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

Simplicity now has gone and screwed up a perfectly reliable snowblower.Not only did they add electric chute rotator to the Large frame model; the chute deflector is also electrically controlled.Cant they just keep it simple?When your trying to clear a driveway in 30 degree temps,you dont need the doodads and the doohickeys not working.I guess B&S has a different plan than the original owner.I guess some of us just got our machines in time before they started farting them up.Hooray for the gizmos.........

Yo Krank:

I'm just assuming that your '09 Simplicity 1428 is still the robust product that is representative of the pre-Briggs and Stratton production line. It's probable that Simplicity has not entirely re-tooled for the production of the new models. As you pointed out, they are now selling machines that are not manufactured to the build quality of old. I'll dare to say that is just the beginning. within the next couple of years, I'll be surprised to see any non-pro Simplicity snow throwers being built as ruggedly as the machines we own. I'll also venture to say that the Pro line up will likely be eliminated as well. I certainly hope not but, hey, this is progress right? As if there's some way the manufacturers can make us believe that production of low quality products is in deed progress. I'm not buying it. Personally, I think it's just the opposite.

Simplicity was acquired by Briggs back in 2004. While it takes a long time to turnover a product pipeline, many of us have "post-B&S" machines and have been quite pleased. According to my local dealer, the electric chute control has been part of Simplicity's feature arsenal since well-before the 2004 acquisition. (And given the state of American mfg, it is not unreasonable to question whether Simplicity would even be around at all, much less what state they might be in, without a deep-pocketed corporate parent.)

...I'm not arguing, just some thoughts...

Much of what many of us consider necessary today, seemed superfluous a few years ago. When I was a kid, my Dad had to manually wrap a rope around our Toro mower to get it started. And of course, that meant he had to re-wrap this rope every time he pulled on it! The notion of a built-in rope with an auto-return feature seemed like a gimmick to him. (I distinctly remember the conversation.) Nowadays electric starters are frequently seen on lawn mowers!!

Just because something is electric, does not, by default, make it more prone to error or even an 'additional' thing to break. It really isn't an 'extra' something, just a 'different' something. I would even guess that someone could reasonably make an argument (though I certainly won't try) that a switch, wire, motor, and gear setup has fewer points of failure and adjustment than levers, cables, rods, and linkage systems. (To make such an argument, I think you need to consider the motor and a single component.) Put more simply, I've owned four cars in my life. I had a problem with a window control on just one of them and it was the only car that did NOT have electric windows!! And it cost $200 to fix!

The one problem I've had on my Simplicity snowthrower was with the linkage in the free-hand control. Borat helped me fix it and I remain grateful to this forum. There are no electrics involved in this mechanism and the mechanism is actually pretty simple.

Generally, I'm impartial to these electric controls on snowblowers. I think they're slick and fun, but I had a fine experience with a mid-90s Ariens that had none of these items. Still, IF there is savings to be had by eliminating the engineering and mfg of levers, cables, and linkage systems AND these savings allow Simp to maintain quality and beefiness in the rest of the machine while staying competitive with Home Depot/Ariens, I'm all for 'em.

Time will tell how successful the new gizmos will be. I, however will not be effected one way or the other. My machine is all mechanical and personally, if it's mechanical, in most situations, I can make an immediate fix with whatever I have laying around. Might take a bit of cutting, filing, drilling and fitting, but the machine will be back in service quickly. I know I cannot rebuild micro switches and small electric motors with what I have laying around. Therein lies the dilemma for me. Not to be demeaning nor disdainful to participants of this forum, I would say that there are very few people who repair their machines beyond basic adjustments and maintenance. Rather than roll up their sleeves, they roll up the machine onto a pick-up and bring it to the dealer. It will be a frosty day in hell before I do that. As such, the simpler the machine is, the better.

That reminds me of two recent incidents that two of my neighbours had. On March 31st, we had an enormous dump of heavy wet snow. I noticed my next door neighbour only had half of his 110' driveway cleared. I offered to finish it but he said he had a front end loader on the way to finish the job. I asked him what had happened to his snow thrower (Yardman, 10 hp. Tech) he said he had blown the motor and the local Toro dealer picked it up to fix it. When he got the machine back a month later, the engine hadn't been blown at all. He had simply over-filled it with oil and being worked so hard, it was puking oil out of the crank case vent. Only cost him $200.00 to have some oil drained off (and of course, the usual dealer line of we did this tune up and we did that adjustment. I bet! The other case was early in the spring, a lady across the street couldn't get her lawn mower running. I told her to have her husband bring it over and I'd look at it for them. He decided that the machine probably needed a "tune up" and brought it to a dealership. Tend days and four hundred bucks later they got it back. The woman was surprised with the cost of repair as was I. I asked what cost so much. She said that it needed a new carburetor. This was a virtually new machine that had seen one season of cutting grass then was stored for about eight years. I'd bet the farm that all the carb needed was to be cleaned out. Seems that the dealer preferred to clean out their bank account instead.

The above examples just go to show how ignorant the general public is when it comes to things mechanical. Every day, I thank the board of education for having tech classes when I was going to school! I'm certain that I've save literally thousands of dollars in repairs over the years.

Borat, you are absolutely right on the general public's ability/willingness to repair their own machines. The minor stuff I've done was only with the help of this forum. Ironically, I predict it would be easier for me to swap out a switch or motor than fabricate something. Again, 'simple' is relative.

Wanna have some real fun?

Get a price on the motor for the chute!
My Simplicity has not covered itself in glory. 
The ariens it replaced had a better track record.

The simplicity warranty runs out in a couple months, and has already had to go to the shop TWICE.

That's what I'm talking about Tubby.Unnecessary repair bills.And the type of people who love gizmos,usually not always dont know how to repair them.So here goes $60 for the p/u and return of the machine,$$ for parts and labor.Look at the chute rotator on the Honda or my simp pro .Easy to adjust and will never break down when u need it most.Even Ariens stopped offering the electric chute rotator.

mfduffy wrote:
I agree that it would be easier to swap out the switch, provided you can get to one. A switch sitting on a shelf at the dealership won't do you any good if you can't get to it because there's two feet of snow in your driveway because your snow thrower won't work because a switch that controls where the snow goes failed. Working outside in winter conditions is not the best place for exposed electronics. I wish every success to those who have them on their machines. I'll stay with the tried and true. As I say, if I can see what's broken, more often than not, I can fix it.

Tubby wrote:
Sorry to hear that your Simplicity needed repairs twice already with an approaching end of warranty. Are both of these repairs pertaining to the chute, and/or motor?

mikiewest wrote:
I wouldn't necessarily make that sort of generalization. I personally know of a medical doctor who loves gizmo, build his own computer, repair motorcycles and cars. He also has absolutely no interest in snowblowers. He doesn't drive an expensive BMW or Mercedes, except a very old BMW 2002 and Ford Probe GT. He also has excellent bed side manners and down to earth humble personality.

There are people who love gizmo that can repair them, some can't repair them, some just don't have the time to repair them, and some make too much money in one hour to repair them. All types of people love or hate gizmo.

New ideas are labeled as gizmo, given time, they become common place necessity. You are looking at it everyday.

I love some gizmos and I know that I am going to find that the chute rotation gizmo will come in very handy.  I was surprised that it was on the 1428 when I first looked at this years model and at the moment I was a little skeptical. But, it looks to be put together pretty solid like the rest of the machine. I say don't knock it until you (and others) try it. If it gives me grief my dealer, Simplicity and you guys will hear about it; during and after the warranty period.

In the mean time I am going to give it the benefit of the doubt.