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New To Me Ariens 924050 8/24 With a Honda GX 390

7K views 52 replies 16 participants last post by  Oneacer 
#1 ·
Think I got me a hot rod today. A neighbor sold his house and was liquidating. Seems like everything works perfect except the auger belt is too small. Doesn't stop rotating when you release the handle. Also one shoe needs replacing. Other than that I am pretty stoked with it. Need to do the paddle mod also. If anyone in the Sonora CA area is looking for an excellent shape 8/24 electric start 924082 pm me as its little brother is now for sale. Last pic is the one for sale. View attachment 179187 View attachment 179187 View attachment 179188 View attachment 179189 View attachment 179190
 
#26 ·
Fellow 924 series owner with a gx390 here....

If it is running the stock pulley, it won't throw that far. I would recommend a larger auger pulley and the impeller mod.

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Just for funzies, what if someone wanted to throw snow over the top of their neighbors 2 story house. What kind of pulley setup do you think they would be looking for?
 
#5 ·
A Honda GX390 13hp is nuts on a 24". That would be nuts on a 26" and perfectly suitable on a 32".
 
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#6 ·
So some of you think I should sell the GX 390 and put a stock 8 hp motor back on it? Really? Whats the downside of more power? All my blowers get the the impeller mod including my my 924082 with the stock 8 hp motor. The 390 is on a (924050) Thanks DB. I found some of your posts last night and will be reading the rest of your posts soon. I watched some you tube videos of big motors on blowers and they were very impressive. Are you wishing you had a lot less hp? Seems like with the right pulley you could throw large amounts of snow a long ways. I don't see any downside to more power.
 
#17 · (Edited)
I'd keep the GX390. First of all... it's really 11.7 horsepower and not 13hp, with 19.5 ft-lbs of torque. Everyone was guilty of fudging horsepower numbers back in the day.

There's a handful of folks here running GX340s/GX390s on snowblowers: @legarem @FredGraham @Jean-Michel Dufour @bcjm etc etc

There's one other member whose name I can't recall at the moment, he had some youtube videos posted of his snowblower in action.

My only problems with my GX390 924050 snowblower:

1) Mine could use an impeller kit as I've had the chute clog in wet snow.
2) I don't get to use it very often because there's always a snowblower or two ahead of it in the rotation that I'm trying to flip, and a good proper storm in my area has been rare lately.
 
#8 ·
8hp is all you need to be powerful on a 24". Put the 13hp on another blower or sell it. Many put the 208cc Predator on a 24", even on larger up to 32" though IMO that's way too large, 26" would be the max.
 
#9 ·
The impeller mod doesn't seem to bog down an engine, so it doesn't matter. The impeller blades on old ariens are wide so they scoop up a lot of snow. If you go with a bigger pulley, the belt might not be able to handle it. It will have short life-span.

You should keep the Honda engine. It's a better engine and ready to rock and roll whenever you want it.
I don't think many people interested in GX390 unless it is cheap.
 
#13 ·
there is really nothing wrong with a 8hp on a 24" machine. power to size wise the 8hp is a pretty good. definitely better than something like a 5hp which is under powered. you do also see some 24" machine with a 10hp machine but most machine just run a 8hp because it does the job pretty good. a 13hp honda is really overkill.
 
#15 ·
Typically, too big an engine results in excessive fuel use, and may carbon up, since it is running at such a low load that it can never get up to temp. Couple that with possible balance issues, and more wear and tear on the chassis due to the weight, and I don't really see an upside. GX are great engines, you just need the right blower under it . . . Myself, I doubt I would put one on a 24" even if free . . .
 
#23 ·
I think the gear case reasoning is off base. Ariens found That case strong enough to put on at least a 8/32" wide blower [924054]. If it is strong enough for that, it can take additional torque on a 24" blower.
 
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#30 · (Edited)
I bought this thing used so I don't know what was the size of the original pulley is or if it has already been changed etc. Since I just bought it I have no idea what it will do when the snow finally comes. Maybe nothing. Hoping to hear from someone who has already done a similar GX 390 swap and what size pulley they are using to get it in the sweet spot etc. It has the worst gap I have seen on the impeller paddles. There is a 5/8" to 3/4" gap so I am fairly sure the previous owner hasn't tried to dial it in as far as putting in a larger pulley.

Update edit: I found a db130 post where he went into detail regarding the pulleys and belts for this combo. Huge help thanks db130.
 
#31 ·
Honda was notorious for underpowering their blowers after the HS80 (824 )

828?
928?
1132?

just under power or average.

I put a gx340 on a 28 bucket if i can. my old 1128 used to throw snow into the neighbors drive without an impeller kit. People called it a monster . don't see too many gx390's around here. they are on later model 32 inchers. and the new HSS models.

Not sure on a 13hp on a 24. yes, i agree about HP, can't have too much but can the 24 in chassis and gearing take it? weight difference may not be a problem between the 13 and a 8. Not with Honda anyways.
 
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#34 · (Edited)
For sure I do it to all my blowers but this one is really needing it bad. When I put my hand in the gap it goes almost to my second knuckle of my middle finger. When I bought it from my neighbor he mentioned that the reason he had an extra long screwdriver stuck in the control panel was to clear the snow jams. I get it now.
 
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