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:(

2muchtime wrote:

I think you may have missed something... The problem is not with ARIENS but with the place that they are purchased from. You see, at Home Depot, they sell the machines built for a mere $15 more, so most if not ALL people have Home Depot set their machines up. Now the customer takes it home and something goes wrong from the assembly. Home Depot has such a great return policy...so they just take it back and give the customer a new one. These "bad" machines are now sent back to the vender....and it is those machines that you saw at the back of the store.

I wonder if you could get a serious discount by offering to take a "defective" machine off their hands?

nibbler wrote:
Nope! I worked for Home Depot as a district manager and there are NO deals for employees or customers for the most part. The only time they will discount (and spray with orange paint!!!) is with a return that the customers says is in good working order.

2muchtime wrote:

I dont believe they were Defective, mearly misued or mis assembled by HD employees. HD doesnt troubleshoot the proble,. Just ships them back.

Ive see the same setup in the summer with John Deere tractors.  All in the steel shipper crates set for return. Customer brings it back and HD returns to Deere. A true servicing dealer would re-adjust or find the problem and fix the unit, or avoid the problem with proper setup.

Defects in large products are less then 1 in several hundred. So why do HD and other box stores have dozen and dozens of defective returns from the same product line? They dont.... Defective employees and customers.

This is really getting carried away. 12 defective units, some still in boxes. Use you head. Too much speculation and guessing going on IMHO.  Here's what I found and BELIEVE to be fairly accurate when looking for snowblower. Recall on Several snowthrowers with Tecumseh engine concerning the gas line and a 10 cent part. What exactly, don't know, but received this same story from several vendors and on many makes and models. All units were pulled from the floor to be corrected. Now, I won't state this as fact, but I'm sure some of you guys are aware of what the problem was. Again, this was at a few different stores and included several manufacturers.

What to do. Get your snowblower home and check it over. There's not much assembly done at the store and is well described in the manul.  On the bright side, one is forced to become familiar with their machine to make sure all is well before the snow hits.

Exactly charlie. Possible gas leak on the nipple coming out of the gas tank. A 2 minute fix, if that much. But since HD cant do any service work, or trust timy to fix it, they will either have to call a mechanic in to cheak them, or ship them back. A fellow forum member here stated it was a 2 minute fix, but most units didnt even need fixing.

I bought a brand new snowblower from HD 3 years ago because I heard Ariens was the best. It ran great the first year and then the second year it would run and die after 5-10 mins. I used an old snowblower that was given to me as a second and it started up and ran well, even with old gas in it. On the new one I took the carborator apart, cleaned it, and cleaned out the gas tank and it still does the same thing.  I spent 1300 on this 11 HP piece of junk and found out other people had the same problem.  Some say it's the float that is bad in the carborator so I'm going to try that next. I bought this machine so that I wouldn't have to work so hard shoveling snow and yesterday I worked on it for 3 hours it started and died again. Then, after trying to start it so many times the cord broke. I pushed it aside and used the old snowblower instead.

I don't think I would even buy a Honda from large chain outlet, a quality $1000+ snowblower is not a mass-market product like a walk-behind mower, it requires to be assembled and serviced by people who know what they're doing and if they're doing it right.

russman wrote:

OLD TOPIC. BUt, Its not an Ariens problem, its a Tecumseh problem, they make the engine. They alos built a huge majority of the engines. BTW, Gas issues are the #1 reason for failure.  I think it needs a pro to go through the carb.

My 2004 9 HP from HD has run flawlessly.  Purchased as a serviced unit on sale and with a coupon, but that was a joke of sorts.  The machine appeared to never have been started, and the fuel line was kinked and blocked just under the tank and before fed into the engine.  Straightened that out, it started right up and has run fine.  I only regret not getting the DLX with a differential, but that's my problem.

I bought it to replace a 1970 7 HP because the growing number of times it wouldn't start I really had a problem.  Kept it as a "backup" but prefer using it to the newer one and put a NOS engine on it.  Use the new one to throw distance and do the initial "dig", and the nimble and easy to turn older one, which is still incapable of a long snow throw, to cleanup with.

The local dealer really has his "nose in the air".  I only once bought a belt there in desperation.  He made it seem  like I was buying a bag of gold, and charged accordingly.

I see nothing wrong with buying one from HD.  Seems everyone here is inclined enough to assemble one from the box, and shouldn't be set back if "Timmy" doesn't set it up to perfection.