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

I've been using Ariens snowblowers all my life, so I'm pretty disappointed with my 2004 8526LE so far.  When I received it, one of the shoe bolts was stripped out and the shoe would not stay adjusted.  Ariens sent me a couple new ones, which I was happy with.  However during the big blizzard, I noticed my wheel drive was very sluggish, I had to push the thing to get it going forward, and as soon as it hit any resistance, it would stop.  I had fully tensioned and adjusted everything after the initial 15 mins but figured maybe there had been some stretching.  Brought it in to inspect, the pivot point where the drive cable connects (sticks just out of the body) was not pivoting, it was just hanging around in there loose.  Wasn't like that when I got it for sure.  Took it all apart, found the bolt with no cotter pin sitting in the bottom.  So it apparently had been slid through and no pin ever put on (the bolt was stuck in some ice on the bottom, with no pin in sight).  Of course this caused a lot of wear to the friction disc and there is rubber all over the friction plate now.  So I also needed to change the oil last night, and while it was draining I decided to inspect other parts again with a fine tooth comb.  I am missing a bolt that holds the dipstick tube support and the front of the carb cover in place, my starter has a horrible looking electrical connection that I had to re-do (it stopped working during the storm, I thought it was Ice, guess not) and in general all kinds of stuff was loose.

I bought it in the crate as it came from Ariens, unopened, so this was not a dealer assembly issue.  Pretty disapointed for $1000.....  I mean I looked it over when I got it and did the adjustments, but I had no idea I had to rip the entire thing apart and inspect the inside too.  Sheesh.

Now that its all fixed it works great, would drive itself through a brick wall, its not the quality of the product itself that bothers me, more the quality control of the assembly.  So at the beginning of next year looks like I'll need a new friction disc already and spend some time removing the rubber off the plate.  Oh well.

-Dave

Pick what you like and buy it.

I can't see myself being anal enough to go around reading window stickers, magazines and everything else trying to figure out what the US percentages are. Hell, odds are they're not right anyway.

Man, I sure like that Lexus SUV but it has a Jap drive shaft and more foreign parts, guess I'll buy the Ford that has a Mazda transfer case and transmission. Oh wait, the Chevy has 3.2% less foreign parts, so it says, I better jump on that one.

Snow,

I like to post my thoughts like this in a public manner.

I have been following you quite closely.  You have officially passed into the world of non-productive.  Agree or not I don't care.  This is your one and only warning. 

C 

ChrisS wrote:

AGREED!

Nothing productive has come from this individual.

hickster

It does seem that he's trying to say things he isn't.  Playing with our minds?  Maybe I'm wrong. 

@snow...
That you Joe? 

anybody else see it????  I'm waiting for the honda and ford bashing to start....

No one can say you were not warned.....

C

Waste of bandwidth..

MountainMan wrote:
The light reveals everything

Chris,  I agree this thread has gotten unproductive and far off the original poster's topic but I don't see why snowremover is being singled out.  Based on the last few posts it seems me others have been verging on personal attacks rather than debating his arguments.   Anyway if unproductive is a criteria then that would eliminate 90% of the posts here.  I think debates like this actually add a lot of interest.   

I hope we're not at  the point where anyone who dares criticize Ariens will be made unwelcome and chased off the board.    -Bob

Sorry Bob,

This is how it is gonna be right now.....

C