Abby’s Guide > Outdoor Power Equipment (Lawn Mowers, Snow Blowers, Chain Saws and more) > Discussions > Do Ariens snowblowers have Hydrostatic drives like Honda snowblowers ?
Outdoor Power Equipment (Lawn Mowers, Snow Blowers, Chain Saws and more) Discussions |
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zippo2008
Joined: Sep 3, 2008
Points: 6
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Do Ariens snowblowers have Hydrostatic drives like Honda snowblowers ?
Original Message Sep 4, 2008 12:10 pm |
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Hello,
A friend of mine has a Honda with a hydrostatic drive, and from what he explained to me, this enables you to change gears on your snowblower, without having to stop moving with the machine,
in order to change the gear, and then get that movement going again by pressing down on the gear lever ( on your right handle bar )
Does anyone know if the Ariens brand of snow blowers use this hydraulics system for gearing ?
I'm looking at the model: http://www.ariens.com/products_snow/s_deluxe_1130dle_features.aspx
also, if anyone know where to find an online manual for any of the Ariens brand snow blowers I'd really appreciate any info
Thanks for any info.
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ajallen
Location: Colorado
Joined: Nov 28, 2007
Points: 79
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Re: Do Ariens snowblowers have Hydrostatic drives like Honda snowblowers ?
Reply #9 Nov 12, 2008 12:21 pm |
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Thanks for that AJ. Does Husqvarna build Craftsman snow throwers in their plant and just give them a different paint job? Or does Husky & Craftsman use a generic manufacturer such as Murray or MTD to build their machines? I'd find it a little unusual to have Craftsman machines coming off of a Husqvarna assembly line. Not impossible though. Might be a bit of a marketing dilemma to explain why a Husky is better than a Craftsman however.
Yes Husqvarna builds Craftsman snow throwers in their plant and gives them a different paint job. Murray is owned by Briggs & Stratton and is but a shell of the former company. All of the Murray product is now built in Snapper/Simplicity plants also owned by Briggs & Stratton. Some of the Sears product is built by Murray and some MTD and the rest Husqvarna. If the model number starts with 917 or 944 it is Husqvarna, 536 is Murray and 247 is MTD so no one company builds all of the Sears product. Briggs has recently dropped the Murray name and has changed it to Briggs & Stratton Yard Power Products Group which includes Murray, Snapper, Simplicity, Generac Portable Products LLC (not to be confused with Generac Power Systems the former owner of Generac Portable Products LLC) and some others that I just can't think of right now.
AJ
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borat
 
Joined: Nov 10, 2007
Points: 2692
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Re: Do Ariens snowblowers have Hydrostatic drives like Honda snowblowers ?
Reply #10 Nov 12, 2008 3:07 pm |
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Yes Husqvarna builds Craftsman snow throwers in their plant and gives them a different paint job. Murray is owned by Briggs & Stratton and is but a shell of the former company. All of the Murray product is now built in Snapper/Simplicity plants also owned by Briggs & Stratton. Some of the Sears product is built by Murray and some MTD and the rest Husqvarna. If the model number starts with 917 or 944 it is Husqvarna, 536 is Murray and 247 is MTD so no one company builds all of the Sears product. Briggs has recently dropped the Murray name and has changed it to Briggs & Stratton Yard Power Products Group which includes Murray, Snapper, Simplicity, Generac Portable Products LLC (not to be confused with Generac Power Systems the former owner of Generac Portable Products LLC) and some others that I just can't think of right now. AJ Well I must say that hearing of Husky building Craftsman machines on their assembly lines is quite a surprise. So, when building Husky machines, they light up the Husqvarna sign on the side of their plant. When they switch to Craftsman, they light up the Sears sign? Who'd of thunk it?!! : ) Maybe they do it under the cover of darkness. At midnight, the plant begins to furiously churn out Craftsman machines. Or rather, furiously painting Husqvarnas to look like Craftsman machines. At three a.m., the Sears truck slinks into the loading bay to pick up a load of bogus Craftsman snow throwers to have them deposited on Sears floor for opening time. Unwittingly, customers will be treated to a product of better quality than they would normally get. Clever, very clever...
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snowmachine
Location: Washington State
Joined: Nov 12, 2008
Points: 268
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Re: Do Ariens snowblowers have Hydrostatic drives like Honda snowblowers ?
Reply #11 Nov 12, 2008 7:31 pm |
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Well I must say that hearing of Husky building Craftsman machines on their assembly lines is quite a surprise. So, when building Husky machines, they light up the Husqvarna sign on the side of their plant. When they switch to Craftsman, they light up the Sears sign? Who'd of thunk it?!! : ) Maybe they do it under the cover of darkness. At midnight, the plant begins to furiously churn out Craftsman machines. Or rather, furiously painting Husqvarnas to look like Craftsman machines. At three a.m., the Sears truck slinks into the loading bay to pick up a load of bogus Craftsman snow throwers to have them deposited on Sears floor for opening time. Unwittingly, customers will be treated to a product of better quality than they would normally get. Clever, very clever... Howdy, I am new here. I picked up one of these 917.881063 models last month. It definitely appears to be closely related to a Husky when I cross reference parts on the unit from the Sears parts site. Some parts seem to be AYP related as well. Major differences seems to be it has the 1450 Series B & S engine instead of the Tec and no Hydrostatic drive. It seems to closely resemble a Husky 10527SBI am new to snow blowers so I hope it holds up reasonably well without too many hassles in the years ahead. Snowmachine
This message was modified Nov 12, 2008 by snowmachine
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pvrp
Joined: Nov 14, 2008
Points: 151
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Re: Hydrostatic drives
Reply #13 Nov 23, 2008 1:20 pm |
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The two advantages that I've heard for hydrostatic drives is that you can change speed without stopping and the speeds vary
evenly from slowest to fastest. I've always found 6 forward speeds to be more than enough. Are there any other advantage
to a hydrostatic transmission? To me much more important is that hydrostatic doesn't wear out. I'm not crazy about friction disk drives, I've replace mine a couple of times and it's a pain. They do work ok in practice, though, which kind of surprises me. I'd expect them to slip all the time but they don't. Paul
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Clay
Location: Wis
Joined: Dec 3, 2008
Points: 111
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Re: Do Ariens snowblowers have Hydrostatic drives like Honda snowblowers ?
Reply #14 Dec 3, 2008 1:51 am |
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Howdy, I am new here. I picked up one of these 917.881063 models last month. It definitely appears to be closely related to a Husky when I cross reference parts on the unit from the Sears parts site. Some parts seem to be AYP related as well. Major differences seems to be it has the 1450 Series B & S engine instead of the Tec and no Hydrostatic drive. It seems to closely resemble a Husky 10527SBI am new to snow blowers so I hope it holds up reasonably well without too many hassles in the years ahead. Snowmachine
I just bought this machine and it seems closer to the this Husqvarna: http://www.usa.husqvarna.com/node3099.aspx?nid=84620&pid=78456 Same variable drive without the handwarmers and the Tec engine. Since they are no longer in business I'm glad that it has a B&S engine.
Snowmachine, thanks for the parts site link. My model number is 917.881063 and when I did a search nothing shows up on the Sears web site. They used the model number 917.881060 which was slightly different and is one of the numbers in this series, but not my specific model number. Note: I hate the variable speed drive. I find it very frustrating to control the speed on my unit. I've only used it once, but would prefer to KNOW if I am going to start moving this thing what speed it will take off. Maybe it is just me, but does anyone else have some frustration with the drive speed? I also don't like that the chute only rotates 180 degrees. My older machine rotated much farther and I came to use that extra flexibility. Note: my chute rotation control cable already melted against the hot muffler. Make sure that yours doesn't contact the cable. On the Sears site above the cable is not sold alone but as a $70 part of assembly. That sucks if it wasn't under warranty. Once the plastic shell is melted through you loose some control over the chute. I was thinking of taking my back and picking up the Ariens ST1130DLE: http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10051&langId=-1&catalogId=10053&productId=100646422&N=+501670+3042+90401 What do you guys think? Rick
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borat
Joined: Nov 10, 2007
Points: 2692
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Re: Hydrostatic drives
Reply #16 Dec 3, 2008 10:50 am |
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To me much more important is that hydrostatic doesn't wear out. I'm not crazy about friction disk drives,
I've replace mine a couple of times and it's a pain. They do work ok in practice, though, which kind of
surprises me. I'd expect them to slip all the time but they don't.
Paul
A hydrostatic unit should outlast a friction disk drive system. However, in cold weather, it might respond/wear differently than similar units used in warm weather application OPE. Might be the reason why the engagement speeds are unpredictable as well. Personally, I'll take a friction disk set up any day. It's proved to be very effective and in my experience, very durable. I've got over twenty years of snow thrower use in heavy northern Canadian winter conditions, running on a 110' x 20' drive way with 11:1 grade in the front and another 35 'x 25' flat section in the back. I've never had any issues with the drive system on the two previous Craftsman machines I owned. Other than the odd adjustment, never did a thing to them.
pvrp: What kind of machine are you operating that you had to change two friction disk drives on? I could understand maybe once in twenty years of heavy use but twice? Sounds like something must have been out of whack.
This message was modified Dec 3, 2008 by borat
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snowmachine
Location: Washington State
Joined: Nov 12, 2008
Points: 268
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Re: Do Ariens snowblowers have Hydrostatic drives like Honda snowblowers ?
Reply #17 Dec 3, 2008 11:11 pm |
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I just bought this machine and it seems closer to the this Husqvarna: http://www.usa.husqvarna.com/node3099.aspx?nid=84620&pid=78456 Same variable drive without the handwarmers and the Tec engine. Since they are no longer in business I'm glad that it has a B&S engine. Snowmachine, thanks for the parts site link. My model number is 917.881063 and when I did a search nothing shows up on the Sears web site. They used the model number 917.881060 which was slightly different and is one of the numbers in this series, but not my specific model number. Note: I hate the variable speed drive. I find it very frustrating to control the speed on my unit. I've only used it once, but would prefer to KNOW if I am going to start moving this thing what speed it will take off. Maybe it is just me, but does anyone else have some frustration with the drive speed? I also don't like that the chute only rotates 180 degrees. My older machine rotated much farther and I came to use that extra flexibility. Note: my chute rotation control cable already melted against the hot muffler. Make sure that yours doesn't contact the cable. On the Sears site above the cable is not sold alone but as a $70 part of assembly. That sucks if it wasn't under warranty. Once the plastic shell is melted through you loose some control over the chute. I was thinking of taking my back and picking up the Ariens ST1130DLE: http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10051&langId=-1&catalogId=10053&productId=100646422&N=+501670+3042+90401 What do you guys think? Rick
This message was modified Dec 3, 2008 by snowmachine
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nibbler
Joined: Mar 5, 2004
Points: 751
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Friction Disk Replacement
Reply #18 Dec 4, 2008 9:23 am |
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Borat, you mentioned pvrp but I thought you might have meant me since I mentioned replacing a friction disk. I have a hunch the main wear and tear on the unit is two fold: - Engaging and disengaging; and
- Low speed settings ( inner edge of contact point compared to outer edge moves more percentage wise).
Long swaths at a constant, high speed setting probably allows you to log the most miles before changes. is I do 10-20 short driveways, sometimes with a lot of start and stopping. There is a large amount of EOD work at low speed. It all adds up to friction wheels wearing out. That why I would prefer being able to put on a steel belted radial "tire"  instead of replacing the whole wheel. |
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