right now I have a 2nd plate inside held down by two side bolts. The add-on plate has a 90 bend at the rear edge as a rib to keep things perfect straight. It's an experiment and I'm not saying it's the solution but so far this winter after 25 years I've not had a dead drive for a few minutes. I just happened to have the perfect plate on hand, requiring no fabricating except for making bolt holes. Look at your bottom lid and decide?


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