# Craftsman 5.5HP 24" questions



## jgcable (Feb 25, 2013)

Hello, this is my first post on the Snowblower section of this site. I spend most of my time over at the garden tractor section! 
I have a 5.5hp 24" 4 cycle 3 speed snow thrower. Its a dual stage 3 speed and the model number is 247.88455.1 
I just inherited it from a neighbor. Its about 4 years old. Its doing something strange. The owners manual states that when the auger control is released the auger is disengaged. My auger does the opposite. When I grab the auger control and squeeze it to the handle the auger stops turning. When I release it the auger starts turning. 
I adjusted the cable per the owners manual specs and it didn't help. 
Basically, it operates opposite of how its supposed to. 
Also, how fast is the auger supposed to turn? I had a single stage last year and that auger turned quick. I would say that this one might turn around 80rpms per minute?


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## td5771 (Feb 21, 2011)

a pic would be great but check your belts, your idler for the auger might be on the wrong side of the belt. just sold one where when I bought it the idler bearing was riding on the inside of the belt. when the auger was disengaged the arm with the auger idler would move toward the outside of the snowblower tightening the belt. It should be outside the belt and when you squeeze the lever it pushes the arm and idler toward the center of the machine tightening the belt.

Single stages rely on 1 function to throw the snow far. the augers function is to spin slowly and pull the snow into the impeller where the high speed impeller throws the snow out.


we will know instantly if you take a pick of the belts with the belt cover off.


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## HCBPH (Mar 8, 2011)

*Welcome to the forum*

First off, welcome to the forum.

In addition to what to what TD5771 said, I did see one a while back that was like that. Turned out someone had changed out the control on the handlebar. Instead on connecting below the handlebar, this one connected above. Guess what that does - exactly what your is if there's enough tension on it. They had added a spring under the handle, dumb but who knows what people are thinking.

Unfortunately the parts breakdown isn't coming up, but check your belt routing first, that's more likely than what I saw. Let us know what you find, adn add some pictures if you can.


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## jgcable (Feb 25, 2013)

Thanks for the replies. I will take the cover off and snap some pics tonight and post them. I have a feeling the idler is on wrong. The previous owner put a new motor in it last season and I have a feeling he did something wrong.


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## HCBPH (Mar 8, 2011)

*Auger issues*



jgcable said:


> Thanks for the replies. I will take the cover off and snap some pics tonight and post them. I have a feeling the idler is on wrong. The previous owner put a new motor in it last season and I have a feeling he did something wrong.


That would make the most sense, being on the wrong side. But that would have to have one heck-of-a-return-spring to keep enough tension on the belt to run the auger without you helping it along IMO.

It really depends on whether the auger just turns or will actually blow snow in that condition. If just turn but stops when you hit snow then I'd be inclined to bet it's just the idler is on the wrong side of the belt. If it actually will blow anything above a fine powder then you have more to check.


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## jgcable (Feb 25, 2013)

Here is a pic of my belt system. From what it looks like to me is that the auger drive belt should be going on the inside of the idler pulley. As you can see.. the belt is on the outside of the pulley. I took it off and put it on the "correct" way and what I notice is the belt is very loose unless I engage the auger handle. I checked the auger cable tension and its per the owners manual. The cable is not slack but its not super tight. The belt is loose to the point that I think if I start it up the belt will jump off. 
What I am thinking is because the previous owner put the auger belt on incorrectly it stretched it out and now its too loose. Let me know what you think.


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## jgcable (Feb 25, 2013)

Here is the same pic with a caption showing what I think is wrong. Let me know if I am on the right track. Thanks!


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## td5771 (Feb 21, 2011)

That belt is definitely on the wrong side of the pulley.

To take up some of the slack for the belt, try adjusting the idler first. 

The bolt in the center of the idler pulley goes through the pulley and through a bracket.

The hole in the bracket is usually a slot so you can adjust the pulley in or out.

Take a look, I cant see it from the pic.

Also check your other idler pulley for the drive it looks crooked. if it wobbles the bearing is bad but they are cheap. if it does not wobble maybe the person who put the engine on bend something.

Check the alignment between your lower auger pulley and the pulley on the engine. The engine pulley looks to be too far towards the front of the machine, or the lower auger pulley needs to be pushed further forwards. maybe its just the camera angle.

ps...not trying to pick the machine apart I just don't want something to fail while your using it.


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## jgcable (Feb 25, 2013)

td5771 said:


> That belt is definitely on the wrong side of the pulley.
> 
> To take up some of the slack for the belt, try adjusting the idler first.
> 
> ...


Thanks for the reply. I think the reason the lower auger pulley and the pulley on the engine look out of line is I took the pivot bolts out connecting the auger to the chassis and when I did that the auger tilted towards the motor making the belts out of line. When I put the bolts back in I needed to pull it away from the motor and the pulleys lined up perfect. 
I will check that lower idler drive pulley and make sure its ok. 
I did see where the bracket for the auger idler pulley is slotted and has some adjustment on it. I will loosen it and push it further into the belt to see if if takes up enough slack. Both belts look to be in worn out condition. 
I have another question. How does this entire drive/auger system actually work? When the auger is just disengaged does the pulley and the auger belt just slip to keep it from turning? Also, on the drive control, when I move the 3 speed control it pulls on a large bracket. How does that control the 3 speeds? BTW.. all three speeds work fine. I am just trying to figure out how it actually works.


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## td5771 (Feb 21, 2011)

when the auger lever is released the belt just slips. its a fine line where if it is too loose the belt will come off or slip and not work. but if it is too tight it keeps auger spinning constantly or the belt will grab and release over and over and burn out the belt.

The speeds are controlled by the whole assembly/pulley on the inside of the crankshaft closer to the engine.

When you adjust the speed the pulley (it is made of 2 halves)opens up and the belt rides lower in the groove essentially making a smaller pulley. when the pulley closes or the 2 halves get closer together they squeeze the belt and it will ride up towards the outside of the pulley making a larger diameter pulley. the change in upper pulley size makes the lower drive pulley spin faster or slower and that spins the transmission.


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## jgcable (Feb 25, 2013)

td5771 said:


> when the auger lever is released the belt just slips. its a fine line where if it is too loose the belt will come off or slip and not work. but if it is too tight it keeps auger spinning constantly or the belt will grab and release over and over and burn out the belt.
> 
> The speeds are controlled by the whole assembly/pulley on the inside of the crankshaft closer to the engine.
> 
> When you adjust the speed the pulley (it is made of 2 halves)opens up and the belt rides lower in the groove essentially making a smaller pulley. when the pulley closes or the 2 halves get closer together they squeeze the belt and it will ride up towards the outside of the pulley making a larger diameter pulley. the change in upper pulley size makes the lower drive pulley spin faster or slower and that spins the transmission.


So the principle on the drive unit is similar to how a multispeed bicycle works. On a bike it manually pushes the the chain on to different gears and on the snowblower it manually pushes the belt onto different diameters on the pulley. Got it. Makes total sense. Figures it was something simple. 
Thanks for all your help so far. I will do some adustments to the idler pulley and take up some slack and check out everything you pointed out and check back later tonight with what happens.


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## Shryp (Jan 1, 2011)

Your speed selector might work as described, but on most snowblowers there is a friction disc. The belt turns a big metal plate and mated perpendicular to the plate is a rubber wheel. Your slow gear is almost in the center of the plate and when you change to third gear it moves the rubber wheel to the outer edge of the plate. When you use reverse gears it moves the rubber wheel to the opposite side of center.


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## jgcable (Feb 25, 2013)

Shryp said:


> Your speed selector might work as described, but on most snowblowers there is a friction disc. The belt turns a big metal plate and mated perpendicular to the plate is a rubber wheel. Your slow gear is almost in the center of the plate and when you change to third gear it moves the rubber wheel to the outer edge of the plate. When you use reverse gears it moves the rubber wheel to the opposite side of center.
> 
> How a basic snowblower transmission works.wmv - YouTube


Mine has the multi-speed hub assembly style which switches the belts to different size pulleys to determine the 3 different speeds.


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## jgcable (Feb 25, 2013)

I checked all the pulleys and made sure everything was lined up correctly, I installed the belt correctly and fired her up and she works perfectly. Auger stops when I release the handle, it turns on when I engage it. All 3 drive gears work perfect too. I even put a coat of wax on her. Now I am looking forward to snow. Thanks!


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## HCBPH (Mar 8, 2011)

Good to hear you got it working correctly, Congrats. Now go find some snow to blow.


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