# Ariens 910995 Clutch Lever



## Kielbasa (Dec 21, 2013)

Hi guys, 
Anyone have an idea why the clutch lever would pop out and drop down obviously stopping the augers and impeller from turning? For some reason, that is what is happening with my machine. 
Could it possibly be too much tension on the belt?


----------



## Normex (Feb 21, 2014)

Kielbasa said:


> Anyone have an idea why the clutch lever would pop out and drop down obviously stopping the augers and impeller from turning?


 I'm afraid we might more specifics one the pop out and drop down and some pics if available?


----------



## Geno (Nov 29, 2011)

If I recall- Don't you have a early Ariens? (or was it JD)- If two levers then 'maybe' the clutch lever isn't staying in place due to weak or off spring? I don't recall for sure, but think the clutch lever has a spring to it ?.. Others may know- but need the blower detail.


----------



## Harry (Nov 14, 2014)

Keilbasa,

I had the same thing occurring on my 10m5. To make a short story long, I'll tell you the steps that I took.

1. replaced the 50 year old clutch lever spring - no joy $15 dollars 
2. replaced the belt - sure needed it but didn't help however...
3. when I was changing the belt I noticed the idler pulley bearing had a TON of play
4. I replaced the pulley and tightened the arm down so it aligned with the sheave and all is good.

Hope this helps!

Harry


----------



## Kielbasa (Dec 21, 2013)

I replaced the spring in 2011
I upgraded to a 1/2" wide belt when I repowered in 2011

I will check the pulley, but I am (almost).......... sure that it is okay.


----------



## Geno (Nov 29, 2011)

Didn't replace belt again recently did you? If did, maybe size smaller and lever not traveling over pivot point enough.. that's just a 'long' shot and then not sure it would apply. I,m really scratching my head on this one. Strange it would just start doing it unless something wore bad or broke.. Keep us posted what you find.


----------



## Kielbasa (Dec 21, 2013)

Here is what I tried this afternoon. 

I checked the tensioner idler pulley bearing. It is tight. No slop. Believe it or not, I spray lube it every summer. The bracket that the pulley is mounted to does go back and forth, meaning say to the front of the machine and to the back. It has always done that since I can remember. 

I started the machine and lifted the lever. Everything seemed to be turning okay. I dropped the lever and the belt did it's usual slight hop and the fingers kept the belt from jumping off. 

I even took the machine and bounced the bucket on the ground and shook the machine side to side. No let go of the lever. I even moved the bracket holding the pulley back and forth and no let go. 

The tension does not seem to be too tight. 

Now when I repowered her. The new engines shaft alignment is just like the old Tecumsehs. Same height, length and everything. I did change over to a 1/2" belt from a 3/8". Same 2 1/2" diameter sheave. I bought the same length belt in 1/2" but it was too tight with the tensioner pulley ajusted all the way out. The augers would still slightly turn. So I went 1/2" longer with the belt. It was fine. When I let off the tension. The augers slow down and the belt acts just the way it should with the fingers keeping the belt in place. 

Now about two years ago during a heavy wet storm, I swear that she wasn't throwing that far. So I checked the tensioner pulley. I swear it was where it was when I repowered her. Because I marked it. But When I did check the belt for tension with the tension on, I could spin the belt, so I moved the pulley over. It is just about all the way over. My first thought was that the belt stretched, but I took the belt off and compared it to a new belt and they were the same.


----------



## Kielbasa (Dec 21, 2013)

I had no problems with the lever during yesterdays storm. While I was glad, it still leaves me dumb founded. Makes no sense.


----------



## rnaude241 (Nov 24, 2013)

What Chute is that? I'd like to mod my 10000 series to a higher chute, the snow piles this year are getting hard to throw over stock.


----------



## Kielbasa (Dec 21, 2013)

It's a 15" chute that came off of a 8/24 machine I believe. I am not sure of the part number, sorry. I bought it from a used Ariens part guy. Over this past summer I used the original 11" chute that my machine came with and I fit it to the upper part of the 15" chute. I gained a length of about 7" or so. It does **** pretty well. It is basically an experiment.


----------



## Saewoody (Nov 7, 2013)

Kielbasa said:


> I had no problems with the lever during yesterdays storm. While I was glad, it still leaves me dumb founded. Makes no sense.


I can't fully picture the original description you gave, but it may be possible that something froze up. I've been out in the same storms as you; they have been cold and I'm sure you were out there a while. I have something in my drive mechanism that I believe freezes up in between uses. Usually it only takes one or two squeezes of the drive lever to engage for the first time, but just tonight I went to clear a path and my drive would not engage at any speed. Of course, once I got down on the garage floor and pulled the bottom panel it was engaging. I think the mechanism had froze. Everything worked fine after that.


----------



## Kielbasa (Dec 21, 2013)

I always leave the 2 knuckles engaged and use the tensioner pulley lever as needed for engaging the augers. I do not like that slapping of the knuckles when they need to find the correct spot to engage. And if I do need to separate them, I always keep them aligned so that when I do need to engage them they will fit in to each other with no slapping............... so to speak. 

There could have been some kind of build as you mention. I did leave her out in the sun for about an hour yesterday to melt what ever snow was left on her from the previous storm, So we will see how she operates during the next storm. 

I am getting some snow falling down the chute towards the belt cover when the defector is turned down all the way. I never recall this happening when using the original deflector, I might have to do a little trouble shooting and see if the original deflector is designed the same way.


----------



## Shryp (Jan 1, 2011)

Kielbasa said:


> I am getting some snow falling down the chute towards the belt cover when the defector is turned down all the way. I never recall this happening when using the original deflector, I might have to do a little trouble shooting and see if the original deflector is designed the same way.


I have used a late 70s and an early 80s, both with the short chutes, and can say then when pointed down more snow that I like will shoot out past that gap in the back. I have heard of people fabricating a little flap back there to cover that gap. A chute liner that goes up towards the deflector would help.


----------



## Kielbasa (Dec 21, 2013)

Back to having the lever popping out and dropping down on me again. 

No sooner than putting the augers in gear, the handle is dropping down on me. 

I have no clue on what is going on here. I had to tie a piece of rope around the two bars to keep the handle from dropping down. I hated to do that because I am not a fan of doing things like this. Meaning making something work against it's will. 

I want to say that I did lube these parts/area over the summer when I did the maintenance. Maybe that was a mistake? 

Was there more than one type of spring for this lever? Could the spring be too strong? Or maybe the parts guy gave me the incorrect spring? 

This has to get resolved.


----------



## ctdave (Sep 11, 2015)

Kielbasa said:


> Back to having the lever popping out and dropping down on me again.
> 
> No sooner than putting the augers in gear, the handle is dropping down on me.
> 
> ...


I had the same prob on my 910954 tractor and 910995 32"bucket when the original 7 hp tech engine gave up and I put a 5hp b&s tiller engine that I had as replacement (same shaft height). the auger handle would pop down as soon as I started to use it. same spring ,and I always put a little lube on the pivoting points. should be one or both of these two issues. not sure which one solved the auger handle from popping down ,as I did both at the same time but it did fix it and I went through all last winter without any problem with all the snow we had.... 1). the belt is just a little to tight even though it seems right. I decreased the tension on the belt just a little thinking it would be to loose.. and 2). the rpm is just a tad to fast. (I lowered the rpm a very small amount). again this fixed it for me, weather it was the combination of the 2 or just one I don't know for sure. but it did fix it and I have not had that issue again..................the only thing I did before this happened was to swap the engine. same mounting holes, just used longer bolts where the studs were, same engine sheeve off the original tech engine, same spring , same belt ect..


----------



## Plugger49 (Mar 6, 2015)

Referring to Kielbasa's mention of over lubing. Does anyone know the answer to his question? Also-when I had the bottom cover off,greasing the chain etc.,I put some lithium grease on the ends of two round parts (they drive the auger shaft). Will a little grease make them slip,when they engage to each other? Or is this harmless. Mine is a Ariens 910995 model.


----------



## Plugger49 (Mar 6, 2015)

No one can help me on this?


----------



## ctdave (Sep 11, 2015)

Plugger49 said:


> No one can help me on this?


if you are talking about the two cast iron pieces that the shaft locks into to drive the auger, when you engage the lever, then yes you should grease them


----------



## Plugger49 (Mar 6, 2015)

Thank you cadave.


----------



## bad69cat (Nov 30, 2015)

I wonder if somehow there is enough heat before the snow enters a pulley area somehow and starts to build up and throw things off....? just thinking out loud here...


----------



## Geno (Nov 29, 2011)

*plugger..*

Grease those cogs that interlock real good. also get some oil down in the shaft that the cog slides on.


----------



## Kielbasa (Dec 21, 2013)

I always lube them Geno. In fact I always leave them engaged because when you go to engage them, they always give a snapping type sound where they sound like they are slamming together and I do not like that. So my resolve is to just leave them engaged. But again, I always grease them to help that slapping against each other. Plus I think it is less force on everything to avoid a problem down the road. Of course if I have to, I disengage them.


----------



## Geno (Nov 29, 2011)

I use to do the same Greg.. That snap sound always concerned me that I'd break one of the cog's off. Easier just to leave engaged. On your lever popping out- Did you go with bigger pulley on engine? could it be idler pulley riding too close to the pulley then?


----------



## jtclays (Sep 24, 2010)

Shryp said:


> I have used a late 70s and an early 80s, both with the short chutes, and can say then when pointed down more snow that I like will shoot out past that gap in the back. I have heard of people fabricating a little flap back there to cover that gap. A chute liner that goes up towards the deflector would help.


I had the same issue when I got my 924038 running with the fat short chute. Very annoying how much back feeds through when you want to throw low. I initially stuffed a piece of 2" square foam in there and liked the results (if anybody remembers window air conditioners and the piece of foam that came with it to stick in the window, or the foam some older cars had under the plastic over the radiator). It did however hold water and freeze. I eventually used some packing foam (does not absorb water) with double sided tape on one side up into the chute deflector when removed and placed back on. It's flexible enough to fill the void at all positions and it has lasted. If you store it outside, I doubt it would work as well. Our garage is finished and insulated, but not heated. Stays above freezing especially when the cars are parked after running. I doubt it's a 10 year fix, but it's pretty cheap and easy to replace. It will last until I modify it with a tall chute.


----------



## ctdave (Sep 11, 2015)

jtclays said:


> I had the same issue when I got my 924038 running with the fat short chute. Very annoying how much back feeds through when you want to throw low. I initially stuffed a piece of 2" square foam in there and liked the results (if anybody remembers window air conditioners and the piece of foam that came with it to stick in the window, or the foam some older cars had under the plastic over the radiator). It did however hold water and freeze. I eventually used some packing foam (does not absorb water) with double sided tape on one side up into the chute deflector when removed and placed back on. It's flexible enough to fill the void at all positions and it has lasted. If you store it outside, I doubt it would work as well. Our garage is finished and insulated, but not heated. Stays above freezing especially when the cars are parked after running. I doubt it's a 10 year fix, but it's pretty cheap and easy to replace. It will last until I modify it with a tall chute.


I took an old 5 gallon homer bucket and cut a strip from the center that would be long enough to go over (around) the shute and be able to put the 3 deflector bolts through, and just a few inches wide. I then put it in the oven at around 150 deg to soften it. I then formed it over the bottom part of the shute and wedged the deflector over it, and put it back in the oven so it would mold to the shape, with the curve at the top so the deflector could be moved up or down freely. only need a small portion to actually cover the gap between the shute and deflector,so there is no "blowback". after it cooled I drilled the holes for the deflector bolts cut off the excess and mounted back on the blower .works great


----------



## Kielbasa (Dec 21, 2013)

Hi guys, I had some time to trouble shoot this today. 

I took the belt cover off and I started the machine. I ran her at half throttle. I engaged the idler pulley. She did not pop out of engagement. But I did notice that the idler pulley is sitting a bit crooked when she is engaged. So I turned the throttle up to full speed, she popped right out. 

Now I played around with that idler arm. It is pretty sloppy going left to right near the mounting bolt down below. When I engaged her again, I held the idler arm with my finger at the bottom right to keep everything aligned straight. She wouldn't pop out.

You can see in the photo (bottom center) that there is a little silver mark on the tractor body from it rubbing. 



So I am guessing that because there is sloppiness to the idler arm, it is causing my problem. The only thing that I can say is, I remember it being like this since I started taking care of her. How much play, if any is suppose to be in that arm?

I see in the parts manual that there is a (bearing spacer) and a (shoulder spacer). Do you think one or both of these could be causing this by being worn down or worn out? I want to say that I tried years ago to either tighten or loosen that bolt and I could not budge it so I must have thought that everything was okay. Plus I remember that you have to get at it through the hole in the driven sheave, correct? 

Has anyone had to resolve this problem before? 

Thanks, Kielbasa


----------



## Kielbasa (Dec 21, 2013)

Just an update. I spent a couple of hours on her Tuesday afternoon. I cracked her in half and got a so/so view on where and how the idler arm is mounted to the tractor body behind the driven sheave. There is a hole about 1 1/4" (+-) in size in the driven sheave right up against the inside edge of the belt groove. When I looked at the position of that hole when I positioned it over the cap screw, it was slightly off center. So I had to use a dremel tool to slightly elongate the hole to get the socket on to the head. No big deal or any harm done.

I fooled with the idler arm to try and figure out what is going on. By jiggling the arm side to side and sort of up and down, I noticed there is sloppiness around the mounting hole. Now weather any sloppiness is supposed to be there, is the BIG question. 

The cap screw was a bit loose. I was going to just take the idler arm off to see what was going on, but then I said, maybe the cap screw just got loose over the past 45 years, because obviously no one has been able to check it. So I tightened it up fairly snug. But when I went to try the lever, it was way... too tight where the lever would not drop down smoothly or freely. So I it backed off to where the lever dropped freely, but not sloppy side to side.

When I put the machine back together and I checked the alignment, everything lined up nice and straight. Then I started her and engaged the lever, but in about 10 seconds, the lever dropped down again. SOAB. No progress. 

Now I question where tolerances are supposed be with the idler arm and so forth. I wonder if just the shoulder spacer behind the arm is worn. I would have taken the arm completely off, but before I did, I wanted to try the process of elimination. 

On a positive side, what I did notice was that the machine sounded a lot better. No metal type hitting or looseness kind of noises. Just engine sound. 

So as of now, I am pointing the trouble at the possibility of having wear to the shoulder spacer with maybe some wear in the mounting hole of the idler arm.

I did make a call to the dealer where the tech told me that he would stop by after work when he gets a chance, just to see what I am dealing with.


----------



## Kielbasa (Dec 21, 2013)

JT and CT, I like those ideas... When I read them, I thought of possibly using a car door or possibly a trunk seal where it would slip over the end and edge of the deflector. But I wonder if that amount of material would slow down the exiting snow? :icon_scratch:


----------



## Ziggy65 (Jan 18, 2020)

Kielbasa said:


> Just an update. I spent a couple of hours on her Tuesday afternoon. I cracked her in half and got a so/so view on where and how the idler arm is mounted to the tractor body behind the driven sheave. There is a hole about 1 1/4" (+-) in size in the driven sheave right up against the inside edge of the belt groove. When I looked at the position of that hole when I positioned it over the cap screw, it was slightly off center. So I had to use a dremel tool to slightly elongate the hole to get the socket on to the head. No big deal or any harm done.
> 
> I fooled with the idler arm to try and figure out what is going on. By jiggling the arm side to side and sort of up and down, I noticed there is sloppiness around the mounting hole. Now weather any sloppiness is supposed to be there, is the BIG question.
> 
> ...


Kielbasa

Did you ever solve the issue? My 10000 series has a lot of play in the idler arm where the bolt holds the bracket on. I have not had any issues with it popping out, but the idler wheel does look a little cockeyed.










Wondering where is the best place to get a replacement spring for the idler arm/clutch handle? 
Do you knowthe Ariens part #?
Thanks


----------



## Dusty (Dec 13, 2018)

Kielbasa said:


> JT and CT, I like those ideas... When I read them, I thought of possibly using a car door or possibly a trunk seal where it would slip over the end and edge of the deflector. But I wonder if that amount of material would slow down the exiting snow? :icon_scratch:


When I I repowered my 10,000 series I was having the same issue, the lever was dropping down. The cause was the added power and vibration of the new engine. It has for more torque and vibration than the original 7hp Tecumseh engine had. I simply added a thin washer in between the lever and the post where the lever bolt goes thru to hold the lever on. It acts as a shim and tightens it just a bit more, after that I never had an issue with it dropping again.


----------



## Dusty (Dec 13, 2018)

Ziggy65 said:


> Kielbasa
> 
> Did you ever solve the issue? My 10000 series has a lot of play in the idler arm where the bolt holds the bracket on. I have not had any issues with it popping out, but the idler wheel does look a little cockeyed.
> 
> ...


You wont have to worry about it, yours has the original engine. That lever dropping down is caused by people who repowered their machines with bigger engines. They vibrate a lot more and it was causing them to drop down. If happened to mine to after I repowered. The fix is simple, take a thin washer, add it between the lever and the post where the bolt goes thru, it acts as a shim, stopping the lever from dropping, hasn't dropped since on mine. Under normal circumstances your lever is supposed to have some wiggle to it, thats normal, nothing to be concerned with.


----------

