Outdoor Power Equipment (Lawn Mowers, Snow Blowers, Chain Saws and more) Discussions

23 inches of snow yesterday!  Started up my brand new Toro 828.  30 minutes later the auger stopped working when trying to go into 18" of wet snow slowly.  The motor didn't stall, the sheer pins didn't break.  The gears did.  Toro says the dealer will fix it.  Not a chance or replacement or upgrade to a 1028.

You have me nervous now as I've just ordered a 1020 LXE  .. Did the service tech give an explanation as to why the shear pins didn't come loose?

Anyone else encountered this problem with the new Toros? Sabesh.

Update already!  Here's the rest of the story.  After 3 phone calls to the dealer and a visit I got them to pick  it up the same day.  That was pretty good considering that it was the first snow of the year and they were up to their ear's in snowblower business.  Plus there was a "no unnecessary travel" warning in effect.  Mean while my wife discussed our displeasure with a couple of people at Toro.  Why should I have to have a repaired machine, I paid for a new one.  The next evening (just now) the dealer called and is prepping a new machine for me.  He mentioned that it 's because he's sure that I don't want to wait for the parts to come in, I think it's more of a result of my wife's heated talk with Toro.  They said they were going to contact the dealer.

The dealer said that the gear box had no oil in it and everything was chewed up.  It's a factory fill so they did not normally check them before this happened.  So if you have a new Toro Power Max you better check the gear box oil before you use it, or make sure your dealer did.  I wanted to post this immediately because this site was a big help when I was doing my research before buying.

I'm sorry to hear of this unfortunate situation, but I take it as a good sign that your complaints did not fall on deaf ears.  Both your dealer and Toro are doing the right thing to get you  a new replacement machine. This demonstrates why a reputable dealer is your best ally in coping with a problem like this. I wouldn't presume to guess what would happen with, say an MTD or something from a big box store but I wouldn't want to find out, either.

AZ