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

I purchased an Ariens 11528LE at Home Depot as you may remember, and basically had to resetup the machine, because it was not assembled correctly.  After spending hours getting the chute controls to work perfectly, and waxing her, I got the chance to run her in her first snow storm and she died.  She ran fine for about 20 minutes, started sounding very rough, before I could shut her down I heard a loud bang, after which oil came flowing from the block like a river.  After talking to my local service guy, who happens to live in the neighborhood, she was diagnosed with a blown piston, a cracked block, and pronounced dead.  I returned her to Home Depot, and they were not happy about taking her back, even though it had been less than 30 days.

I saw that blowers are now on sale there for 20% off at HD.  I think I overbought with the 11.5hp.

Anyone have experience with the 7 or 9 hp model Ariens?  My drive way is single car width 75feet long opening to double wide in front of my garage, and I have 100ft of sidewalk.  Could I get by with a 7hp living just north of Boston near the water?  I used to own a Ariens 824 and loved that machine.

Anyone have any experience with the 7hp Ariens with heavy wet snow?

Any help would be appreciated.

I visited 3 local dealers, and none of them had a 11528LE or were willing to order them.  They kept telling me it was the end of the season and I should have started looking at snowblowers back in August/September, thanks for the advice guys, maybe I should start shopping for air conditioners now.  All 3 had the 926DLE Pro at $1,599, and the other machines in the pro line.  I think I am going to roll the dice and buy a 926LE at a different Home Depot this weekend, re-setup the machine myself, double check the oil, and see how she runs.  I will never touch a reconditioned machine after that last machine.

MikeSnow,

If you buy from HD, buy it in the box.

Save the assembly fee, and you do it all, as you will learn a lot about your machine!!

IMHO

                                           Fred

MikeSnow wrote:

Amen to that Brother! That HD reconditioned machine may have been seized before and then freed up by pulling the starter after it was cool. Engines don';t necessarily blow the first time they seize!!

From what you wrote you seem comfortable in setting up a machine by yourself. Suggest you go to any HD that has the machines on sale and buy one in the box!! One that has not as yet been molested by the helpful HD expert. Also check the oil even though the ones I've seen at HD have been shipped with oil in them. 

Marc

MikeSnow wrote:

Mike,

Buy both till you decide which one to hold on to. HD will always be glad to take the return. "WHEN THEY ARE GONE  THATS IT"

The price is too good to let them slide by.

When deciding between the 926LE and 926LE Pro try to frame it as a long term buy.  5 years from now you'll have forgoten the difference in price but will still appreciate the extra features.

yeah, gotta love the pro...  even the cast iron gearbox looks manly, and the differential - that just oozes testosterone.

oakville wrote:
OK.  Kind of strange reasons to buy a snowblower but who am I to judge?  Are your sure about the testosterone?  I checked the manual and didn't see any lubricant specification for the differential. 

We bought one of these (11528 DLE) early last season.

It saw about  8 hours of use last year (our aging John Deere 1032 is still kickin').

It had some problems, though.  The auger engagement had to be tightened up and the pullys on the engine's shaft had to be better aligned.  To me, these were classic examples of slipshod set-up by the good folks at Home Despot.

I changed the engine oil  after about 2 hours, then again at the end of the season along with the gear oil.  I also ran a little top-oil (MMO & some 2-stroke oil) in the gas for the first 2-3 hours.

It's seen  another 3 hours or so this year so far.  I'll change the oil at the end of the season again, regardless of the total numbers of hours.

Runs great and throws powder 40'+ ... but no way I'd ever get the engine started by hand.  NEED that electric starter.

--- [b]Bror Jace[/b]

you'll love the 926LE, its not to big, but not small, and is surprisingly manuverable even with the wheels locked.

Good luck and enjoy the new blower, its a shame that you got screwed with that first one, I hope this one, assembeled and such by you, will run like a dream.

My 2006 wasn't that bad, but it had problems too.  Several trips and several hundred $$$ to a dealer made this an even worse bargain.  It won't throw wet snow period.  All kinds of dealer adjustments haven't worked.  Even the headlight blew out.  When the snow is wet and heavy I drag out my old 10 HP 32" simplicity to get the job done.  A heavy bear to handle but at least it gets the job done.  At times the Ariens chute will not hold position too.  Wet snow  simply clogs the Ariens 1128 LE impeller and chute and smells like rubber burning (most likely the belt overheating if I keep pressing down on the control hoping to get at least chunks of wet snow to fall out).  It also doesn't have a slow enough speed for the machine to process heavy wet snow.  All adjustment failed to make a slow enough speed.  Is this a design flaw?  It seems to me that this machine is improperly designed to process heavy wet snow, while the simplicity 10 HP 32" seems to handle it (also has super slow speed setting-maybe that helps).