I have the Noma Snowthrower listed above, and it has the following problems: 1-The gears do not work, the machine moves at whatever speed it chooses when it operates (usually fast), no matter where the shift lever is (this happened first) 2-The snowthrower shaft will not engage. For most of last season, it would engage for a while and then not engage for a while. Now it won't at all. The engine runs fine. I think it is loose belts, but I do not have an owners manual and don't know how to adjust. Is this something I can do myself (or do I have to send to mechanic)? Thanks!

Ariens ST824 SnowThrower - Model No: 924082 Seriel No: 010134 Brand new auger belt rides the side of the auger wheel/pulley, shreds/smokes and is about to pop off because it's not lining up with the drive pulley. Wheel drive pulleys appear to line up fine and work well. Anyone see this type of strange occurrence before? Background: One neighbor gave the "basket-case" machine to another neighbor who asked me to get it running as I have the exact same model. Did a friction wheel, carb rebuild, new tire, freed up seized linkages etc -- everything went well until I put the 2 halves back together and found this auger belt misalignment problem.