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

I bought this machine because I needed a rugged machine that would last me. I would rather purchase a "Tim Taylor" machine rather than fuss with an inferior one. This beast has 13hp, 36" wide, locking diff, heated hand grips, light, elec start, ect.... I have a 100 foot paved driveway. It has snowed 4 times since I purchased it, and it has broke down on me 3 times.  everything from a factory recall that i wasnt notified of, so it burned belts (4)!!, to nuts & bolts falling out, chute breaking, auger stops turning, wheels stop driving, etc.... The dealer has a special place for it in his shop that they dont fill when it is at my place. I believe this machine would last forever,  if i dont use it. The dealer stood behind me 100% when I told them enough is enough I wanted something done, money back, or a replacement. Now it has snowed today, 20", I have a bad back and have to shovel while the ariens company sits on my $3000.00. Anybody else have this problem?

Oh My God.  I had to join this site just to vent.

For 10 years I had a Honda 828 wheeled snowblower.  It was a great machine.  It never once failed to start on 1-2 pulls, could eat anything, and was light enough I could pick it up and put it in the truck.  I beat on my machines.  I make money, not friends.  Everything about it was great.

I moved to a house with a 400' driveway.  The honda had no light, and I noticed the muffler starting to turn cherry red in about 12" of wet snow.  I figured it was time to upgrade to a bigger machine, because the 828 was taking me about 45 minutes to clear the driveway.  Of course I wanted another honda, but I didn't feel I could justify almost 3 grand new, and even people selling their used hondas were expecting close to full price.  I sold my 10 year old snowblower for $800, thinking it was unbelievable someone would pay that much.   I got what I thought was a good deal on an ariens 1336 dle pro.  All the bells and whistles $3000 msrp.  A lot of people like Ariens, so I figured maybe the pro model and not the home depot model, coupled with a real service dept. would be better, and I could save maybe $1000 and be done sooner.

This snowblower is a big, red piece of crap.  I can't see a major difference between this and my 1960s Snow King, for which I could no longer get parts for.  I buy my equipment used in order to save that big chunk of depreciation.  2 years into a product is a good way to tell how something is going to stand up.  Honda does, ariens doesn't.  Heated handles, a remote-control chute, and a light, that's about it.    The only difference between this snowblower and an ariens you could've bought 20-30 years ago is this one is made more cheaply.  Mind you:  This is the PROFESSIONAL model, and not the trumped-down Harry Homeowner model.

1.)  The snowblower is balanced with all the weight under the wheels, so it rides up.  If you pull up on the handles the wheels just spin.  Unlock the wheels and only one wheel spins.  Horrible, horrible traction.  Chains?  Tried it.  Weight kit?  Tried it.   This machine sucks.

2.) Chute is off center, so snow goes left easier than going right.  Does that matter?  It does because the battery is on the right, and the wide-open chute spills snow in ever-accumulating piles right on top of the battery housing, evetually building up to the point of clogging the chute, and/or making it impossible to turn using the nifty remote switch.  The switch has broken twice-its not waterproof, and the electric motor turning the gears has broken/clogged with water and frozen 4 times.  It is not weatherproof, and has simply been sprayed with an undercoating in order to give it a minimum amount of protection.

3.) You will only need 3 gears:  Reverse, 1st and 6th.  Because the impeller/auger doesn't spin fast enough to get rid of more than 4" of snow at a pass if you go any faster than gear 1, and 6 will get you back to the garage after you get the piece of junk started again.  BAD GEAR RATIO!!!!!!!  I bet its because the pully is the same one used for a smaller bucket, but no one bothered to do the math on engine speed/auger speed.  Piss poor engineering.

4.) It sucks gas.  I could do my driveway with 50% less gas with my smaller snowblower, even though it took me the same amount of time with a machine 30% smaller.  The disc-o-matic transmission is simple enough to work on, (and believe me you'll get the chance) but it sucks a ton of power.  The Snow King engine starts.  Power?  Plenty, but who cares because the auger doesn't turn fast enough so you stuck waiting anyway.

5.) It cloggs a lot.  New belts?  Yep.  Tighten the belts?  Yep.  Clean the belts, dress the belts, kiss the belts, silicone the chute?  Yep.  In 10 years of using my Honda, the only time the chute clogged is when I sucked up a 10x10 blue tarp, and it almost made it out.

I couldn't even tell you where the belt on my Honda snowblower was.

6.)  It rusts.  Do I take care of my equipment?  I'm hard but fair.  In 10 years my Honda didn't rust as bad as my 2 yr old Ariens.  Cheap.  Heated handles and a light.  Those are the only positive things.  Also, the handles on this piece of junk are the same handles you'll find on the 824, and blowers 200lbs lighter.   

Not only is this a out-dated design, the very balance of this machine is wrong.  It is out of sync, and doesn't work well.  I'm speaking as a mechanic/tech/designer who loves good tools and good machines.   This is a very low-grade snowblower, not worth 1/2 the price.    AVOID THIS MACHINE.

Well nhmatt, that was a rather harsh review. 

Don't have any experience with that particular Ariens machine although, I did look at a one year old, used one that was the very same model, last year.  It looked big and tough enough.   After I looked at it more closely, I could tell that the engine had been worked on.  Something that the sales person at the dealership denied knowing about.  I showed him that the valve cover was being held on by other than stock nor normal type bolts.  From the looks of the fasteners on the engine, someone had taken it pretty much apart, either several times or they were as sloppy as hell in their wrench & screw driver size selections.  The dealership was asking $1600.00 for it.  I passed on the deal and bought a brand new 9528 Simplicity for a hundred bucks less, taxes included.   Best snow thrower I've owned and a damned good performer too.    

I can't be harsh enough.  Every time I use that thing I have to work on it.  Whether it be a shear pin or a loose belt or a frozen shute or a clogged impeller.  SLUSH OMG!!!!! I totally forgot.  it doesn't throw slushy snow more than 5'.  It cloggs more than it thows.  Sure, I know all about the Pam/silicone trick.  Its a design problem:  The impeller/auger assembly doesn't move fast enough, or have enough torque to toss it out of the chute.  I've tried modifying it and "tweaking" it or whatever.  10" on the ground tonight, and slow speed was too fast.  The engine is strong enough, in fact I dont' think the transmission is strong enough to stall the motor.  

Its better than shoveling by hand. 

I have an Ariens 1128DLE Pro 924508 And It is a great machine. It did plug with slush until I installed Clarences impeller kit and now it is flawless. My Honda hs624 will still give it a run for its money but the Ariens is a great machine as it is the last year they made this style before the changes took place. I would never have considered a machine with an electric shoot.

nhmatt wrote:

I bought a used (and abused) Craftsman snow thrower from my brother-in-law almost twenty years ago.  It was a 10 h.p. 32" model.   The only thing that worked well on it was the Tecumseh L head engine. 

That machine operated like it was on a timer.   I swear that there was a self-destruct timer on it somewhere.  I'd get exactly 45 minute use out of it before something would let go.  Seriously.  I had a string tied across the handle bar where I had three or four frequently used combination wrenches dangling from it.   Most common problems were the chute falling off, auger jumping out of the end bushings,  belts jumping off,  and my all time favourite was when the bolts holding the intake scoop would rattle out and the machine would almost break in half.   The machine had been taken apart so many times that most of the welded nuts that held it together were either stripped or very close to it.  Nothing would stay tight.  Even the engine would start to rattle loose after half an hour or so.  I'd have to pull  out a wrench and torque it down.  Good thing I was young and energetic when I owned that headache.   One can only remain young, energetic and stupid for so long.   I decided to part it out.  I didn't want anyone else to experience the grief that thing was capable of meting out.     The funny thing was that when I was parting it out, a guy I worked with said he was interested in buying the whole machine.  I warned him that it was nothing but trouble.  He said he was more than aware of how bad they were because he owned one just like it and had the same problems I had.    He said he needed only certain parts from the drive system and considering the engine was good, he'd try to make one decent machine out of the two.  Didn't happen.  Sure, he fixed the drive system but the other problems didn't go away????  

That story made my day....a good laugh...Great visuals.............THANKS!
Packo

Possible causes, least likely to most:

1. Next time you remove the pulley cover measure the auger system pulley maybe its too small and the impeller RPM is too low;
2. Make sure you put the choke in the "off" ( a.k.a. open or run) position;
   
3. If you go too slow there isn't enough load on the engine the governor won't cause the engine to rev up, you can hear the difference when it happens, try a higher speed setting;
   
4. The belt is too loose and slips whenever the auger/impeller is under load.

nhmatt wrote:

I think you may have bought the wrong machine for your needs.


nhmatt wrote:

You misunderstand the operation of the differential.  The idea is to have power going to both wheels, whether or
not you're turning.   Just like on a car this works very well as long as both wheels have traction.  But the way the
differential works is that it will end up sending all the power to the wheel which loses traction (like on ice).   If
you don't want this to happen you have to manually lock the wheels (the new limited slip differential will do this
for you).


nhmatt wrote:

I don't see how the snow could exit the chute if it was in the center of the machine.  The snow comes
off the impeller tangent  to the rotation of its blades and if you want the direction to be "up", so you can
then send it somewhere useful, the chute will have to be on one side of the impeller.


nhmatt wrote:
This is why I think you picked the wrong model for your needs.  In my mind a 36" wide machine is for quickly clearing
a large area of snow that is not too thick.   For deep snow you want a narrow machine.  Especially for something like the
snowbank left by the city plow.  The first cut into this has to be the full width of the machine and 36" is asking too much.

Paul

I absolutely bought the wrong machine.   But I don't undestand your point that a 13hp machine with a 36" bucket shouldn't be able to spit 6" of snow in the lowest gear possible.   This is the first time I've had someone suggest I should have a smaller machine, because I'm asking too much work from the biggest, baddest, snowblower ariens could make.    I believe my point WAS that this machine couldn't do the job I was asking of it, which is anthing more than 6" of powder.  Go figure, a snowblower that's affraid to get wet.

 If you look at the honda the chute is directly at the top of the impeller, making the throwing distance the same to either side.  Also, they don't put the battery directly in the path of the snow coming out of the chute (not that you should waste your money on electric start with a honda).  Maybe that's the reason in 10 years it only clogged when I sucked up a blue tarp.

I will be the first to admit I bought the wrong machine.  Its great to turn as you head back to the garage to gas up (gas hog) or to tighten the belt, or to let the auger/impeller thaw out because it doesn't like to get wet.  Honestly, buy a cheap, cheap cheap machine instead of wasting your money on an expensive one that was built cheaply.

I have a Honda at work and at home and both have the chute off center.