MTD 56

by Rob Farrands
(Aberdeenshire, Scotland)

I bought this blower in November 2010 from my local garage. I live in rural Aberdeenshire and I have a sloping gravel driveway about 20 yds long and an area about 15 x 5 yds outside the house. I spent much of last winter digging out from heavy falls of snow, each of which resulted in about a foot and a half in depth.

I decided I had had enough pushing and digging snow manually so paid £600 (which I could not really afford) for and MTD 56 snow blower. So far this winter (December 2010) we've had about another foot of snow and temperatures down to -18C. The first thing that went on the MTD was the drive belt during the first few days of use. Small pieces of gravel got stuck in the fan part of the auger jamming the device.

After much messing about, adjusting the clutch and the machine unable to cope with much more than 2-3" of snow I found the v-belt which drives the auger was completely ruined. Also the clutch actuating pulley had sheared a strip off by being over tightened and rubbing on the drive pulley (!) After I replaced the v-belt, the machine was back to normal again.

However I went to change the oil this morning to find a fuel leak. It appears that when you push the throttle to stop the engine, the throttle leaver just nicks the top of the fuel line. There is already signs of wear on the fuel line and it appears the constant knocking on the fuel line of the throttle when switching the unit off, has caused the fuel connecter from the fuel line to the tank to become damaged, dislodged or loosened, allowing a small fuel leak. The garage I purchased the MTD from is now repairing the leak.

I have emailed MTD Europe but received no reply. I can't say I am impressed by MTD build quality or design, especially with what appears to be an elementary design fault which could potentially be very dangerous if fuel ignited from the leak. I have a John Deer lawn tractor and it appears to be of far better quality, however John Deer's snow blowers start at about £1500.

I guess you get you what you pay for, so I would say the MTD is cheap and cheerful. If you have the extra cash, buy something bigger and more reliable than an MTD. I have to say I would not buy anything built by MTD again as I, like many others, cannot afford this sort of quality from a £600 ($960) machine.