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

          How many of you folks out there with MTD snowblowers, have had problems, or no problems?

Let's count and see how :"Junky MTD" does !!, compared to Ariens great QC ! ! ! 

                                                                 Fred            

Thanks for the contribution.   I'll say thanks to AZinOH, we have this term everytime I use it. 

i would certainly like to have a HATS machine and will when funds allow for it.

in the mean time my old crafts will do the job well enough.

as far as the mtds of the world i hope folks keep using them.they do indeed fill a need.

there are a lot of them around and they do require a certain amount of repairs .

that being said i will point out a few things that i have learned over the years being fully involved with snowblowers for a very long time (seems like it anyway).

the folks that buy the HATS machines are either ex owners of lesser quality machines ,or they used a HATS machine for a while and wanted one themselves or they did some research and bought the best they could find.

the Hats owners having spent a bit more cash sometimes are a bit more carefull with proper care and service of there machine.this also increases the life of the product.

the mtders of the world seem to not be quite as fussy with maintenence and not so carefull in its use.

im trying not to cast a mold here but these are just some observations i have made.over the years.and i do live in an unusual place most of you arent even shure  where i am .

so the mtders seem to suffer a bit more illuse than the HATS machine

all thats fine with me because without them i wouldnt have a job for very long.

now we all understand that illuse and abuse will destroy even the best machine in short order.

i have learned that a snowblower will not pile your firewood

it will not bring in your saturday paper.

it will not rearrange your paving stones.

it will not take out the trash .

it will however always find the chain that just fell off its own tire on the last pass.

it will peel the bumper cover off your neighbors car.

it will eat the hose on your barbecue.

it will find your door mat .

it will get your extension cord .

on and on.

also sometimes the mtders last a very long time.

so i wonder is it really the machine always ...nope

more often than not it is operator error.

later chris 

  

I agree they (MTD, Murray (RIP) and AYP) are machines that fill a space in the market.

Any and every brand will have a quality problem crop in the field from time to time. It happens to auto makers all the time.  No sampling plan can compare with mass use. With Gilson the year or the UniTrol chute ring welds comes to mind as well as the time a supplier changed the plating on idler rollers and the oil impreganted bushings all cooked in a few hours.

Sure there are construction details we can talk about but the real test is to take a population of machines MTD & SATH (my preferred order) and check on them 2 or 3 decades latter.

Pete

You mean people with hats don't tend to lend their machines out to be driven through the woods to another house? And since the shear bolts broke and the sticks that replaced the shear bolts broke, regular mild steel bolts aren't put in to clear an unpaved drive of 30 inches of middle Atlantic slop?  My bad, stupid questions. The only hats that would have had a chance would be a Honda track. Nothing else would have had enough tracton and weight transfer.

If you need to ask, yes, I'm one of those people that keeps you in boom trucks.

Gilsons wrote:

Pete,

I'll settle for five-ten years, and I hope we're all still around to have that debate.

AZ

Hey Pete,(you'll always be Spectrum to me)......I don't agree,I think murray will be around for a while.I think their engineering is OK.They may not use the best parts, but the ones they use do the trick and aren't terribly hard to replace.

navihawk wrote:
Murray is in bancruptcy right now. They owe B&S a ton of money and it looks like B&S is getting control. Time will tell.

Pete

 Gilsons,

  I read somewhere just recently that B & S now owns Murray.

 Briggs said that they will most likely close the Lawrenceville Tn plant in about 18 months.

                                                                                                 Fred                    

I have a Craftsman 888531 MTD, and with the exception of tightening the auger cable last year and the skid shoes wearing out after one season I havent had any problems with it these past two winters. (Believe me that baby got a work out these past two storms totaling 36 plus inches) This machune has done its job, and done it very well.

Robert