Service & Maintenance Question
Bought my ST227P 11/2014 from Lowe's, only used it once...
Service & Maintenance Question posted December 29, 2017 by Joe Wadsworth, last edited December 29, 2017
305 Views, 16 Comments
Question:
Bought my ST227P 11/2014 from Lowe's, only used it once in April 2015 due to light snow that winter and used it 4x in 2016. I've literally only used this snowblower 5x since I bought it! Pulled it out 12/2017 (again nearly no snow this winter--global warming I guess--but wanted to get it ready just in case). Started it up and then tried to put it in Drive, but the wheels are stuck in Reverse. I looked under the control panel and it appears a piece of plastic that was part of the plastic gear assembly has broken off. I'm shocked! I paid nearly $1,000 for this snow blower and it's been used 5x and is just barely out of warranty and something like this happens?? Poorly made I guess, should have bought a different brand. I did a ton of research before buying a Husqvarna and was convinced it was top of the line. However, having read through countless posts with similar models made from 2013-2016 it would appear that Husqvarna has a few issues (belt, gear and thrower controls) that need their attention. Nothing that costs this much should break after 5 uses, that is just unacceptable. Husqvarna needs to stand behind their products and when they know many of their customers are experiencing similar issues they need to extend their warranty to cover repairs and necessary upgrades to remedy poor manufacturing practices. VERY DISAPPOINTED!
Answer
I am in the same exact boat purchased the same year and all. Almost $1000. Today noticed fuel dripping from the tank when I turned the gas switch to on. I had to take the tank off and tighten the fuel cut off metal switch as it looked like it was leaking at the part the seats into the fuel tank.
Then thinking I am ready to go fire on the machine, warm it up, and then put it into gear, nothing. The part that houses the shifter is held by a thin piece of PLASTIC. Absolutely a piece of garbage, a pivotal point made of thin walled plastic. First and last Husq I will ever buy. Total waste of $1000 bucks!
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Ahh man! That's horrible. Sounds like a vast majority of consumers have been taken for a ride and essentially bought lemon snow blowers at inflated prices. I'm wondering if Husqvarna was bought out by some giant company? We read reviews for months prior to our purchase and were certain we were buying a quality product (as it should be when spending $1,000 on a snow blower). Boy were we wrong and, like you, will NEVER purchase another Husqvarna anything again. We were stunned to see that the gear assembly is essentially held together with a piece of plastic that isn't even as thick as the lid of our kitchen trash can! Ridiculous! We plan to repair our broken piece of plastic and sell the snow blower immediately and buy another brand. We've just read too many complaints on this website describing numerous issues with these snow blowers and don't want the headache of having more things break as time goes on.
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Joe so I just a deeper look. The top shifter is connected to a cable below the top console. What apparently is happening is the machine is not shifting easily into gear which then puts stress on the cheap plastic wall below the console. I just took the machine apart a bit. (Photos will be below). The gear cable connects to a metal bracket at the front that is controlled by a heavy spring. I got a u shaped screw driver and it was tough as nails to move that bar. Once the bar moves is slides the carrier over the axle tube (Not sure whats it called). No wonder the plastic gave out I could barely exert enough force to make the bar move.
What the hell could be causing the machines gear to not shift easily? You mentioned the gear assembly, do you mean at the bottom? See my photos.
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https://postimg.org/gallery/2ocb0oo6e/
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In the last photo that black wheel should go left as you switch into 1 2 3 4 fwd etc.
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In photo #2 it shows exactly the piece on ours that broke. The plastic snapped behind the bolt shown above your index finger in photo #2. We looked up the part on jackssmallengine.com and it appears this is a uni-body piece, which requires that the entire control cover be replaced. Not thrilled about that design flaw. We may need to mickey-rig a thin piece of steel cut to fit directly behind the bolt to help support the plastic when the gears are being shifted. It's just so frustrating given how few times it's been used since we purchased it. Why they would make these moving parts out of plastic is beyond comprehension.
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Sorry for the non-technical speak. I have no idea what each part is called, but basically ours won't shift out of reverse because there isn't anything to support the "bar", the whole plastic piece underneath basically buckles due to the break in the plastic housing.
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So after doing more research, it seems that the the black bar in the 4th photo will nee to be heavily lubricated. While mine has no rust its takes a bit of force to move it. The plastic part on top is the weak link and when we are shifting (pulling the cable) its snaps the plastic. Tomorrow I will lubricate that bar and maybe even spray the spring in the back and see if I can more easily move the round circle across the bar. I found a a few videos on youtube explain this.
I will have to get some sort of metal plate and tie into the top plastic part and create my own. No way am I spending a dime on this ridiculously poorly designed machine only to have it break again. I'll post pics tomorrow. Hopefully it works out.
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What part did you have to buy to replace this? The entire console? And did you end up fabricating anything? I hate this machine.
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Ironically founds this in the manual "TRACTION DRIVE SYSTEM DO NOT lubricate the drive components inside the snow thrower. The sprockets, hex shafts, drive disc and friction wheel require no lubrication. The bearings and bushings are lifetime lubricated and require no maintenance."
Yeah lifetime, guess 3 years is what we can expect for lifetime lubrication. What a joke.
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We also read that in the manual as well. We're frankly just shocked that Husqvarna isn't reading these threads and realizing they have a few major issues with inferior design and manufacturing and taking the time to make it right by issuing more durable replacement parts for those dealing with either this issue or the belt issue, which seems to be another hot topic on this website. We are going to fix it and promptly sell it and buy another brand. We just don't want further headaches down the road.
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Same problem! Just got 20 inches of snow, and the plastic piece on the shifter cracked on my first shift into high gear. Nothing like the most integral part of the console being made of weakly cast plastic. Bought mine at Lowes and just out of warranty! I ordered a new part and hoping for the best.
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Just out of curiosity, were you able to find a part to repair this that isn't the entire control deck housing? From what we could gather when looking for the part is that it appears to be the entire plastic unibody piece that encompasses the whole top panel. We are still trying to figure out if we can have our machinist neighbor help us mickey-rig some sort of thin steel or aluminum plate to attach to this area of plastic to strengthen the area where this connects to the pulley/gear bar (not sure what it's called exactly). Why a company would design this part out of plastic is beyond comprehension, the amount of torque on the plastic is sure to break it, especially when it's cold, plastic and cold don't mix well.
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Joe no such luck! I have been reading around too, and it appears every person in has the same issue. I am going to have change out the entire console, and then figure out how to reinforce the area so the same problem does not occur again. I am thinking of using some steel pipe strapping, so that the pin that holds cable can readily pass through it. Thinking of then placing some sort of spacer between the two pieces of plastic which the pin fits in. When that is all good and installed nothing like some good old fashioned zip ties to attempt to reduce the torque load on the plastic. I know this is not a great answer, but trying to best figure out how to modify a stupid engineering defect. I am hoping to get the part within the week, and get this thing up and running before the next blizzard. Sorry I could not be of more assistance.
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To wrap up our snowblower saga....we ended up purchasing an entirely new plastic console piece, installed it, which corrected the broken arm issue on the gear shift. We then promptly put it up for sale on our local classified service for $400 and it was out of our lives a week later. As a result of what we went through, and the clearly poor manufacturing standards for the Husqvarna snowblowers, we will never buy another Husqvarna product again. We went out and bought a Honda snowblower.
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