Craftsman Professional 357cc 30" 2 Stage Snow Reviews

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edmilehi Golden, CO

“What happened to Craftsman quality”

Craftsman Professional 357cc 30" 2 Stage Snow —

I purchased the 88830 and out of the box it was defective, the "Single Hand Operation" feature was installed improperly causing the auger to run constantly, the only way to stop the auger was to shut off the engine. No way was this overlooked, this was a serious safety issue, the snow thrower must have never been checked for proper operation, is quality control a thing of the past? The problem was a cross threaded bolt but my concern is that while this feature sounds nice, on failure the auger will continue to run rather than fail to run, a much safer situation.

The next problem was the "4-way Joystick Chute Control", it took both hands to operate the chute from the joystick, a common problem I later learned. I found it easier to hold the release button and then manually move the chute.

I was concerned prior to purchase on who made the "Craftsman" engine, one salesman swore it was a Briggs & Stratton, another said MTD, another was unsure who but was positive it was made in the U.S. After having 2 problems prior to using the machine I did some serious googling and finally found out the "Craftsman" engine is made in China for MTD who supplies Sears with snow throwers. The Chinese engine replaced the Tecumseh in 2008, you have a better chance of a Sear's salesman giving you 45% off than admitting where the "Craftsman" engines are now made.

Last problem I called the 1-800-Myhome to get my Craftsman Professional Snow Thrower repaired, they informed me I would have to bring it to a service center and drop it off for repair, at this point I had purchased the machine less than 30 hours earlier. I loaded the Sears "Craftsman Professional 88830" in my trailer and delivered it back to Sears and got a refund.

Last edited on Dec 12, 2011

Posted on Sep 25, 2009

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Comments about edmilehi’s Review

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Read the manual!!! Learn how to operate and maintain your snow blower regardless of brand. Where an engine is made does not really matter. Sometimes foreign made stuff are better in quality. Years ago, people thought that Japan made products was junk. Now people respect Japanese made products just as USA produced products. China is just beginning to industrialize. In the future, they will be a whole lot better in producing goods. They may kick are *** if the USA falls behind in research and development, and in educating our children. The world is changing. Embrace it.

I have initiated a Discussion on the 88830 machine at
http://www.mysears.com/Snow-Removal-Equipment/topics/88830-for-a-beginner/posts
It is titled "88830 for a beginner". Many people have provided useful information there, and generally the discussions are friendly. Here I see a difference: Edmilehi's post raises a very legitimate concerns, and Freezermania flatly rejects all arguments. This does not appear fair. It is true that not all 88830 should be expected to be defective, but isn’t it clear why Edmilehi wrote what he did? Is Freezermania suggesting that Edmilehi had better swallowed his disappointment and not shared his experience with us? After all we are intelligent enough to judge that he was emotional, but we can similarly easy recognize the Sears rep in Freezermania.

In the discussed posting I see 2 arguments that simply cannot be belittled: First, there must be an easy way to know where the 88830 engine was made. Everybody can then make her/his conclusions and decisions, but the fact is indeed that you’d have a very hard time getting this information from a Sears rep. Whatever the quality of the Chinese-made equipment is, the “hiding” of the source is counterproductive by itself. Second, it does not sound right to me that a defective machine that has just been bought must be transported back by the customer. It appears that “in-home-service” (that includes transportation to-and-from the repair center) is included with the extended warranty, but one wonders what the logic is not to offer the same under the normal warranty. As it is now, you must purchase the extended 3 years warranty (which allegedly is designed to cover years 3, 4, and 5) in order to get in-home-service during years 1 and 2 (which are covered by the normal warranty). Sounds funny, doesn’t it.

Ok, I just found an online review that addresses what you said about the engine and points out some of what I guessed would be true. "2010 Craftsman 30 inch 357 cc Snow Thrower Model 88830 Review" -

http://bx.businessweek.com/deere--co-de/view?url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F~r%2Ffeed_traffic%2F~3%2F5469YT3vJq4%2F

"The manufacture of motors used on all of the Craftsman Snow Throwers this year is one of the largest small engine makers in the world. They have the reputation of great motorcycle engines and companies like Harley Davidson even buy components from them. All of the 2010/2011 Craftsman Snow Throwers use this motor this year. It is labeled Craftsman but it is the same as the MTD, PowerMore, Troy-bilt, and Cub Cadet motors. MTD has been using motors from this manufacture for almost 10 years now and they have a VERY good reputation for reliability, easy starting and parts availability. Of the 2000 or so snow throwers I saw sold last 3 years only a half dozen of the Powermore engines had problems I was aware of. Almost all the problems were fuel related. See my post on Powermore engines for more information."

I see your post is getting edited, etc. Strange. But a point about safety. If it's the control for the single hand operation that's messed up, then obviously it could run continuously if it's not working properly. That doesn't mean it's unsafe if it had been assembled correctly. Nor does it mean they designed it to run all the time. So it's misleading of you to have implied it's a wide spread saftey issue. Or to use scare tactics to mis-inform other would be buyers. As for the 4 way joystick chute control, I had no problems with using it with one hand. It must be a matter of adjustment. And them improperly installing it, doesn't means it was "overlooked". And not your implication that ALL the blowers are having this problem is misleading. Only if ALL 88030 blowers were doing this would it be a safety issue. So this part of your review doesn't make any sense. And when you say "on failure", there is a logic problem. In order to fail like that again, the bolt would have to cross thread itself which isn't possible since there is no wrench or anyone putting torque on it. That got that way due to the installer who put that bolt in. And your 1 star is ridiculous... This is not a good review, nor is it helpful to others.

Also, from your comments in other forums makes it apparent you didn't like where the engine was built so you returned it. Just because something is built in china doesn't mean it's low quality. Also most engines on most equipment aren't built in the u.s. anyway. And to top it off, many foreign engines are of higher quality. Finally, the company that makes these is a higher end engine manufacturer that likes to copy the Honda brand to some extent. As said before, Sears stamped their Craftsman logo on it. So I doubt they'd pick a horrible engine to tarnish their brand with. Plus snow blowers usually see less than 10% the use that tractors get anyway. Not that I think this engine wouldn't hold up to constant use, but I'd have to use my snow blower for 166 years to equal the 500+ hours of use I put on my tractor in 10 years.

the

In response to Trekowner's comment from Feb 25, 2010 at 3:00AM:

Like who's going to believe that someone spends $1400 in tools and it's all defective? It's certainly not the norm.

cont 2 ' - But then you mention that you would have to bring the machine in to a service center. Well they offer free or inexpensive in home repair and there are links all over the net which substantiate this. But even if that didn't go right for you, the fact that you couldn't ever imagine that yours was defective, shows you assumed that ALL sears snow throwers you'd get must be the same with ever spinning augurs, and the service is far worse than other places. I've had good service at Sears.

Every manufacturer has a chance of sending out something with a mistake. No matter what company you choose, there is a chance of mistakes. That said I bought the Craftsman 88830. It was $1250, but got it for $881 after all price reductions. Wow a 30 inch blower with a 357cc engine! Not quite 45% off, but 30% off. I had looked at a competing brand that wanted $1550 for the same features with similar construction, But at that point the 88830 was $669 less. I had saved enough that I could have even bought the 5 year in home warranty and had $450 left over in comparison to the other blower! Actually I can still purchase that warranty. The 88830 is an awesome snow thrower and I'm glad I got it.

cont' - Also your where-was-the-engine-made rant was pointless. Sears is a company that's been around over 100 years and that's because they know how to balance quality vs price. They aren't going to just suddenly fold up in 2010 with you being the one to catch them. I would seriously doubt the engine would be of far less quality, to the point that it would affect it's longevity in any noticeable way. Also snow throwers are usually not used even a fraction as often as a lawn tractor would be. I've read reviews telling me not to trust the engine supplied with my John Deer tractor when it was new 10 years ago. They changed engines that year. So far not a single problem. I also read about how I shouldn't trust the kohler put in my dad's Ariens tractor I helped pick.
Still no problem after years. And both of these tractors have over 500 hours of use on them! In any snow season, we get about zero to three snows. Figure 3 total hours of use a year. To use my snow thrower as much, it would take me 166 years! And I'm going to whine over the quality of the engine when it's likely very good coming from Sears? But even for someone with triple the snow I have, 10 major storms, it would take them over 56 years to accumulate the same engine wear.

So Because you get something defective, you suddenly think Craftsman quality has gone down. Sounds more like you're yet one more loose cannon on the net that can be found on each and every product for sale.

You could also go to any other snow thrower, get a dud, and write the same thing. You'd be there with a defective MTD, yardsman, ariens, or what ever and get a defective one, and there you'd be, trashing the product. Not based on how it works, but based on your dud.