Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Initially I loved this thrower. It has a lot of power and generally works well. But I finally found its fatal flaw... The impeller is garbage. I am well aware you aren't supposed to run over rocks with throwers. But it can be unavoidable and you generally expect to have to do some wrenching. But the impeller that comes on this model is complete garbage. It is stamped Chinesium that has been folded and tack welded. I have had rocks as small as a grape take this thing out. And when I say take it out, I mean bent an impeller blade back, causing the impeller to sheer off the bolts that hold on the whole front cowling, leading to hours of repair. I have spent as much time fixing this thing as I have using it, after a month of owning it. I should also note that, as much as the impeller has been beat to hell, the sheer pins have never broken. The impeller is literally weaker than the sheer pins that are designed to break! And to make matters worse, to get at the impeller, you have to take the whole front end apart. So not only did they make arguably the most critical part of the machine out of pot metal, with a design more conducive of easy manufacturing than function, but they also made it very difficult to service. I am currently awaiting a shipment of two impellers (which you can't get on Amazon by the way) @ $25ea., one of which I am going to install to get my by and the other of which I am taking to machinist to get them to replicate out of something stronger than an old aluminum frying pan. Also difficult to come by is information about how to take the machine apart to service it, which you will likely be doing... The included manual is pretty light on details and the repair parts guide online is near useless as well. I have included a picture showing the key bolts to remove to service the auger/impeller assembly. Also, have a good socket set. I typically need 6 different sockets to get the thing taken apart. Also, be careful when removing the bolts highlighted in the picture. The machine splits in half with the auger assembly falling forward and the drive section falling backward.