Winter Warriors

Craftsman

There’s nothing new about the winter drill: The white stuff falls, and it must be shoved aside. There hadn’t been anything new about snowthrower technology, either, for a long time. But that changed dramatically in fall 2008. Tecumseh—its engines powered most of the entire market—bailed on the category, citing financial reasons.

Now what?

Because other manufacturers now are concentrating on snow engines, you will see innovation that did not occur when Tecumseh dominated the market—four-stroke overhead-valve (OHV) engines for one-stage (commonly known as single-stage) and two-stage snowthrowers. (Single-stage snowthrowers have an auger that cuts and expels snow; two-stage snowthrowers have a separate impeller to throw snow that is chopped by an auger.)

That shift came at the expense of two-stroke machines, but industry sources tell us that this was no loss. Some believe that the two-stroke Tecumseh “L-head engine” didn’t address the increasing regulatory pressure that is forcing manufacturers of snowthrowers—like manufacturers of all types of power equipment—to produce engines that burn cleaner and create less pollution. Plus, who wants to have to mix gas and oil as you must with two-stroke engines, particularly during January?

Because prices remained steady since we last reviewed snowthrowers 3 years ago—or even dropped slightly in a few cases—you can think of the shift to four-stroke engines as a free upgrade. Four-stroke snow engines are quieter, easier to start and deliver more torque than two-stroke engines do, so you’ll get a more efficient, power-packed engine without shelling out any more cash.

Meanwhile, you’ll find more compact two-stage models (which have a smaller engine and a 21- to 26-inch clearing width) at prices around $400, and you’ll see that more manufacturers have put premium features, such as lights and remote chute control, into models that cost as little as $799. Bundling up to brave a snow-clearing job has never looked so appealing.

ENGINE EVOLUTION. Every manufacturer but Honda and Toro, which equipped their snowthrowers with their own engines, used Tecumseh engines. With Tecumseh out of the picture, you’ll see the Briggs & Stratton name appearing on more snowthrowers. Briggs & Stratton ramped up production and development on a snow engine that it introduced 2 years ago and quickly became the dominant supplier to manufacturers. And you’ll also see more engines that bear the names of the snowthrower manufacturers themselves. A few manufacturers had been developing their own snow engines for up to 5 years prior to Tecumseh’s exit—joining forces with Chinese engine producers in some cases.

“We were most concerned when Tecumseh was having [financial] problems that they would falter, and we would have nothing,” says Jack Drobny of MTD, which makes several snow-thrower brands.

Drobny outlined MTD’s engine transition over the past 3 years. In 2007, all MTD snowthrowers were powered by Tecumseh. In 2008, half of MTD’s snowthrowers were powered by MTD’s brand of engines, which were codesigned and codeveloped with a Chinese producer. The rest—larger models—had engines that were provided by Briggs & Stratton. For the current 2009-2010 snow season, all MTD snowthrowers are powered by MTD engines.

Ariens says it began developing its non-Tecumseh engine supply base about 5 years ago. It used Briggs & Stratton engines on some models in 2007 but now uses that company’s Snow Series engines on most of its models. But Ariens also has worked with Liquid Combustion Technology, which imports outdoor power-equipment engines from China, for a new line of economy-price snowthrowers that Ariens released this year.