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Trouble with Ariens 911 series mowers

GBertolet

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I have had several Ariens 911 series walk behind mowers. A chronic issue for me with these mowers, is the blade adapter drive pulley wearing out. The V in this pulley is very shallow, and the cogged drive belt, is almost flat, with a minimum V taper. Before you know it, the belt is bottomed out in the pulley, and you have to help the mower along, due to the slippage. These adapters are made out of pot metal, and don't wear very well. I am lucky to get 2-3 years use out of them, before a replacement is needed. Usually the belt is shot also. They are not all that cheap to buy either. Replacements come in two configurations. A one piece and a two piece. I currently have several 911044 and 46 mowers, that were given to me, or acquired at yard sales for cheap. After some rehab, they all run great, except for the aforementioned issue.

I contacted Ariens, about this issue, but got the run around. They were going to research the issue, but never called me back. It figures. The local mower shop owner, thinks it is from abrasiveness of the clippings and any dust particles that are sucked up. There is not any real shielding around this pulley. Has anyone else had this issue, and devised a fix? I really like the older Ariens mowers. They are built like a tank, and cut real nice. The newer Ariens are somewhat less desirable, as the quality has cheapened considerably. Built to a price, not a standard anymore.
 

legdelimber

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Ditto on the dealers thoughts about an abrasive environment.
I've got a few things around (self propelled mowers and big fans ) that have steel or iron pulleys.
They will get rusty when not used regularly and the rust tends to wear on the belts.
A deeper groove is about all you can do to help things.
 

legdelimber

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Here's a bit of what happens to a mower pulley when it sits for a while.
I grabbed this Snapper off of Craigslist, a few years ago. Guy had just used it for trim work.
Notice how nice that (garage kept) 30 year old mower looks from the top.
But check out what the rust does underneath. See the pulley?
But Ethanol damage was what shut it down though.

At some point perhaps I'll need to see how much work the Ariens needs.
And possibly swap a Briggs in place of that, non-running, plastic carbed Tecumseh on it.
 

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