Last winter I noticed my Jacobsen Imperial 26 snow blower would stop moving forward occasionally. If I put it reverse and backed up a bit and then put it in a forward gear it would go for a time and then do it again. Over the summer I cleaned the rubber band and the disk that drives it. I ran it on blocks through all the speeds and it worked fine. Today I tried to use it in our 6" snow and it again would only go a short distance and suddenly stop going forward. Engine and auger working fine. If I put it in reverse it will back up fine but then when put it in forward again it will go a short distance 5-20' and then the wheels will stop. When this happens the wheels lock up and will not free wheel no matter what position the gear selection is in. Is something out of adjustment that I can tweak?

Hi,
I would say it is the drive disc worn down or something else worn and not allowing positive contact. Despite the age there still some parts out there. Manuals are a bear to find since that was a part of Homelite for a time and multiple owners do confuse the issue.
I would visual check the drive for disc wear and alignment problems since forward is the problem area. Some people had the reverse go out and that seemed to be a bearing and a gear.
Peace,
Clarke

I have a nice old Jacobsen Homelite Imperial Sno 826 that wouldn't move forward because the gears weren't making good contact. Thinking that the gears were the problem, I looked all over the internet for new gears and couldn't find any. I own a machine shop so I decided to take the snow blower apart and machine new gears myself.

As I was disassembling the snow blower, I noticed that the axle had a lot of play in it. I quickly discovered that the original bearing were completely shot. As a result, the axle was able to move so much that the gears would no longer make contact.

I replaced the original bearings with new bearing that I found on eBay and I replaced the drive disc while I had it apart and now it is up and running like new again.

Note: You will have to drill new holes to mount the flange bearings and buy some washers for spacers.

If you go to eBay, search for the following:

• Drive Disc: 300 Drive Disc Replaces Case C22891 Jacobsen 158458
  
• Bearings: 3/4" UCFL204-12 2 Bolt Flange Bearing

Hope this helps - I have never seen anyone else mention this solution.