Hi,

Just wondering if anyone had any thoughts or knowledge re this:

Had a 20 yr old Ariens snowblower which I had to finally get rid of.

Not their Professional series; just the typical homeowner version, but
built quite well. Cast Iron gear box, etc.

Also had a differential for the drive wheels.

Made it a pleasure to use.
Could go absolutely straight, or very easily turn.

Now, looking at what's available, all the brands seem to have gone away
from differentials.

They now seem to use these idiotic pins in one of the wheels, or no pins
at all, to connect to the drive shaft.
This makes it just about impossible to turn (when both wheels are
pinned) or it keeps wanting to turn by itself (with only one of the
wheels pinned).

Absolutely idiotic.

Is it simply a matter of cost, or... ?

With the blowers now well over a grand, how much could it possibly cost
them to have another gear or two and use a differential like they used to ?

Just wondering ?

Bob

On 11/05/2012 06:32 PM, Bob wrote:

Absolutely idiotic.

Is it simply a matter of cost, or... ?

With the blowers now well over a grand, how much could it possibly cost
them to have another gear or two and use a differential like they used to ?

Just wondering ?

Bob

90% of consumers buy the cheapest product they can get their hands on
(think China-Harbor Freight). Consequently, most manufacturers design
and build inexpensive junk. If you want quality, stop shopping for
snowthrowers at McLowes Depot

Had a 20 yr old Ariens snowblower which I had to finally get rid of.


OP should of kept the old snowblower..... Old products were made to
last.....

On Mon, 05 Nov 2012 18:32:23 -0500, Bob wrote:

Hi,

Just wondering if anyone had any thoughts or knowledge re this:

Had a 20 yr old Ariens snowblower which I had to finally get rid of.

Not their Professional series; just the typical homeowner version, but
built quite well. Cast Iron gear box, etc.

Also had a differential for the drive wheels.

Only the pro series had the differential -

Made it a pleasure to use.
Could go absolutely straight, or very easily turn.

Now, looking at what's available, all the brands seem to have gone away
from differentials.

They now seem to use these idiotic pins in one of the wheels, or no pins
at all, to connect to the drive shaft.
This makes it just about impossible to turn (when both wheels are
pinned) or it keeps wanting to turn by itself (with only one of the
wheels pinned).

Some of the delexe models have "power steering" which releases the
wheel on the side you want to turn to.

Absolutely idiotic.

Is it simply a matter of cost, or... ?

Yup.
Cheap means no diff - and no "power steering"

With the blowers now well over a grand, how much could it possibly cost
them to have another gear or two and use a differential like they used to ?

Just wondering ?

Bob

bob haller wrote:


Had a 20 yr old Ariens snowblower which I had to finally get rid of.


OP should of kept the old snowblower..... Old products were made to
last.....

I just retired [fall of 2011l-- but only 2 snows agog] my 30+ year
old Bolens [mostly Ariens]. It just got to be a chore having to
make parts fit it.

I got one that is about 10 yrs old but lightly used. About a 200
pound difference. The new equivalent one at Lowes seems to have
lost another 50.g

Jim

On Nov 5, 6:32*pm, Bob wrote:
Hi,

Just wondering if anyone had any thoughts or knowledge re this:

Had a 20 yr old Ariens snowblower which I had to finally get rid of.

Not their Professional series; just the typical homeowner version, but
built quite well. *Cast Iron gear box, etc.

Also had a differential for the drive wheels.

Made it a pleasure to use.
Could go absolutely straight, or very easily turn.

Now, looking at what's available, all the brands seem to have gone away
from differentials.

They now seem to use these idiotic pins in one of the wheels, or no pins
at all, to connect to the drive shaft.
This makes it just about impossible to turn (when both wheels are
pinned) or it keeps wanting to turn by itself (with only one of the
wheels pinned).

Absolutely idiotic.

Is it simply a matter of cost, or... ?

With the blowers now well over a grand, how much could it possibly cost
them to have another gear or two and use a differential like they used to ?

Just wondering ?

Bob

I bought a Ariens Sno-Tek 24 a couple of years ago.

http://www.sno-tek.net/

It comes with the wheel locking pins and I have never had a problem
with it wanting to turn by itself with one wheel pinned. It needs at
least one wheel pinned for traction, but I can drive it with one hand
since it drives perfectly straight.

Granted, I don't need to drive it on any steep inclines, so I don't
know if that matters. The driveways I do are flat but the street
between the houses does have a slight incline.

By the way, at $599, the Sno Tek 24" is a much better built machine
than the Craftsman, Troy-Built, etc. at that price point. Granted,
many of those other brands are the same machine (MDT?) but the
features and quality of any Ariens, even their entry level machines,
blows the others away.

As far as I understand it, Ariens sets the price for their machines,
so as long as the price was aleady set, I bought mine from an
independent dealer where I had more faith in the assembly than from
one of the borgs.

I was also told (by the independent dealer) that they are the local
warranty repair center for machines sold at Home Depot. He said that
their own customers get priority over warranty repairs sent in by Home
Depot, so if I needed service, I would get it quicker from them.

Just this weekend, I rolled mine out of the garage and got it ready
for the upcoming season.