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

I find it interesting that as highly rated as the Ariens blowers seem to be rated, that i see so many posts about them having problems. or breaking down. Ive paid attention for quite some time now & it seems always 30% to 40% of the posts are referencing a problem of some type with the Ariens & it seems to mainly be newer blowers. This brings to mind several questions, first and formost, if they are the quality they're reputation seems to hold, why are there so many problems with them? Is it only a matter of cutting quality to stay in a competitive price range while keeping profits as high as possible, or is it just poor quality control?  Even if this brand is the majority of blowers owned by people, 30+% seems to be an excessive amount of blowers having varied problems.Its understandable that after some years of use, parts wear out and repairs are necessare but since it seems to be mainly newer models with low hours on them having problems, it makes me wonder how much the quality has been reduced over comparable models say 10 years old, & they are relying soley on reputation for sales in todays market?

I think the reason you see more Arien's posts is for these reasons

1) Ariens is trying to compete not only on quality/features but price more than ever with the deal to be sold in Home Depot stores.  Trust me it's a double edge sword selling their main line snowblowers in those stores, yes more sales, but also more demand to cost the stores less so they can sell more.  Look around the net and there's a story about snapper/simplicity saying no to  being sold in walmart because they felt their business model was not compatible with the walmart one.  I don't rank HD as low as walmart but they are similar in their business ways.

2) Ariens I believe is constantly chaning/updating their snowblowers so any design problem will be corrected but sometimes new designs will have problems that need to be fixed.  This happens in most industries.

3) As stated big stores may not assemble them/check them over very well.  On a single stage not much to do, but on a two stage lots to do before delivery.

4) Most popular brand as someone said means more people to buy them.

5)  Overall there's more postive post about ariens than any other brand in the forums I go to, but also more negative which leads to my next reason

6)  Arien's owners are very into their machines, more so than most brands out there (other than Toro and old style Lawn Boys which have their fans too).  How many people buy a craftsman, mtd, murray and if the machine breaks care much at all?  Most of them just chuck it and get another one.  The Ariens owner not only will try to fix it, but share their experience with everyone to get more information or enlighten anyone who might encounter that samething.  Look around and you'll see some Ariens owners instead of buying new machines, completely restoring their old ones (new parts, paint, decals).  So therefore you get more Ariens owners talking about the machines they have a lot of passion for.

Now with that all said, I do agree that some of the problems people post with their new Ariens are worrying but some of them would of been avoided if bought at a full service Ariens dealer instead of HD.  I highly recommend anyone who saves a few hundred on a Home D two stage snowthrower to either go over it very carefully or even spend some of that saved cash to have a good full service dealer check it over and make sure it's put together right. 

I had some problems with my machine, and It's the first Ariens I have owned.

I bought the machine because of the all steel construction and great features. The problems I had were assembly problems but my OPE dealer took care of me and left me happy.

I did have the option of getting my money back , but why bother when the dealer takes good care of you.

spottedpony wrote:
 They just sold their 2 millionth machine. People who don't have problems seldom post  "I don't have problems."

Last season, which was much snowier, there were lots of posts about Tecumseh engines "blowing." Many of them were 10-30 years old - way past their design life. And sure enough, people started posting, "Do Tecumsehs have quality problems? Should I buy XYZ since it has a Tecumseh? You have seen nary a one this season because the machines aren't being used.

HD assembly quality seems to be highly variable by store. I stopped at one in Londonderry NH and all but one out of 14 926LE's had chutes that worked perfectly. The one didn't engage as solidly but did work. There's a HD in South Boston MA where I live and I wouldn't buy a hammer there, if they'd assembled it.

I don't have problems.

Granted, i'll consede the percentage of posts concerning problems is probably due to the large ownership base vs other brands, but when i see such a large number of posts concerning problems not related to assembly /adjustment, or normal use,   in my  mind at least i still would have to question quality vs "riding on reputation"

Sounds like you've done a lot of research and may be onto to something.  I'd love to see the statistics you've collected showing the distribution of problems by type, (setup, normal wear, maintanence, infancy failure, design failures etc).  We might be able to prove one way or another whether or not Ariens is as good as it's reputation by comparing your research data against your data for other machines owned by members of this site.  At the moment the only statistic I have is I am happy with mine but if you can prove I'm wrong I'll consider selling it and getting the best snowblower I can afford.

It might just be since there are more of them, more of them come on the net, or more of them "do it yourself" while other brand owners are far less DIY and maybe just take it to the dealer w/o checking it out themselves?  Its possible.  What you need to do is go to several dealers who service a wide array of blowers and see what they say.  My old dealer serviced many of all brands and the first thing he told me was to stay away from especially the newer Craftsmans, he said that MTD based machines seem to have a high fail right simply because they are light duty and shouldn't be used in areas that get dumped on.  He then steered me toward Toro, Ariens and he kept us away from honda because he knew our budget was limited :P  It all boils down to whats easiest for you to service, get dealer support from and parts.

I haven't read many problems that actually don't relate in some way to poor setup or testing.   When a machine is tested and setup properly the belts should last many years, gearcase many more, the engine even longer. Its all goes right back to the beginning of how it was tested and setup.  If something is causing excessive wear in one spot or not done right it will cause a problem.  When you look at the scope of things on a snow blower they are somewhat simple and only so much could go wrong.  Its all pulleys, gears, chains, and belts.  If something isn't checked or setup correctly with those then it could effect any number of things.

Ariens also has a 3 year warranty that covers all defects in workmanship and manufacturing and the point of the 3 years is because most likely "big problems" will fail in that time period and be rectified including problems from stuff not being adjusted right.

Tecumseh warranties their engines too and if its catostrophic engine failure should occur (and is from a manufacturer problem) it will fail in the first 2 hour breakin.  Thats what a tecumseh person told me at their toll free number.  When they throw rods its usually at the 15+ years, you read constantly my Tecumseh threw a rod...at age 25 or 30 or in my case Ihad one go at about 40 years, thats an awesome length of time to have engines run, and that 40years wasn't simple snow either, it was threw Buffalo, NY area winters.  If they die in the first 2 hours (or warranty) and it wasn't your fault for neglecting it, you get a new engine.

spottedpony wrote:
Where are you seeing all these posts?

Ariens did redesign all their lines this year, but I haven't seen many posts which reflect teething problems in the new products. They've made great strides in a lot of areas. You probably don't notice but the illustrations in their newer parts catalogs are all derived from 3D CAD models, which shows they're keeping up with the Joneses, Lees, Lings, Takamotos, Schneiders, Torgits, and Nehrus....

I think if you asked an Ariens factory worker if they were resting on their reputation, they'd try to beat you up - except that mid-Westerners are generally more mellow than that. I see plenty of evidence they're making massive internal changes to compete with anybody, anywhere.  Rather than fold up the tents and move the operation overseas.

      I read a lot of posts that blame poor setup for a lot of problems. This makes me wonder how much setup is involved. When I bought my Toro a few years agoI had to buy it online because I couldn't find any locally due to a big storm that cleaned everyone out.

      When it was delivered i had to assemble the handle,tractiong control linkage,chute control rod,and headlight.  Then it was just a matter of checking the tires and skid height,and filling the engine with gas & oil. I'm hardly a qualified mechanic,so it seems that anyone that can read should be able to setup a snowblower. 

     Problems such as belts,etc.would seem to be the manufacturer's problem,not the dealer's; unless it specifically relates to setup for that particular brand. I know that they are covered in the manual,but not under setup,so it falls back on the manufacturer.

                                                                        Just my $02

http://www.landscapemanagement.net/landscape/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=290993

an 24, 2006 LM Week in Review

BRILLION, WI — Ariens Co. will invest $6.5 million for manufacturing plant upgrades and a new production and engineering training facility. The company said its goal is to reduce delivery times for its walk-behind power equipment products, including its line of Sno-Thro machines. “This investment will allow us to take on the challenges of worldwide sources of supply, and provide consumers and commercial landscape contractors with a truly American-built product,” said Dan Ariens, president of Ariens Co. Four new powder-coating systems will be installed in the company’s Plant 3 location, allowing Ariens to convert raw materials to finished goods in a single location for all of the company’s walk-behind power equipment products, including Sno-Thro machines, walk-behind mowers and wheeled string trimmers. Additionally, when the training facility is complete, each of the company’s plants will hold independent learning centers. “The addition of this third training facility provides opportunities for all of our associates to learn the techniques of the Ariens Production System in a classroom setting, reinforcing what they are learning as part of hands-on training,” said Ariens.