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

Last year I bought a John Deere 1130SE snowblower and for the most part I was extremely happy with it's performance. I love the hand warmers, electric chute rotation, easy steer and the front end weight just to name a few.  The only problem I had, which was pretty significant, was the intermittent transmission slipping.  After sealing the transmission housing with silicone and some weather stripping, the problem was completely gone.  The remainder of the winter was very pleasing and I always looked forward to using the 1130.  I also had a second snowblower that I'm trading for a new 1330SE.  So now I'll have the 1130 and the 1330.  The 1130 will be for my business parking lot.  Some of the interesting features of the 1330 is the addition of an electric deflector control and dash area integrated headlights.  So now the chute is totally electric (both rotation and the deflector).  The slipping transmission should be resolved from water getting into the rubber/aluminum disc drive.  To fix this problem, Deere added a rubber gasket between the engine mounting plate and the transmission housing.  I'll try to post some pictures in the future.
BTW, my second choice would have been an Ariens since they seem to give people on this website support from at least one poster.  I wish Briggs, Simplicity or Deere would give the same support.

Catt,

Thanks for helping to reduce my buyer's remorse. Now I know that I not only bought a good snowblower; but I also have a super powerful paper shredder.

coasteray,

I’ll try to answer your questions.

1)      The easy steer feature is an automatic locking differential and I’m pretty sure it’s similar to the Ariens, but I haven’t seen the Ariens differential in person.  There are no steering release levers to pull and it makes no difference turning left or right.  As you’ll see on this site, some people prefer this approach and others prefer levers.  I’m not sure that I would prefer one over the other, but the easy steer works great for me.

2)       The auger ends use a bushing material (Probably Delrin) which hasn’t changed in over 20+ years from Simplicity.  I had an Allis Chalmers (made by Simplicity) that I bought in 1985 and it used essentially the same design.  I sold the Allis this year and the bushings never caused me a problem.

3)      The gearbox uses bronze bushings which again is the same design that Simplicity has used for many years.

4)      The wheel shafts run straight through the wheels and are greased as you mention.  The grease should last for several years.  The auger shafts are also greased and the Deere augers have grease fittings.  I would grease these every season since these are exposed to the harsher elements.

5)      The 1330 is “nose-heavy” which I prefer.  I’ve used snowblowers that are lighter on the front and they have issues where they tend to lift up if there is any packed snow.  The Deere just digs right through it.  If you add a cab the front gets even lighter.

6)      The John Deere is very similar to the large frame Simplicity with a few exceptions that are exclusive to John Deere. 

Lanningjw (Jim),

I’m glad to hear the 1130 is working well for you.  I still have my 1130 in addition to the new 1330.  The 1130 is still working great and other than a few items is essentially the same machine. 

Catt, thanks so much for your answers to my pondering questions.  This information surely does help me understand both John Deere and and Simplicity a lot more.  I'm betting other readers of this forum will no doubt find this information very helpful. 

I think another issue for me is service and parts availability into the future.  Briggs has been, according to what I have read, only been manufacturing John Deere blowers (how about the rest of the vast John Deere lineup of machines?) since 2004 to the present.  The information I read was questioning how long this would continue.  John Deere used to make their own machines until 1991, then by Ariens and Murray from 1991 to 2001, then Murray from 2001 through 2004.  I actually have seen a JD blower that looked like an Ariens, so now I understand why; it really was built by Ariens, after all.  I hope that Briggs will hang onto JD and Simplicity so the names will have a real history of manufacturing, parts, and service.  That would be great.  Come to think of it, I can only think of Ariens and maybe Toro that have been making their own blowers for decades.  Most other brands have been tossed around to other companies.

Catt,

Did you put a tach on your 1330? If so where arevyou drawing your power from?

Thanks,

I haven't put a tach on the 1330, but have thought about it. I was considering the tiny tach as it only uses a wire wrapped around the sparkplug wire and another to ground.

Catt,

Have you been happy with the hour meter on the 1130? I'm thinking about putting one on my 1330 for no other reason than I think it would be cool and should help record any maintenance.

The hour meter works fine and I've been debating if I should put one on the 1330.  Maybe I'll take a look at ebay later today.

6"-12" of snow coming and very cold by Sunday (+1 Degree F).  Looks like I get to play in the snow again.

As several of you know, we had one heck of a storm around here. Starting Friday night and continuing all day Saturday, it snowed and blew like there was no stop in it. Highways and businesses and facilities were closing all over the place. Even the Metrodome didn't survive. I'm not sure what the official totals are, but I'm sure we got at least 15" here in southeast Minnesota. It's hard to tell, because everything is so wind swept. Anyway, I got to use my new 1330SE several times; so, I'll share my impressions.

THE GOOD:

- Power (it ate through drifts and heavy snow plow piles just fine; and it threw the snow a good distance, which was the main improvement I needed)

- Electric Start (never had it before, and it fired up with one quick push every time)

- Heated Grips (forgot they were there until my palms started to feel a little sweaty)

- Push Button Chute Rotation and Deflector (a little too quick; but I really like this feature)

THE BAD:

- Easy-Steer (does nothing noticeable to help the handling of this machine and may reduce its traction at times)

- Drive lever spring is too strong, and holding the lever down is tiring

- Front -heavy imbalance makes the 1330SE difficult to handle and reduces the weight on the tires. All of this results in the front catching and the tires slipping too readily.

My hopes and expectations were probably too high; but overall, I'm at least a little disappointed in this investment. If I could trade back, I might; but I'm sure it would have taken my old blower significantly longer to handle the huge amount of snow I pushed this weekend, and my hands would have gotten numb cold in the process. The other problem is that there was something I didn't like about every blower I looked at. I thought the chute controls on the Ariens Deluxe models were too slow and awkwardly positioned (its hard to beat the JD push buttons); there was more plastic on the Troy Bilt, Toro, and Poulan than I'm comfortable with; the Simplicities would have all the handling issues of the John Deere without the nice heated grips; and most of the crank and lever controls for the chute on all the other models were crude.

I'm hoping that I'll learn to work better with the 1330SE so that the clumbsy handling will become less of an issue. It sure looks like this Winter will give me plenty of opportunities to practice.