Daily Life in China

 

 

Quality

The best snowblower ! ? ?

 This is a tough one and depends on the time period.  From the 60's forward there have been many companies come and go.  There has been lots of consolidations and buyouts of snowblower manufacturers. Quality has changed considerably.  There is a great deal of labeling so take a peak at the makers section of the first page.  
Quality Generally, Snapper, Ariens, and almost Toro and Simplicity are top quality throughout the years.  Snapper and Ariens been consistent but Ariens has gone for mass sales and makes lesser models.  Their top of the line models are quality.  Ariens lesser models better than snowblowers made by MTD, AYP and at pretty much on par with Toro.  Toro has slipped in recent years but their older models very good.  The bottom of the line Ariens are on par with most machines.

MTD snowblowers are generally below the better makes and noticeably so.  The metal is lighter, gear and drives not the best but with proper use an MTD machine can easily last many years.  BUT - MTD makes a decent machine for the money.

Honda - at the top, alone at the top and in it's own price class also.  BUT they are worth the money.

What is quality? Items that make a difference.

Auger gearbox: The auger blades are driven by the impeller drive shaft which goes into the auger gearbox.  The auger gearbox contains a shaft worm drive gear and helical gear which drive the auger blades are important.  The gears use by the better makers are large and strong, Snapper, Simplicity, Ariens and close  Toro.  MTD and AYP products gears are smaller.  The gears used by the lesser makers although not the quality of the best makes are sufficient that with care can last many years.  There are lots of 20 year old MTD and Craftsman snowblowers around and some 30 years old.  The quality back then was a bit better. Still, more recent builds are not as robust.  Ariens makes several versions of most models and the quality between models is pretty big and the price also. One important difference is the auger gear case.  The higher quality models have a big steel gear case with large gears on roller bearings.  The lesser models have a thin aluminum housing, small gears and are just bearings  not roller bearings.  The lesser gear cases by Ariens are still better than most manufacturers of lesser quality. 

Check for slop in auger gear case.  Turn the impeller blades and see how much play there is before the auger blades move.  If the impeller shaft lifts noticeably when the blades are turned then pass on the snowblower.  There's too much wear to take a chance on a purchase.   

Robustness of the auger blades.  Companies are coming out with thinner and thinner auger blades.  Hitting a rock, branch now and then is expected and should not permanently damage the augers. These days the augers are less robust and bend.  Auger blades are held on with pins that should shear when something is hit.

Thickness of metal used.  Banging on the intake housing will give you and idea of how much metal or how solid the machine is.  The older machines had fantastic paint, quality metal and a lot of it. Many older machines from the mid-60's through the early 80's will outlast machines made today.  

Quality of paint.  Scrapes inside the blower housing are expected.  Depending on the type of area the snowblower cleared there may or may not be paint removed inside the bucket and impeller.  Snowblowers pickup dirt and stones so get scrapped on the inside.  Some people clear stone driveways and catch lots of rocks. Scraping and internal rust is not important provided it's surface rust.  There are many 20-30 year old snowblowers around with quite a bit of rust.  The metal used then was quality and the parts all still solid.  Newer machines with rust could be a problem.  Many have surface rust which is not a big deal but deep rust or heavy bubbling under the paint is an issue.  If the rust is not deep, the metal still strong then it's not critical.  Rust inhibitor like Must for Rust can be applied and Rust-O-Liem over that for protection.   

Motors:  Mostly Tecumseh and some Briggs.  The Tecumsehs and Briggs are great engines and given proper maintenance and use will last 20 years easily.  Motors wear and will loose their compression. Rings and valves wear so the older motors will not perform as well as new engines.  But the old motors will still toss snow and far but not at far as a new motor.  Most peoples requirements can be met by a second hand snowblower with an older motor.  Many of the new makers are using foreign made OHV engines and they are pretty good.

SUMMARY: The lesser machines are not as good as the big brands but can last for many years.  There's also a big price break so a trade off.  Rust is ok if on the surface.  The key is maintenance and proper use by the prior owner.