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drinkingbird


Joined: Jan 26, 2005
Points: 44

A bit disappointed with Ariens Quality Control
Original Message   Jan 26, 2005 9:54 am
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

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Emmo


Joined: May 22, 2003
Points: 1065

Re: A bit disappointed with Ariens Quality Control
Reply #35   Jan 28, 2005 5:03 pm

Snowremover,

I think you’ve allowed yourself to see the numbers the way you want to……..

If you look at my post, I was talking automotive families……ie Honda(Honda and Acura), GM (Chevy, Cady et al) etc. I also wasn’t necessarily considering Suzuki, Scion, Izuzu and the rest. I'm talking about the companies that took a firm stance to not rape our market, but to become part of it.   Basically I was looking at the Big threes, GM Ford and Daimler and Honda Toyota and Nissan.( And my apologies to those here who work for or have ties to the American big three, but Detroit dropped the ball long ago and now everyone must stay competitive to stay in the game.  It is a global market now out of necessity to survive.)


 

These are the bottom line kind of figures that tell  the tale, courtesy of JD Power

 

 

 You said:

"Your numbers are wrong.  The Accord is closer to 65% domestic content.
Highest in U.S. content are Honda's Accord at a claimed 85 percent and Toyota's Camry at 70-75 percent, but McAlinden points out that the first 25 percent of these figures is sales and marketing expense. That makes the Accord closer to 65 percent U.S. parts and labor and the Camry 50-55 percent."

 The first 25% being sales and Mkting expense would apply to ALL manufacturers doing business in the US market  so even the US big three would have this same advantage. Yet even with a 25% boost right out of the shoot their domestic contents are embarrassing for an American Mfr. Eliminating that 25% would put that Pontiac Vibe  you were looking at down to a measley 35%!

I guess that is why Honda has the $#%* to put this on their website

"Currently about 85 percent of all Accords sold in the U.S. are produced in North America and those models have a domestic content level of 97 percent."

 You said:

"All car companies are global, I concur.  But I'm not going to buy a Honda/Toyota and send the profits to Japan.  Because the R&D money, which isn't a % of the cars domestic content, goes to non-American engineers,/scientists/designers."

 
I guess I tell that to my neighbor tonight when he gets home from work.  He and the 1200 other Americans working at Honda R&D Marysville Ohio must be living a lie.  Yet they also seem to come up with the house payment every month.

This message was modified Jan 28, 2005 by Emmo
Dave___in___CT


Deliberate often...
...decide once...


Location: West-Central Connecticut
Joined: Sep 17, 2002
Points: 3159

Re: A bit disappointed with Ariens Quality Control
Reply #36   Jan 28, 2005 6:00 pm
Hmmmmm....

What about Ariens and other brand snowblowers ?


Dave...

Whether you think you can or you can't... you're right.
Henry Ford

   BCS Tractor & snowblower

TheKneebiter


Joined: Oct 22, 2004
Points: 233

Re: A bit disappointed with Ariens Quality Control
Reply #37   Jan 28, 2005 6:19 pm
I thought this was a snowblower thread ? but seeing that it is now about auto's i might as well state my opinion. As far as i am concerned Ariens is the Harley Davidson of snowblowers. Maybe you have to adjust a little out of the box but when you use it you feel the power. I wish the world was perfect and you could get everything american but this is not the case. We live in a money age where everything is about the dollar. So if the big guy wants more $$$$ then he will cut your throat american or not and use who ever and whatever to make his $$$$$. so  just live life and enjoy while you can. If everyone tried to buy just american the world would fall apart.

Emmo


Joined: May 22, 2003
Points: 1065

Re: A bit disappointed with Ariens Quality Control
Reply #38   Jan 28, 2005 6:21 pm
Snowremover:

You wrote: "Even allowing you to talk families, you're own numbers show GM ahead of the Industry Average and Nissan.  Its funny how you try to eliminate Scion, when they are a fully owned subsidiary of Toyota."

Yes they are but their sales numbers a miniscule in the great Toyota scheme.  Do we get to count GM's stake in Subaru, Izuzu and Daewoo if we're playing this game?? or Daimler's alliance with Mitsubishi? 

You wrote: "And how is that different than the claim I made?  Think about the above statement carefully, only 85% of the Accords sold have 97% American content.  Did you also know that an engine assembled in America of all Japanese parts is considered an American engine?  None of the Accords have any American parts in their engines, but the engines are classified as American because they are assembled here (as per first link I gave)."

If you would have read the linked article you would see this is data from 2002, I'm not going to waste my time dredging up last second data for the sake of this argument, but I do know that the number of imported Accords decrease every year.  Did you know that Honda at least do use US parts in their engines??  Apparantly not.  Some are built in the Ana plant and many provided by US suppliers.  NOT just assembled here. I can't speak for the other Japanese makes, but that wasn't my argument.

Emmo wrote:

I guess I tell that to my neighbor tonight when he gets home from work.  He and the 1200 other Americans working at Honda R&D Marysville Ohio must be living a lie.  Yet they also seem to come up with the house payment every month.

You wrote: "What are you talking about?"

I was replying to your statement about all the R&D money was spent on Japanese engineers, designers etc.   This is simply not the case!
krislu


Location: Long Island, NY
Joined: Dec 27, 2004
Points: 148

Re: A bit disappointed with Ariens Quality Control
Reply #39   Jan 28, 2005 7:15 pm
Snowremover- I heard Ariens is coming out with a snow car next year!   - Kris

           
AJace


I have an Ariens 926 Pro because I like Orange



Location: Near Gettysburg
Joined:
Points: 969

Re: A bit disappointed with Ariens Quality Control
Reply #40   Jan 28, 2005 7:39 pm
Could the fact be that there are more cars, therefore more problems?

Ariens 926 DLE Professional; Toro S200; Craftsman LT1000, Echo ES-230;

Marshall


As Long As There Are Tests, There Will Be Prayer In Public Schools. ;- )

Joined: Sep 16, 2002
Points: 7730

Re: A bit disappointed with Ariens Quality Control
Reply #41   Jan 28, 2005 7:57 pm
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.
ChrisS


Appreciate what you have already been blessed with.


Joined: Sep 16, 2002
Points: 2793

Re: A bit disappointed with Ariens Quality Control
Reply #42   Jan 28, 2005 8:21 pm
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. 



Honda 928TA, Ariens 924 STE, Toro single stage S-620, 95 Jeep Wrangler with a 6 foot Fisher Plow, many shovels, one 14 year old boy.  Craftsman 01 1000 LTX pimp Gold LT 20hp Briggs OHV V-twin.  Tough as it is ugly.
hickster


Location: Chugiak, Alaska
Joined: Apr 15, 2004
Points: 163

Re: A bit disappointed with Ariens Quality Control
Reply #43   Jan 28, 2005 9:11 pm
ChrisS wrote:
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. 



AGREED!

Nothing productive has come from this individual.

hickster

Weather outlook for the "Anchorage bowl"

Blower      HS928TA 
Mower      HRR216PDA 
Washer    Excell XR2700 (6.5 Honda-GX/AR-2700psi/3gpm) 
Trimmer   John Deere (Homelite clone)
Saw         Husky 141 

AJace


I have an Ariens 926 Pro because I like Orange



Location: Near Gettysburg
Joined:
Points: 969

Re: A bit disappointed with Ariens Quality Control
Reply #44   Jan 28, 2005 9:17 pm
It does seem that he's trying to say things he isn't.  Playing with our minds?  Maybe I'm wrong. 
This message was modified Jan 28, 2005 by AJace


Ariens 926 DLE Professional; Toro S200; Craftsman LT1000, Echo ES-230;

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