# DOES Donuts



## jfmill2016 (12 mo ago)

Hi I'm new here ,,I have a ST227P husqvarna seems to want to do donuts ,One wheel moves while the other stays still or moves very little ,,Sems when I apply the brakes both wheels spin ,,,Makes no since to me Any suggestions ? On the problem 

Thanks All 
Nice to be here


----------



## dr bob (Dec 12, 2015)

Welcome to Snowblowerforum!

I danced with a similar symptom when one of the little planetary gearboxes in the steering/drive decided to lock up. My own spellbinding saga on the diagnosis and repair starts at about post 48 in my "ST227P Running Blog" thread in this forum.

Distilled, the little needle bearings in that little planetary box were not lubricated, and one side failed completely and "locked up" on the steering shaft. Husqvarna doesn't show any of the internals as replaceable, but the individual needle bearings had part numbers on the shells. I ordered a full set from Amazon, plus a new steering shaft from an online Husqvarna parts outfit. Bearings came fast, shaft was a month or two later. I dressed the damaged shaft with a file to get the machine back in service, actually lubricated the bearings and planets in the little planetary box, reassembled and finished the season. 

The bearing numbers and the narrative description are in that thread. Another nearby ST227P owner contributed a link to a video explaining the drive box pieces. Anyway, the core info is in that thread, and if that doesn't make sense post back here and I'll share what I can. A couple-three seasons later now, and I'm starting to hear the same noises that got my attention before my own episode, so I'll likely be back in there soon to clean and re-grease all those little moving bits in there.

Look at ----









ST227P Running Blog


Forecast calling for more snow tonight (2/26/2019). My golf projections are way off now with the cold temps, this is not going to melt off anytime soon. LOL... I feel yer pain. Only two seasons in these parts and one of em is frequently a heck of lot longer than it should be! :angry:




www.snowblowerforum.com


----------



## jfmill2016 (12 mo ago)

Thanks Bob 
I 
Live in Maine and we got dumped on Saturday,,,,,,with more snow expected ,,I'm going to take it apart today and go from there I just replced the bearing in the auger last month ,,I did notice that the tension shaft spring was rusted and broke on the motor so I need to purchase that also ,,sorry I'm not up on the tech terms for parts plus the drive ca le needs work as well as the line for the steering 
John


----------



## BullFrog (Oct 14, 2015)

delete


----------



## dr bob (Dec 12, 2015)

Hi John --

Sounds like a fun bit of work in the middle of snow season.

I'll be back into the drive box in the spring to re-lube those little gear units, and will try and get some video of the process. As I shared in the blog postings, the symptoms started out with what sounded like a stretched roller chain running on worn sprockets. It's a combination of the bull gears on the axles engaging the little pinions on the gear units, and some internal noise where the lubrication is gone from the little planet gears inside. There's no provision for sealing in the grease in the gear case where the little gears live, nor for keeping grease in the 3 needle bearing assemblies. Husqvarna claims that they are "lifetime lubricated", something I might contest. The little gears were spinning inside in pockets in what looked like pink wax or soap, telling me that the real lubricating fluid had already left the building. The needle bearings need grease on assembly, something the workers would have needed to do. Husqvarna further warns against lubricating anything in the drive box. I understand that they don't want to risk grease on the friction drive and rubber tire in there, but also see effects of not having anything at all there on the exposed gears. Compromise was a thin application of thick red Redline synthetic CV grease for me (something in the arsenal already), with no ill effects a year or two later. I pulled the drive box cover after a few hours of use, and again when I installed the new steering shaft, and found no grease splatter except on the bottom cover itself. I'll be posting the update/service info to the blog thread when I do it in the spring.


----------



## jfmill2016 (12 mo ago)

Well hmmmm looks like l need two planetary gears and cables looks like some one pryed the gears with a screw driver ,,,,No one did though ,,,,,I also have to replace the drive cable .....steering cable .....I just ordered a bunch of things .I will let you know how it goes 
John


----------



## Northeast Dave (Apr 29, 2020)

Good luck on your repair, if you have any questions just post them, we have plenty of help here ready to lend a hand, well, provide some insight.
I'll admit, _DOES Donuts _had me intrigued, thought it was some new feature that I needed, maybe does coffee would be better.


----------



## dr bob (Dec 12, 2015)

jfmill2016 said:


> Well hmmmm looks like l need two planetary gears and cables looks like some one pryed the gears with a screw driver ,,,,No one did though ,,,,,I also have to replace the drive cable .....steering cable .....I just ordered a bunch of things .I will let you know how it goes
> John


The "looks like some one pried the gears with a screw driver" description tells me that the outboard (closest to the wheels) bearing has failed. That leaves the little planet gears inside the bigger (closer to center) end holding the outer shell, and with the small end unsupported it will no longer be concentric with the steering shaft.

Unless the gears inside are chewed up, the little planetary drives get cleaned, new needle bearings go in, and everything gets new grease on assembly and installation. The little planetary boxes were about $150/each last time I looked (a few years ago now) so the idea of replacing just the damaged needle bearings for less than $10 for each of the gear boxes was very appealing. Plus I could get the bearings in a day or two via Amazon Prime, while hard parts from Husqvarna were taking weeks at best.

The needle bearings come as needles somewhat grease-captive in a steel shell cage. Old cage comes out with a screwdriver or drift and a little tapping. New one goes back in with a little pressure in a bench vise. Three bearings per gear box. The maintenance and parts manuals don't show the pieces in the little gear boxes separately, nor do they show any service (lubrication) needed. I should have but didn't invest the time in making a quick video of the service process the first time or the second time, but will try to do that the next/third time this coming spring when the effort is PM rather than a hurried rescue effort during a snow event. Know that the complete effort to do the repair was less than two hours including the damage discovery, and repair processes once I had the replacement bearings in hand. 

In my use pattern, it looks like this service needs to be done no less often than every couple years.


----------



## jfmill2016 (12 mo ago)

Hi everyone, I'm going to need coffee and donuts for this job Besides the planetary gears crapping out ,,,the steering and speed cables went the idle spring went ,,,and last month the auger shaft bearring went .......My door yard is harsh on this st227p. Time maybe to upgrade on a riding snowblower ..I have a huge parking lot I do every time it snows ....The husqvarna is on 5 yrs old looks like 15 yes old 

John


----------



## dr bob (Dec 12, 2015)

Generic -- 
Leaving any equipment outdoors and exposed will dramatically accelerate the normal age-related deterioration. Keeping it dry and out of the elements will help a lot. Rust and rodents are the scourge of OPE sitting outside under a tarp, unfortunately. "Rode hard and put away wet" is another recipe for an early death.

FWIW, I'm regularly amazed that some folks keep $100 in garage-sale junk in the garage and keep their $many-thousands cars outside in the driveway. Same applies to our $1k+ OPE, just on a different scale.

---

In my ST227P blog thread I show how relatively easy it is to change that impellor shaft bearing. The auger drive cable is way easy to replace while the front is broken down. The chute steering is similar, although you get to disassemble the top pivot to get the new cable in. The drive speed and engage cables are more easily accessed via the drive box with cover removed. Drain the oil and fuel out before you start this, and you can safely lay the rear section face-down for easiest access while the front is completely disconnected. You'll be in there for the maintenance and bearings in the little planetary boxes anyway, so worth the effort to do it all at once.


----------



## HillnGullyRider (Feb 9, 2014)

dr bob said:


> The "looks like some one pried the gears with a screw driver" description tells me that the outboard (closest to the wheels) bearing has failed. That leaves the little planet gears inside the bigger (closer to center) end holding the outer shell, and with the small end unsupported it will no longer be concentric with the steering shaft.
> 
> Unless the gears inside are chewed up, the little planetary drives get cleaned, new needle bearings go in, and everything gets new grease on assembly and installation. The little planetary boxes were about $150/each last time I looked (a few years ago now) so the idea of replacing just the damaged needle bearings for less than $10 for each of the gear boxes was very appealing. Plus I could get the bearings in a day or two via Amazon Prime, while hard parts from Husqvarna were taking weeks at best.
> 
> ...


Does anyone know the reduction ratio on those planetary gears? Does the 400 series have bigger ones or are they all the same?


----------



## jfmill2016 (12 mo ago)

HI , Dr Bob mines parked in the garage it takes a beating from my parking lot my parking lot is 35 by 60 ft ,,I think it's time for a riding blower 
John


----------



## dr bob (Dec 12, 2015)

Hi John --

My driveway is bigger than your lot by half again, plus I clear at least three other driveways and the private road that serves them. I freely admit that I chose a residential-class machine and ask it to do something closer to commercial class work. At the time we bought it, it wasn't yet clear that some of my senior neighbors were getting older each year. Commercial snow clearing contractors charge $75-150 per visit for the various driveway sizes. Ours is one of the biggest. So long as I can do ours and take care of the nearby neighbors and the street, I will. Our $800 investment in late 2014 plus about $50/yr in spares, fuel and oil, has easily paid for itself. That it has taken some extra-level care the last couple years is somewhat expected, especially considering the extra duty. My garage/workbay is climate-controlled at about 60º in the winter, keeping RH really low especially with the altitude here. The gear dries off pretty quickly. We don't have salt to deal with as some other locations do, and since I clear our end of the street we don't have to deal with EOD piles.

The damage you report to control cables is a bit of a head-scratcher. The drive and auger cables get regular use, as does the chute steering. I guess the two drive-steering cables do too. Early in their life they got dosed with silicone spray, and at least so far they/'ve done fine. Only exception has been the little interlock cable for the auger drive, which needed to be dried out and re-lubricated. I did lubricate the trunnion carrier for the speed control where it slides on the hex part of that shaft. I also grease the base of the upper chute so it rotates super easily. This stuff is part of the spring pre-storage prep now, so by the time we see snow in the fall everything is ready to go again. Probably less than a day all in, doing the PM tasks and mid-season spot repairs.


----------



## dr bob (Dec 12, 2015)

HillnGullyRider said:


> Does anyone know the reduction ratio on those planetary gears? Does the 400 series have bigger ones or are they all the same?


I don't know the ratio. The 200 and later 300 series appear to use the same drive boxes. The earlier 300 and the current 400 series are hydrostatic drive rather than the friction-wheel drive we enjoy with the 200 series machines. Mechanically, the little gearboxes are hardly a weak spot. They do suffer from lack of maintenance and lubrication though. The design doesn't offer a way to keep grease in the bearings or the gear space. It's not particularly difficult to service them, but the fact that I have to do it so often due to the lack of seals is a bit annoying. But it's what we have, and it isn't yet serious enough for me to buy up to a commercial-class hydro drive machine. New machines are hard to find, and the ones out there are priced pretty high. Half an hour of work and some cleaning in the drive box each year isn't that tough after the first time.


----------



## jfmill2016 (12 mo ago)

No idea


----------



## jfmill2016 (12 mo ago)

Anyone know about a 1969 international harvester cub cadet 125 riding mower and snowblower ....Just checking I have one that was my father's and I'm going to fixer up


----------



## dr bob (Dec 12, 2015)

jfmill2016 said:


> Anyone know about a 1969 international harvester cub cadet 125 riding mower and snowblower ....Just checking I have one that was my father's and I'm going to fixer up


Post a new thread on your new project in the General Discussion section. It will get a lot more attention there.


----------

