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.

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). 

   You did not give the factory number so guessing it's an Tecumseh 11.5 OHV 28 with 6 inch wide tires.  That's a great machine.  Slush is very subjective but that machine should handle just about anything.   The factory speed is probably around .9 MPH for that but you've set it lower.  With working the clutch it should be able to do a good job. 

Maybe it was out of adjustment and your keeping it engaged when clogged and burning the belt has made things worse.  It should do much better and is capable of much better.    If I have the model right your chute problem is probably just a nut tightening under the gear at the back of the chute below the spring.  Maybe you have a dealer problem rather than an Ariens problem.   

>>All adjustment failed to make a slow enough speed.  Is this a design flaw?

    The speed from the factory may be too fast.  Maybe your dealer setup was on the high side.  Seems like you adjusted it as low as possible.  To get those super slow your have to feather the clutch or stop and go, jerking along. It's not so much an Ariens design flaw as the limits of a friction drive.  Most of the time first is ok.  At times the machine has to be "worked" to get to go slow.  You auger belt is probably screwed up and not adjusted so doing poorly in sluch.  That machine should be capable of matching the Simplicity.  If it can't something is out of wack and not the fault of the design.  You spent several hundered bucks at a dealer and your chute flops around.  If you talked with them and told them the things you listed in the post and they could not correct things especially with all that money you need another dealer.

Also, after taking the first, full bucket width, pass, you can take smaller bites which will allow the impeller to process a little less snow/slush.  That should allow the machine to keep up with the amount of snow that it can toss out.

I was hoping to adjust my speed down a bit as well.  When I looked at the friction disk being nearly centered on the drive wheel I realize it probably wasn't possible.

I think that another interesting way would be to change the impeller gear to spin a bit faster compared to the auger.  Doubt it can be done easily, though.