dusty Dave
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- Joined
- Sep 1, 2012
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Hi everyone, another new member here. I looked for an 'Ariens' forum to post this but did not find one, so I am placing this post here (moderators, shift/relocate as necessary, thanks ahead of time for your help)
My Ariens mower is now some four years old, well out of warranty. I had a part break the other day that put me in a fix--nobody in the entire Fort Worth area carries parts and the closest shop would have had to order the part. Ariens sent me a new part at no charge.
What broke? The cable that engages the cutting deck connects to a big external lever on top, runs around the side of the mower down to the linkage/pulley that tensions the drive belt and makes the blades turn. At the bottom end there is a spring to maintain tension, and the spring is made with a hook on the end of the coils. The hook broke, disconnecting the entire cable assembly. It was a fatigue failure with a crack initiating on one side of the hook shank, splitting down the length of the shank, and finally separating completely on the other side.
This kind of break should not happen, whether in warranty or not. A spring is supposed to be fabricated from suitable materials and heat treated to relieve the internal material strains of forming the part and should not 'wear out' under normal service use, life, or loadings. My 35 years of engineering training and experience tell me that someone screwed up and designed or manufactured a cheapie component. I have had a couple riding mowers before this one and none of the springs ever wore out. We have had two trampolines for the kids, with 88 springs around the edges of each, and none of them ever wore out. Springs are pretty much an idiot-simple part....if you bother to fabricate them correctly.
Ariens stood up and took responsibility for this part, even though it was NOT THEIR PART. This component is apparently made for them by Husqv and whatever manufacturing (or mis-manufacturing) was beyond the control of Ariens. But they made good for another company's mistake and I think that is worth bragging on them a little bit.
Thanks for listening-
My Ariens mower is now some four years old, well out of warranty. I had a part break the other day that put me in a fix--nobody in the entire Fort Worth area carries parts and the closest shop would have had to order the part. Ariens sent me a new part at no charge.
What broke? The cable that engages the cutting deck connects to a big external lever on top, runs around the side of the mower down to the linkage/pulley that tensions the drive belt and makes the blades turn. At the bottom end there is a spring to maintain tension, and the spring is made with a hook on the end of the coils. The hook broke, disconnecting the entire cable assembly. It was a fatigue failure with a crack initiating on one side of the hook shank, splitting down the length of the shank, and finally separating completely on the other side.
This kind of break should not happen, whether in warranty or not. A spring is supposed to be fabricated from suitable materials and heat treated to relieve the internal material strains of forming the part and should not 'wear out' under normal service use, life, or loadings. My 35 years of engineering training and experience tell me that someone screwed up and designed or manufactured a cheapie component. I have had a couple riding mowers before this one and none of the springs ever wore out. We have had two trampolines for the kids, with 88 springs around the edges of each, and none of them ever wore out. Springs are pretty much an idiot-simple part....if you bother to fabricate them correctly.
Ariens stood up and took responsibility for this part, even though it was NOT THEIR PART. This component is apparently made for them by Husqv and whatever manufacturing (or mis-manufacturing) was beyond the control of Ariens. But they made good for another company's mistake and I think that is worth bragging on them a little bit.
Thanks for listening-
