Heyo, back again, warmer weather means I can get out more. So I decided to go out and pull the plate off the gear box and have a look around. The friction wheel isn't terrible, but it will need to be replaced. I tried looking around for the exact way to remove the friction wheel and so far all I can find are modern Ariens machines, mine is a '71 10962. I could probably figure it out, but if there's a video or maybe a thread I could look at, that would be even better. The way it's looking, I would have to remove the two side plates on either side of the gear box and remove the two nuts holding the shaft in place, but it still doesn't look like you can remove the wheel.

Check out Donnyboy73, he probably has a video on that.
Sid

Yeah, I caught his vid just today, but the one he's working on is much newer, you don't have to disassemble the entire friction wheel assembly like you do with mine.

Here's how you do it. There is no "how to" video really, so you'll just have to take my word for it, and also hope I explain it correct.

The best description of how to do this is to follow the owner's manual for a 10M-L35 or 10M-L60 - it is the ONLY owner's manual of a 10,000 series with the step by step instructions as to how to do this (Page 6)! More or less, these instructions are the exact same as with the 910962.

I suggest you study the following for familiarity of what you're doing here - as well as the parts manual to know what I am referring to here. I used these exact directions to teach myself how to do this. It ain't easy at all the first time you so it. But linked are the sources I used to familiarize myself with the terms as to how they relate to looking at the machine itself. It actually isn't difficult so much as very detailed. It's a 4 hour job the first time you do it.

First link is the manual, then a video that partly describes how to do this.

Here's the link to the manual (page 6) - this is an earlier series, but more or less is exactly the same as a 910962 (which I used to own myself).

http://apache.ariens.com/manuals/ST-62-I-R.pdf

And here's the video link. Again, not a step by step so much as a description. For instance he removes the left wheel...Me personally, I removed BOTH wheels and BOTH access plates.

I actually just saw that vid today, it did give me some good info, so I think I'll be able to do it. I'm gonna be replacing both tires anyway, the ones that were on it are severely weather checked and I need tires with much more aggressive tread anyway. Just making a list of things I wanna do to keep everything running smoothly for next year