# 28 Deluxe SHO axle shaft/wheel play ?



## fluxcapacitor121 (Sep 17, 2018)

I’m currently prepping my new blower.

I pulled the wheels and lower plate to lube everything up. Probably not necessary, but I wanted to have a look see anyway. 

Upon re-assembly I noticed a fair amount of axial play in both wheels, and subsequently both splined shafts. 

Is this normal or is something not seated correctly? 

Woodruff keys, washers, wheels, and clips are all installed. 

The first photo shows wheel to hub gap. The second 2 photos show how much the diff moves along the shafts.

Any advice appreciated.


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## fluxcapacitor121 (Sep 17, 2018)

Nobody knows? 

I broke in the engine today and drove her around a bit. Everything is working fine. Engine runs great. Auto turn works better than I expected.

Maybe I’ll call Ariens.


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## bigredmf (Jan 16, 2018)

I’ll add my 2 cents!

Pretty sure that slop is normal.

I was removing wheels off a 2012 Compact 22 last week and noticed this.

I say run it but would be interested in any others comment.

Thank you!

Red


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## Town (Jan 31, 2015)

The space noted in pic 1 is normal, same as my machine, and I asked the dealer about it when new. 

There is a thin spacer on the right side under the wheel retention lock to retain the two shafts that allow for differential action. I thought the spacer should also be on left side to reduce the gap from wheel to "hub", but no, the system needs some free play according to my dealer. 

The problem with that space is that melting snow gets into the gap between shaft and wheel and washes out the grease and makes wheel removal more of an issue. Every year in the spring the both wheels are removed and cleaned and repacked with water-proof grease. I do a lot of snowblowing so perhaps an issue for me will not affect you.


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## Town (Jan 31, 2015)

Your pics 2 and 3 shows the differential upside down. It should be on the right side, as per attached pic. Then you can see the right wheel shaft with the circlip (not a spacer that I said earlier) that retains the two part shafts for differential action.


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## fluxcapacitor121 (Sep 17, 2018)

Awesome, thank you guys. I feel much better about it. 

I know what you mean about that C-clip, I thought it odd it was only on the right side. 

Sorry about the inverted pics. I couldn’t flip them on here. They are right side up on my iPad. 

I can certainly see how the shaft grease can get washed out. I plan to grease them annually at minimum. 

Thanks again guys. Can’t imagine life before online forums


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