Husqvarna 824 snowblower

The short answer? Pass. Every year the Husq. snowblowers gets built cheaper and cheaper. Some models don't even have a continuous shaft inside the auger flights. The most recent ones have big time engine troubles (porous castings, poor machining, oil leaks galore.) with the China doll engines on them.

Price? Unless it's a giveaway, I'd still pass.

You mentioned you were going to buy new otherwise, I'd give Toro's PowerMax machines a good look. They deal with sloppy wet snow common here in the northeast better than most two-stage machines.

Others to check out are the Simplicity/Snapper/Deere (same machines with minor variations) group. The Deere machines are done after 2012 but you might be able to get a great deal on a leftover.

Ariens is a great machine and would be my 2nd choice to the Toro PowerMax machines.

Stay way clear of new Craftsman/Troy-bilt/Cub Cadet machines as well. The multi-piece tin-foil augers are nothing but trouble.

I have found that anything Honda makes (as far as power equipment is concerned anyway) has always outlasted my expectations. A bit pricey though, but you usually get what you pay for. Wish I had known that Troy Built was simply MTD before I purchased it. Not that it has been a lemon, but it is Troy Built in name only.

I can't follow the players. The Ariens lawn tractor I got a couple years ago was made by Husqvarna in a plant in North Carolina or somewhere. Maybe the snowblowers are different.

That model may be an Ariens.... worth looking in to if you can get a good deal.

HittinSteel said:

That model may be an Ariens....

Click to expand...

Which ones? I do know Husq. blowers were made by Noma/Murray and AYP. Not sure who makes the most recent batch. I also know that a dealership I frequent would move the whole line every day to mop the oil off the floor.

Never seen an Ariens built Husky. I know Ariens built the "D" (828D, 1032D, etc) series machines for Deere. Quite possibly the best Deere snowblowers ever produced.

I can't find who was making those models....... probably not Ariens upon further looking. Still might be worth finding the answer for the OP if the price is good.

I already mentioned that they have been made by Noma/Murray (very old models) and AYP (American Yard Product). None of the Husky's I can remember have been stand-out products for positive reasons. Always feature rich and quality poor. Distinctly remember when they switched to sintered metal (pressed powder) gears for the drivetrain. Not a bad thing in itself but there was a problem in their process that caused the gears to fail about half-way up the ramp into the customer's truck. !!

I spent a lot of time at my local snow blow shops this winter asking around what the best brands were and the two that stood out with the three dealers I visited before I bought a new unit were the Ariens and Toro series of blowers.

Toro has a nicer chute control but those controls are also more prone to being broken should something happen to fall on the stick. Toro also has a plastic discharge chute which I was not thrilled with but many people swear by.

The Ariens has all metal chute and discharge which according to some is more prone to plugging but I never noticed it this year and I did a lot of very wet snow.

Overall I'd take a look at the Ariens and Toro brands as they seem to get the best reviews.

TMonter said:

Toro has a nicer chute control but those controls are also more prone to being broken should something happen to fall on the stick. Toro also has a plastic discharge chute which I was not thrilled with but many people swear by.

Click to expand...

The two brands are like polar opposites with both being great machines. Toro has composite (plastic) parts on it that help keep it from plugging up, aluminum gearbox, and a first of it's kind one-handed distance/direction control. Ariens goes traditional with all-metal parts, a cast iron gearbox, and traditional crank chute controls.

Personally I like the Toro machines because of the impeller housing design. They just take the nasty stuff better. Haven't seen a control failure on one of those either unless it was crushed by a falling object.

I have a an older husky snowblower and would rate it as average grade, they go out for bid and slap on a decal. Bascially any brand of Outdoor Power Equipment sold by Home Depot is cheap stuff.