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Another Gripe Thread....(Lack of) Quality

Trakternut

Active member
I figured it was time to retire my trusty John Deere snowblower. Nice big 10 hp, 32" cut machine. I plunked down a grand total of $1603 and some change for a brand, spankin' new Husqvarna 27" cut machine. Has heated handle grips, nice grippy tires, BUT the lower end of the discharge chute what bolts to the side of the fan housing is plastic.
Early last week, I was blowing snow when I "found" a few 1 1/2" decorative river rock. The side of this part of the chute was GONE!!! Little black pieces scattered in the snow.
Went to the dealer who sold me the machine and he took a chute off of a floor model and sent me on my way. Day before the fatted Turkey became dinner, I was cleaning the driveway which has gravel at the end. Yeah, you guessed it, another smaller stone destroyed the new chute within minutes. Today, I got another chute from the dealer. The fella who owns the store also has a welding/machine shop. I talked to him about making a new chute from metal but he was hesitant as it would take several hours to make one. He did, however, send me home with a piece of heavy polyurethane to bold to the inside of the new chute section to reinforce it. I will be cutting, drilling, and bolting this new lining on myself.
An email to Husqvarna, sent Wednesday night, has gone unanswered as of now.
I would have paid for the first replacement chute as the destruction could have been written off as a fluke. No more! :glare: I believe the chute has a design flaw which allows any debris flung by the fan to break the plastic.
I have to stop at the dealer on Monday, as the manager was gone today, and talk to him. I do not plan to pay for either of the chutes, even though they sell for a mere $4.
We shall see how this turns out. The manager, last week, said this was the first chute he had ever seen broken. I just bet! :glare: Famous last words from a salesperson!
Keep your fingers crossed that these guys don't try to run me around. I'm almost 50, I'm overweight, and have arthritic knees. I do NOT run anymore. :ermm:

Now, I must say that the rest of the snowblower is a very nice machine! Once I get this achilles heel fixed, I think I will like it quite well! :smile:
 

tsaw

New member
GOLD Site Supporter
Toro with their Power Max snow blower had similar problems with the plastic discharge piece years ago. Trust me, it's a "fix as fail" situation. No recall unless safety is an issue.:hammer:
 

Trakternut

Active member
Thanks for that, tsaw! :ermm: In that case, Husqvarna will have to eat the price of the new chutes.
I'm thinking a stray piece of debris, flying undirected through a hole in the chute would present somewhat of a safety issue.
 

tsaw

New member
GOLD Site Supporter
The OEM's we work for treat the problems like it's top secret info. They don't want the public to know. We will get a bulletin saying there IS a known defect. But.. as long as the build last past warranty.. hush hush. If it goes past the warranty period... no warranty.
 

tsaw

New member
GOLD Site Supporter
I'll give you an example. The Stihl MS 441 chain saw, was built with defective rubber compound in the intake manifold. It would crack in cold weather. And the saw would then have an air leak.
It is a known problem. The only way you get it fixed no charge out of warranty, is if you bitch and moan. Then it's 100% warranty. That is why the service bulletins are top secret.
 

fogtender

Now a Published Author
Site Supporter
Maybe just fabricate a new piece out of metal may be in your best interest instead of the headache of dealing with people that really don't care, it gets fixed right and you don't have to choke anyone!
 

Cowboy

Wait for it.
GOLD Site Supporter
Bummer Trakternut , I really hate hearing that about Husqvarna I,ve allways thought their quality & choice of materials was at a much higher standard then that , leave it to the engineers ( more then likely ) to cheapen it up with plastic :hammer: .

Everything in their world must be pavement or concrete , everything in mine is perty much gravel & walnuts , I can only imagine how long it would last around here .

I hope it works out for your benefit & if you stay on them who knows , they might do a type of recall or manufacture a metal replacement part . I,m in the market for one but knowing this I beleive I,ll continue hand shoveling what I cant get to with the tractor .

Best of luck & let us know how it turns out :wink:
 

Trakternut

Active member
I'm hoping the reinforcement with the urethane will do the trick. At least cushion the blow from the stones so it doesn't break the chute. I will keep after Husqvarna, not to worry.
As far as Foggy's suggestion of making my own chute from metal, it would require some rolling and bending equipment that I do not have. There is a complexity to the combinations of bends and rolls that would be hard to duplicate freehand. I may take a second look and see what it would take to simplify some of it and still make it work. Not sure yet.
I hear you, Cowboy, I am severely disappointed too. This sort of cheap-ass setup is what I would expect from a MTD product, not something that has as high of a reputation as Husqvarna.
 

tsaw

New member
GOLD Site Supporter
Just FYI.. in case anyone didn't know:
Husqvarna also makes:
JONSERED chain saws
POULAN chain saws
FLYMO Garden equipment
and Craftsman IE Sears Lawn and Garden.

MTD makes these brands:
TORO RIDING LAWN MOWERS (not the zero turn)
Cub Cadet
Troy bilt
Yard Man
Yard Machines
White Outdoor
Mastercraft
And about twenty more. I don't have the entire list.

A LawnBoy snowblower or lawnmower is nothing but a TORO painted GREEN.
 

Trakternut

Active member
BUMP!!!

Well, the urathane reinforcement works! :clap: I laid a piece inside the chute and also one on the outside. I have thrown stones through 3 snowfalls now and no damage.
I stopped at the dealer and talked to him. I told him that I did believe that the chutes were a poor design and of too light of material and that he was going to have to fight Husqvaarna over the cost of the chutes. All he said was; "Okay". Good enough for me.

Outside of that, the machine works like a charm! It has a high speed impeller which throws the snow like you wouldn't believe. I have to really watch it when I'm working around buildings and cars.

Husqvaarna responded to my email after Thanksgiving, first sort of denying a problem, and when I responded with my findings they said they would pass the information up the line. (Probably the line to the shredder). :ermm:

I am out no money, save for about $3 for the elevator cup bolts I used to put the lining in, and about an hour and a half total replacing chutes and lining the last new one.
 

muleman

Gone But Not Forgotten
GOLD Site Supporter
They are using the wrong plastic in that part. If they went with one that was not so brittle in the cold it would not be a problem. I believe they probably used plastic to stop the chute from binding after it rusted from paint wearing off. The one we used years ago for sidewalks was a bear till you wore the rust off each season. Then we would wash it and spray it with wd and it was good for a while.
 

Cowboy

Wait for it.
GOLD Site Supporter
Good deal Trakternut , Glad you was able to figure out how to work around the obvious mfg defect . Still hard to beleive that they didn,t see this as a posible problem , the designers must of missed the common sense 101 class . :unsure: Thanks for the update . :smile:
 
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