Toro 1800 18-Inch 12 Amp Electric Curve Snow Thrower #38025 Decide Now

After spending 15 minutes opening the box, reading instructions, and assembling, I went out onto the deck with its 6" of snow and squeezed the handle. One puff of snow flew out and the auger stopped turning almost immediately. Took the Toro back into the house and took off the end plate. The large belt had popped off. Put the belt back on and, before putting the end plate back on, tried to run it "dry" inside. The belt flew off instantly. Tried reseating the belt and turning it by hand, the belt would ride off the bottom of the large white pulley before a single revolution of the large pulley.

There is a 3/16" height difference between the drive pulley and the driven pulley for the auger (large white pulley). This will cause the belt to ride off in no time at all. Researching the problem online, it seems that Toro refuses to acknowledge a manufacturing defect in a run of their product, choosing to blame the belt tensioner. Taking it to a Toro dealer will apparently result in a 2+ week delay while a new unit is drop shipped from the manufacturer, they do not service the electric models. Will the replacement work, or will it not work? Your gamble...

To fix the belt issue, measure the height differential between the driven white pulley and its drive pulley, remove the bolt that holds that drive pulley and shim up to the correct height with washers (place under the black washer already there).

Once Toro's poor workmanship was fixed with about 20 cents in washers, this snowblower made short work of 6" of snow. It also worked quite well in 12" drifts, blowing the heavier snow about 6 feet vertically and 12-15 feet straight ahead.

I'm happy that I got it working and happy with how well it works. I'm unhappy with having to correct such an obvious defect in order to get a working unit.
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