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

Hi all,
     Went upstate this past weekend to Cortland County (near Syracuse) to visit my mother. While I was there I swung by an old Ariens dealer to see if he had any of those snow cabs for my Ariens 8526LE. When i walked in I was greated with lots of nice machines....Simplicitys all over and a bunch of Toros. But no Ariens...so I just wondered around and was really digging Toro's new quick aim snow shoot! Pretty cool! But lots of plastic.... The Simplicitys look rugged and well built. Then the salesman/owner came out to ask if he could help. He didn't have any of the cabs but they were due in a week or so....then I asked him "where are the Ariens machines?" His reply.... "Ariens really cheapend their product to get it into Home Depo" Is there any truth to this? He went on to say that warranty work was killing him...his shop was full of repairs...and mainly all with the same problems. He said that the tranys were a major problem....plastic bushings causing problems and some other things that I can't remember. He said that after the last 2 years, he gave up.

Clarks garden power supply
They carry Simplicity, Ferris, Echo, and Toro...and no longer Ariens:(

I agree. I don't know how many times I have called and spoken to someone mentally retarded(It is good they are giving them jobs, but it is annoying when you are trying to find something) or someone who speaks virtually no english. Also I find people are too lazy to check stuff for me. I have been at HD and Best Buy and heard the phone ring and the guy just hits the mute button, or says forget it and walks away, its very annoying when you are the one on the other side of the line.

I also hate going in and asking for something and I show it to them and they just don't get it. Or they say they don't have it(I check anyway) and they do, or vice versa.

My blower had a few loose nuts and bolts but besides that it is working fine.

Hi Folks

Today 12/20/05 & still no Ariens fixed. Had to finally borrow neighbor's Yard Machine 8/26 [Wal Mart].

Ariens service is quite casual about my concerns. They don't care.

I had asked to upgrade shipping to Fedex overnight and I would pay the difference. They did not do it. UPS ground.

My machine is in a small town shop. Not my town. I bought @ HD 2003. We have been in drought last 2 years and 1128le sat virtually unused. So much for 30 day return.

I will simply fix it myself from now on. Forget their warranty, it does nothing.

BTW, the WalMart 8/26 actually did a darn good job, plenty of power & easy to handle. Half the price -- Hmmm.

All you skiers - We are drowning in Colorado Mtn. snow. Central & North.

Good luck wAriens 

Oh, I forgot my HD comment.

I used to be a HD stockholder. Sold it because the service in stores is horrific & I generally need to believe in the product to own the stock.

I don't go to HD with much expectation. You have to know exactly what you want or trust the "name brand" attached to product.

I have no local dealer any where close for Ariens. I had to trust the brand & go with it.

No one want's the 1128le to be  good more than me. So far, Ariens customer service is that of only lips. They are real nice, but nice isn't removing my snow.

In the shop Nov. 16. Now Dec. 20 still not fixed because Ariens is committed to providing service center with prompt parts.

It's the worm gear [stripped] in the auger gear case.

JC

Whoops,

Last thread should have read Ariens NOT committed.

& how can you edit a post?

JC

I bought my Ariens 11528 a month ago and it works great. One morning I went out to start it started hard and wouldn't run right.  I called my OPE dealer and a service guy was at my door in 1 hour . It turns out it was my fault , water got in my gas jug !

Toolpig,

You can buy a filter / water seperator, called Mr Funnel.

West Marine also sells them under there own label.

www.:// mrfunnel.com

                                                       Fred

I'll check that out Fred,  thanks!

It's no secret. You ALMOST always get better service whit small dedicated business than the big surfaces stores when it comes to maintenance and repair.

In fact in Canada except for the Ariens (regular models, not the Pro models) at HD, the "good" more expensives brands are always find in the smaller stores while you can find the more "unexpensive" more affordable ones at the big surfaces stores.

I have an old ariens 24" 5hp that I was tired of working on. I was all set to buy an Ariens 11hp, went to the Home Depot the day after a storm, and they were sold out.  My daughter and I looked around the store and finally, out in the garden department we saw 12 of the 11hp models.  Evry single one of them (two still in the original boxes) were marked defective for return.

After seeing this I decided, thanks to a great post on this site, to buy a new engine for my old war horse.  I ordered the 7.5hp Intek from smallenginewarehouse.com for $222 (free shipping). They sent me an 8hp for some reason but after drilling 4 new holes in the deck to mount the engine, putting some gas in and pulling the cord it started right up. Now all I need to do is move the chute control linkage and I have a really great snow blower :)

From what I've read, if your worried about quality, the Hondas seem to be very well built and well liked, although they are pricey.

jcco wrote:

Just curious - did you pull something into the augers by accident? If not, I wonder if a keyway fell out. It seems like a stripped worm gear is an oddity for a brand new machine. Have you actually seen this stripped worm gear? Paul from Ariens (Snowman?) does monitor this site from time to time - I wonder if he might be worth a PM...

Marty