# Poulan Making Awful Noise



## Michael Nemeth (Jul 25, 2018)

It's a PP8527ES. I've had the machine for about 10 years now here in the UP, and it's treated me very well. Towards the end of the season this last winter/spring it started making an awful noise. I'm pretty handy, and have worked on most of my outdoor power equipment through the years with great success. I'm just looking for an idea of what to look at as far as repairing it to fix it to eliminate that noise. I'm thinking something went funky around the auger belt pulley area maybe that back bearing, but I'm not sure yet. I also noticed that since the problem has appeared that the auger gearbox is moving around a little bit from side to side. I really don't want to take it to a shop and get soaked for a few hundred dollars for a simple repair I can do myself after taking it in around 5 years ago to a local place and getting the short end of the stick. Also looking for recommendations as to how to repair stripped out threads for the mounting holes where the electric starter mounts onto the motor. I'm posting YouTube links of the machine running with that noise, and a few photos of the issue with the electric starter problem. Thanks in advance for your replies as it's appreciated. 



Machine Running Front Housing: 




Machine Running Belt Housing Area:


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## Kiss4aFrog (Nov 3, 2013)

Have you tried removing the belts and spinning the tensioner pulleys to see if you have a bad bearing ?? Or with the belts on if you try to twist them a little with the belt on they have too much play ??

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## Michael Nemeth (Jul 25, 2018)

Kiss4aFrog said:


> Have you tried removing the belts and spinning the tensioner pulleys to see if you have a bad bearing ?? Or with the belts on if you try to twist them a little with the belt on they have too much play ??
> 
> .



Not yet no. I'm concerned about how that auger belt pulley seems to be moving around a bunch. I'm just curious if a bad bearing can make that much noise ?


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## Kiss4aFrog (Nov 3, 2013)

It can be anything from a low rumble or grinding to a high pitched screech.

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## Michael Nemeth (Jul 25, 2018)

Kiss4aFrog said:


> It can be anything from a low rumble or grinding to a high pitched screech.
> 
> .



That's what I was thinking just wanted to be sure. I'll have to pull it further apart to inspect it all to see how all these things look.


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## Michael Nemeth (Jul 25, 2018)

Kiss4aFrog said:


> Have you tried removing the belts and spinning the tensioner pulleys to see if you have a bad bearing ?? Or with the belts on if you try to twist them a little with the belt on they have too much play ??
> 
> .



Yeah just had a few minutes. All pulleys turn freely with no play at all. Got to the auger pulley and that thing is moving around pretty bad. I'll have to separate the auger housing from it to see exactly what gives behind the pulley towards the housing, but I'm thinking it's a bad flange bearing behind the pulley. I'll have to put a 2x4 on the garage wall in order to separate it by myself by using a ratchet strap to hold the top part in place from falling on me. I'll keep this thread updated as my journey continues on.


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## RedOctobyr (Mar 2, 2014)

I confess I didn't follow what you meant with the 2x4. Are you talking about doing something to remove the impeller shaft pulley? 



For terminology, the impeller shaft is the one coming forward from the engine area, then it gets to the auger gearbox, which then turns the augers (at a lower RPM). I think I know what you meant by auger pulley, but you mean the large pulley that turns the impeller shaft? 


Typically, a snowblower will split in half. The bucket assembly (with impeller and augers) unbolting from the engine, transmission, and controls half. Check how the halves join. On my Ariens machines, there are bolts near the top, and the two halves pivot apart, at the bottom. I had an MTD previously, that one might have just bolted together. But take a look first, it might be good to have a helper, who can lower the handlebars gently, to let you split the machine without something crashing down. 



But getting better access to the pulley should be reasonably straightforward. Then you'll have to see how that pulley attaches to the impeller shaft. Hopefully it all comes apart easily! 



What happened to those electric starter bolts?  One looks like it got worn down by the starter moving around while the mounting bolts were loose. But what about the other one? Did it break off? It looks rather short, with basically 2 threads showing, then the straight section. I would typically expect to see more threads. 



You could probably drill out the damaged threads in the engine, and install a Helicoil into each one. But this needs to be done carefully. You don't want to drill too deep, and drill a hole into the crankcase itself, or you could seriously damage the engine. 



If it starts easily, and you're not comfortable with Helicoiling the holes, you *could* just leave the electric starter off. With the carb clean, and priming it, my Tecumseh will usually start in 1-2 pulls. Granted, it lives in the garage, so the coldest the engine gets is ~30F. And if it *is* really hard to pull start, the primer hose/tube can sometimes disintegrate, so the primer isn't actually functioning properly. Replacing that broken tube made one of mine much easier to start, since the primer was actually able to do its job.


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## Michael Nemeth (Jul 25, 2018)

RedOctobyr said:


> I confess I didn't follow what you meant with the 2x4. Are you talking about doing something to remove the impeller shaft pulley?
> 
> 
> For terminology, the impeller shaft is the one coming forward from the engine area, then it gets to the auger gearbox, which then turns the augers (at a lower RPM). I think I know what you meant by auger pulley, but you mean the large pulley that turns the impeller shaft?
> ...



Yeah it's the big pulley on the back of the housing that spins the impeller, which then in turn spins the augers via the auger gearbox. You knew what I meant. Lol. Was watching different You Tube videos and got the 2 mixed up. I can lift the auger gear case up and down so I'm pretty sure it's that bearing behind the big pulley. I'm hoping that it comes apart easy as well, but I'm not thinking it will come apart easy. 



That electric starter, the boltholes, and the actual bolts are the remnants left behind by a bad repair made by a local hardware store here in town a few years back. I'm really kind of upset about it as it was a bad deal all the way around, and I got soaked for close to $200. Actually thinking of pulling the motor off and taking it in to a local fabrication shop here in town to get it done right to where I don't accidentally hit the crankcase as I thought the same way you did with the helicoil. Not to sure yet as I want to get it running without all the noise first before I worry too much about that, and it starts very easy via the pull start.



I'm not too fortunate to have a helper when I'd like to have one with many of my projects. So I secured a 2' 2x4 to the studs just to hold the machine safely in place with 2 ratchet straps while I separate it, and I'll have a board by the wheels too. That should make it to where I can separate it to get to that large pulley safely by myself.


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## vinnycom (Nov 6, 2017)

it seems the auger bearing is toast. if the auger pulley has play in it then bearing is done. bearings arent that expensive but u would need to do some tearing down to get to it.
if it is bad replace asap
i have a video in my sig of my bad bearing.


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## RedOctobyr (Mar 2, 2014)

The lifting the auger gear case up/down has me kind of confused. 

If the auger gearbox is actually moving up and down (not just tilting forward and back) that would make me wonder about the bushings/bearings that the auger shaft itself rides on. Those would keep the auger shaft tight, or allow it to move up/down, if really worn. But you'd also see this where the auger shaft goes into the bucket, at the left and right. 

I'm not trying to imply that you don't also have a problem with the bearing for the impeller pulley. But I'd expect that bearing to allow the impeller shaft to move up/down a little at the pulley end, making a small tilt forward/back. Not really allowing movement (rather than tilting) of the auger gearbox itself.


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## Michael Nemeth (Jul 25, 2018)

Yeah I split the machine in half and opened it up, and there was quite a bit of play with the pulley. I was unsuccessful in pulling the pulley to get to that bearing to change it. The bearings on the side that holds the augers are plastic, and worn right out. Seeing that I didn't have all the tools to get that pulley off I had a local guy that repairs them pick it up this morning to repair it. Not looking forward to the snow, but at least I'll be ready once it arrives. Thanks to all on here for your input about the issues I may have had with my machine as it's greatly appreciated. Hopefully next time it may need something I'll have the tools needed and can repair it myself. Still plan on doing some preventative maintenance things once I get it back so it'll be a good machine for another ten years as it's been a great machine for me in the UP winters for the last ten years.


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## vinnycom (Nov 6, 2017)

um, no special tools needed, a hammer worked fine for me


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## Michael Nemeth (Jul 25, 2018)

Yeah I was able to get something underneath the pulley real close to the center of it that was almost 4' long, and me nor my neighbor could get that pulley to move at all, and I didn't want to bend up the front housing either. I don't have any torches or pullers so a local guy that does great work at a fair price picked it up to repair it. Money for pullers and even a map torch just isn't in the budget at this point with the uncertainty of being able to repair it myself without running into any surprises We need a good snowblower here, and chancing it wasn't something I was willing to do.


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