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.
