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

I know that this has been brought up many times before, but I wanted to hit this one again.  Most know that Tecumseh is now bankrupt and there are no engines available and there are no plans to make any more engines at this point.  It doesn't mean that they will never make any engines, but right now nothing is for sure.  Ariens was always a proud user of the Tecumseh snow king line of engines.  How would you feel about buying an Ariens with a Tecumseh engine in it right now?

I was in Home Depot this weekend and saw the latest batches of the 927LE.  These new units came with Briggs Snow Max engines that produced 13.5 foot pounds of torque and sold for $1050.  .  The Ariens web site does not reflect this change yet.  I think the Snow King engines are very nice units that have proven themselves in the field or in this case the snow.  The other reason to use Tecumseh for Ariens was always a marketing way to differentiate themselves from products put out by B&S, including the B&S name plate, John Deere, and Simplicity to name just a few (I'm sure there are many more).

When I think of snow engines I personally think pretty simplistically.  I think of the Tecumseh, B&S, Honda and the many Chinesse engines no matter who's name plate is on the sheet metal.  Would love to hear your comments.

Rick

Rick,  I had a problem with the pull start on my Ariens 11528LE (Tecumseh OHV engine) immediately after I bought it.  The cord would pull halfway out then snap back with enough force to break off the bottom of the handle.  Yeah, I was left holding the other half.  Call Ariens and they said it was a Tecumseh warranty issue and to call them.  Took it to an authorized Tecumseh dealer.  It took them forever to fix it because they said they were not happy or satisfied with the answers and run-a-round they were getting from Tecumseh HQ's.  This was in 2006 when Tecumseh was in the engine business.  So if Tecumseh was that bad then....????