[VintageAriensNut]

I'm currently rebuilding a 1971 sno thro, disassembled everything, cleaned everything thoroughly, inspected and replacing parts where needed. I was noticing the parts are in pretty good condition especially for its age with very little rust that easily cleaned off. Im thinking i did too good of a job in cleaning everything by removing all the oil and grease that was most likely protecting the metal from rusting.

I want to keep everything clean looking but also want to protect from rust. Things like the disc bracket to me look like it came originally coated in an oil film, and i just cleaned it all off. I used steel wool and dish wash soap on everything.

My thoughts are coating things like the disc bracket, gears, sprocket, even the chain with fluid film when reinstalling, just a light film coating. I just received the new thrust bearing and didn't realize they don't come greased so I'm off to Lowes to get some red and tacky grease, figured id use this grease on the hex and sliding fork shaft also. The only things i will keep clean are the friction wheel and the drive plate.

Any other ideas, what have others done when rebuilding these parts?

 

[CCMoe]

Kroil is a premium penetrating oil.

A marine grease would work well also.

CCMoe

 

[UNDERTAKER]

That gaping hole in the pulley does not look good. Must have stayed in a dry heated garage that is why there is little rust.

 

[peterk]

Old auto mechanic here. Leave it all dirty and oily. After winter, GENTLY rinse off with plain water and let dry well before storing. Pressure washers, soaps and degreasers damage a lot of equipment needlessly.

 

[KJSeller]

I usually use low temp snowmobile grease on those parts or marine grease. I take the belly pan off every fall to make sure everything is in good order before the season starts.

 

[deezlfan]

The hole in the pulley was intentional.

 

[CCMoe]

Excess grease or oil may fling off onto parts that need to remain dry.

CCMoe

 

[VintageAriensNut]

That gaping hole in the pulley does not look good. Must have stayed in a dry heated garage that is why there is little rust.

That hole is there to access the bearing housing/drive plate assembly bolts holding it to the frame. At first i wondered that too, until i spun the pully and it lines up perfectly with the bolts.

 

[VintageAriensNut]

Old auto mechanic here. Leave it all dirty and oily. After winter, GENTLY rinse off with plain water and let dry well before storing. Pressure washers, soaps and degreasers damage a lot of equipment needlessly.

Usually i would but since i'm taking it all apart I want to inspect everything. There was so much grease packed in at the gears between the frame and the support bracket I needed a paint scraper to remove it off the sprocket. There was a black grease on top then what looked like peanut butter under it, brown grease?

The bushings in this sprocket look damaged. Thankfully the ones in my parts machine look good. I read that you can reoil the bushings by putting them in a large syringe with oil then creating vacuum. It looked like it worked since i saw alot of tiny air bubbles coming from the bushings when i did it. i used a larger meat injector type syringe.

 

[VintageAriensNut]

The old bearings looked surprisingly ok, except for one hex shaft bearing that appears pressed in and is dragging. Both thrust bearings look fine to me and i'm only replacing because I already bought it.

New 1621-2RS bearings. They were much cheaper than the Nice 3021 DC bearings, hopefully they last a long time.

The reason for this rebuild, the hook on the sliding fork is damaged leaving the machine without proper neutral.

Most of my time is spent examining the parts, trying to find out why some parts look different. Here the connecting links look different, one is straight while the other is curved.

 

[CCMoe]

Old auto mechanic here. Leave it all dirty and oily. After winter, GENTLY rinse off with plain water and let dry well before storing. Pressure washers, soaps and degreasers damage a lot of equipment needlessly.

They always said if the engine/transmisson leaked, it had a good frame though.

CCMoe

 

[KJSeller]

They always said if the engine/transmisson leaked, it had a good frame though.

CCMoe

Is that because it was rustproofed in the oil and grease?? 😂😂😂

 

[CCMoe]

Is that because it was rustproofed in the oil and grease?? 😂😂😂

 

[VintageAriensNut]

Found another issue with different dimensions on the same parts. When I picked up the recent parts machine I noticed the throwout lever wasnt sticking up through that hole in the frame, but the transmission worked perfectly going through the gears and having neitral. On my 1971 machine the tip of the throwout lever protrudes up through that hole in the frame. I was just compairing the throwout levers and appears they are welded differently.

My 1971 machine, throwout lever protruding up through the frame.

1970 machine, throwout lever resting below the frame. Those gouges around the top of the hole are from me trying to pop it out with a screw driver. I dismantled the machine and tried reinstalling so the lever goes through the hole but it's impossible, keeps dropping down to this position when putting the disc bracket pin in.

1971 lever on top.

I also checked to see if the throwout lever end was damaged or cracked off but the top is painted orange so it seems it was made that way. Curious if others have a throwout lever like this?

 

[enigma-2]

Concerning your thoughts on Fluid Film, they recommend it's use on motorcycle chain. If you use it, it should protect the metal areas that usually don't carry grease or oil. Certainly won't hurt to use it. If you use it in the chute, probably have to use it after each snow event.

 

[VintageAriensNut]

Concerning your thoughts on Fluid Film, they recommend it's use on motorcycle chain. If you use it, it should protect the metal areas that usually don't carry grease or oil. Certainly won't hurt to use it. If you use it in the chute, probably have to use it after each snow event.

I was looking around at things i already have and the can of Blaster Silicone Lubricant says it is good for chains, i actually use it on my snow shovels and spray it all over the snowblower and rub it around with a towel. On my list of things to do is sand and repaint the inside of the chute since its all rusted and pitted and spraying it with a lube doesnt seem to help much.

 

[VintageAriensNut]

I finally got everything reinstalled and working as it should. I ended up having to relocate the disc bracket spring to the left side because the throw out lever wasnt lifting the bracket up far enough on the right side for the hook on the sliding fork to clear the nuetral catch, so i had no neutral or couldnt get it into reverse. I was reading through a thread on here specifically about the neutral catch issue, where they replaced the thrust bearing and they say they had a difficult time reinstalling that spring back. I will post some photos showing what I did which made reinstallation very easy, i basically installed the spring 1st instead of last.

Slide the completed disc bracket assembly into place, spring is already installed on the disc bracket, then tilt the assembly down to thread the other end of the spring through the hole in the frame. After that fit the throwout lever up through the frame on the left side.

Slide the bracket pin through the side of the frame while installing the 3 thin shims and the spacer on the inside. leave it in this position while doing the next step.

Use something as a lever to push the disc bracket up in the front and down in the rear, while sliding the bracket pin all the way left into position.

Here is where i thought i was done. I then installed the fork shaft and tried to manipulate the controls but it wouldnt go into neutral or reverse. The right side of the disc bracket wasnt raising enough for the sliding fork hook to clear the neutral catch, the spring was holding it down too firm and the disc bracket would flex.. I then took everything back apart, relocated the spring to the left side position and eveything then worked properly. On these earlier models there is no adjusment, no fine tuning.

Everything back together. Cant really see the spring installed on the left side, but can see it missing on the right side.

Here you can see that spring on the left side. The friction wheel now sits up off the drive plate in neutral. Previously it would sit right in the middle on the drive plate, the machine wouldn't move but it was creating circular wear marks in the rubber.

I will say I think the new thrust bearing was a waste of $10 and the old one was just fine, but the two bearings on the hex shaft were very worn and dragging and glad I replaced them. I think with the new bearings and cleaning off all the packed old grease and dirt I gained around 5hp.

 

[kshansen]

Looks good I think I should probably go through my two Ariens machines like yours, maybe a little newer. I know the "rubber tire" for the transmission on both of them are several years old, something like 20+years and showing some cracking.

They got limited use this season due to lack of snow here where we usually get hard!

 

[2AriensGuy]

Yup, looks great.

Fluid Film works great. Certain gaskets and rubber seals don't like it though. I just took our 2021 28" Pro apart today that has only been used 1x. There was already rust on the axles. Looks like little to no lubricant was used at the assembly plant. I used anti seize and gear oil on all the axle parts, outer and inner. I lubricate everything and clean the friction disc platter with brake cleaner. I still have the original friction disc on our 2007 1336, although I think it is not long before it needs replacing.

 

[VintageAriensNut]

I feel i was overthinking what to use for grease and where to put it. I actually dont even own a grease gun because nothing I have uses zerk fittings except for this snow blower on the auger shaft. I had one years ago when cars used them but since lost it. I borrowed my fathers and he happens to have it loaded with Moly Lithium grease, which happens to be exactly what the Ariens lubrication instructions recommend, minus being Ariens brand. I think this is Walmart Super tech Moly Lithium grease.

Cleaning the old grease off was a total pain. For the parts machine i took apart I cleaned every part in the sink by hand, I went through rolls of paper towels, a box of sos pads and many pairs of disposable gloves it was so messy. When i took apart the other machine i just put the parts in a plastic bucket and poured gasoline over everything and it seemed to dissolve all the grease instantly and they came out clean greatly reducing cleaning time. lesson learned.