Snowblowers: Craftsman, Ariens & Others Using 208cc Engine

[Dzmax77]

Not sure if this is the correct section of the forum to post this in but I need a new snowblower and noticed that new Craftsman, Ariens and others are using what appears to be a similar 208cc engine but it isn’t marked as Briggs & Stratton or Honda. Also, I believe these are ‘Made in USA with global components’. Are they using a clone Chinese engine on these?

The 208cc Briggs & Stratton snow blowers using a Briggs & Stratton labeled engine looks different.

I’ve read that these cloned Chinese engines aren’t good and one is lucky to get a winter out of them without any problems.

Thanks!

 

[Garcky]

Well, I had an Ariens 24" blower with the Chinese engine in it for about 5 years. Worked beautifully. Started instantly. Ran very strong. I changed oil in the engine once a year and ran it dry of fuel every Spring. No complaints whatsoever with it. Your mileage might vary, but I liked mine. I've not heard any complaints from others about them, either.

 

[nadogail]

Will the manufacturer offer a meaningful warranty on the engine? If they won’t I would stick with an engine manufacturer you can have confidence in.

 

[theoldwizard1]

The Chinese "Honda clone" engine run amazingly well. I would suspect that the brand name snow blower companies, like Ariens, are buying some of the best clone engines available. If not, it would kill their reputation !

 

[laser3kw]

Many of the retail store lawn equipment and snowblowers are MTD variants. MTD has its own "brand" of Honda clone called "Powermore". I have not heard of any reliability problems other than user inflicted problems. Briggs has been using offshore sourced parts and whole engines for 10 or 15 years.
My Cub Cadet (built by MTD) is on its 5th year of service without failure. I bought it of CL with lower hours.

 

[thool]

It wouldn't surprise me if engine manufacturers are simplifying their lineups so that there are fewer specialty models, in order to reduce specialty parts. I have a Tecumseh shop manual and it covers variants in: throttle linkages, governor systems, ignitions, lubrication, seals, rings...if you multiply those out you can potentially have hundreds of slightly different engines, some requiring parts that differ so slightly but critically. Some of these parts are very hard to find.

I have my eye on a "2023 Ariens Deluxe 28 SHO 921048" and the engine manufacturer is Ariens AX, which is made by LCT (American company) with parts sourced offshore.

 

[Yankeefarmer]

It’s not a snowblower, but my lawn/leaf vac which I bought back in 2015 has a Chinese clone of a Honda 13 hp and it has given me no problems. It accumulates far more run hours per year than my snowblower ever will. Btw, my snowblower had an (I believe) American-made Tecumseh engine that failed after 14 years of service due to a faulty engine block casting that cracked all the way around the base of the cylinder. All the rotating components looked like new when I tore it apart.

 

[PoorUB]

It wouldn't surprise me if engine manufacturers are simplifying their lineups so that there are fewer specialty models, in order to reduce specialty parts. I have a Tecumseh shop manual and it covers variants in: throttle linkages, governor systems, ignitions, lubrication, seals, rings...if you multiply those out you can potentially have hundreds of slightly different engines, some requiring parts that differ so slightly but critically. Some of these parts are very hard to find.

I have my eye on a "2023 Ariens Deluxe 28 SHO 921048" and the engine manufacturer is Ariens AX, which is made by LCT (American company) with parts sourced offshore.

Sure, but in my experience having a small engine shop, there is very little variation in snow blower engines. Pick a horse power and other than paint there was very little variation for the application, maybe a throttle lever versus a remote throttle was the largest variation. Now add mini bikes, lawn vacs, chippers and a hundred other applications then all the other part options show up.