Ariens snowblower won't advance in upper gears, no problem a...

Ariens snowblower won't advance in upper gears, no problem advancing in lower gears. Can't figure it out? Any ideas?

Your clutch may be out of adjustment. It uses a flat round drive plate, with a rubber wheel that sits on the plate and transmits power to the wheels. To get higher gears the shifter moves the rubber wheel out further on the round plate. Your shifter may not be moving the rubber wheel far enough out. There is an adjustment on the shifter rod.

You have to remove the housing on the bottom of the snowblower. Ariens tells you to tilt the blower up to sit on the front housing. You will see how the clutch works. You may also have to clean the drive plate if it has gotten lube on it, or adjust the clutch linkage that holds the rubber wheel against the plate. It's not that difficult to see what is happening once you remove the housing.

Arines has service manuals on their Web site.