We appreciate the support Mary Lyn. Ariens has lots of friends here. Hopefully, with your help, the members with auto-turn issues can get them solved.

 

I performed this chute-to-body re-alignment on my MTD machine this morning. It was identical to the Ariens machine pictured in the video I can't believe the adjustment was so quick/simple I've been wrestling with that thru 6 yrs of ownership. Aligning the skids now is child's play. Machine now sits square on the ground for the first time.

2015/Ariens/Plat24SHO/AX369

Consistently chewed-up the right-side skid on a hastily set-up blower.
Wrenched all week. Full Monte season prep including scraper and poly skids.
The DIY Poly skids slid over bone dry blacktop like dull skates on an ice rink after doing
the whole square-'n-leveling the business end to the chassis.
No data to share on Poly Skid wear as yet. I think they're going to make any snow blowing this season fun.

 

i have found my new 921030 to handle not much differently than my old 1985 924 with only one wheel locked in. is it perfect? probably not but way better than the shovels i have.

 

Thanks for taking your time to help out. Its a friendly forum. I'm only a half hour from Brillion but never been there in my life time. I here its a nice town.

My Platinum 30 with only about 6 hours on it, is just working wonderful. The 414cc is amazing.

I never needed to do the adjustments that you posted here. I just put on your poly skids using thick piece of cardboard for a spacer under the scraper.

Its hard to describe, but it works like a straight axle when going straight and then a split axle when turning. It is easy to forget about it entirely and just go about the task of blowing snow.

Don't be a stranger, I think there may be a few questions brewing.

Ken

 

That's a great video. Did the presenter make mention how critical tire pressure would be when performing this adjustment

My MTD machine has this problem, the front housing is not square with the rest of the machine and I don't know how to adjust it....it wasn't assembled quite right, I gather. It's a REAL nuisance when trying to get the scraper blade adjusted so it's shaving uniformly when the machine is in motion

 

That's a great video. Did the presenter make mention how critical tire pressure would be when performing this adjustment

I agree. I did this adjustment to mine during the initial setup after taking delivery this past winter. The first thing I did was to make sure I had the same amount of pressure in both tires. If you don't, you'll have a hard time getting it aligned properly. I simply approached it with a little common sense and was able to do this exact same procedure last year. That's the nice thing about taking delivery with it still in the crate, nobody has touched it yet and you can make sure everything's properly setup/aligned before it even gets gas.

 

Why do we have to adjust the housing when it is a brand new machine? I had no idea about this and haven't had enough snow to try out my adjustment and my new "larger" skids I put on in an effort to help the situation with the auto-turn wanting to pull this way or that. My right skid was so worn down after only about 3 hours of use that it was ready to be turned over again! With as many people on this site that seem to be experiencing problems, I hope this video corrects everyones problems because if it doesn't, Ariens may want to consider a change or some sort of update to the machines. I have the Platinum 24, 2014 model.

 

Why do we have to adjust the housing when it is a brand new machine? I had no idea about this and haven't had enough snow to try out my adjustment and my new "larger" skids I put on in an effort to help the situation with the auto-turn wanting to pull this way or that. My right skid was so worn down after only about 3 hours of use that it was ready to be turned over again!

Yeah, you shouldn't have to correct this....should have been checked before the machine was delivered to you. But, with minimum wage workers, and a less-than-concerned attitude, you know what can happen

Your steel skid should last quite a while. That rate of wear is extreme.

I would definitely check the squareness of your machine on a flat surface and adjusted tire pressures, reset your scraper clearance.

 

I performed this chute-to-body re-alignment on my MTD machine this morning. It was identical to the Ariens machine pictured in the video I can't believe the adjustment was so quick/simple I've been wrestling with that thru 6 yrs of ownership. Aligning the skids now is child's play. Machine now sits square on the ground for the first time.

 

Ariens, can your engineers look at the auto turn feature? It's easy to turn the machine around at the end of the driveway, but it is annoying at times going down the driveway. The machine hits a little resistance on 1 side and it unlocks a wheel making it start to turn or fishtail.

Can you guys add a lock out feature to the auto turn? Or at least make it less sensitive. I find the platinum 30 machine I just bought somewhat difficult to snowblow going straight down the driveway. Personally, I won't purchase another with this current auto turn feature. I just don't care for it.

Is there a way to adjust it to make it less sensitive? The fish tailing is annoying!
Thanks.

 

You are not alone with the problem of fishtailing, whatever name we give the problem it boils down to sharply going off course to the left, or right as the case may be, and after you straighten it out it almost immediately it happens again. Requiring the operator to make constant forced course corrections. A process which grows tiresome rather quickly. It's more problematic for some then others as asphalt surface conditions and compacted snow play a large part in just how bad it can get. Down hill, as in my case can be especially trying to deal with.

I switched to the Ariens brand plastic type of skid which at 1st blush seems to have mitigated the problem somewhat. The jury is still out though, I need more snowstorm time to see what difference they really make. Perhaps if you were to try the plastic type skids we could compare notes.

 

I'm tempted to modify the skids and install small bearings on a shaft welded to the skids. This would act as steel wheels that won't wear out but simply roll down the driveway or sidewalk.
Years ago my uncle put a set on my dads snowbird machine. That home made steel bearing skid out lasted the machine. When I junked that then 35-ish old machine I should have pulled the wheels off of it. It would look great on the Ariens...

 

I had made a call and talked to tech dept at ariens. I will say Im impressed with customer service with who I spoke to.i told him my experience which is only one time.they are sending poly skids for me to try .which I had ordered armour skids but havent received them yet.if we ever get some more snow il try both out.i am hoping skids will be the cure for my problem.

 

Throttlejunkie450, who did you talk with at Ariens support?

 

U can carry out a live chat on their web site, I talked to Richard a few times, he was very helpful.

 

I will concur with what throttlejunkie450 said. I've contacted Ariens a few times regarding different topics and every time they have been a pleasure to work with and talk to.

 

On Ariens online chat support I have talked with Joy, Greg and Richard. On the phone just Richard. They were very professional customer service pros.

 

I chatted with Joy today and she was able to help me with the retainer clip for the chute rotation handle.

 

I chatted with Richard an spoke to a brian .brad brett something like that lol sorry cant remember

 

I've never done the chat thing, because of the time difference, but I've used the ask a question feature several times and have always received a reply the next business day.

 

Yesterday I got a response from Richard on the Ariens tech question site.

I was told to watch the video and double check the machine level / square / and tire pressure settings.

As I was at the machine this morning, adding air to the tires, then unscrewing the skids and frame bolts, I notice the skids already wore nearly thru.

Fine, I have long areas to clean so if the skids will wear out every year then I'm adding "rolling skids" to my machine.

I'm going to do like my late uncle did and install sealed bearings as wheels for the front end. I have ordered 1 3/4 diameter bearings from Amazon.

When I get the bearings in, I will mount them and I will post pictures on what I did.
1. If the skids wear out every year (on my property) then little wheels will last 10 times longer.
2. The auto turn will work much better because the braking action of a skid dragging the driveway will be omitted.

Stay tuned, give me about a week. Then I'll post a picture on my solution.

 

Thank you. I'm very interested to see the bearing wheel skids that you are making. That sounds like a really good idea. Thanks for sharing your wisdom.

 

I got the bearings quicker than I thought, so here is the video of what I did so hopefully it will make the auto turn feature run better on my machine. I added 2 sealed bearings on the skids. Here is the short youtube video of it.
I edited the movie. The last minute of the movie the machine is snowblowing 6 inches of heavy wet snow. It runs perfectly!

 

I got the bearings quicker than I thought, so here is the video of what I did so hopefully it will make the auto turn feature run better on my machine. I added 2 sealed bearings on the skids. Here is the short youtube video of it.

Looks good. Let us know how they hold up for you.

 

I tried it the night I put the bearings on and it was stupid (No snow) in the driveway. I was wide open traveling around. The thing went nice and straight down the drive way and it went pop pop pop down the sidewalk. The popping was the wheels hitting the line between the cement slabs going down the sidewalk. I would press one handle bar and it would turn like a bicycle either direction. This is what it needed. I ordered another set of bearings (now back ordered) for spares in case one or both blow out.

When it snows I'll up date.

 

Yeah, that's what I meant by the, "I can see where that would work good" part. I figured it would work really well on a clean surface like you tested it on. I'm just not convinced after hours of use in deep snow that the bearings won't ice up just enough to stop them from turning. Once they stop turning, it's over as they will flat spot and then the snowball effect begins. Keep us updated though.

 

I wonder how well they will resist salt infiltration. Curious to see your longer term result.

 

I purchased the ariens 32" track drive model 926514. Have tried to adjust the snowthrower as the manuals suggest. The auto turn seems to work perfectly fine in the transport position. However when you put it down into position to remove snow where the skid shoes are in contact with the concrete or gravel parts of my driveway it won't rotate at all. This model is the biggest track drive model and is a heavy machine. You have to manhandle it and as of right now can not say that I am very happy with it at all. It appears the second it has forward friction on it it will not rotate or turn as it is said to. The trigger lock on this model that adjusts the height of the blower unit also locks it in to where you really can't apply pressure to the back side of it to raise it up just a hair at times to relieve pressure on front end temporarily to help enable a turn. The track drive model is completely different machine than the wheeled machines with auto turn that everyone seems to be praising. If I don''t have something right than I need HELP. As I said unit will steer perfectly straight and rotates fine in an upward transport mode, but not at all when in downward snowthrowing position. Please help or I think I will need to Return this thing. As of right now believe I would be much much happier with the trigger pulls on each handle that you pull to turn unit left or right. Does anyone out there have a track drive model with the auto turn function have these same problems or know how to fix them if it fixable or has ariens made a mistake with the track drive system. Please help if anyone has any solutions. Thanks.

 

I was looking at the 32"hydro pro track unit, I saw mixed reviews on the auto turn and was going to get it, anyway then i saw the weight. It's around 420lbs. I had 340lb new simplicity that I had to keep pushing around and I said f that. I would have had to special order the unit too, so I don't think the store would have accepted a Return on it. So I feal your pain. I would get ariens on the phone and start getting some help. Call your dealer let him know the problems too so he isn't surprised if you want to return it. See what the return window is, the window tends to close quickly when it doesn't snow. The auto turn looks like a cool feature, keep us posted I'd like to know how it works out for you.

 

Would it be too difficult to simply switch to transport mode to turn around? I am not sure if you are having issues with turning 180 degrees to come back or you just have a curvy drive. You might also try different skid shoes. The armor shoes are suppose to be good and the plastic ones are suppose to have less friction.

 

Have a oval shaped driveway out in the country approximately 300 ft in distance. So am gradually turning the unit almost the entire time. Also when wanting to turn the unit 180 degrees. Would get extremely tedious to raise and lower it all of the time. The thing is supposed to function when engaged in a snow drift and all other times and as of right now that doesn't appear to happen at all. I hear you about the skid shoes, but by what I am seeing right now I don't if that would "fix" the problem. I would hope that it would help. I have an older troybilt trackdrive with the trigger pulls on both handles that to me functions just great to turn left or right. I purchased this ariens track drive because it is supposed to be the Best, but the only problem I have is the turning function, a very important one when the thing weighs around 380 lbs. It is very powerful and throws snow well but I guess if I could have purchased this model with the traditional trigger pulls I would be perfectly happy right now, that just wasn't an option though.

 

Got my new larger skids on and can only say it is like night and day compared to the original skids! Seems to me that this may be a good resolution to the problem for many. I actually kind of enjoyed blowing the snow today as I didn't have to constantly fight the machine.

 

Update on the bearing front end (rolling skids).
I got 4 inches of wet snow today. I cleaned the driveway and sidewalks at 3 clicks down from full speed. It handled perfectly! A real pleasure to operate. No fish tailing at all and it even cleaned under my truck tracks as I drove into the snow covered drive way to get into the garage. The only time it fish tailed was when I dropped 1 side into the mud on the side of the walks. If I keep in on hard surfaces no issues at all.
More snow tonight, Wednesday and this weekend. I put the bearings on at the right time.

 

First Use of new Ariens Delluxe 28 Model 921030
I cleared about 7 inches of new snow this am. Machine handled well with AutoTurn on my flat asphalt driveway with stock Ariens skids. First time user- overall I am very impressed with the snow thrower: started easily, easy to handle, powered through new snow with ample engine power, and easy forward control and turns with AutoTurn.
This is my first post. I have been viewing the snowblower forum for a few weeks and I want to thank the forum and it's members for the valuable advice that a viewer can acquire.