I have the noma model #2454550 which has been great but I need to replace the worm gears. The dealer said they were made of brass and it would be easier to change out the whole gear box except they don't seem to sell them! The question I have is, can someone tell me how to get the auger assembly removed? Maybe the two pins by the second auger need to be removed which I don't see how I can! Any help would be greatly appreciated. They say that until you fix a thing , you are merely renting it! Haha X

I too have an Ariens Snow Thrower with a Tecumseh engine. I am a mechanical schmuck -- my father was an aircraft mechanic and I picked up more than a few things from him in the past but by no means am I an expert when it comes to these little engines. I have a kid that is a highly trained motorcycle repairman. I have a brother who used to service Hueys. My snow thrower ran like a top for 2-3 years -- no problems. Two years ago it started to surge -- this problem progressively got a bit worse. My snow thrower use has been quite limited all things considered. My first thought was the carburetor. My son and I disassembled the cowlings and detached the carb. Suffice to say it all looked like it was new. (it should have looked like new -- probably operated less than 20-30 times total). Ian rebuilt the carburetor. New gaskets/seals. Net effect: Nothing changed -- nothing at all. My brother suggested running straight sea foam (higher octane) -- this too failed to improve things a bit. Then my brother suggested we spray gas (with a spritzer) on various areas on the assembly while the engine was running -- if the surging stopped, that would suggest there was an air leak. I told him he was certifiable -- spray gas on a hot manifold??? Well after much argument, we sprayed carb cleaner as previously suggested with the engine running and low and behold, the problem resolved -- temporarily. Spraying the front of the carburetor seemed to get the best results. So it appears the problem is an air leak. Why would an air leak manifest over three years after purchase? An air leak will make an engine run lean. Wonderful! Now I have one more issue to resolve. Where the heck is the air leak? (bangs head on the desk). Nope, I cannot identify this new phantom. Sorry, I didn't solve your problem here but this is a real issue, it is not the choke, the carb, the old gas, or many other of the well intentioned suggestions. It is likely caused by an air leak. Now if anyone can tell me how to identify this air leak I would be most appreciative and I suspect others might benefit from information of that nature as well. I got a bad feeling that I will have to replace the entire carburetor -- just bet this is a manufacturing defect. mjc

IMO the biggest problem with the Under Gravel Filters (UGF's)is after a few years the plates gunk up on the bottom and need to be torn down and cleaned. If not a bacterial bloom is usually the case. There are still a number of people who use them and claim they have no troubles. There was a post here a while back, I'd say august-september, the post was an opinion on UGF's. The poster deffended his UGF stating it never had problems. Then later in the thread stated that all that was done besides good vacuuming was adding a liquid water clarifyer to clear the water when it clouded up. To me that is a problem. Anaerobic bacteria grows on almost any surface submerged in the water (gravel,decor,rocks,etc.) where it is dark and has a little water flow. The only problem with just using a UGF wont give you much surface area that is also dark, has good flow and air for aerobic bacteria to grow. The inside of an external filter (excluding canisters without a Bio-wheel) is a great place for this. It is often said that when there is an unbalance of aerobic and anaerobic bacterias that the bacteria blooms occur. This clouds water, poses possible infection to fish and could all together crash the biofilter. At least thats the way I understand it. IME using UGF's solely and along with hang on the tank filters is that the water would get somewhat cloudy after a while. I never new at that time to remove the plates once a year to clean them. It seems that since not using them I have had cleaner water then before. This could also be because todays filters are better quality then ones of old. With all this said, UGF is better than no filtration at all. I wouldn't use one ever again because of the maintainance involved compared to an external filter. To add they are not compatible with live plants either, rooting problems.

Ingrid, I second guess myself all the time. If I have room in my garden and choose a plant on-line (I rarely go to nurseries--they are known for their lack of variety and hardly any roses), I wonder, before and after I order, did I do the right thing, should I have bought this one instead, will it do well in my garden under harsh circumstances, will it look and grow the same, etc., etc., etc. I also tend to push the envelope a bit as well. Who else, where it is hotter than Hades in the summertime, grows raspberries and has great flushes of them (in a drought stricken area as well!). So at least I am adventurous when it comes to the plant world. It is probably a good thing I don't have a bigger yard. Lord only know what you would find me growing in there. One lesson I learned early on, the definition of a weed. A weed is ANY plant that grows where you don't want it to. That has helped me get rid of plants and not think too much afterwards. Each plant and whether or not it does well, is taken as another of life's lessons.