No idea if they got Northern or not, but they've come out in a big way this year with some decent tractor offerings so maybe they've decided to be serious about this end of their business!
Naah, they ARE thrown together and spray painted. I have seen the front-end stuff for their tractors and I am not impressed.And finally Sears has this new snowthrower for the $6000 tractor. Looks to be made by Berco, and if you look close, you can see that it looks like a mock-up, quickly welded together and spray painted:
it's not a rebage murry it's the real deal execpt it has a briggs engine in it instead of a kohlerCheck very carefully, that could be a revived Murray in Snapper clothing. If you want a real Snapper, find one of their Simplicity built machines from about 2005-07, or go back to an original Snapper unit, they were virtually unchanged from the early eighties. I was a Snapper dealer for many years and either of those is a good choice- well built and as simple as can be, unlike some of Toro's latest iterations. This advertised unit is Snapper's attempt at going "down market", along with some of their latest mowers which are a disgrace to the name.
Don't confuse this front mount snowthrower with the Agrifab used on the lesser Sears tractors in the US. I do not wish to disparage the Agrifab thrower, a number of our members here have them and report that they perform well. However, I believe the Bercomac built units are on a different plane of existence and I feel lucky to have one. If you look at throwers from many respected brands like Kubota and New Holland, you will see that they often are manufactured by Berco and rebranded. Even our neighbors to the North shopping at Sears Canada get Berco-made throwers. I hope in the future Sears starts marketing them down here, although I doubt mine will ever fail, thus eliminating the need for a new one!Naah, they ARE thrown together and spray painted. I have seen the front-end stuff for their tractors and I am not impressed.
Yes, it looks just like it except for the electric vs. manual chute deflector.Very close to a Snapper M1227.
See my review at:
http://www.mytractorforum.com/showthread.php?t=121935
happy shopping!
Yeah, patience pays off. I got an Ariens 1128 in very good shape for less than half price, but it took a couple years to find the deal, and be the first one in line to call! I'll get a JD 318 that way someday too!Nice looking machine but I prefer used machines. I picked up a 28" 9hp big wheel craftsman blower last year for $150 put $100 into it and the thing is unstopable. I just can't justify spending $1000 plus on something that you can get used for less than half the price.
Exactly. Like rscurtis said earlier in this thread, this particular Snapper, the John Deere and many others are indeed built on this same EXACT Murray platform. Briggs (or MTD??) now owns Murray, so you could say it's a Briggs built unit. Snapper (and many others) don't make thier own snowblowers. Simplicity large frames are unique to Simplicity (if they still make'em). The orange Ariens are all Ariens, the higher end Toros are all Toro and Honda makes Honda. MTD and 'Murray' make and rebadge all the rest.I was just at Lowes... While I was there I checked out the John Deere snow blowers. The 28" JD is very similar to this Snapper except it doesn't have the electric chute deflector and it does have a cast iron auger gear case...
I've never seen a snowblower with a Kohler engine. If you move up to the next model, a 305CC 28" machine, you're getting into real territory. It's $300 for one more inch but that's a Simplicity built machine.it's not a rebage murry it's the real deal execpt it has a briggs engine in it instead of a kohler