First of all, I want to thank all of the contribitors to this site in helping me to choose a new 30" Ariens Platinum Series Snowblower.
But in doing research online, it took a lot of digging to figure out that so many of the snow blower engines are made in China by two companies that I never heard of before: LCT and Zongshen.
Apparently this changeover to Chinese engines had been happening before Wisconsin based Tecumseh went out of business last year.
Now the only US manufacturer of snow blower engines is Briggs and Stratton.
Briggs and Stratton Engines are used in all the larger Ariens, Toro and John Deere two stage snow blowers.
And of course B&S engines are used in the Briggs subsidiary companies like Snapper, Simplicity and Murray.
But it seems all Craftsman engines are made by a Chinese Company, LCT.
MTD, which makes snow blowers under the Cub Cadet, Troy-Built and Yard Machines labels, seems to have all of its engines built by the Chinese company Zongshen.
I worry that with little track record for these Chinese engines that the potential for problems is greater. I am also concerned that getting parts will be more difficult as well.
Do others share my concerns, or have any reason to believe these engines should prove reliable?
