[Darby]

+1 on the impeller mod. 8 inch impeller? Gee, I felt cheated with a 10. mod made a noticeable improvement.

 

[Toolboxhero]

Check with your dealer to get the most accurate information. Ariens corp. told me that the Pro and Platinum will ship by Nov 1st. Like everyone else, they had a few problems getting a certain part.

 

[oneboltshort]

Any input you can offer to get it to throw snow further would be appreciated

First would be an inspection of the impeller area and verify it size and condition. Those JD 826 frequently have 1/4" or larger gap and are prone to having blades bent backwards. An impeller kit, good belts, tight impeller shaft bushing and engine running 3600rpm will throw snow well.
Very common to see this:

 

[Darby]

First would be an inspection of the impeller area and verify it size and condition. Those JD 826 frequently have 1/4" or larger gap and are prone to having blades bent backwards. An impeller kit, good belts, tight impeller shaft bushing and engine running 3600rpm will throw snow well.
Very common to see this:
View attachment 181211

View attachment 181212

Good points for sure. I know when I bought my used and abused machine it was running 100's of RPM short. Easy fix.

 

[phendric]

I just found this article in the Milwaukee Business Journal, unfortunately I don't have subscription

https://www.bizjournals.com/milwaukee/news/2021/09/19/ariens-generac-ceos-predict-supply-chain-woes.html

Yeah, I can't access that bizjournals article. Here, however, is a CNN interview of Dan Ariens from June 26, in which he talks about the major difficulty Ariens has had retaining workers. A turnover rate of 50% to more than 100% is crazy!

Is Pres. Biden right, do employers just need to pay more? - CNN Video

Without enough workers, it's difficult to build enough machines.

This aligns with what almost every dealer in my neck of Massachusetts has told me: that Ariens is shipping fewer snow blowers than they've requested, and doing it later than desired. I had one dealer tell me his rep recently told him not to expect anything until at least Feb 2022.