Cast iron or aluminum

fordtruckin · #1 10-13-2018, 06:46 PM

So in part of my winter prep I’m looking at a new snowblower for the places in my yard I can’t get to with my truck plow. I’ve narrowed it down to a cub cadet 3 stage 26” wide and an Ariens 2 stage 28” wide unit. The cub cadet has a larger engine than the Ariens but a smaller impeller 12” vs 14”. What really has me stuck is the cub has cast aluminum gear box while the Ariens is cast iron. I’d be happy with either although I like the yellow a bit more. My question is how reliable is cast aluminum? I see on some consumer reports they rate the cub fairly high which has me wondering is it that big a deal? Anyone with any real metal experience have any suggestions? Probably going to buy one or the other this week provided I can find one in stock. (Although if I can I only find one in stock that will narrow my options down)

reddeerguy2015 · #2 10-13-2018, 08:40 PM

Honda.

fordtruckin · #3 10-13-2018, 08:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by reddeerguy2015

Honda.

Yes if I was made of money I would go with Honda, but I'm not so back to the initial question, cast iron vs cast aluminum??

My dad bought a 28" White back in the winter of 2002 and that thing is still going 16 years later and moved 6 years worth of Corner Brook NL snow. Paint is a little chipped with some surface rust, the started went out last year and I bought a replacement for 65$ so i'm not a believer that ONLY a Honda will last...

220 Swift · #4 10-13-2018, 09:02 PM

From my experience - Craftsman was aluminium and didnt last. 2years and the gearbox was toast. 1700 was the new cost of the unit , a 31" i think it was.
Gear box was 950

I tossed it on a rock pile.
Bought an old unit on Kijiji with a cast gear box and did a motor swap.

CaberTosser · #5 10-13-2018, 10:44 PM

My John Deere 1028 has a big honking cast iron gear drive, I wanted to avoid those aluminum/ pot metal units as I thought they looked flimsy for the torque involved with wet snow. Back when I bought it there was a range of Craftsman snowblowers and one even looked identical to my JD save for the paint, it had the same cast iron worm-gear drive. There is such a myriad of options but the ones I wanted were: name brand motor, cast iron gear drive, metal discharge chute, power chute directional control, 120v electric start, good headlight, heated grips and I wanted the squared off looking tires.

I saw a Craftsman snowblower at a local Lowes recently but didn't look at it aside from recognizing it was yet more Craftsman-branded product being carried at Lowes

bloopbloob · #6 10-13-2018, 11:28 PM

By gear box, do you mean the casing, or internals as well? Cast aluminum (grade of Al is a huge deal) can be very strong. The heat cycles can cause issues. If I had to make an off the cuff decision, I would pick cast iron. A little more info would help, like the grades of materials for both. I know a lil bit about metallurgy....

Boogerfart · #7 10-13-2018, 11:33 PM

I'd go with the iron case, less worries and the extra weight helps with traction.

fordtruckin · #8 10-13-2018, 11:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bloopbloob

By gear box, do you mean the casing, or internals as well? Cast aluminum (grade of Al is a huge deal) can be very strong. The heat cycles can cause issues. If I had to make an off the cuff decision, I would pick cast iron. A little more info would help, like the grades of materials for both. I know a lil bit about metallurgy....

No Clue, they just say cast iron gear box and cast aluminum gear box. Nothing about types of metal which is what has me wondering.

coyote madness · #9 10-14-2018, 08:51 AM

Maybe a weird of looking at it but I would ask myself, I’m going camping and for my cooking would I use aluminum or cast iron .. For me that would clearly answer my question.
Have a great day

Xbolt7mm · #10 10-14-2018, 10:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by reddeerguy2015

Honda.

I have a honda on tracks and would go with either of the ops choices before I bought another honda, or buy each of them for the price of the honda. Plugs up with wet snow every time. Garbage

Kim473 · #11 10-14-2018, 10:38 AM

Ran a 5 year old club at work and it worked great.

My 25 year old craftsman still works better than my 10 year old machine.

mac1983 · #12 10-14-2018, 10:53 AM

Mine been a workhorse for 10 years now. Deep snow and cold temps in northern alberta.

huntwat · #13 10-14-2018, 11:00 AM

Buy a single stage. You will wonder why 2 and 3 stage are built.

Lefty · #14 10-14-2018, 11:19 AM

Not an answer to your question but I went with Ariens on my last snow blower and am very pleased with how solid it is built compared to my previous model, and how people raved on them after owning a different brand. That said everyone I know with either Ariens or Cub Cadet that have bought in the past 8 years or so are very happy. Not true of pretty much all the other brands people around here have bought.

Big Sky · #15 10-14-2018, 05:33 PM

Check out reviews on Snow Blowers Direct.

https://www.snowblowersdirect.com/th...w-blowers.html

amosfella · #16 10-14-2018, 05:43 PM

It depends on what the bearing is as to what metal is good.

220 Swift · #17 10-14-2018, 06:06 PM

Sorry I should have said on the post i did prior is that the case made of aluminum was junk. The shaft coming from the motor wore the aluminum out and egg holed the casing. This would cause the worm and the ring not to align.
Only a couple years old. Off warranty
The gears i believe were "brass looking "one both the old school cast housing and the aluminum case.

JimW55 · #18 10-14-2018, 06:19 PM

Hey bud,
Weight wise and monoverabilty I would go with the aluminum but I need the grade of it before I could tell you more.

fordtruckin · #19 10-14-2018, 09:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JimW55

Hey bud,
Weight wise and monoverabilty I would go with the aluminum but I need the grade of it before I could tell you more.

If your referring to the grade I will be moving snow, my yard is pretty much flat. I have a snow plow on my truck for the majority of my needs but I need a blower to blow oaths to the wood pile and back door etc...

If your referring to grade of aluminum, whatever cub cadet uses.

JimW55 · #20 10-14-2018, 09:20 PM

I would say that what ever grade is built in the machine then it was engineered to with stand what your going to do with it.

expedition · #21 10-14-2018, 09:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 220 Swift

Sorry I should have said on the post i did prior is that the case made of aluminum was junk. The shaft coming from the motor wore the aluminum out and egg holed the casing. This would cause the worm and the ring not to align.
Only a couple years old. Off warranty
The gears i believe were "brass looking "one both the old school cast housing and the aluminum case.

Something amiss here. A shaft comjng out of the case would be on a steel bearing . The blame should be what happened to the bearing . Sounds like a lube issue not aluminum casing problem.

220 Swift · #22 10-15-2018, 06:07 AM

This was 10 years ago i dont recall a true bearing in there but more of a wear block. It had oil as i remember seeing it in the snow wondering why is there oil in the snow , then a few seconds later it was all over.

EZM · #23 10-15-2018, 10:40 AM

Best thing to do is online research for that specific application (real people with real blowers/mowers/etc..)

For anyone to make an intelligent and qualified comment without understanding the grade of material, what the casting is mated to, how it's constructed/designed versus it's intended performance characteristics is just guessing.

Properly engineered/designed Aluminum is used for critical applications (structural/dynamic loading/etc..) and, is, in almost every circumstances, a far better choice compared to cast iron anything (except fry pans and cutting edges).

But if you get "cheap junk made improperly" you can use whatever material you want it will still suck for it's intended application.

Get real people who have owned or used it reviews and look up real reviews.

srs123 · #24 10-15-2018, 10:59 AM

In terms of reliability, all snow blowers have shear pins on both sides of the gear box that are designed ed to break and prevent damage. I just broke one of mine when I tangled it with a heavy duty hose. New shear pin cost me 4.99 and took 15 seconds to put on.

Go with which ever got more shear pins

traderal · #25 10-15-2018, 03:02 PM

A few years ago I bought a Cub Cadet with a 45 inch cut, dual wheels on each side, tire chains, lights, 120v start,,etc. First snow and 15 minutes later the drive belt shredded. Put a new one in, shredded that too. Poor design of the alignment of the tensioner pulley. Couldn't believe the crappy cheap design of that one part that made the whole unit useless. Most of these blowers are good on flat paved surfaces, if you wander off that and especially on a ditch side of the road you practically have to winch it back on the road. Tracks would be much better for uneven surfaces, the problem with the Honda is the small chute which plugs up in wet snow. Cheaper units as well as their engines forego bearings on shafts, and sometimes don't even use bushings.
The real waste in this world is the umpteen models made whether cars or snowblowers that quickly end up in the garbage heap. Buyer beware? Heck it takes most of my waking life to research what is good, and if you look on forums, well you know everything you read on the internet is true, and no one agrees on anything.

fordtruckin · #26 10-26-2018, 10:34 PM

Ended up going with an Ariens Deluxe 24” model after visiting my cub and ariens dealer. I feel if I need service ariens will serve me better. Looking forward to first decent snow we can use it on!!

58thecat · #27 10-27-2018, 09:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kim473

Ran a 5 year old club at work and it worked great.

My 25 year old craftsman still works better than my 10 year old machine.

I got a craftsman too, 14 years old, it bucks, farts, and growls but still chucks snow 20 feet....not sure about the gear box, hmmmm maybe I should change or at least check the oil.....

fordtruckin · #28 10-27-2018, 11:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 58thecat

I got a craftsman too, 14 years old, it bucks, farts, and growls but still chucks snow 20 feet....not sure about the gear box, hmmmm maybe I should change or at least check the oil.....

They don’t make things like they used to. My dad has a 16 year old white and it sounds about the same as your craftsman. Sounds like it’s going to come apart she’s so loud but holds it together and keeps chugging!