I’m on pretty good terms with the guys at Boston Lawnmower, the biggest stocking dealer for Ariens on the east coast. I’ll put what they said at the applicable spot.
>>>With the two small screws in that thing should have almost no vibration so I can’t see how it would crack
That’s what I think. Also if the machine is vibrating like crazy and the 4 screws are the right screws and inplace properly I don’t think any part of a heater box would split. If the heater box were vibrating that much the carb mount could probably break before anything else. But just say there could e movement enought to cause presssure at that front side screw. Take it out an look what that's screwed into. That would probably rip out long before any cracking of the metal. Right you say but it happen. It did and I certainly can't explain it or understand how.
I take off the heater box on every machine I get and never saw one with thin metal.
Boston Lawnmowers (BL) response was they never saw one cracked like yours. Never saw one “just damaged” without a story i.e. no broken as in defect. They said they have never had a warrantee claim for a defective heater box.
>>> The dealer I bought it from has been in business for probably thirty years and he told me starter issue is common
BL guy said he never saw a machine that was sold with a factory installed starter that fell off. Never had a warrantee claim for that.
>>>Broken handles
My take is they are not so strong but plenty strong for the job if things are in adjustment or even off by not so crazy amount. I have over adjusted the auger lever to where the pull down would eventually break the cable or lever but that was for testing. I could easily see fighting a blower and twisting the lever if someone were rough with their machine.
The BL guy said the levers are not that strong. He said they see broken levers mostly on machines with some age but never had a warrantee claim for them.
>>>I should say that I contacted Ariens with a complaint through their website. There is supposed to be a 48 hour response time. After a week or more I got back a short response asking for a model and serial number and a statement that my case would be reviewed. That was awhile ago now and I've heard nothing.
This one is inexcusable.
Your heater box split at a weird place very early. You had a second break in the same way. You had early lever failure and a starter fall off. All in all I’d go with bad Karma rather than try to balance what happened to you against the grillions of machines that don’t have those problems and fault Tecumseh and Ariens for what happened. My own take is there is nothing to indicate vibration as the cause other than the starter falling off. The starter was probably drilled, tapped and installed by a robot.