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

Has anyone used the little Toro Power Clear 180 yet?  It has the 87 cc engine 4 cycle engine on it. 

aa335 wrote:

Not only did the dealer not take care of the problem, they didn't bother to tell me they weren't taking care of it. Called them up, they said bring it in it'll take a week to fix (!). Dropped it off 10 days ago, called today to check the status, dealer said, "Oh our guy who does the repairs is down in Florida, he'll be back in three days." Would've been nice to know when I dropped it off. I told him I'll come pick it up, bring it back to the store I bought it from (which does not do warranty service, hence I had to bring it to this place) and get my money back.

First off, for anyone inclined to shed a tear for the demise of the mom and pop hardware store, think twice. Some of them are going out of business for a reason. Second, I don't know if the "unit was put together right" or what. I only know I paid good money for it, it leaked gas after two uses, and didn't get down to the pavement as advertised. So, it fell a bit short of expectation to say the least.

Lived here in Chicagoland for 18 years, resisted buying a snowblower until now. One month, $400 and two uses later, it's been gas leak followed by trip to service dealer followed by incompetent non-service. Happy ending though -- the leaking fuel vapor didn't explode in my garage and burn my house down, and the dealer I bought it from agreed to refund my money. Lesson learned.

I'm in the Chicagoland area too.  Let me know what zip code (no names necessary) where that mom and pop dealer that did not service your snowblower promptly and I'll make a point not to do business with them.  We haven't had any serious snow in the last 3 weeks so there shouldn't be any backlog that they can't work on your snowblowers.  I just visited a dealer 2 weeks ago and they admit that they had caught up with repairs and was looking for more action.

   we are a certified toro sales and service center up here in minnesota,  twin cities area.  so far the only problem with these taiwanese engines is the carb leaks fuel  and or  they will start right away , when primed, but kill.... toro recognized this issue and a carb kit is available under warranty.... they have problems  with the "coating" on the inlet needle coming off.....   anyhow if anyone needs to bring it in for service dont let them charge you..........................................................................

....................................  tell the it under  TORO SERVICE BULLETIN   SNOW PRODUCTS   # 81...................................................

 GOOD LUCK     chris

Thanks.  This is good info to prevent dishonest dealer from double charging Toro and the customer for the same work.  It is horrendous to think that some dealers can do no work and charging.  Or doing work and double charging.

aa335 wrote:
60187

All the while my 2 stroke powerlite works wonderfully, starts on the first pull, and leaks nothing.....  The fact that it weighs less and has more power too....I'll deal with the "messy mixing of oil and gas" (riiiiiiiiiiight) any day of the week!

superbuick wrote:
That little bumblebee has been in production for the last 10 years.  I hope Toro has gotten the bugs out of it by now.  Toro did have some initial hick ups with the Rtek engine in the Toro 3650 when it first came out, something about a plastic carb and snow getting in around choke lever.  So it is expected to have some problems with the Powerclear 180 on its first production year.

Don't tempt me to buy the last new Powerlite 2- smoke in my area.   

By the way, my 10 year old 4 stroke snowblower still starts nicely, usually on 2nd pull since it doesn't have primer bulb.  It weight a LOT, 95lbs.  It's only messy once a year for oil change.  It looks like this:



The only thing that looks better is a Toro Snow Commander.

That 621 is a nice machine AA335! Honda doesn't make them like that anymore unfortunately.

superbuick wrote:
It is quite a machine.  It's in really good condition considering the age.  I've thought about restoring it to showroom status and retire it as a garage queen.  Then I'd get a Toro 421Q or 221Q to do most of the snowblowing duties.  The HS1132TAS is reserved for attacking EOD and helping out the neighbors or when snow gets higher than 10 inches.  There's just something very satisfying about seeing a 50 foot rooster tail of snow coming out of this machine.  Ranks right up there with a perfectly executed powerslide.

By the way, the HS621 is still in production (in the USA?) and but only available for sale in Canada and other parts of the world, not USA.  I guess the customer base for a $1000+ single stage snowblower is too small or non-existent.  It's a hard sell when current Toro offerings are so well designed, perform well, easy to repair, and costs a lot less.

mech12 wrote:
I didn't know Taiwan makes engines.  Say it isn't so.