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

I just got a call from my dealer telling me that my machine just arrived.
It should be interesting to see if it has a guarantee-less Tecumseh
or a B & S engine.  I don't really care much, I understand the Briggs
doesn't have a throttle which I really like, though it does have other
advantages.

Should be picking it up sometime this week.  I'll report back.

Now to stock up on some grease...

[ EDIT :  For anyone reading this in the future I suggest reading the entire
              thread since my opinion of certain aspects of the machine changed
              while I got to know the machine better.  ]

Paul

If it's Briggs powered it'll have a throttle...

Time for a review of sorts.  I picked up the machine on Tuesday
and drove it to our cottage.  There was about 6" of snow in the
driveway, most of which is supposed to be cleared by a local
service, and around two feet deep everywhere else.

The engine is a 9.5 HP Tecumseh OHV which the dealer said
would likely be guaranteed by somebody or other somewhere
down the road, for whatever that's worth.

The machine having arrived a couple of weeks late meant that
I got to set it up in the snow since I couldn't make it to my
basement door which is only accessible by a long path, the
house being on a hillside with the front up above.

Overall, given the current trend towards diminished durability,
I found the machine to be pretty nice, the assembly is good
except for a few places.  But there is one glaring design fault
and a couple of disappointments.

Might as well start with the big one.  For some reason Ariens
saw fit to change the discharge outlet from the impeller from
a round opening to a square one (the base of the chute itself
is round, the extra area around the square is blocked off by
a piece of plastic).  I can only guess that this was to save cost
somehow, though I don't see it being much more trouble to keep
it round like it used to be.  The result of this is that the
square output opening is around 2/3 of what it would be if it
were round.  Given that snow being discharged probably follows
more of a circular path than a square one the effective cross-
section may be reduced further to about 1/2.  This is a severe
bottleneck.  (If the same opening is used for the bigger blowers
they must have real problems).

On top of this, or because of this, the lowest speed of the
machine is too fast for deep snow.  You have to go forward
a couple of inches, wait for the blower to empty, then inch
forward a bit, wait, over and over.  This must be really bad
for the friction disc.  In comparison, my 1999 Ariens 1024
will just keep going through two feet or more of snow, even
a snowbank, with hardly ever having to wait for it to catch
up.  Maybe I've been spoiled by that machine, its model name
was 1024SHO for Super High Output, which I thought was just
a marketing gimmick but compared to this machine it's true.

Odd that the auger drive belt was doubled sometime along
the way.  My old machine did just fine with a single belt
(while outputing more snow). I just replaced the belt after nine
years.  It still worked ok but was getting old and frayed.

On to the more minor issues.  I knew beforehand that the
wheel bearings used in past models had been replaced by
bushings but I was not expecting to find these flimsy
plastics things that are no more than 1/16" thick.  They
replace ball bearings that were over 2" in diameter.  I
wonder how many hours of operation these bushings are rated
for.

Another bushing related thing is that the ones shown for
the pinion and sprocket are not there anymore, the sprocket
turns directly on the shaft.  The same thing goes for the
short axle which is supposed to have bushings at each end
but doesn't.

The bottom panel is now held on with 6 little screws which
must be completely removed to get the panel off, and the
access to the screws isn't great if you don't first remove
the wheels.  My older machine had 4 big bolts, only two of
which had to be removed, and the wheels weren't in the way.

Others have already mentioned that the wheel axles are prone
to rust.  This is in two areas, the first between the wheels
and their axles, and the second between the axles of the axle
assembly which is made up of one long axle that goes from wheel
to wheel passing through a shorter axle on the right side.

There was a bit of grease inside the wheels, not much.  There
was no grease at all between the two axles (inside the short
axle), which are bare metal.  Any rust in there would make
taking the axle assembly apart impossible.  Putting things
back together I thoroughly greased everything which made
putting the axles back together a bit difficult since the
grease tends to prevent the pieces going together (hydraulic
lock).  Lightly tapping with a plastic hammer helped here.

The locking differential seems to work as intended but it
had a tendency to shudder a bit when locked, though this may
be due to insufficent pressure on the friction disc, I did
not get a chance to re-check after using the machine a while.
There is some resistance from the differential on tight turns
compared to the older non-locking differential.

Another thing, the fingers (sort of a comb) that the speed
lever slides into are pretty narrow.  I can easily imagine
one of them breaking which would have the result of losing
a speed, with no easy way to fix things without replacing
the entire control panel sheet.  Or else you'd have to
attach a second comb on top.

Some good points, in conclusion : the chute rotation is
really nice and easy.  The control mechanism for this is
pretty tricky the way it unlocks and locks automatically
before and after rotation.  The rotation is only about
180 degrees which is less than my older machine.  There
are occasions when it is nice to be able to throw the
snow slightly behind you, like when you clear a path to
the street and want to keep the snow going onto your
lot and not into the street at the very end.

The output of the blower for anything less that a foot
or so of snow was fine.  Everything works well though
you have to be a bit careful changing speeds on account
of the lever not being round but a flat piece of steel
instead.

I used the machine for about four and half hours, mostly
blowing old snow between one and two feet in depth.  It
will probably be a joy to use in less deep snow.

You have to replace the engine oil after the first two hours
of operation.  I wonder how many new owners actually do this.
The oil was a clear pinkish when new but was a dark enough
brown after a couple of hours.

One final thing, if you put the snowblower into service
position (standing on the auger) for a long time the engine
will leak quite a bit of oil from behind a small panel on
the left side of the engine, when you start it up.  This stops
after a while with the oil loss not being that significant.

I'll post more if I think of anything else.

A big thanks to those of you that pointed out that rust
could be a problem if not dealt with.  I'm sure that this
has saved me a lot of headache a year or two from now.

Paul

I've been saying it for a while now about Ariens cutting corners.

The reason I bought the my Simplicity 9528 last year were for it's durability features.  Sealed ball bearings for the axles, large cast iron gear case, 9.5 B&S engine which is probably making 11 h.p., round ejection hole to the chute.  Not only is it round, it's contoured and sealed at the bottom inside the impeller housing.   Strong, easy to operate controls.  The entire machine is very robust.  No short cuts there.    Performance wise, it does what it was built to do and does it very well.  It'll keep going & throwing snow up to the point where the snow falls onto the engine and starts pulling it into the carb causing it to sputter. 

 If I were you, I'd keep that old machine and refurbish it.  Chances are that you might need it sooner than you think.   I have nothing but respect for the old Ariens machines.  They were built as tough as nails and are as reliable as anything built.  My mother-in-law has a 5 h.p. late '60s early '70s Ariens that still gets the job done. 

Thanks for the honest report.  Not a lot of people are willing to disclose the negative aspects of a newly acquired machine.   I hope it serves you well.

borat, you write:
I have every intention of hanging on to it.  I kept it for here in the suburbs, figuring this is
where I needed the stronger machine.  Our street is cleared by a big grader who does his
first pass with the side blade down and clears maybe 2/3 of the street in one shot.  This
can produce an enormous snowbank often higher than my waist.  This happens to the
other side of my street but for the last couple of years I've been volunteering to clean the
driveway across the street because the man living there is getting old.  I may actually have
saved his life since the year I offered to remove his huge snowbank  for the first time he
was diagnosed with cancer and when they checked him out for that found that  he needed
triple bybass heart surgery.  The year before I'd felt pretty guilty breezing through my
snowbank while he toiled away by hand (he's apparently back to being in good shape).

I rebuilt the 1024 last month, repainted everything that needed it and replaced all the
bearings and belts.  Can't wait to use it, but still no snow here in the city.   The thing just
chews its way through the snowbank, even if the snow is a foot over the top of the intake. 
It's pretty fun to do and impresses everyone.  I don't think they were all that common. 
If I could find another one, even in not terribly good condition, I'd probably buy it.

Paul

I have to say, I wondered why Ariens changed to square vs circle for the impeller exit. I thought it would effect performance as well, tho it did not seem to after operating it. If it is effecting it, I don't see it being a major issue. My machine eats lots of snow and throws it further then I would even like it too. Sometimes I have to take notice that I am not putting it in the neighbors driveway or out on the road. For me, my unit handles as much snow as I would like it, not sure as if the circle would make a big difference.

To bad you had to get your machine ready outside, but sounds like you made good work out of it. Looks like your already to eat snow. Congrats on your purchase.  One Area you may also want to look at with the grease is the under the chute. Mine didn't have any grease there either, even tho it was suppose to. It did seem like it had some, until I removed it and saw it was sliding on a plastic piece. Once I put that snowmobile grease on it, it was sweet. Made a big difference to the smoothness of rotation. Last year snowmann also said the deflector should have vaseline on the insides where it touches the chute. Might want to put some there.

Also should say, keep a eye on the chute, deflector and speed control $#%*. Last year one of mine came loose and flew off during a snow storm. Unsure to this day how I managed to find it in the snow, but I did. I was lucky. I now always make sure to notice as to weather they are tight or not before moving out in the weather.

Cheers

goofienewfie wrote:
I found it only a problem with snow that was over a foot deep, and old snow at that,
otherwise it worked fine.  I guess I'm just used to my older machine which can really
output a lot of snow without choking.  I get to try my old machine this evening now that
we're finally getting snow in town so I'll be able to better compare the two machines.
Just waiting for the plow to go by.

goofienewfie wrote:
Mine had a small smear maybe a third of the way around.  I packed it with grease.

(ah, there's the plow ! )

goofienewfie wrote:
This forum software is pretty sensitive to certain words though for some reason it shows
them just fine while editing a post.  Let's try : b-a-l-l-s   ->  $#%*.  You say you lost one during
a storm ?  :-)  Thanks, I'll be careful to hang on to mine !

Overall I expect to be fairly happy with the new machine.  It'll just need a bit more care than
I'm used to.  I used to be a mechanic but I don't really enjoy it anymore, too dirty and toxic,
and I converted my garage to woodworking so I have to work outside.

Paul

pv

While on another big snow blower and lawn mower forum, I made a list of questions about Ariens blowers regarding gear boxes, bearings, and bushings.  Check it out for some good information.  Your comments about the discharge chute is interesting.  I wouldn't even know whether this is going to be a problem for everyone out there with a newer Ariens, or what.

coasteray wrote:
I may have changed my mind about the chute lately, now that I've gotten to use my old machine
several times.  I've been waiting to get a chance to use my new machine again before updating
my opinion here.  I won't get the chance until next weekend.

I have a feeling that the exit speed of the my new Ariens is a lot higher than on my 1999 machine.
Not only does this mean that it may blow snow further, but it may also permit a smaller opening
to the chute without adversely affecting the total amount of snow being blown.  My old machine
has six wide vanes on the impeller, the new one three narrow ones.  I can imagine that if the
new impeller is turning fast enough it could compete with the old one.  I'll post an update here
once I've gotten a better idea of what's going on.

Just a word on bushings.  They should work just as well as a bearing while they're in good
condition.  The major difference between the two should be in service life.  Hopefully the
thin plastic ones don't cost a fortune and can be replaced regularly.  The bearings don't last
forever either and cost about 25$ each.  A bigger problem is in places where there is no longer
a bearing nor a bushing which means wear will have to be fixed by replacing whatever shaft,
sprocket or axle suffered the wear.  This could be expensive.

Paul

pvrp wrote: The owner's manual claims 200 degrees, but it would be hard to notice a 10 degree difference on either side.  Assuming it's the same as our new 924DLE, I agree with you that it's not as far back as our older machine (an ST826), and that it would be useful to go back further, but it suffices.

As for the two hour oil change, one of my motivations for making an early pass on Friday (rather than waiting to challenge the machine with a full foot of snow) was to get in the two hours of use, before the second storm today.  I can't speak for others, but we did the oil change.  It's not that hard, as there's plenty of clearance for a drain pan under the plug.  The hardest part is judging the quantity.  Why couldn't they make it an even quart instead of the 1 5/8 pints (= 26 ounces = 0.8125 quart)?  (Metric is no better, at 0.77 liters.)

Actually, the liter measurement is pretty simple.  Just leave 250 ml. in the bottle.  I doubt that the machine will notice 20 ml. difference.