mech12

buy from a dealer, home depot has NOTHING to do with the unit once sold. the will tell you to contact your local ariens dealer for any warranty and service work....now once this units gets to "freds" repair shop and he see you bought it from home depot you will WAIT, his loyal customer do and will come first. we have this exact scenario happen here in minnesota. we happen to see toro products and i hate to say it but this is usually the case.

use ariens number 924087-000226 its an st1232e the diagrams show battery box etc.

post the actual model and spec of the engine. yes there are 12 volt starters available.you might run into problems when switching alternators, depends on the magnets on your existing flywheel a new flywheel may run 150.00 or more, throw in the cost of alternator 50.00 , keyswitch 25.00 solenoid 15.00 battery 30.00 now fabricate a battery box keyswitch holder etc. the best this for you to do is find an older ariens 10yrs or so that was sold facotry with the 12volt electric start and use that model number for ordering battery box etc. use the tecumseh engine spec to find out the part number of what you will need.

   one word        TORO    we used to be a service center for ariens some time ago   without getting into alot of stuff,  we no longer carry ariens  and now are a full warranty sales and service center for toro/lawnboy.....  as a mechanic   all these basic snowblowers have the identical drive systems in them.  

      i also would lean towards the simplicity.