Between three snowblower Models... Ariens, Toro and Craftsman

Ariens 1130DLE

Joined: Oct 25, 2007
Points: 107

Between three snowblower Models... Ariens, Toro and Craftsman
Original Message Oct 25, 2007 11:12 am

Hello

First post, not first visit. Been reading post for about a week and now seem stuck on my final decision.

I live in Newfoundland, Canada. Hence the nickname :) We tend to get A LOT of snow here and the plows love to fill up my end of driveway (EOD) with a lot of slush, ice and snow. BIG chunks of it really. Also my driveway is a shared three car driveway with the neighbors. Which is one of the main reasons for needing a snowblower. Last year was my first time at my new house and we could not shovel on one side of the driveway. So towards the end of the season we had easily 10+ feet snow hill on our one side of the driveway, which made shoveling VERY difficult. So I am hoping that all these new snowblower will have no problem putting the snow over my neighbors car and on to his front lawn, as well as going over a 10' hill of snow. I also have another driveway that I have to clear as well, so this machine will get a lot of use.

I have been reading mostly about Toro, Ariens and a little on Honda. Not much research on the craftsman at all. I know I would love a Honda as everybody I know that has one raves about them. Not one bad thing about them. Unfortunately its out of my price range. So I have been using them as a comparison to the others.

Right now I am looking at the below models. The links are included and also my concerns on each machine.

Ariens 1130 DLE $1869 + Tax

http://www.ariens.com/snow_products/deluxe_sno_thros/1130_dle/

I lot of people seem pro ariens here. Is this bias or are they that good? Personally I seem to be leaning towards them myself. But I wonder if its the post here doing that to me. As I haven't heard much about them locally from people I talk to. All positive reviews are from online. I have heard good reviews about the toro locally tho. So I am stuck on the positive reviews on these machines. This year only one dealer locally sells them. It seems home depot dropped the line or at least here they did. Which makes me wonder why? to much troubles? Hrmmm.. Maybe toro and others gave them a exclusive deal, who knows. but it does make me wonder.

The things that make me wonder about ariens are the chute controls. Not are easy to use as the toro. But it is all steel, which seems to be a plus in my mind. The triggers do seem quite a bit stiffer then the toro, not to keen on that. Plus the springs that move the chutes make a lot of squeaking. Need some grease maybe, but will these seize up in the future?

The automatic differential only controls one wheel, why? This doesn't seem to make since to me. Are we suppose to go around in circles like a zamboni in a ice arena? Why not controls on both wheels? Also the 10hp only comes with a manual trigger. I thought I seen somewhere that this tends to work better, even tho still one wheel. Is the trigger better or automatic. For future problems, which would give less headache to fix? Automatic seems like to could be the troublesome one for that, but maybe there is little problems. I don't know.

The blades on the discharge auger seem to be a little bigger then the toro. Which is a plus. But it doesn't have the powermax system. Is it better or worse off because of this. For more, see the toro concerns below.

Also when talking to the dealer, I seem recall he said the 11hp had cast iron gearcase. But maybe I confused this between the deluxe and pro. Does this years 11hp deluxe have a cast iron gearcase?

Other then those few concerns, thats all I can think of on the ariens. Which is a good thing :) But the few that are listed are enough to make me wonder about it.

Toro Power Max 1028LXE $1849 + Tax

http://www.toro.com/intl/ca_en/home/snowthrowers/gastwostage_powermax/1028LE.html

The toro looks sweet, must say. I really like the joystick. Nothing to do with all the nintendo playing I suppose.. haha. But really, the joystick works the best of the ariens and toro. At least from my experience with showroom testing. But my concern is like others. PLASTIC? It gets very cold here and I can just see me in a hurry or tugging to hard and snap. Now what? No chute control and how long for it to be fixed. Plus I have a car, and would have to arrange transport of it. No, dealers here do not pickup or drop off without a charge.

The unlocking wheel triggers seem nice. I like the fact that I can turn on the dime, either left or right. I think the triggers are more plastic tho, not sure, memory vague on that one..

Powermax system. I believe this is talking about the extra side mouth on the discharge system. Sorry, not sure how to describe the technical side of it. But the mouth inside the collection bucket is wider on one side. It then goes up into the plastic system that directs it over to the discharge chute. I am probably going backwards as it was described to me as a place for snow to come back down the chute and into the bucket again, so that snow doesn't clog up the chute. Now I am sure this has been tested by toro thousands of times to make it a feature. But to me why is this necessary? Other snowblowers do not have it. Maybe a patent, but would it be hard to defeat a patent on something that is supposedly marvelous? Also I seen a snowblower modification you can do to decrease the gap between the discharge blades and the casing. With this power max system creating such a gap on one side, does it effect the power of suction in the casing? Suction? maybe not what I am trying to say. But like a seal going in a pump sort of. not as effective?   Also this power max system is plastic too. What if a rock flicks up there? Are the benefits of this really that good?

on to the gearbox. They say it so good it doesn't need sheerpins. Well, why do that have them? Granted that are heavy duty sheerpins, I would describe them more like bolts actually. The ariens seems close in size on both the gearbox and pins, though the toro dealer tells me different. I know a common problem with snowblowers are the sheerpins and the gearbox. I was wondering if a comparison is done anywhere. I did read a little about it in snowblowers post. But was a little technical for me. Maybe I should read it again to see if I understand it more now after all this research.

All the negatives about plastic, but truly I could see it being beneficial in some ways. Being lighter and also more slick. I would think that if it is as hard as they say, then maybe it will last longer then steel. No rust after all. How much degrade in performance would I expect to see on steel, one it starts to rust or the paint wears? But I did say I was using the honda as comparison and they are steel, so that rest my mind a little.

CRAFTSMANŽ/MD 13-hp Dual-stage Snowblower $1999 + tax   $500 off until Nov 4th.

http://www.sears.ca/gp/product/B000I2T9UC/sr=1-1/qid=1193322074/ref=sr_1_1/105-2701412-0682067?ie=UTF8&searsBrand=core&mqnodeid=16346971

Yes the craftsman that I have linked seems overkill to me. But its around the same price as the others and if I can get more for the money I want to spend, why not? The thing about the craftsman is that I have hear nightmares about them and service. Maybe the reason to stop thinking about them right there. But the features for the price makes them a contender (sort of). Am I a sucker for punishment or what? lol.   Another thing about craftman is that I cannot got and see one locally, at least as far as I know. Haven't tried both sears stores, just one. The last thing is the site lacks information on all there models, I would probably go with a smaller one with the same features, but I cannot seem to compare them as the site list the features in many ways. Like some are HP, others are CC. Some say weather hydrostatic, while other that I suspect are do not. Thats probably enough to say forget them, but its still in my mind, why? hrmmm

That is most of my concerns on these machines. The Craftsman has hydrostatic like the honda and its OHV. seems everybody likes both of them. Are they worth getting if I have to compromise with a craftsman?

What are the major benefits with the below
OHV
Briggs and straton vs tecumseh.
Hydrostatic vs manual shift.

Last but not least. who is better for parts pricing? Maybe you can list some common things that need to be replaced most often on a snowblower. This way I can call around to get a idea on maintenance cost.

Wow, that was a mouthful. Sorry for the fairly long post, but this is my first time purchase of a snowblower and I really want to try my best to get it right. I have heard nightmare stories about snowblower purchases and since I am not that mechanical, I want to try my best to fall in this category.

Big thanks in advance, for helping me with my big purchase of the year. Many thanks.

Cheers
GoofieNewfie.

Cheers
Goofie Newfie

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