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fatlazyless · 02-05-2019, 07:50 AM

I really found this out the hard way, yesterday, when I replaced the belt on my TroyBilt 24" Storm 2410.

Best way to work on a snowblower is to roll it forward, up and over, placing it on the nose, or on the front edge of the auger area. And, before doing this, I poured out almost all the gasoline, otherwise it probably would have spilled out from somewhere.

So the auger belt was loose, but not broken, and apparently it just got a little stretched out from six years use. Having spent $15 for a new belt from eBay, removing the black vinyl snow shoot, the upper belt cover, and the large lower bottom plate .... I danged well went ahead with replacing the belt, after all that effort.

Now, and here is the key, it turns out this machine has two easy-to-do slack belt adjusters, for the auger and the drive belt, that are easy to access, and easy to do, and easily would have fixed the loose belt, had I known what the heck I was doing before getting inside the machine.

Down low, in the back, close to each tire, the two cables connecting the hand control paddles with the insides, by loosening just two 3/8" small bolts you can make the tiny but very important adjustment by sliding the cable guide which adjusts and tightens the cables that go to the auger and drive wheel tires control. This easily solves the stretched belt problem, from the outside, without making the big effort to get inside the machine.

That was a major pain ..... and this is a relatively small, light weight machine weighing 185-lbs .... which is not all that small.

Here's another trick if you got a snow shoot made with the black hard vinyl rubber .... is, on a warm day, to apply a lot of Vaseline with a sponge all over the inside of the shoot .... it gets absorbed into the black vinyl .....and helps to keep the black vinyl-rubber from sticking and clogging up with the slush or icy snow.

And yes, the new belt was a GO ...... even though the old belt was just stretched ..... and a tiny cable adjustment would have done it ..... still, a go is a go, even if I basically beat myself up replacing the belt which did not really need to be replaced ...... the machine powered through all the driveway snow from last week's storm that never got done with a shovel.... after it set up for five days or something ..... and it worked good ..... hurray for TroyBilt!

So's now I noticed the two steel slides under the auger area are all worn down and need to be replaced, plus I might as well go get a new drive belt since I was able to copy the numbers off the old belt.

How much would this have cost at a small engine repair, plus it needs to be delivered and picked up ..... plus they do not coat all the bolts with Vaseline ..... they probably just re-install the rusty old bolts. Ya knows, a giant jar of Vaseline, $2.50 at Family Dollar, and a little effort can keep a snowblower going almost forever.
............

So here's the take away from my trial and error snowblower belt repair. Most two stage snowblowers except for Honda have two v-belts, a 3/8" and a 1/2" wide belt that carries the power from the engine to the drive wheels or the snow grinding augers. Over time and use the v-belts get a very little stretched out, and eventually if not kept tight, will no longer carry the power due to a loose slipping belt going around the steel pulley wheel, inside.

On my TroyBilt, and maybe on other makes, adjusting the cable tension on the two cables going from the handle grip paddles to inside the machine will fix the v-belt slippage problem. Down low, close to the tires, in the back, on the outside of the machine, there's two cable guides or very small pulleys that can be moved a small distance, like 1/4"-1/2" up or down, by loosening two small bolts, to keep the cable tight, and this should keep the v-belt(s) from slipping .... and you now got a happy snowblower without going inside the machine. .......

And, so easy to do, that a cave man can do it with one small 3/8" socket wrench....... but who knew? ...

One small 3/8" socket wrench for a man ....... one giant snowblower repair for mankind ..... or something like that!

This has got to be the greatest discovery ever made since snow was first invented! ...

02-05-2019, 07:50 AM	#60
fatlazyless Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2004 Posts: 8,525 Blog Entries: 1 Thanks: 295 Thanked 957 Times in 698 Posts	..... loose belt-easy adjustment I really found this out the hard way, yesterday, when I replaced the belt on my TroyBilt 24" Storm 2410. Best way to work on a snowblower is to roll it forward, up and over, placing it on the nose, or on the front edge of the auger area. And, before doing this, I poured out almost all the gasoline, otherwise it probably would have spilled out from somewhere. So the auger belt was loose, but not broken, and apparently it just got a little stretched out from six years use. Having spent $15 for a new belt from eBay, removing the black vinyl snow shoot, the upper belt cover, and the large lower bottom plate .... I danged well went ahead with replacing the belt, after all that effort. Now, and here is the key, it turns out this machine has two easy-to-do slack belt adjusters, for the auger and the drive belt, that are easy to access, and easy to do, and easily would have fixed the loose belt, had I known what the heck I was doing before getting inside the machine. Down low, in the back, close to each tire, the two cables connecting the hand control paddles with the insides, by loosening just two 3/8" small bolts you can make the tiny but very important adjustment by sliding the cable guide which adjusts and tightens the cables that go to the auger and drive wheel tires control. This easily solves the stretched belt problem, from the outside, without making the big effort to get inside the machine. That was a major pain ..... and this is a relatively small, light weight machine weighing 185-lbs .... which is not all that small. Here's another trick if you got a snow shoot made with the black hard vinyl rubber .... is, on a warm day, to apply a lot of Vaseline with a sponge all over the inside of the shoot .... it gets absorbed into the black vinyl .....and helps to keep the black vinyl-rubber from sticking and clogging up with the slush or icy snow. And yes, the new belt was a GO ...... even though the old belt was just stretched ..... and a tiny cable adjustment would have done it ..... still, a go is a go, even if I basically beat myself up replacing the belt which did not really need to be replaced ...... the machine powered through all the driveway snow from last week's storm that never got done with a shovel.... after it set up for five days or something ..... and it worked good ..... hurray for TroyBilt! So's now I noticed the two steel slides under the auger area are all worn down and need to be replaced, plus I might as well go get a new drive belt since I was able to copy the numbers off the old belt. How much would this have cost at a small engine repair, plus it needs to be delivered and picked up ..... plus they do not coat all the bolts with Vaseline ..... they probably just re-install the rusty old bolts. Ya knows, a giant jar of Vaseline, $2.50 at Family Dollar, and a little effort can keep a snowblower going almost forever. ............ So here's the take away from my trial and error snowblower belt repair. Most two stage snowblowers except for Honda have two v-belts, a 3/8" and a 1/2" wide belt that carries the power from the engine to the drive wheels or the snow grinding augers. Over time and use the v-belts get a very little stretched out, and eventually if not kept tight, will no longer carry the power due to a loose slipping belt going around the steel pulley wheel, inside. On my TroyBilt, and maybe on other makes, adjusting the cable tension on the two cables going from the handle grip paddles to inside the machine will fix the v-belt slippage problem. Down low, close to the tires, in the back, on the outside of the machine, there's two cable guides or very small pulleys that can be moved a small distance, like 1/4"-1/2" up or down, by loosening two small bolts, to keep the cable tight, and this should keep the v-belt(s) from slipping .... and you now got a happy snowblower without going inside the machine. ....... And, so easy to do, that a cave man can do it with one small 3/8" socket wrench....... but who knew? ... One small 3/8" socket wrench for a man ....... one giant snowblower repair for mankind ..... or something like that! This has got to be the greatest discovery ever made since snow was first invented! ... __________________ ... down and out, liv'n that Walmart side of the lake! Last edited by fatlazyless; 02-06-2019 at 05:07 AM.