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

is this a quality product.......or would i be better off for a few hundred, going with the 28" toro powermax?

The weak point in the husky product is the auger gear case and the augers them self. Not much better than MTD the bottom of the barrel. I would get the Toro no one makes a better auger gear case than Toro.

AJ

aj what makes you say that the toro has the best gear case?Better than Ariens and Simplicity's cast iron gear case?

What the case is made of is not as important as the gears. Snapper/Simplicity uses a 1/4" shear pin. Ariens uses a prestressed shear bolt (read will break easer). Toro uses a 5/16" grade 5 bolt in their large frame Power Max Models. If you use an after market shear bolt in an Ariens and something should happen to the gear case or the gears Ariens will deny the warranty (they have special markings on their shear bolts). The Toro gear case auger shaft is 1" and is the full width of the machine & a 7/8" input shaft almost bullet proof. I'm not saying that you can't damage a Toro gear case but it is a lot harder to do. All of the other's just don't compare and that includes Honda.

AJ

My impression is that the Toro auger gear case and gear is more robust than the rest. Toro is definitely taking a different approach. I'm still not convinced that having the toughest auger case/gears makes it the best snowblower, even if comes with a Dana rear end. However, there's got to be a sacrificial part that is a weak point designed to fail so prevent damage to a more expensive and less accessible part. Or there is some slipper clutch mechanism to soften the drivetrain shock. Unless Toro decided that it their engines is the cheapest component that's easy to replace.

Do tell.

I'll take a simplicity pro anyday over a Toro.Strange....of all the stores I went to,and I spoke to the mechanics not the sales people ,no one ever said that a toro was better than a simp pro .This was at stores pushing Toros.The simp pro is also in the same ball park price wise. I put my 11570e simp pro thru hell last winter and the gear box performed superbly.But one thing I do know,my machine will never crack because its all steel...no plastic.I know I know its high tech ,cutting edge blah blah blah ,blah blah plastic.You dont see Honda or Ariens using plastic.I mean we can compare part for part.Thickness,width ,depth etc.In the end Toro is behind a few brands.Maybe someone can get all the specs on both machines and we can do an objective analysis.

mikiewest wrote:
Are you referring to plastic gear case? I haven't seen a plastic gear case on a 2 stage snowblower. Not that it can't be done.

I doubt that the Simplicity is all steel. Bucket housing, steel yes. Generally, parts that are stamped, steel yes. But a complex geometry such as gear case? Steel, No. Simplicity stated that it is cast iron. A steel gear case is either machined or cast steel, both of which are highly expensive and not cost effective (profitable) to be used on a snowblower.

I don't see a problem where Toro has chosen to use plastics. It's designed well and feels solid.

aa335 wrote:

i believe he is referring to the plastic discharge chute.  however, it is a teflon material, was developed in 1998 and has been used on the toro snowblowers since 2001.  it is very strong, and only people that don't pay attention to details would think it is a weak point in the design.  It actually makes it better than the others.  snow will not freeze or stick to it, and its been in use for the last 8 years, and i've seen no complaints of cracking.  Toro was one of the first in the snowblower business, and they seem to be the best.

that's strange because toro did have problems with their plastic in the beginning.It was cracking and there was a recall on their machines.The dealer told me.And I'm referring to the frame being steel and the chute etc.Like I said,steel doesnt crack,plastic does.And you cant convince me that the plastic chute rotator is more robust than my chute rotator/deflector.

The Toro PowerMax discharge chutes are made from HDPE and have no Teflon content. They (and other PowerMax plastic parts) were made from a different polymer material when the problems ocurred on early models.