[Harryc]

I'm working on a 42" Snowthrower, and the auger is belt drive. Under the black cover on the side of the housing is a large auger drive pulley, an idler, a drive pulley, and a belt. I took the cover off to see the condition of the belt and I noticed that the large pulley is warped. It wobbles when the auger is spun. Not just a small wobble either. I'd say it travels 3/8" to 1/2" either direction of center during one revolution. It's so bad that it cut a groove/hole in the side of the black plastic cover. The pulley in question is part # 18 in the diagram below.
My question is, since this is a $50 part ($75 from mother Deere), is there any way to straighten a pulley or am I out of luck?. I'd let it go but from the look of it the belt will wear fast in it's present state. I think the unit must have taken a hit to that side at some point to do this, or maybe the auger hit something and the pulley took the punishment because it's in the drive train.

 

[glader]

are you sure it's the pulley and not the shaft it goes on? I doubt something hitting the auger would bend the pulley. Anyway, if something hitting the pulley bent it, then you should be able to try to bend it back. I would take it off and attempt to straighten it, you'll probably need some type of shaft to mount it on though. good luck.

 

[Harryc]

are you sure it's the pulley and not the shaft it goes on?

Thanks for the reply. Well, I'll have to take it off to be sure, but follow me on this. If the shaft were bent, the pulley would wobble up and down, not left to right from center. Make sense? Anyway, it's all academic. I'll take it off tomorrow to see what's up. It's encouraging that you think I can straighten the pulley somehow though. My wallet has already taken a beating on this project (long story), so $75 back to me is a win.

 

[glader]

Thanks for the reply. Well, I'll have to take it off to be sure, but follow me on this. If the shaft were bent, the pulley would wobble up and down, not left to right. make sense?

I think if the shaft were bent, the the pulley would wobble like you say. More likely though, the pulley is bent, not the shaft, which is pretty strong. You'll find out as soon as you take the pulley off and spin the shaft. Might want to start soaking that hex bolt with the PB Blaster....

 

[Harryc]

Might want to start soaking that hex bolt with the PB Blaster....

Thanks. Already started doing that before I posted this :thThumbsU

 

[jakenbake]

maybe the pulley is on the shaft at a slant? almost like the bolt (#5 in the picture) is loose.

Might try www.surpluscenter.com for a pulley of the same size. may have to drill and tap a hole for the bolt mentioned above.

 

[Harryc]

maybe the pulley is on the shaft at a slant? almost like the bolt (#5 in the picture) is loose.

Could be on a slant, but #5 is not a bolt. The pulley itself is keyed and #5 is a set screw. There's two of them.

 

[jakenbake]

set screw! i was trying to remember what the **** it was called! ended up with bolt since it wasn't coming to mind... :duh:

 

[Harryc]

So I got the pulley off, and I took a straight edge and held it against a solid surface and measured to the top , bottom, and both sides of the shaft while spinning the auger and I could not see any deflection. I even put a straight edge on the middle of the shaft end over the key-way and spun the auger.....no deflection. I have no idea how to test this pulley for true-ness or even if I could, I have no idea how I'd fix it. It's a pretty substantial piece of steel. I guess I need to go on faith here and just order one up. I can always return it I suppose. About the pulley being on a slant...I was thinking about that one. This pulley is keyed, so if it is slanted the pulley itself is slanted. There is zero tolerance on the shaft itself. I had to really pull to get it off it was so tight. Anyone have an AM124298 pulley that I could borrow for a couple of days to test? .

 

[glader]

If you had some steel rod stock the same diameter as the auger shaft, you could put the pulley on the rod and spin it to see the pulley wobble. You could then try to straighten the pulley while it's on the shaft, maybe using a vice.

I don't see anyway the pulley could be at an angle on the auger shaft.

 

[Harryc]

Just to close out this thread, I received a new pulley today and installed it. It's straight as an arrow. I guess I'll never know how the old one got mangled. :dunno:

 

[jim335]

Good to hear that it worked out for ya.