I had to adjust my cable slightly this year, the second season. I don’t have any more room to adjust the cable any tighter. I try to keep the selector greased up so it moves freely even when full of ice and snow. I do lift up slightly when taking the machine out of dig mode only because it seems like it puts too much force on the cable. Could it be your cable is simply too long?

 

Welcome to SBF!

 

I had to adjust my cable slightly this year, the second season. I don’t have any more room to adjust the cable any tighter. I try to keep the selector greased up so it moves freely even when full of ice and snow. I do lift up slightly when taking the machine out of dig mode only because it seems like it puts too much force on the cable. Could it be your cable is simply too long?

Thanks! Glad to be here.

Excellent thought as there was slack in the cable. However, I tightened the cable to a slight give and to no slack, but still having same issues. Visually inspecting the track angle assembly hardware while in action, the bottom part of the notch (second notch from the top) is slightly higher than the groove of the attached lock plate which snags the lock pin as it tries to engage fully into the groove. I disassembled the hardware and reassembled, still with same problem. The height adjuster bar is a little loose and wiggles a bit that can't be corrected by retightening the bolts. The 3 bolts have equal sized spacers. Two of the bolts attach from the inside plate to the outside plate through punch holes in the height adjuster bar. The 3rd bolt attaches the 2 plates and goes through the large long cutout in the height adjuster bar with a spacer. Looks like this gives it wiggle room. Thought of maybe getting a larger spacer for this bolt, but if it impacts the sliding action of the adjuster bar that would give more problems. Also the other bolts with spacers give the bar some wiggle room, and not sure if this would solve anything. Not sure if this is a design flaw or if the factory installed parts may be just slightly off causing the bar and groove mismatch or if this is normal and just needs some kind of special tweak?

 

welcome to the SBF

i would suggest talking with a dealer as there has to be something simple that's not adjusted properly

 

I would take it to the dealer and have them sort it out, that is what warranty is for.

If they can't turn it around for you in a couple days to a week, and you can live with it for now, take it back in the spring.

 

 

Have you adjusted the bolt by 1:10? Underneath there is a small spacer and a nylon locknut, I had loosen that a 1/8 of a turn last year.

 

Thanks for the tip and pictures MSP Paul! Loosening the bolt makes it easy to release the lock pin. However, the lock pin still snags the bottom edge of the notch on the height adjuster bar. What's interesting is that when I adjust the skid shoes to give the scraper blade a gap, it makes the lock pin issue a whole lot worse, especially when it's 1/4".

 

That doesn’t sound right, it still sounds like something is misaligned. My wife caught me
laying on the garage floor looking at my machine trying to figure it out.......

 

Im having the same problem on mine. Releasing it is no problem, but very often I have problems engaging it in a new position. My problem was somewhat less, after adjusting it so that the cable has a smal slack. I will try to loosen the locknut too.

 

Did anyone ever figure this out ? I’m having same problem!!

 

I don't think you have a problem at all. The adjustments are not clearly laid out in the manual as I found out from the experts on this forum. My 2022 Pro RapidTrak works like yours and a short time ago I tried a Platinum RapidTrak in a showroom and that works the same too. When new there is a bit of extra friction so some care is needed in the adjustments. All the bolts need to be tight and not slackened off.

The track adjuster handle on mine was stiff and did not move freely, so I put some oil on the fulcrum and that freed up the handle to move with a light spring force. Once the handle was freed the adjustment of the cable was a lot easier. I aligned the locking pin in the slot and it did not reach the end of the travel. So I adjusted the cable locking nuts to take out all the slack in the cable and the locking pin bottomed out in the slot as specified by Ariens manual.

To get wheel mode I just pulled the adjuster lever to the handlebar and pressed the handles down and released the handle and the locking pin entered the slot and wheel mode is locked in. Then to move to locked track mode pull the adjuster handle to the handlebar to release the locking pin and the track lowers but does not lock, the locking pin rests against the adjuster bar (your 1/4" or so) and not the slot. To get the locked track mode you just lift up on the handlebars a little and pin enters the slot and is locked in. So you don't actually have a problem at all it is just another step you are missing. Not entirely clear from the manual. I never use the Dig-in mode, but the procedure is again pull the adjuster lever to the handlebar and lift up the handlebars and release the adjuster lever and pin will lock in to the slot. When the adjuster lever is released the machine lowers abruptly so lift up a bit to cushion the drop.

I found the owner manual instructions to be not entirely clear. The website "Moving snow" guy was also confused by the instructions, but corrected his description in a text on the page.

Last spring I dismantled the track assembly to grease the drive wheel axle ends to prevent corrosion. Took the opportunity to dismantle the adjuster mechanism (part of that was necessary to remove the underpan to access chains and gears for lubrication - hydro trans). So I took the opportunity to grease all the adjuster surfaces and ensure bolts and spacers were tight and lubricated. If you want to lubricate the axle ends then I did a little writeup with the Ariens spec for track tension adjustment.

Hope this helps.

 

Same here with my 28" RapidTrack Platinum. Brandnew.
Was blowing snow and notice that when putting into "track mode" that it was not and still in wheel mode.
Next day when all was dry I looked at it and had the same "problem". First I greased all parts of the height adjustment. It did a tiny improvement, but the lockpin did not slide in smoothly as I would like. So looked closer, looking at the pin when pulling the trigger and noticed as mentioned by others, that the pin, most of the time, sits just "in front" of the groove to be in. I did not work on the cables as it did not make sense to me. Played instead on the spring which should bring the lock pin back into the supposed-to-be position and the pin will move where you want it.
I would say: the spring which pulls the lock pin into place should be a bit stronger and this misbehavior will be gone. Greasing will be a plus.

When going into 'trackmode" after pulling the trigger you have 2 options to get this milimeter-play "conveniently" done:
a: pull trigger and lift the handlebar or
b: pull the trigger and push down on the axle.
Option b is easier on your back.