# Now I'm an Ariens Owner



## mats (Feb 10, 2019)

My old Stiga (see https://www.snowblowerforum.com/forum/new-member-introductions/147649-here-comes-swede.html) has got a new friend.

Bought a new Pro28 today. I did skip the hydro and got the standard gearbox version. 
In the end i took the safe option. A traction disk is a $30 repair if it breaks and spare parts are easy to get.

It got the Ariens 420 so no more Briggs in Europe either, According to specs it got a 3 litre fueltank


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## mats (Feb 10, 2019)

And now it is home. It was cold and raining so i tested the heated handles while driving it into the garage. 
So nice with warm hands


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## Snowbelt_subie (Dec 20, 2016)

mats said:


> And now it is home. It was cold and raining so i tested the heated handles while driving it into the garage.
> 
> So nice with warm hands


Pics?

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk


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## Zavie (Sep 23, 2014)

:white^_^arial^_^0^_ 
Post pics whenever you can. I think it takes 8 posts to be qualified to post pics so post away!


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## Zavie (Sep 23, 2014)

Hmmm... looks like you have at least 28 posts so please post so pics of that bad boy!


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## mats (Feb 10, 2019)

Sorry. no good photo op.

First major testrun today

Negative
Needs frontal weight to keep the nose down on a sloped driveway
snowchute angles. Doesn't turn far enough and can't throw snow in a sufficient high angle 
Paintjob. Big flakes has come off in the auger housing

Positive
Engine power. It got lots of it
Throwing distance. About 4 inches of medium fluffy stuff and an effective throwing range of about 12 meters
Handlewarmers. Nice to not have cold hands

I will look into modding the chute turning angels since it needs more turning angle when it throws the snow so far away. I don't know if I will order the Ariens weight kit or make my own alternative but it will get heavier in the nose


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## Zavie (Sep 23, 2014)

mats said:


> Sorry. no good photo op.
> 
> First major testrun today
> 
> ...


Mats, big flakes coming off in the auger housing is not normal. You should touch base with your dealer ASAP!
While I would not expect them to exchange the machine they could swap out your auger housing for a new one quite easily. 
Seems crazy on a pro machine like that and is *not* the normal from Ariens.


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## Kiss4aFrog (Nov 3, 2013)

Congratulations on the new machine. IMHO, good choice :thumbsup:

.


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## SimplicitySolid22 (Nov 18, 2018)

Congrats on new machine Mats.... but as Zavie said that paint is meant to last longer than a week unless you have gravel in your drive maybe??? Are you working under normal paved driveway conditions or???? If so I would take Zavie's advice...that should not be happening.


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## mats (Feb 10, 2019)

SimplicitySolid22 said:


> Congrats on new machine Mats.... but as Zavie said that paint is meant to last longer than a week unless you have gravel in your drive maybe??? Are you working under normal paved driveway conditions or???? If so I would take Zavie's advice...that should not be happening.


I do have gravel but not even then should it come off like that. You should get small marks/dents like when a small stone hits your car, not large flakes.


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## mats (Feb 10, 2019)

Delays, Delays, Delays.
My AC-DC converter is missing in transport. If it doesn't arrive by the middle of next week Amazon will swnd a new one but that is a few weeks lost.

It's going to be used to power a pair of extra led lights


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## penna stogey (Nov 25, 2019)

Welcome from Gettysburg!


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## mats (Feb 10, 2019)

Sorry for a late reply but Thanks...


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## mats (Feb 10, 2019)

penna stogey said:


> Welcome from Gettysburg!


Sorry for late reply but thank you.

On the mod front there isn't much to say. The AC-DC converter is lost in transit so amazon is sending a new one (sometime)

I bought 2 12W led lights. I did test one to verify them. It used almost 18W so I returned them. Got a pair of 9W lights instead and they seem to use under 10W.


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## mats (Feb 10, 2019)

bought some metal and electrical parts yesterday at least. Still waiting on that AC-DC converter.

Did a little bit in sketchup also. 
One idea for a combined frontweight and holder for my led lights.
The bottom plate is about the same size as the ariens weight (590X100X10mm). The top parts are cut from 70X40X70X8 mm angled steel.
I will trim these pieces down so that the top of them will be fairly flat compared to the ground. 

The downside with this design is that the lights will be almost at the front of the auger housing. They would be less exposed a bit further back. 
on the other hand - the ones i got seems to be fairly robust and this design is easy to manufacture

The final challenge is that it should not interfere with the cleaning tool. Mostly a challenge with the wiring I hope


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## BNSFguy (Nov 2, 2019)

That looks like it should work really well. Please post a few pictures when you get this mod finished. I could use some additional lighting on mine. I purchased one of these LED 801 lights to replace the stock halogen bulb, but in my opinion, all these stock replacement LED's only change the "light color". This supposedly "extreme Bright Max High Power" LED doesn't throw much more light, but it definitely is whiter. These don't flicker either. When I first start the machine with the choke on, the light flickers slightly, but once the choke is turned off, there's absolutely zero flickering at any engine speed, even at idle.

JDM ASTAR Extremely Bright Max 50W High Power 881 LED Fog Light Bulbs, Xenon White


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## mats (Feb 10, 2019)

Got a pair of different lights today.
Not as "strong" rated at 900 LM but they have a really wide angle they spread the light in.


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## mats (Feb 10, 2019)

Well after a battle with (U)nreliable (P)roblem !(S)ervices today i finally got my ac-dc converter.

Yesterday evening I did call them to verify my delivery - "It will be delivered to your door tomorrow". "so you can promise that - no weekly schedule or something else?". - "It will be delivered tomorrow".

Then I called their subcontractor today -"No, it's on weekly schedule for the next working Thursday. If you want it earlier you must collect it at our depot".

Well I do need it so I had to take a 90KM roundtrip drive to get it. I did complain to amazon afterwards though and they wasn't exactly impressed either with their partners way of handling a priority shipment so they refunded the shipping and gave me a discount check as compensation.

This did take over two hours of valuable daylight so i did not get as far as I wanted today. The build has started though and there will be some pictures (as soon as i find the cable for it).


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## gibbs296 (Jun 22, 2014)

I feel bad your UPS experience was poor, mine generally has always been very good. Obviously this time of year can be difficult when it comes to shipping. I am still always amazed how well it generally works. Reminds me that I must get a tip ready for my mail person and UPS guy!


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## mats (Feb 10, 2019)

Today's version of the weight.

I have made it wider. After all, why should I make it fit a 24" when I got a 28"? 
It can still be used on a 24" if you cut it smaller and move the small holes. 
Those holes are to be used to hold rubber feet between my weight and the auger housing 

I also moved the light holders closer together. This was to give the lights a little more margin from the sides of the mover.


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## mats (Feb 10, 2019)

Well Lets go Build !

The first step is to cut a piece of steel. This one is 680X100X10 mm.


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## mats (Feb 10, 2019)

The next step is to make some holes in it. 
We will need 6 holes in total. 

Start with 4 smaller holes in the corners. These are for holding the rubber feets.
they are made for M5 bolts so drill them with 4.5 (4.2 if you got that drill) and thread them. Don't forget to lubricate your drills and threading gear.

We will also need two bigger holes for the bolts from the auger housing. 
Drill two 8 mm holes with 521 mm distance (center-center). I do recommend putting them 30 mm from the bottom of the weight. That will allow the cleaning thingy to sit behind the weight


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## mats (Feb 10, 2019)

With all the holes done it's time to flip the thing over and start on the other side. 
I cut 2 strips of my angled profile and adjusted it to size. Roughly 70 mm long. 40 mm wide and 41 mm heigh. 
Around 100 mm from the outsides of the weight seemed like a good placement for them. 
Now it was becoming rather dark outside but I wanted to try to get done so I started welding them but it was to dark outside so I had to break for the day before getting done. 
If you think my welds looks like crap - well, yes  The difference between a good welder and me is the number of grinding discs required to adjust it afterwards .....
And while we are in bashing mode - The 8 mm Holes aren't round - I had to widen them due to a measuring error.


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## mats (Feb 10, 2019)

And a little bonus project. 

I really wanted 5 pin rocker switches for this project but I couldn't get any locally. 3 Pins I can get locally for a decent price (5€). 
The difference is that a 5 pin has two leds. On that lights up the switch and the other one indicates whether the switch is on or not. 
The really annoying thing is those 3 Pin switches has the rocker intended for a five pin so it's so close ....

Amazon wanted 14€ each plus shipping within the EU for 5 pins.
Another seller has them for 5€ each plus 5€ shipping but that's from china so add 25% VAT plus a 7.5€ handling fee so that roughly 25€.


So I started to think, how could I take one of those 3 pin switches and turn them into a 5 pin switch. 
While shopping for other parts (actually the bolts to hold the weight to the auger housing I found something interesting. A led with holder and resistor adapted for 12V. 

If that could be squeezed into the rocker in the right place - would it work like a 5 pin? 
Well Lets find Out. 
First step. Open the rocker switch. We can se the little electronic card that control the existing Led and the space for another one on the other side. 
Since we don't have such a card - just drill a hole here so that the top of the diode can point out and light up the underside of the rocker. Some hotglue is used to make sure it stays put. 
Widen one of the unused holes a litle bit and put the cabled from the led through hole. 
Finally assemble the switch again and we got a 5 pin variant of our 3 pin switch for half the price of a mailorder one.


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## mats (Feb 10, 2019)

New season

Between 4 an 10 inches of very very wet snow. Second gear and about 10-12 meter throwing distance.
With the old blower it would have been a 2 -2.5 hour job, Did it in less than 1.5 and that includes filling her up before taxing out of the garage


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## mats (Feb 10, 2019)

Day before yesterday we got about 12 inches of really wet snow and strong winds so in som places it was 24 inch or more. 
I was working during the day so it was late afternoon when I could start clearing my driveway, in the rain that is.

This time it was first gear and sometimes I had to stop-start-stop due to the amounts of snow but the machine pulled through. It didn't stop due to overload, it didn't get snow stuck in the chute and no broken sheer pins either. I did run out of fuel though (after about two hours). 

My light system worked nicely and even though I was soaked to my bones due to the rain I at least had warm hands due to the heated handles (something the old Stiga didn't have.


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## Rooskie (Feb 12, 2015)

mats said:


> bought some metal and electrical parts yesterday at least. Still waiting on that AC-DC converter.
> 
> Did a little bit in sketchup also.
> One idea for a combined frontweight and holder for my led lights.
> ...


Welcome to the snowblower forum!
I'm thinking off the cuff here, but instead of putting all that weight on top of your bucket, why not just build extra-heavy-duty skids on each side of the bucket that will replace the bucket skids and be beefy enough to add the extra weight you seek?


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## mats (Feb 10, 2019)

Rooskie said:


> Welcome to the snowblower forum!
> I'm thinking off the cuff here, but instead of putting all that weight on top of your bucket, why not just build extra-heavy-duty skids on each side of the bucket that will replace the bucket skids and be beefy enough to add the extra weight you seek?


That could be one way of doing it. In my case I also used the frontweight as an attachment point for a couple of 9W LED lights


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## foggysail (Feb 21, 2015)

Yeah.........front weight!!! IMHO, Ariens should provide that weight kit FREE after THEIR screw ups that generated the requirement for added weight. 

I resolved to not purchase Arien's weight kit. Instead I purchased a 25# SS 1'' thick bar that was long enough to mount using the predrilled cowling holes from Ebay. Mounted it on the under side of the cowling. Could have gone with just plain steel but I wanted to avoid corrosion problems especially between the mounting surfaces which I sealed with silicon caulking.


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