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

Hi all,
Back in October I purchased the first snowblower I've ever owned. I live in eastern Massachusetts. I used to plow my driveway with a small doser blade on the front of my Sears garden tractor (the one I posted about the B&S engine that threw its conn rod), did that for 7 years, before that I just shoveled but Im too old and have developed a bad back. Anyway I got the top-of-the-line Toro 1128 OXE model 38650 with the Techumseh 'Snow King' 11HP engine. I had comparison shopped the equivalent Ariens unit but based on everything I read -including on this forum- the Toro was the better unit (they both had the same engine).

Well right after I got it I put a 'Tiny Tach' hour meter on it. I was using last Monday, we got around 5-6 inches of wet heavy snow. The snowblower had less than 2 hours of running time on it (the TinyTach reads only in full hours). I was just about done (it takes about 20 minutes do do my driveway) when all of a sudden I recognized that the unit had lost it drive mechanism. The auger was still working but no forward or reverse. Being a brand new unit still under warrenty (when I purchased it Toro was having a special offer that included a 3yr warrenty - normally they give 2 yrs) I really did not want to start taking it apart and I called my local dealer where I bought it and they said they would come and get it. I asked if it could be something as relatively simple as a broken belt - they thought not but could not be sure. After I spoke with them I decided to look at the belt so I removed the plastic cover (3 small screws) that they are under. When I removed the cover I instantly saw the problem. The belts were fine but each belt - one for drive and one for auger) has a small idler pulley pressed against by a spring it to keep the belt tight. The drive belt's pulley is mounted on a pivoting bracket and is held against the belt with a 'torsion' spring. I could see the idler pulley - it wasnt even sitting agaist the belt. Then I could seen the spring. At first I thought the spring had somehow slipped off the bracket but then I could see that the end 'tang' of the spring had snapped off.

So the dealer has repaired the unit (they called and found just what I did) and I should have it back tommorow, the repair done under warrenty. But it calls into question -in my mind- the reliability of the unit. That a $1.00 spring could take down a $1600 machine is very disconserting. I also called Toro to vent on them my disappointment with this. Maybe it was just a 1 in a million defect in that spring. I could see a unit several seasons old perhaps, but a unit with 3 uses and less than 2 total hours?

What do you think?

Thanks,
Paul
ps My good neighbor across the street has an Ariens snowblower. He loves his, alway touting its ability, and told me to get one. The fact that my Toro quit and was picked up by the dealer (and will be delivered) during the day while he is not home has saved me some embarrisment.

It is interesting though that my new Honda HS928 actually cost  less, in constant dollars, than the John Deere 928 that I bought 30 years ago.  Perhaps it is our own fault for always looking for the cheapest.

The really sad thing is that North American consumer manufacturing seems to have achieved it's peak in building quality products a couple decades ago and is now quickly sliding downward.   Those of us born in the 40s and 50s happened to be the generation with the good fortune to see and know the high degree of quality our domestic manufacturers could produce. 

Look at the vehicles produced during the 50s to the early 70s and compare them to what was rolling off the assembly lines after the 1973 fuel crisis.  Look around and see what OPE is still performing year after year, decade after decade. 

I too feel for the remaining domestic OPE manufacturers trying to compete in a dog-eat-dog business/manufacturing environment.   One of their biggest obstacles is that the preponderance of the younger generation(s) don't know what good quality is nor what the benefits of it are.   They are being brought up in a debt laden, instant gratification, throw away world.   Due to rapid technological change and  low cost manufacturing practices, nothing lasts.  People change cell phones, Ipods, computers and Blackberrys like I change socks!     

What started this whole downward slide of domestic consumer manufacturing?    Walmart.  

We all want lower prices.  Who doesn't?   We would be deluding ourselves to think that we continue to get high quality at low prices.

 We reap what we sew.        

borat wrote:
Spot on, Borat!!

What i would like to see is equipment that is rock solid, easy to fix and built to last a long time.  Once you make it, your inventory and cost for replacement parts goes down, as should the design and manufacturing cost since you don't need a team working on next years model all the time.  Sorta like the old VW Beetle  lol

borat wrote:
Walmart, Costco, Sams, Home Depot.  Any of those big companies have enough buyer power to make jobs disappear from the US.  Everytime you make a purchase, think about what that low prices does.  Consumers are digging their own grave with their penchant for low prices.

borat wrote:
Bravo!  I rate this post 9.9 stars out of 10.  The only thing that I take a tiny bit of issue with is the comment about cars produced prior to 1973.  In the late 60's I owned a car produced by American Motors.  The vacuum driven windshield wipers stopped working everytime you turned the steering wheel and it rusted while you were looking at it.  And I had a 1971 Chevy C10 pickup that you had to shut off when adding fuel because no gas pump could keep up with the truck while it was idling lol.

I agree that not every vehicle of the era was a gem.  Particularly as we got closer to the 70s. 

The transition from building the full sized gas guzzlers to lighter, more fuel efficient cars was very difficult for North American manufacturers.  It became apparent that "lighter and more fuel efficient" was interpreted by the manufacturers to mean "cheaply built and very profitable".    The fuel crisis was the foot in the door that the Japanese needed to make headway into the USA and Canadian markets.  Once in the door, things went very well for them due to the inadequate vehicles the domestics were producing. 

North American manufacturers, in their hubris failed to recognize the very real threat that the Asian auto manufacturers would become.   Had they been even modestly observant, they should have seen and learned from how Japanese motorcycles had become  dominant worldwide in that market.  

Nonetheless, manufacturing for most of our consumer goods have shifted off shore.  What little that is left behind (other than military production) is sorely lagging behind in quality just to compete price-wise with the foreign products.   China now owns a very large piece of US debt.  The trade deficit with China is dangerously out of balance yet we continue to fuel the Chinese economy by sending more manufacturing work to them.   It seems like the lights are on in our countries but nobody's home!!   I hope politicians come to their senses and stem the tide of North American manufacturers outsourcing  what's left of our manufacturing jobs.   If we don't do something soon, the future for our successors will not be too bright for all but a handful of fortunate and/or privileged individuals.  

Cars today are significantly better in quality than they were in the 60's, 70's, & 80's. That goes for Domestic and Foreign. They are better by every measurement or metric. They're safer, faster, quicker, more fuel efficient, more reliable, last longer, more reliable. Ford's lineup is very interesting these days, but I have to admit Hyundai (Kia) has a good line-up of cars and SUVs that are 20% cheaper than the competition.

borat wrote:

10 out of 10 stars post

Possibly even 10.5 

or even borderline 11.


I worry for my great grand children.

"The fact that my Toro quit and was picked up by the dealer (and will be delivered) during the day while he is not home has saved me some embarrisment"

Well, unless he reads this forum that is...

Yeah, the domestic auto makers choose poorly throughout the 70s and 80s, were eclipsed by Asian quality and have still not recovered -- either in quality or perception thereof. I agree about Hyundai/Kia also. In only 2 decades they have achieved an enviable reputation which still eludes GM after 100 years. I simply don't understand what could possibly be so hard to fix at GM, but I will never own another.

But I don't think one bad spring in a Toro is evidence of the Decline of the West. So they had a bad supplier; they issued a service bulletin, and are fixing it. It's one mark against Toro (and no fun when it happens during a storm) but my Toro 826OE has run perfectly for two winters now and cuts harder/throws farther than the neighbors various MTD brands and John Deeres.

I bought my Toro from a local independant OPE shop one day in advance of a major snowstorm, after a week of internet research. He wasn't the lowest price, but he delivered it free. That specific model was unavailable at any of the big stores, but had they been competitive, I would have purchased there too.

Competition still rules. Mindless and uncritical "buy American" devotion contributed to GM, Chrysler and Ford's asleep-at-the-switch decline.