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

Hello All.

Here are my few complaints about my Ariens 1130DLE snow thrower. Over the last few weeks I have been getting my snowthrower ready for the years to come. After realizing how much it rusted in just one year, I figured it was best to start sooner then later.  I am super glad I started this now as some things haven't been easy. Like the removal of one rusted wheel to the axle. Anyway, won't rehash that here as its in the other post about it.

Here are my complaints. I really don't see why they should even be a issue with such a well built machine.  My first complaint is lack on anti seeze on integral components that should be easy to remove for maintenance.  Today I spent some time taking off the attachment pulleys (two bolted together for dual belts). I did this after reading how hard it could be to remove after a few years of operation. Things like gear pulleys, heat and hammering to remove it, seem to be common.  So why not anti seeze it?  Maybe they do, but after getting mine off today, certainly no indication it was done on mine. Granted mine wasn't that rusted and came off without much trouble, but it was rusting. Few more years and I am sure I would be in the same boat as the rest when it comes to tough removal.  So why not the few extra dollars to anti seeze these components?

My second complaint.  All the rakes that hold the bushings are screwed in with self tapping bolts. When you purchase the rake there is no thread in it, so you screw in the bolts which grab into the rake. I cannot understand why the rakes would not have threads? Why not a bolt with a nut on the end? Why is this a issue for me? Well I cannot seem to back out a bolt without snapping off the head. Then, I am stuck either purchasing another rake or trying to removing the broken bolts, which isn't easy.  I cannot understand why these rakes are not made so that they can come off easier with better bolt system. If somebody here has a trick on removing these self tapping bolts, please let me know. PB blaster does not seem to help at all. Just as a note, the rake is $9.95 and the bolts are $1.45 at my dealer. So with three bolts in each, it doesn't take much to need $15 in parts for just one rake.  With two on the auger, it will run me over $30 to get it out if I want to anit seeze it.  At least when I put it back together I can use bolts/nut. But would be nice if there was a thread in the rake.

That is it. These seem to be minor issues that ariens could easily rectify to make these machines easy to maintain. 

Cheers
Goofie Newfie

I wrote :

>  I mean, where's the profit if the machine lasts for twenty or thirty years ?

to which borat replies :
Ah, the good old days...  Judging from the history of the Ariens company, found at :

      http://www.ariens.com/corporate/aboutus/history.aspx

we probably have Dan Ariens to blame (I bet he went to business school, and if
not his VPs certainly did  :-)

The problem as I see it is that the business world has replaced the idea that a good
product is something that is well made and preforms well, with the idea that a good
product is something that can generate a maximum of profit - at the expense of quality
and performance if necessary.  A good product is something that sells, not necessarily
something that works and lasts.

Unfortunately for us they don't teach mechanics in business school.

I can't see this philosophy lasting forever. I wonder when the decision was made to
sacrifice quality for quantity.  It would be interesting to know if there could have been
a sustainable point on the chart that was reached by maintaining quality, lowering
production and increasing prices instead of lowering quality, increasing production
and lowering prices.  I suppose there'd be a problem if it turned out that they would
have had to charge $10,000 for a Pro model.  I was expecting to pay close to $3000
for my 9526 (I paid something like $2400 for my 1024 back in 1999) and was surprised
when I found out the price, thinking it was a pretty good deal.  Until I found out why.

Here's an article that sort of describes what happened to Ariens :

     http://www.mrotoday.com/mro/archives/Cover%20stories/AriensON03.htm

Paul

Thanks for the article Paul.

While on another snow blower and lawn mower forum that many of you probably know of, I posted a long list of questions about Ariens snow blowers in regard to gear boxes, as well as  bearings and bushings.  Check out the good information in the thread.

Yeah, I noticed that post yesterday morning and was to tired to reply. That information is great and would be nice if all manufactures listed the changes in that manner. Guessing its inside knowledge that they don't want other manufactures to know, but its sure nice to see change reasoning.

Yesterday morning I was debating on copying and pasting it here for others to see. May be better then redirecting people. Just a thought.

goofienewfie wrote:
Yeah, I thought of doing something like that, but I feel weird involving another forum with this one.  Is it even legal?  I really hope others will check it out.  There are only a couple or three forums dealing with snow blowers ( and other OPE), so I hope others will check out the thread on the other forum that says its the "Best" (hint).  I'm sure a lot of members here know about the various forums.  The thread is titled regarding gear boxes.