Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Snowblower Problem - Runs but No Drive Wheels

So we have gotten about 2 feet of snow in MD and I was clearing my driveway yesterday with my Craftsman snowblower. Then after a good run I needed to back up so I just released the drive lever, pulled it backwards and put it in fron of the next line of snow. I pushed the lever to engage the drive wheels - nothing. Engine is running but the wheels don't move. Maybe a drive belt broke? I have never done anything but change the oil. It does not get used much in MD so I never really looked at how it works. I will go out and look at it after sunrise, but any suggestions on what's wrong and how to fix are greatly appreciated. Thanks!

I we can fix it will you bring it over and do my driveway? About 25 inches of the stuff here in Baltimore.

Seriously though, got a model number so you can find a schematic? A lot of blowers have a shear pin in the impeller shaft to prevent damage when you suck up a newspaper or something like that. Could have broken, used to have an outboard that ate them about once a season for no reason.

try a different forward gear. It will move the idler over to a different place on the drive wheel.

Guess that would make more sense than mine. I was thinking the impeller wasn't running either. Guess I get to go move my snow the old fashioned way.

Could be that Pugs, but I'd look too at the cable connections for the drive wheel engagement, doesn't take much to rust a control cable and make it snap.

Question: does the auger, ect, still turn? Or do the wheels AND the auger not move?

My snow blower has two seperate controls, one for the drive, and one for the auger.

Sorry to be vague but I'm working from memory. A few years ago my dad had what sounds like the same problem with his Craftsman blower. The auger was churning but the drive didn't work.

The part we replaced was some type of round disc with a hard rubber edge around it. The edge was worn chipped up. A little tricky to get to for novices like us, but we had it finished in a couple of hours.

Mine too, would once in a while with wet heavy snow, pack snow into the drive belt via little nooks and crannys, which would turn to ice in there and render it useless until it thawed out.........

Thanks for the quick replys. I know a model number would help. I was just in the basement looking for the owners manual. No luck so far. My snowblower does have two seperate controls for the auger and the blower. I did look at the cable where it enters into the body of the snowblower. The cable does not appear broken or disconnected. I did try other gears and none of them worked. If I need a part I am out of luck for the day as I need to finish getting the rest of the snow out this morning if possible. I was hoping for a belt that slipped off or something. Guess I will know more when I pull off the cover. I assume there is a cover - any ideas on what to pull off?

Does the auger turn or is it quit too?

Not really familiar with a Craftsman, mine's a Yard Pro, but they are all built pretty much the same.

Should be a tin cover plate, 4 or 6 small bolts/screws, that covers the underside of the transaxle.

Removing it should expose the belts......

Got a warm(er) garage to get it inside?

Not sure on the auger. Can't check until some one else is up and ready to go outside since I can't hold the engagement lever and look at the auger at the same time.

Grab a chunk of wire, or duct tape, and hold the lever down for the auger long enough to look.......

First I need to get to the garage and pull out the snowblower. Guess I need to pull out the old snow shovel - need to dig out just to get to the snow blower.

Tip it forward onto the auger housing so you can access the lower panel that covers the guts.

As mentioned there should be 4-6 bolts to remove the plate and I'm guessing more than likely you need to replace the belt. As someone else mentioned you should look at the donut looking thing that goes against a friction plate also.

First, I'd check the cables from the levers to the wheels. They can get loose, especially if you don't use it much.

Second, I don't know your set up, but on the axles, mine has pins, that can and do break off. They'll keep the axles from turning if they break, but the engine will work fine.

If it your auger that won't work....almost guaranteed that it's a shear pin on the auger drive. Easy to change most of the time, and if it's been sitting around, could become brittle, and break pretty easy. Just find the busted one, punch it out, and replace.

Good luck.

My Honda has done the same thing after 12 years of no problems. Took it out of the shed, started, to let it warm up, engaged the auger, no problems, blades turned fine. Then moved the trans selector lever from neutral to drive, selected a forward gear and depressed the clutch lever. It lunged forward about 6 inches and stopped. Now, no forward and no reverse. Trans entirely seperate from the auger.

I did notice mice jump out from the blower as I free wheeled it from the shed. The hydraulic clutch oil was a little low in its resvoir. Wind chill has been around the minus mark for the last 2 weeks so haven't had a chance to look at the hose to see if the mouse had chewed a hole. Honda wants 80.00 just to look at it to determine the problem.

Ken

If it's a belt only problem it could be that it dry rotted from not being used much as he mentioned, and it broke.

If the belt is still healthy, and the snow he got up there is the same wet/heavy stuff that we got here from the same storm, then I'd be thinking that he has hard packed snow, and/or ice built up in the guts. I ran mine without the cover for just that reason. Got sick of the drive quitting.....

Sounds like a belt for the drive is broke or worn out.
Got mine going the other day and put a new drive disc in and tightened up the drive belt. Works good. Did the other neighbors sidewalk. Scruffy came over again but hell will hafta freeze over before I help him out. 3" more tonight and 6" for Xmas eve.

It's been mentioned above, but the first check I'd make is where the cable connects to your engagement lever. Mine has a threaded adjustable connection so you can adjust the tension on the cable. It has a bad habit of coming loose, unthreading, and leaving too much slack. That's what happened to me yesterday. Make sure that connection is adjusted properly and the lock nut is tight on it. That's a 3 minute operation before going into tearing the underside apart.... The next check I'd make is the auger shear pin. They're made to break and you probably got an extra one or two when you bought the blower in the first place. Good luck - my folks (from Northern PA) and in-laws (from Cleveland) are having a good time at our expense - 17" here in southern PA.

Silver, I just had the same thing happen. The spring that keeps tension on the idler arm slipped out of its detent on mine. Turn the blower on its side (catch any gas) and if you see a spring dangling, that's it.

To fix it, remove the plastic housing between the engine and the auger. Then LOOSEN (do not remove) the two bolts at the bottom of the engine compartment. The blower will now open like a clam, exposing the belt drives. Prop it open with a brick or shunk of wood. (You'll have to fiddle with one of the cables but the fixed plate just slips out.) From there, it's simple to stretch the spring and snap it back into its detent. Reassemble in reverse order. You may have to fiddle with the cable again, and also with the plastic housing to get them to go back into place.