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

Bought this Ariens 11528DLE last year, in January. For some reason, the forward and reverse drive will stop working. The friction wheel is fine, and there is no adjustment for the belt. I brought it to the local Ariens dealer, and of course, they could not reproduce the problem. They were nice enough to look inside, clean the wheel that the friction wheel drives with brake cleaner. Next snow storm, same thing, one pass down the driveway, and it stops. The dealer says, never heard of this one, maybe water is getting inside.

Paid lots of money for a machine that is touted as one of the best, I wish I could figure out why it is happening. Any suggestions???

Thanks

Brian from NH

brjl,

  My model number is 926004 and has the techumseh engine.  It was a one piece baffle.

Paul7,

  Mine has the techumseh and has the same problem.   Ariens makes baffle kits for Briggs and Techumseh equipped blowers. It just doesn't sound like the Tecumseh blowers happen as frequently as the Briggs machines.  My drive systems acted up on mine three times in about 20 snow blowing sessions this season so far.  A lot of it depends on what type of snow you are blowing , and if it gets all over the snow blower while you are doing it.  I am hopeful this is the fix I have been waiting for.

I will tell you I had an ariens old 1986 ish model 1032st and had drive issues also I have never owned another one I have a new JD1130se now that replaced a toro 1332 powershift which I have not gotten rid of yet it has motor issues not oil consumption or anything carb and governor issues ,if the jd doesnt straiten up it will be sold and will rebuild the toro because when it runs right it will blow better than any blower I ever had would have bought another toro but for the price they are a little crazy $2000 for a 28 inch machine  

Funny thing, I was thinking about selling my Ariens and getting something better, but, with reading the posts on the forum, is there anything out there that is made well, or are all of these companies turning out cheap units? Seems like the good names out there have been taken over by other companies and everything has gone to s#!t. My Airiens is not even close to the quality of my father's late 70's Ariens.

 Is it better to just buy a cheap unit and replace parts as needed?

Brian NH

If I had to do it all over again I would probably looked for an older Ariens and spend the money to rebuild it.  It would probably still be cheaper then the $1600 I paid for my 926PRO.  I bought the Pro because it was supposed to be "built like Ariens used to build them" but that is not the case.  It does appear like everything else....they don't make them like they used too.