# Not real happy at the moment...



## micah68kj (Oct 8, 2011)

I had an earlier post about this. Had my Ariens 522 ss out blowing snow Saturday morning. Was doing the neighbor's driveway because he's a few years older and doesn't own a blower. Not much snow a'tall. Maybe 2-3" at most. Half of one of the paddles *snapped off*. These aren't some cheap, aftermarket paddles either. Airens OEM paddles. At least $80/set. Just got done putting a new belt on it too. This machine is getting too expensive to own.  
Going to give it *one more chance* and then it's bye bye blower.
I'm wondering now if I should buy OEM parts or some aftermarket brand such as Stens or?


----------



## jenkinsm2 (Dec 7, 2014)

micah68kj said:


> I had an earlier post about this. Had my Ariens 522 ss out blowing snow Saturday morning. Was doing the neighbor's driveway because he's a few years older and doesn't own a blower. Not much snow a'tall. Maybe 2-3" at most. Half of one of the paddles *snapped off*. These aren't some cheap, aftermarket paddles either. Airens OEM paddles. At least $80/set. Just got done putting a new belt on it too. This machine is getting too expensive to own.
> Going to give it *one more chance* and then it's bye bye blower.


Honestly, buy a 2nd hand toro, honda, or ariens 2 stage. If you are willing to change parts you might as well buy something decent from craigslist and maintain it.


----------



## detdrbuzzard (Jan 20, 2012)

was this the first use of the ariens


----------



## micah68kj (Oct 8, 2011)

detdrbuzzard said:


> was this the first use of the ariens


2nd
No. This *was* first time.
(See pic I added)


----------



## micah68kj (Oct 8, 2011)

jenkinsm2 said:


> Honestly, buy a 2nd hand toro, honda, or ariens 2 stage. If you are willing to change parts you might as well buy something decent from craigslist and maintain it.


I have *two* other blowers. Ariens Sno Tec 24 and a Toro 521. The 522 ss is *supposed *to be a decent machine.


----------



## Blue Hill (Mar 31, 2013)

micah68kj said:


> 2nd
> No. This *was* first time.
> (See pic I added)


Abuse from the former owner do you suppose?


----------



## Coby7 (Nov 6, 2014)

Sorry to hear about your woes. I'm still happy with mine lol


----------



## Pathfinder13 (Feb 28, 2014)

Hard to beat the small Honda machines. If I were to buy a single stage I'd go with that or a Toro. Ariens for a 2 stage is great but not a fan of the smaller ones, or the smaller simplicity for that matter. Just MHO I know some won't like it but that's what I have judged from use observation.


----------



## micah68kj (Oct 8, 2011)

Blue Hill said:


> Abuse from the former owner do you suppose?


Well, Larry, I don't believe it was. It was kind of dirty when I bought it and was missing a handle bolt but after a quick cleanup it was in exceptional condition. And another thing. I had already done my driveway and all the sidewalks too. It surely shoul,d have have gone south earlier if it had already been cracked or otherwise damaged, I would think. It is a very nice, well paved, clean driveway too, and I hadn't hit anything. I guess anything's possible but...dang. I had 4 Toro ss blowers and sold every last one of them. Wish I'd kept that Power Clear I sold a couple months ago.
Going to change my sig pic too.


----------



## HillnGullyRider (Feb 9, 2014)

New parts pricing from ALL the major manufacturers is ridiculous, and the aftermarket and most ebay sellers are as well. It would probably be over $2500 to build a SS or Sno-tek from parts...And it's even more ridiculous for anything over 5 years old. I'm convinced they're doing this on purpose...Makes me feel like buying every $50 blower on CL and listing the parts on EBAY for $3 a piece just to stick it to them. The manufacturers really want every thing to be disposable so they can keep their unit numbers up. It's all about the numbers nowaday, and between that attitude and lean warehousing, it's the end user that is odd man out if they're not constantly replacing units.


----------



## Coby7 (Nov 6, 2014)

I believe you to be right on the money. Quantity not quality.


----------



## micah68kj (Oct 8, 2011)

Well, after looking all over the 'net and making some calls I ordered these...


----------



## time2time (Jan 8, 2015)

Fortunately, cast iron beasts like those so many here have are not difficult to keep running for a long, long time. If you look at how they manage to keep 60 year old cars running in Cuba (where heading down to the local Honda dealer is not an option), keeping a vintage blower (er, thrower  alive for a long time is a snap by comparison, for those who are a bit handy.


----------



## UNDERTAKER (Dec 30, 2013)

micah68kj said:


> Well, Larry, I don't believe it was. It was kind of dirty when I bought it and was missing a handle bolt but after a quick cleanup it was in exceptional condition. And another thing. I had already done my driveway and all the sidewalks too. It surely shoul,d have have gone south earlier if it had already been cracked or otherwise damaged, I would think. It is a very nice, well paved, clean driveway too, and I hadn't hit anything. I guess anything's possible but...dang. I had 4 Toro ss blowers and sold every last one of them. Wish I'd kept that Power Clear I sold a couple months ago.
> Going to change my sig pic too.


 I guess you had to learn the hard way there. BROTHER JOE.


----------



## detdrbuzzard (Jan 20, 2012)

I was hoping that you would have kept the powerclear so there would be a real comparison of the toro and ariens


----------



## micah68kj (Oct 8, 2011)

detdrbuzzard said:


> I was hoping that you would have kept the powerclear so there would be a real comparison of the toro and ariens


Yep. I wish I would have too, William. Bet that the Power Clear wouldn't toss a paddle like the Ariens did. I'm really bummed about it, to the point I may just fix it and get rid of the dang thing. It'd be a different story if I'd smacked something with it but there was *nothing* there. A snowblower shouldn't break because of snow. But ya know, I shouldn't complain. Just be very thankful I have the means and talent to repair it.  Try to see the bright side.
I do like that Sno Tek though. It's a pretty nice machine and does a fine job tossing snow.


----------



## detdrbuzzard (Jan 20, 2012)

micah68kj said:


> Yep. I wish I would have too, William. Bet that the Power Clear wouldn't toss a paddle like the Ariens did. I'm really bummed about it, to the point I may just fix it and get rid of the dang thing. It'd be a different story if I'd smacked something with it but there was *nothing* there. A snowblower shouldn't break because of snow. But ya know, I shouldn't complain. Just be very thankful I have the means and talent to repair it.  Try to see the bright side.
> I do like that Sno Tek though. It's a pretty nice machine and does a fine job tossing snow.


I'm glad you like the sno-tek too, i'll be over to pick up the 521 soon


----------



## micah68kj (Oct 8, 2011)

detdrbuzzard said:


> I'm glad you like the sno-tek too, i'll be over to pick up the 521 soon


Hah! *NO WAY,*! It's going to be a while before I trust the orange company. Guy I got the Sno Tek from sold it because it was a replacement for a 20" one he had just bought. Second time he used it th auger trans went crunch. This was the replacement and it is too wide for him. 
I'm keeping a backup machine. The 521 ain't going anywhere.


----------



## micah68kj (Oct 8, 2011)

The mail man showed up yesterday.
That is incredibly fast service.


----------



## enigma-2 (Feb 11, 2014)

One possible guess is, the former owner had put on cheap Chineese no-name paddles in order to sell the machine with what looked like good paddles. I seriously doubt Ariens branded paddles would snap off. 

I've owned several Toro's (still have a good CCR 3650 in the shed) and never had a problem with a paddle breaking. The rubber is reinforced and just too heavy gauge.

As it's used, make certain you check the scraper bar for wear. Usually if the paddles need replacing, so does the scraper bar, and not everyone checks this. If it does need replacing, you will notice a dramatic difference inthe way it blows snow.


----------



## detdrbuzzard (Jan 20, 2012)

what I notice on toro single stage machines with bad scraper bars is snow on my feet when there shouldn't be any kick back


----------



## micah68kj (Oct 8, 2011)

enigma-2 said:


> One possible guess is, the former owner had put on cheap Chineese no-name paddles in order to sell the machine with what looked like good paddles. I seriously doubt Ariens branded paddles would snap off.
> 
> I've owned several Toro's (still have a good CCR 3650 in the shed) and never had a problem with a paddle breaking. The rubber is reinforced and just too heavy gauge.
> 
> As it's used, make certain you check the scraper bar for wear. Usually if the paddles need replacing, so does the scraper bar, and not everyone checks this. If it does need replacing, you will notice a dramatic difference inthe way it blows snow.


First of all it's an Ariens that broke it's paddle. Had four Toro ss blowers w/no problems. Second of all the paddle that broke was OEM. Still had the T bar on it. Third, the scraper bar is like new. This blower was all OEM. Very lightly used. Not one scratch on it anywhere and the inside of the chute and auger area are pristine. Fourth I really don't have room to complain because of the low, undisclosed amount I paid for it. Just hope these new paddles hold up.


----------



## micah68kj (Oct 8, 2011)

Revisiting this. Problem has been resolved and I'm happy. New paddles installed, have used blower three tims now and no problems. 
Mary Lyn went the extra mile and in spite of my poor communication skills she was able to get everything taken care of. 
*Thanks Mary Lyn* and thanks Ariens. I'm happy.


----------



## TheHolyCannoli (Nov 19, 2013)

micah68kj said:


> Revisiting this. Problem has been resolved and I'm happy. New paddles installed, have used blower three tims now and no problems.
> Mary Lyn went the extra mile and in spite of my poor communication skills she was able to get everything taken care of.
> *Thanks Mary Lyn* and thanks Ariens. I'm happy.


Besides replacing the paddles again, with OEM parts, was anything done differently? Just curious why that last 2 sets of paddles failed so quickly but this new set hasn't.


----------



## Kiss4aFrog (Nov 3, 2013)

jenkinsm2 said:


> Honestly, buy a 2nd hand toro, honda, or ariens 2 stage. If you are willing to change parts you might as well buy something decent from craigslist and maintain it.



Did you notice his "signature" 

Toro 5/21
Ariens 5/22 ss
Ariens Sno Tek 7/24


----------



## micah68kj (Oct 8, 2011)

TheHolyCannoli said:


> Besides replacing the paddles again, with OEM parts, was anything done differently? Just curious why that last 2 sets of paddles failed so quickly but this new set hasn't.


Last two sets did not fail. *Only one OEM paddle failed.* I have no idea why it failed. I installed a new set of OM paddles and have used it three times and all is well.
Where did you get the idea that two sets of paddles failed?


----------



## micah68kj (Oct 8, 2011)

Kiss4aFrog said:


> Did you notice his "signature"
> 
> Toro 5/21
> Ariens 5/22 ss
> Ariens Sno Tek 7/24


 stop it.


----------



## Kiss4aFrog (Nov 3, 2013)

What can I say, we all need a slap in the back of the head once in a while to straighten us out.

Myself more than others


----------



## TheHolyCannoli (Nov 19, 2013)

micah68kj said:


> Where did you get the idea that two sets of paddles failed?


First line of OP and post #4...combined with the fact I was skimming through on my phone while pretending to pay attention during a video conference for work


----------



## micah68kj (Oct 8, 2011)

TheHolyCannoli said:


> First line of OP and post #4...combined with the fact I was skimming through on my phone while pretending to pay attention during a video conference for work


You had me goimg back and re-reading my posts. I was wondering ... 
It's all good.


----------



## detdrbuzzard (Jan 20, 2012)

so how well does the ariens 5/22 work


----------

