billywhiskers

Here in Quebec it is illegal for a gasoline seller to fill anything but an approved container. People used to fill most anything with a screw cap at one time. Now all of the approved containers have a ' UL '  ( Underwriters Laboratories ) stamp but there is still what I see as a major oversight. The container itself is tested and approved but obviously the caps, spouts and seals are not. All of the plastic gas contianers I've seen in recent years use a rubber 'O' -Ring as a gasket to fit between the spout and the container. They don't form a tight seal and the gas nearly always spills all over the place when you tip the can. The old system used a flat rubber washer which did form a leak-safe seal. I've looked for these large rubber washers unsuccessfully for a long time and even went as far as to fashion a couple out of the right thickness rubber I found laying around my shed.

A couple of years ago I bought two spring loaded replacment spouts. They have a bit different gaskets...not 'O' Rings but rather molded rubber gaskets which are finicky to get seated on the spout bases but tight when on there properly. I find these spouts quite good, The gas can be tuerned upside down and the gas only starts to come out when downward pesssure is exerted on the tip of the spout. I forget who makes them though.

I had an MTD with an all plastic chute. Once the top part was clogging up with sticky snow so I gave it a bit of a cuff with the back of my mittened hand. The whole thing fell off the blower. It wasn't broken, just had to be re-installed. I always said that in one small way that blower was like a high performance race car....I'd use it once and then have to rebuild it for the next event. At a retail price of about $1100 + tax I couldn't expect too much of that old MTD. Now I've got an Ariens that ruined most of $2500 and it falls apart too. Not much plastic on it though, i will say that. 

Rubinew, congrats on the Yamaha, that is one wicked looking machine!! I'm envious.

Quote:  "

   Is that the picture with the rusted section and nut the cowling issue?  That’s the heater box.  That’s mounted with a screw on the top, one the shown nut and two small screws on the side.  With the two small screws in that thing should have almost no vibration so I can’t see how it would crack.  So may be it’s not the issue but I’m not sure.  Does it have it’s two screws in place?  With those there is no way the heater box should develop a crack. "

Well it did, when the machine was only a few weeks old the first time. And as I said previously, they replaced the part and the second one cracked in exactly the same place. All of the nuts and screws are in place. I called it the cowling, but I'm no expert on terminology...whatever, it broke. Since it was welded over three seasons ago it hasn't cracked again and that's because with the weld it is now thick enough around that bolt hole. If it had been heavier gauge metal it wouldn't have cracked in the first place.

I can't speak to whether or not there have been online reports of these types of problems from other Ariens owners but I would guess that locally there would be a lot of Ariens owners but very few who would be online discussing them. The dealer I bought it from has been in business for probably thirty years and he told me starter issue is common. And I'm not the only one to have the levers break either. And again, it's been a couple of years since the first one broke, but it's never broken again after being welded and that should tell you something. 

I honestly don't feel that my engine vibrates any more than any other similar engine. I've owned three and operated several others and there has always been vibration, it's no worse....but no better on this one. And I know that a lot of this relates to the Tecumseh engine rather than the blower it's mounted on, but that's what I mean when I talk about the disconnect between the two. To my way of thinking a blower manufacturer can't, or shouldn't put their brand on a machine and then when there's a problem cop out and say " well the problem is the engine and we don't make the engine so we aren't responsible". It's up to them to put a decent engine on there and then stand behind it. Or better yet, make their own. 

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.    

tkrotchko wrote:

Well TK, from what I've been able to find out most of the problems I've had are not at all unusual in Ariens of this vintage. Bottom line is you can pay top dollar and be darned, you're still not going to get what you pay for. I'm not so sure I shouldn't have bought another Craftsman from Sears.  The new ones seem to throw the snow a lot better than the old ones and they're frequently on sale. Frankly the Craftsman I had years ago was a piece of junk, but for the life of me I can't see too much difference between it and this Ariens...the quality is roughly the same.

This machine has never spent a night outdoors since I bought it. When I'm finished using it I sweep it clean and it goes in the unheated shed. Any place that has been welded is oxidized, but at least none of the welds have broken. After this season is over I may take the welded parts off, clean them up and paint them with anti-rust paint. Of course by that time there will no doubt be some more wounds and bandages to further ruin the appearance of the machine. Some of what you're looking at is lithium grease which I put on various friction points to try and ward off further breakages.