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

Why must Ariens always try to give the appearance that you are getting more with their snowblowers?????For instance,Toro power max 1028OXE has a 305cc B&S engine.But Ariens has a" 305cc Ariens Polar Force Engine by B&S on their  Pro 26"Am I missing something ??I doubt B&S manufactures .a special polar force engine for Ariens lol.Also they have an ice drill manual chute control translation ...chute rotator and they have an (xs aluminum gear box )translation....aluminum gear box....Memo to Ariens your not fooling anyone into believing that yours is better  lol....That's what I like about Toro and Honda they keep it simple and their products speak for themselves....

aa- Your comments regarding handle placement and balance are spot on.I have the last generation TroyBilt before MTD took them over. The machine was built for them by Bolens and is an 824. It weighs 290LB. but is so well balanced you would never imagine it was that heavy. 

Having experienced a machine with a differential I would never consider one  without it.

Another item rarely dicussed is  tires. I changed out  Carlisle Snow Hogs for a set of X-Tracs at a friends suggestion. The difference is day and night. I've had machines with chains in the past and can honestly say the X-Tracs are every bit as good. This with the added bonus of not having damage to the black top or concrete.

92 degrees here on Long Island and I'm dreaming of snow-

Marc

get ready mm hurricane ed is coming fri to L.I.

mml4 wrote:

Not necessary Marc. The Sno-Tek chute is equal or better than the Toro PowerMax chute. The main chute body is made from virgin high-end (6.9 melt index) HDPE with a -105F brittle temperature and .180" wall thickness. Most plastic chutes are .125 or .150 (the Toro PowerMax chute is however equal in thickness at .180"). Also, every attachment point on the Sno-Tek chute is reinforced with steel backing plates (also with a steel hinge and 17 steel rivets, not depicted). The deflector cap and handle are also made from steel (steel parts are shown in yellow). This is not the case on the Toro.

Along with extensive field testing, this chute was impacted 90,000 cycles with a pneumatic cylinder at -15F with no damage, then impacted repeatedly with a .50" steel ball shot from an air tank/gun at 100psi at -15F with only small surface dings resulting (air gun fixture pictured). No cracks, no shattering. The old timers here on this forum might remember that this was not the case with the early PowerMax chutes and impeller housings (~2004?).

As mentioned above, the price disparity between the Sno-Tek and PowerMax isn't small. The Sno-Tek line top to bottom costs roughly half of the Toro PowerMax line, yet still posses an equivalent (or better) chute. Mikie, in lieu of you forfeiting the deed to your house (we can't leave you homeless), please leave a dollar or two in the nearest Children's Hospital donation can when you see one ;-)

  

You are correct once again snowmann.The plastic chute is sooo good that Ariens has it on all their machines like Toro haha haaa.How do you know what tests Toro conducted on their chutes??So now you work for Ariens and Toro??Snowmann instead of your company wasting $$ on some geek in a suit coming up with fancy names ,i.e. ice drill manual chute control,THF chute(I think all companies now have machines with taller chutes LOL),Polar Force Engine...what the heck is a polar force engine??I dont know.Does anyone know??B&S doesnt know..Oh yea your geek in suit came up with that lol.Ariens should ask themselves cant we build a machine that doesnt need modifications every year??Does your company have all the engineer graduates with 1.5 gpa's??What is it, everytime your co puts out a machine ,the engineers say darn we forgot to add that piece.Oh well we will add it next yr and give it a cool sounding name lol.

Truthfully, Mikie sounds like some sort of middle or high school child. I wouldn't waste too much time trying to convince someone like him that he is wrong, it'll just turn into more childish mud slinging. I think we all acknowledge that Ariens makes a good product, and that every company has their little naming quirks to try to make something as boring as a snowblower and its components (to the mainstream) sound interesting and unique to get the sale.

well jviera thats your opinion.Its sad that u actually think that the sno tek chute is as good as toros.I guess u also work for ariens lol.And you are also privvy to toros testing of their chutes...

I have a Toro 1028 with the joystick and yeah the chute is plastic but durable and according to my local dealer they don't really break unless you hit it with something.

I can't speak about brands i haven't owned but I've seen some plastic chutes on machines in Home Depot that looked ultra cheap.

All the companies make Low, middle and high end machines. So I seriously doubt that a $200-300 snowblower will equal a $1,300 snowblower. You tend to get what you pay for.

I like everything about the Toro 1028 I have. Honda has screwed itself by not putting a differential lock on their machine IMO.

If you like Sno-Tek or whatever brand buy it. But if it doesn't work as well as other brands well.....

I like Toro, Honda, and Yamaha. Ariens has dissapointed me wit their reduction in quality from what I saw at the dealer.

Oh and they sold out of Toro before Ariens. That doesn't mean Ariens isn't good but it does offer some things the Ariens doesn't.

In that price range they  are all pretty darn good machines.

Vote with your wallet. :)

Mikie, I didnt say anything about the SnoTek machines... I simply commented on your immature posting style and the fact that a similarly priced Ariens is every bit as good as a Toro. SnoTek units are cheaper than equivalent Toro units, so you really cant compare them fairly... they have their place. I'll take the metal chute over the plastic one on the Toro, and the control on the Ariens I just feel like will work in icy conditions better than the joystick. Ive seen stories of those joysticks freezing up from time to time. I think Toro makes a good unit, as well as Ariens. Mikie's bashing of Ariens is about their naming conventions and a pitiful apples to oranges comparison between SnoTek (budget) models and Toros models which are in the price range of the higher end Ariens series.

jviera1298 wrote:

Honestly I don't see how the Toro is going to freeze up after using mine even in freezing rain. Maybe a few might freeze up but that's because water got into the cables and that can happen with any machine.It's an easy fix just spray some stuff into teh cables and the water is gone and retighten. I also disagree with the metal chute is better, it's not. The plastic sheds sticky snow better. Plastic nowadays doesn't mean cheap and breakable any more. I'll take the Toro plastic chute over the metal chutes on any brand.

Mikie boy, You are way over the top and out of your league. Chill out and find something productive to do. You hardly can make any convincing discussion other than juvenile knee-jerk ramble.