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Questions about moving snow with Simplicity 7117


mtpmdsmplcty

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Hi all. I'm a newbie with one of these machines, was assured it worked well when I bought it, didn't have chance to test before buying. Have also searched FAQs, stickies, etc., but having trouble finding clear answers, apologies if they exist and I've missed them.

Trying to use it, I'm having both traction problems and snow thro problems, I have questions about

My set-up: I have the 7117 hydrostatic and the 42" (1691522) snowblower, the 50# (I think) plastic coated wheel weights, that are already on, and an additional weight platform and some concrete weights not on yet. The rear tires are AT495 ATV tires a bit like an ag tire; I've studded them with a bunch of Grip Studs, still waiting for some ordered chains to arrive. I've lubed and adjusted and serviced etc both the tractor and blower all per instructions from downloaded manuals.

Traction questions: I notice when I'm not getting traction, and going in a straight line (not trying to turn), I have only the left wheel spinning, there seems to be no power to the right at all (which means having the right studded, chained, whatever doesn't add much in terms of being able to go somewhere).

- Is this normal for these tractors, to have power to only one rear wheel?

- Or do I need to make some sort of adjustment or change I can't find in the manual, to have power to both?

- Or am I supposed to have 2 wheel power, but I have a bad tranny or differential (also I've found conflicting info about whether these are limited slip or not), or at least one that needs some repair (not totally broken since the one wheel goes fine)?

Snowblowing questions: Altho everything seems to be lubed, adjusted, working per the manual, and altho when I look at it running, the auger's spinning way too fast to see the blades (I don't have anyone to watch it when I'm on it), and I can feel a good breeze come out the chute, in use, even at full throttle and only creeping along, I'm not getting much throw - the snow doesn't do much more than come up and kinda fall over the side of the chute, lol, more like a dribble than an ejaculation :-p.

- Is this most likely a belt slip problem, or a bad PTO (or something else) (and what's the best way to tell)?

- Do these belts go bad aside from breaking, i.e., get stretched so they don't grab even tho the tension settings on the machine are right (the rear edge of the front idler bracket is in the front edge of the front red area, the only note I can find about adjusting belt/drive tension)? (this is my guess about the problem, is either the belt's just old and stretched, or somehow there's some other tension adjustment I can't find, so it looks fine running but not under load, but slipping when I hit actual snow).

- Anyone know the part number for the belt? Can't seem to find any details about belts in the manuals for the tractor, or for the attachments (at least not the snowblower), nor have web and parts suppliers searches been helpful, if I search parts for the blower or the tractor, I don't find belts, and if I search belts, I get lots of belts with no info about which one is for this blower or tractor....

Thanks in advance for anyone with advice or info.

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1690479 7117H Drive 1650502SM

1690480 7117H Drive 1650502SM

1690032 42" Snowthrower Drive 1666324SM

You should have power to both wheels.

First and easiest thing to check, collars tend to loosen up allowing things to shift sideways loosing the differential connection.

I would jack up the rear, both wheels off the ground. Wiggle (rotate) and push in on the right rear wheel (it only takes about 1/4" for the gear to be not engaging)

After that, check the collar outside the right rear hub and make sure it is tight against the hub, then check the collar on the left side, inside the wheel on the axle and make sure it is in tight.

As for the piddling snow problem, single stage blowers work best when full. Go faster :D You will need to "learn" how to keep the blower as full as possible without over doing it.

The more snow you put through it, the further it will throw it. You should get 30 feet or so in the right conditions

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If something was broken and you only had power to one wheel, you would not move at all. If something was loose like the other post mentioned you wouldn't spin with one wheel, everything would just stop. Jack up the back end of the tractor with the transmission in gear and do what the other post suggests, but if you turn one wheel and the other wheel turns in the opposite direction, then everything is working normally. What you describe is how a differential works. When you are in a low traction condition and one wheel has even slightly less traction than the other, that is the wheel that will spin. Shift your weight to that side, that will help sometimes. These tractors do have a mechanism to help keep power going to both wheels (limited slip), but once it gets bad enough, the lower traction wheel will spin. They do not offer a differential lock. That would help a lot!Everything he says about the snowblower in the other post is correct. If you're just crawling along with only a little snow, it won't blow very far. Give it a bigger amount of snow to blow, and it should look more like this!

2-24-07 046.jpg

57e061239c7b4_2-24-07046.jpg.31ca34efa48596eca7a63cd5cf6cec72.jpg

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I second the other posts. I go as fast on the hydro as the engine allows. Slow down only when the engine pulls down.

My setup is nearly the same as yours. 7117h on turfs and chains, no additional weight, and 42" blower. I do have an 18HP command now in it. It takes a lot to pull the command down.

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Thank you, every one who replied, for your help and suggestions.

Updates:

- 2 things answered, - I did finally notice a badge on it saying it's limited slip differential (duhhh :-p ), and also stumbled across a sticker on the inside of the hood with a list of all attachment belts on it.

Re traction

- I did check the axle play per rokon's post, and did find some, maybe 1/4" plus, and loosened the collar sets, pushed the left and then the right in as far as I could, wrapped a ratchet ribbon around the whole back end including the tires across their middles (one ring to bind them, lol) to keep 'em tight together, and then tapped the collar on the right down snug (the left collar didn't seem movable). That got rid of most of the play, but didn't seem to solve the problem or even make a difference (maybe a slight difference, I once or twice briefly saw both tires spinning).

- But, jacked up and under power, both tires do rotate, and when I rotate them myself not under power, they do rotate freely and in opposite directions, just like DanD says they should, and that things are OK if they do.

- So, I guess things are OK, or at least somewhat OK, and it's just a "limited limited slip differential", lol, and my situation passed the limit of the LSD to act like one - either that or it just doesn't work as well as it's supposed to and does need some work. I understand what LSD's are supposed to do, I'm not quite sure yet what particular type the LSDs on these are, or what the limits of a brand new one would be, or if I might get better performance if it had new or shimmed springs or other things I've seen people posting about in web searched for info on diff's and fixing them etc). The traction situation was extreme - a big patch of glare ice [trying to get rid of that, too] that developed on a mild slope and now under snow - but my expectation would still have been that if I wasn't moving, I'd see both wheels spinning to explain why I had no traction (and also expectation that I could have traction even on ice, since I studded thecensored1.gifout of the tires, that was actually why I went to the expense and trouble of buying and installing the Grip Studs, "traction no matter what"), and it was very disappointing to see a very studded tire just sitting there apparently with no power to it and me not going anywhere - my sense was if that one was getting the power it should have been, I should have been moving.

- So I guess my conclusion, now I know actually it is an LSD, and I should have (and I guess do have some at least at times) power to both wheels, is that the LSD likely is somewhat worn and doesn't work as well as it should (feel free to correct me and let me know if they never really worked all that well even brand new tho - I know nothing about these machines, and likewise don't want to start looking into or actually doing a rebuild of the diff, if that likely won't improve anything).

Re the snowthrowing

- there's not at the moment that much snow (it's not all heavy and wet in re goatfarmer's question) - there's enough to want to move it, so it doesn't settle in and or get packed - a few inches, but not much more - and the comments about the thrower working better full make perfect sense to me now I think about how it works. I did get some better throw when I went faster as the post suggested (when I had had a piddle at medium speed, I'd instead been slowing, as the manual instructs to do if you're not getting much throw). Given you apparently need fair snow volume, I guess for smaller snowfalls it may make more sense to plow than to throw.

- I did also do a recheck, and found the belt at some point had slipped off the inner part of the PTO to the middle part, and fixing that (duh-h) also got some better tension and better power, fancy that....

- I still couldn't get anything even close to those posted videos however. Guess I'll have to wait for a "more worthy" snowfall, to see if it will actually put out a righteous plume....

Thanks all again for your help.

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The rumours about shimming are true. You can shim to the point of posi traction, which is not recommended if you want to be able to steer.Since these operate on spring tension basically, it could be the springs are just worn out, or even broken.I think you would be happy with the results of a rebuild.Like someone said, if you rock your weight to the side spinning, you should be able to get the other wheel to spin.

7117 diff.gif

57e061240d3ef_7117diff.gif.d4c67441080827e059dd97cf5b3bc596.gif

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I used a 42 lightweight John Deer plow last year and it worked bad ass.

this year I picked up a 46" Allis spring loaded and we haven't got but one snow fall I plowed for and it was terrible. My thought is I don't have enough rear weight now.

The Allis plow is to heavy for me personally to pick up, and I can pick up and throw John Deer unit.

I also feel the Limited slip isn't working as good as it did last year.

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Well and speak of the devil, suddenly the forecast is for a nor'easter, a blizzard and a couple feet of snow starting late Monday and running thru Weds..... Guess I'll have plenty of chance to check out how it runs with a full blower....:D

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Shimming works great. I shimmed my first rear (I may have been the first one to do it) about 25 years ago. I did it for tractor pulling, because a locked diff made the tractor turn to one side if the traction was not equal on both rear wheels. You will not be able to make both wheels always pull together in every situation without creating steering problems with the tractor. With a completely locked rear axle the turning radius for one of these tractors is huge.

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