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

While I work in the auto industry I have stayed out of that portion of the thread and while I shoot competively I will also stay out of that portion of the thread, but please have fun with the firearms related conversation if the powers that be don't mind.  Back to the Tecumseh portion of the thread.  What prompted this conversation is that I recently bought an Ariens with a 358 CC Snow King Tecumseh.  I returned that unit last night based on the response and information shared in this post.  While that engine started on each and every pull.  My last engine in my old snow thrower was also a Tecumseh and it is still running 21 years later.  If I can't find parts for that unit 10 years down the road that is one thing but the new unit needs to have an engine that will  have parts available not only for warranty work if need be but down the road. 

At this point something with the B&S snow max engine seems to be the best choice for me.  That L head might have never had any issues, but I just wasn't willing to gamble.

Rick

Clay wrote:
Ariens have declared publicly that they will cover the warranties for their machines.  I take this
to mean that they'll change the engine on one if they have to.

Paul

I think that they might be able to scrape up an engine over the warranty period of 3 years.  Again, my current machine is 21 years old and almost any unit will last over 10 years.  I'm not as concerned about the warranty period as I am down the road.  The other point is how can they replace the L Head when they can't even get those engines right now.  I bet, just my opinion, that if you blow an L head right now, it will have to be replaced with a Briggs.  Again, the latest machines that I saw at Home Depot from Ariens came with the Briggs snow max engines because they can't get engines.  I think that Ariens will do what ever they can to make it right and I don't doubt them as a good company.  I am concerned about the long term ride with any new unit purchased.  Just one guy's opinion.

Rick

While I never got a straight answer out of the customer service department
and they transferred me to the warranty department to ask about Tecumseh
engines and Ariens, I did send them an email.  When I sent the email, there
was a notification that said that it could take up to two days to get a
reply.  I received a return email from Ariens today, 4 days later, and this
is it:

"Dear Rick

Thank you for contacting the Ariens Company. The Tecumseh Company has
not changed in their service to the customer. Please contact Tecumseh
800-558-5402 for further information on their products.

Thank you
Tom Dvorachek
Customer Service Rep
Ariens/Gravely Co.
920 756 4352
fax 920 756 4471
tdvorachek@ariens.com "

I replied to Tom and told him that I had already tried contacting customer
service and if he actually read my email he would have seen that.  From the
original email to Ariens:

"I have concerns about long term parts availability as well as warranty
work.  I was on hold two times this morning.  Judy in Customer Service didn't want to
answer my questions and no one would pick up after over 20 minutes on
hold in the warranty department despite two calls placed."

So that's Ariens customer service, which makes me feel more confident about
investing in a John Deere with a Briggs engine instead of the Ariens with
the Tecumseh engines.

Please draw your own conclusions as this is one example with a couple of
different contacts with customer service at Ariens.  Your experiences might
very well be different with different people on different days."



Rick Ingle

Certainly not confidence inspiring now is it?

As long as sales are booming, most North American companies will seldom concern themselves with customer inquiries.  If they sell 1000 machines and one guy complains, so what?  They assume that the other 999 customers are happy.  That's the same kind of arrogance and hubris that got the Detroit Three into the predicament they're in now.  As long as they can ride on the shirt tails of their good name, despite quality and customer issues, they'll continue to do so until their sales begin to reflect customer dissatisfaction.   By then, it could be too late.

Snowmann wrote:
I'm glad someone spoke up about those JDPower "initial quality" ratings.  I"ve never been impressed by them, for the exactly the same reasons Paul outlined.  As far as "car of the year" goes, how about the Chevrolet Vega?  One of the biggest eggs GM ever laid.   

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....????