Things I recently learned about small engine repair shops.

[Bi11Hudson]

One of the hardest parts anymore is finding someone who knows what they are doing and can fix stuff.

It is amazing how often this is the root of a new purchase. As well as why we, as hobbyists, do what we do.

.

 

[Winegrower]

You could take my approach, which is to try like heck to fix it, take it apart, study how it works and why it doesn’t, realize I need a new tool, get it, by then I can’t recall exactly how it goes together or where all the parts are, lose interest in the whole project and buy a new one.

I get a lot of cool tools that way.

 

[matthewsx]

The point of my earlier post is that most local repair shops are not out to "scam" anybody, I won't say there aren't any but if they are they won't be around long.

These are local businesses which rely on word of mouth and they wouldn't last a year if they were anything less than honest. They're not box stores with huge marketing budgets and PR agencies to "shape" public opinion....

Selling used equipment is generally a way to help customers who are on a fixed income and can't afford to purchase new. Believe me, it's not a money maker by any stretch of the imagination, I did much better taking that stuff to scrap than selling it to someone who might bring it back and ask for a refund.

If you have any doubt about this please ask for the owner and discuss your suspicions, I'm sure they will give you an ear full.

This matters to me because I've been on the other end of this and it's very hurtful to have people talk behind your back when your entire livelihood is dependent on building trust in your community.

John

 

[Ken from ontario]

Perhaps I can give some perspective as I used to own a small engine shop and was an Ariens snowblower dealer.

First, your problem may be related to the governor linkage, an intake leak or other issue. The governor has parts both external and internal to the engine so perhaps an easy fix or not depending on factors unknown from looking at it.

What I did in my shop was to charge a half hour labor ($35 up front) on all repairs regardless of how "easy" the customer believed it would be. This allowed me to pay my mechanic, mortgage, utilities, taxes, etc. I did often suggest to customers who brought in older equipment that repair might not be a worthwhile expense given the likelihood that another component would fail and they would be right back where they started. Even re-powering with a new engine can be more expensive and less effective than you might think. I started off selling refurbished equipment at my shop but quickly learned that the only thing worth doing this with was the most basic, non-self propelled lawnmower. I would only do this when I had three such units in stock since it didn't make sense to troubleshoot one that came back from a customer and swapping it out was the best way to deal with that inevitable circumstance.

IMHO, nine years service for a snowblower in Canada is pretty good, that's why I sold Ariens and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend them today. In reality, margins for authorized dealers on all of this equipment are quite low and the challenges of competing with big box stores (at least here in the US) are significant. Additionally, servicing dealers are required to purchase a certain number of new units every year regardless of how many actually sold the previous year. This is why you see "blowout" sales at the end of the season, servicing the debt of these "floorplan" purchases can be challenging in the best of times and crippling when the economy takes a dip.

The small engine business used to be a reasonable way to make a living in many towns but is much less so nowadays. Equipment isn't made to be repaired in many cases, and economic realities of commodity pricing is making is less so every day. These are mostly small owner/operator businesses which are run by very stubborn people in your community. They live and die by word of mouth and if you have more than one in your area you are lucky. It's very likely their advice is given based on years of experience and they have no desire to steer you wrong.

I hope you bought the new one from one of these independent operators, I shut my business down in 2014....

John Matthews
Heartbeat Power Products (former)

The Husqvarna dealer I ended up with has been around running this business with his father for 30 plus years and did say if he could get the old one going he'd make a couple of hundred bucks but after 9 years of severe service he said he would likely scrap or part it out, word of mouth according to his father is why they still have a viable business , I honestly would have preferred to pay $300 or so to fix the old one and put it back in service but since that wasn't possible , I am at ease with the money I spent and the 3 year warranty that came with the blower, it is my understanding that regardless of the warranty, I will be in good hands for many years to come.

 

[Ken from ontario]

The point of my earlier post is that most local repair shops are not out to "scam" anybody, I won't say there aren't any but if they are they won't be around long.

These are local businesses which rely on word of mouth and they wouldn't last a year if they were anything less than honest. They're not box stores with huge marketing budgets and PR agencies to "shape" public opinion....

Selling used equipment is generally a way to help customers who are on a fixed income and can't afford to purchase new. Believe me, it's not a money maker by any stretch of the imagination, I did much better taking that stuff to scrap than selling it to someone who might bring it back and ask for a refund.

If you have any doubt about this please ask for the owner and discuss your suspicions, I'm sure they will give you an ear full.

This matters to me because I've been on the other end of this and it's very hurtful to have people talk behind your back when your entire livelihood is dependent on building trust in your community.

John

In my defense I never said the word a "scam " was what was going on in this town, in fact what I was trying to say was ,out of 10 small engine repair shops 7 of them were authorized dealers and would not touch anything but their own brand, all 7 have been around for years , (could not find an Ariens dealer maybe because I didn't try hard enough) the other 3 shops out of 10 that I contacted, were new comers, young and right from the get-go they tried to plant the idea in my head that I would be better off buying one of their refurbished blowers .
all those "established" shops did not show much interest in fixing an old snow blower, now after reading you posts I'm beginning to understand what other factors are at play here.

 

[tq60]

Anyone near you that works on their cars?

Sounds like governerissue and since it revs high sounds like rest I fine.

This should be a simple fix with difficulty getting to simple things.

Any smart teenagers nearby?

They work cheap and often willing to help and learn.

Sent from my SM-G781V using Tapatalk

 

[Ken from ontario]

Anyone near you that works on their cars?

Sounds like governor issue and since it revs high sounds like rest I fine.

This should be a simple fix with difficulty getting to simple things.

Any smart teenagers nearby?

They work cheap and often willing to help and learn.

Sent from my SM-G781V using Tapatalk

I did suspect the governor adjustment was the likely issue but after checking with a few hobby mechanics online and coming to that conclusion, I could not remove the gas tank to get to the linkage ,this was a few days ago, since then I have bought a new snow blower and left the old one with the dealer. a mechanic neighbor or a smart teenager would have needed time and space to fix the problem, had this blower been a spare one, I would have gladly let them fix it at their own pace.

 

[john.oliver35]

I have had several pieces of small equipment or appliances that I could figure out what was wrong with them (possibly), but didn't have time or desire to deal with it at that time. Listed them as free on Craiglist along with a description of what I thought was wrong, put them on the curb, and they always disappear that day. Then someone better than I can either fix it or scrap it!

 

[matthewsx]

In my defense I never said the word a "scam " was what was going on in this town, in fact what I was trying to say was ,out of 10 small engine repair shops 7 of them were authorized dealers and would not touch anything but their own brand, all 7 have been around for years , (could not find an Ariens dealer maybe because I didn't try hard enough) the other 3 shops out of 10 that I contacted, were new comers, young and right from the get-go they tried to plant the idea in my head that I would be better off buying one of their refurbished blowers .
all those "established" shops did not show much interest in fixing an old snow blower, now after reading you posts I'm beginning to understand what other factors are at play here.

No offense intended, I think someone else used the "s" word.

Sounds like there are some enterprising young folks trying to get started in your area, hopefully they'll be able to find a business model that works for them.

If you've ever had the pleasure of taking one of these apart you'll soon find out why repair is often more than the machine is worth. I had plenty of customers like you where I had to talk them out of fixing something, my general thought is if repair is more than 1/3 the cost of buying new it doesn't make sense.

The biggest thing is repair shops need to stand by their work. One of the hardest things for me was on a cold winter morning when the guy would roll up in his old pickup with a carburetor in a box and ask me if I could fix it. I knew from the community he probably couldn't afford even a used blower if I had one and his doctor likely told him to stop shoveling after they bypass surgery. I would politely explain that I couldn't "fix" the machine by repairing just one part, then I would spend half an hour explaining how to install the $4 carb kit I was going to sell to him (sometimes my only sale that day).

Maybe that's just how I ran my shop but I talked with plenty of other folks in the business who had similar stories....

There are things I miss about that business, like the big shop and room for machines and projects. But in the end I had to let it go, not enough high end customers in the summer time to keep it going through the winter.

John

 

[matthewsx]

Anyone near you that works on their cars?

Sounds like governerissue and since it revs high sounds like rest I fine.

This should be a simple fix with difficulty getting to simple things.

Any smart teenagers nearby?

They work cheap and often willing to help and learn.

Sent from my SM-G781V using Tapatalk

Trouble is the governor often breaks on the inside. Then the only way to get at it is to remove the engine, extract the pulley if you can (9 years of rust is a powerful thing), and open the side cover to get at those parts.

Fine thing to do if you just want to check it out but when you're charging $70/hr the bill can get out of hand very quickly. Repowering is an option but at ~$450 you're way to far along the path to replacement (and again rust).

This generation of Ariens probably has the Briggs 305cc 8hp motor, I used to build them up for kart racing to over 30hp....

John