F.O.E.A.O. Eskimo Auger owners Unite !

[Purple Floyd]

If you decide to go from a 10 to an 8, I might be interested in swapping if it can be worked out.

[Drifter_016]

That sucks buddy, is there a Manufactures Tag on that auger anywhere, Eva at Eskimo says they aren't building those Canadian market augers 

No manufacturers tag Tony.
Just model and serial. All of the plastic has "viper" molded into it plus the flighting is exactly the same as the Eskimo ones and it uses Eskimo blades.

Probably made by Jiffy.    

[one last cast]

Let's see I bought my stingray back in may of 2011 and today I was finally able to get out and use it this morning! why did i wait so long???

[surflizard]

Something is Rotten in Denmark Dave, neither Eva at Ardisam/Eskimo or Terri at Frabill would say who is building these new augers ?? The new Eskimos have have a made in China sticker on them this year, so I believe we are seeing Chinese Knockoffs, weird part is that they are Only available in Canada ??

[Purple Floyd]

I was under the impression the Eskimos were made in China from Specs provided by Artisdam. It would stand to figure that whoever was making them(if that is the case) would re-brand them to other distributors in different colors for sale.

I know the CNC market has a whole lot of that going on.

[surflizard]

Thats the Rub, Frabill just went into the auger market this winter as well as Rapala and Costco, Terri who is head of tech service at Frabill would not even give me a clue to who is building these augers and I have dealt with her for 5 or 6 years now and this is the first time she has ever hymed and Hawed when I've asked her for info ??

[Purple Floyd]

Well, we all know that at least the engines and the blades are built in China correct? I would imagine the shafts are also imported so that basically leaves the transmission as the only thing left that could be produced here and my guess is that is also imported. So then the next step is whether the components are sent to Cumberland, Wi for final assembly and then packaged and shipped or whether the final assembly and packaging is also done overseas and sent here as a complete unit.


Just for the record: What is the commonly held belief of how they are built and assembled? Is it that they import some stuff and put them together here?

[surflizard]

I've never seen a made in china sticker on any MOs till December of last year, The left over mako at my local shop says made in Cumberland Wisconsin, I can't get any info from the people at Ardisam either so I don't know ??

[Purple Floyd]

I know nothing about the recent history of the company but I have been driving through Cumberland for nearly 25 years on my way back and forth to Ashland, Wi. If I had to guess from looking at their website at the vast array of products that they are offering and knowing the trends in manufacturing in Wisconsin and the rest of the Midwest that they are trending towards being more of a distributor and less of a manufacturer.

I wish it was the case that these little towns were still cranking out old reliable equipment but sadly those days have left us behind.

In the end the Auger I just bought works great. I have concerns about the throttle lever but otherwise no problems with the unit.

[Rebelss]

Those branded augers are being made in hollow trees by small blue Smurfs ....and they have now come out with a knock-off of Surflizard's "Big Bertha"...it's called the Smurflizard......made wrong by Ching-chong! 

[Purple Floyd]

Those branded augers are being made in hollow trees by small blue Smurfs....and they have now come out with a knock-off of Surfy's "Big Bertha"...it's called the Smurflizard......made by wrong by Ching-chong!

So that is why mine came with a free box of Keebler double stuffed cookies.....

[Rebelss]

I was able to obtain a picture of them outside the knock-off factory in Wun-hung-lo, China. 


I bet they've even got their own song: "Ching-chong, can't be wrong, buy your auger in Hong Kong!!!

[Rebelss]

The engines, frames, and flighting are made by few various Chinese companies, who are obviously selling the parts to whoever wants them...it appears Viper no longer has an exclusive contract with Ardisam. I bet if I wanted to order 500 engines, parts, and frames, I could get them, and then assemble them in my garage, paint them metal flake Rebel Red, and market them as "Minnesota Twisters".  Hey!!!! Hmmmmmm....

[surflizard]

Hmm, I guess the smurfs better look for a new field of work Reb old buddy, it took a couple of days of digging to find info on Viper 2 cycle engines, it was hidden pretty good, But not good enough I guess and it lead me here !


Ningbo Yinzhou Huiyun Mechanical Parts FactoryAuger, Forging, Investment Casting manufacturers / suppliers, offering Auger Teeth / Bit - SB25, Round Shank Bits, Ice Auger (8",10" inch) Earth Auger (30" inch) in Heavy Duty and so on.

Home Company Info Product ListOffer List Contact Details Send Inquiry
 
Product Groups
 
Augers (19)
Auger accessories (18)
Welding conponent (7)
Casting & Forging (11)

Company Info

Ningbo Yinzhou Huiyun Mechanical Parts Factory located in Yinzhou District, Ningbo city, east of China.
 HUIYUN have area of size 4000m2 workshop, as well as 60 skilled workman.
Including the workshop of casting, forge, machining, welding.
HUIYUN major in producing different size of augers up to 36" augers with their accessories for 8 years.
Ie. Ice auger, Earth auger, auger bits, auger tooth and so on.
Besides HUIYUN also supply plenty of forge and castings parts which used in air-port container connecting.
 HUIYUN mainly export to Canada, America, Russia, Australia and so on
 

[Rebelss]

So, please decipher your post, Grasshopper...ya think they're selling to every Tom, Dick, and Harry?  Like the song says, "Everybody Wang chung tonight"...

[surflizard]

Seems pretty straight forward to me Reb ole son, with their 60 man "Skilled" work force, they are exporting augers to North America, US and Canada !! This is where the search for Chinese exporters of Viper motors led to, all the other Viper motor inquiries lead back to Ardisam ! Sad but True, there are no longer any American made Gas powered Ice augers available here in the US or Canada, Even Minnesoda's own Strike master augers are using foreign made parts !!

[Rebelss]

Why, those lop-eared, two-timing varmints!!!! Take THIS!!!!  *BLAM!*

[Purple Floyd]

The engines, frames, and flighting are made by few various Chinese companies, who are obviously selling the parts to whoever wants them...it appears Viper no longer has an exclusive contract with Ardisam. I bet if I wanted to order 500 engines, parts, and frames, I could get them, and then assemble them in my garage, paint them metal flake Rebel Red, and market them as "Minnesota Twisters".  Hey!!!! Hmmmmmm....

I want the first one.

[surflizard]

If I can help any members of F.O.E.A.O. with questions about their augers I will continue to do just that !
  However, I can no longer with a clear conscious, recommend buying the new Chinese manufactured Eskimo augers !! With the reports of slipping clutchs, cheap plastic parts like engine recoils and throttles shattering, I believe Ardisam is following in the footsteps of Feldman Engineering (Jiffys parent company) and the manufacturing Craftmanship and the Overall Quality of the finished product will suffer for it, just as the Jiffy line of augers has !! Just my Honest Opinion !!

[Rebelss]

Oh ya, who's asking you?!!!    Just kidding!! 
I am VERY sorry so say I must agree...and after all the cajoling I did with Eskimo to try to get all of us special discounts, pricing, etc., all the conversations with Eva,         (Surfy had those, too) I feel like I've been duped....a bad thing to do to me...
I can only speak for myself, but I have to say, as far as a brand of auger goes, whatever works for ya. Eskimo is no longer on the top, in my opinion. 

Reb


PS:  Hey Ardisam:

       

[Purple Floyd]

Personally I don't fault Eskimo for the changes they have made. My guess is their changes are made in order to keep the doors open and to keep product moving that feeds their families. The trend towards imported products IMHO is more a product of consumer demand for lower prices than manufacturers wishing to import instead of building in house.

I would be willing to wager that if anyone went to Cumberland with the cash and an order for thousands of Wisconsin made augers at a price that would give them a fair profit they would take it in a second in favor of importing the same number at a lower price with the same profit margin.

It is a sad sign of the times for sure but you have to think of what the alternatives are. At least Eskimo knows Augers, what makes them work and what it takes to build a good one. If we decide to stop supporting them and they decide to get out of the industry, then all of that knowledge and experience is gone and we are left with some company formed by a guy in his basement importing a totally foreign designed and manufactured auger and having it drop shipped to your door with none of the technical support, service and experience backing them up. In that light I will take what we have now and if we want them to produce them domestically again we should take a look at the way we post and start to focus on the quality, craftsmanship and durability instead of the fact that we got the absolute lowest price( Guilty myself).

Maybe we can work with them to figure out a way for them to be able to bring some of the work back and to offer things we are willing to buy at prices they can make a profit from.

[surflizard]

Eskimo lost their right to decide how the company is run when it was bought up by Ardisam, They are a huge conglomerate of over a dozen different manufacturing companies, the same thing happened to jiffy and Feldman Engineering, Jiffy was on the pinnicle of Reilable well made ice fishing gear, now more of their augers spend a lot more time on benches being fixed then they do cutting holes in the lake ! The signs are there, all of the plastic and the amount of trouble guys are reporting with brand new units ! Oh well, only time will tell !

[mjk67]

On a different note, can someone give me some background on this older Eskimo I just found ?  I assume it has a Tecumseh powerhead.... 

Any thoughts, as I am contacting the seller as I write this, are appreciated..

http://minneapolis.craigslist.org/ank/spo/2805304613.html

[MaineICER]

BUY IT mjk67!!     so..... Surf, I have been thinking about the auger and I am going to rebuild her.. especially after reading this stuff you guys have truthfully said about how everything is changing.. I personally would lug 5+ extra pounds of auger around with me to have it be the rugged thing we MEN need, instead of all the plastic they put on EVERYTHING these days!! The reason I say buy that auger you're looking at mjk67, is that I have just completed the parts list for the rebuild (looks just like surflizards on page 1 of this post) of the 8600 model and it's around $135.00 without shipping, without the hone I am gonna buy and without any carb kit.. That auger there looks brand new!! Jeez, I'd send you money to buy it for me and ship it to me!! haha..    OK, OK....  so as I was ripping this down and cleaning everything up, I decided to crack the gear case... there was some nasty looking sludge in there that used to be grease... Under the gears you can see a little of the good stuff, color red.. I have some premium hi-temp grease ... "Uniplex Hi-temp grease is a lithium complex grease suitable for disc brake wheel bearings, u joints, backhoe hinge pine, fan hubs and fifth wheels. Meets GM part number 1051344. Dropping point exceeds 500*F"   that I was thinking of putting in there but I was wondering if it might be too thick, especially when really cold..  any suggestions guys?? Also, Vermonner posted a link back on pg. 85 i think .. Robin Road Repair... can someone double check this and let me know if it's the correct one?? I mean, I don't doubt it, it just doesn't have the correct exhaust and I need the gasket that goes over the exhaust hole out the ex. port..  The piston and rod alone are $57.98.. any other places I might be able to get a bit more of a break on these parts?? What type of grease should I use on the new bearings on the inside of the engine?? 

[Rebelss]

I do fault them. Put in a ton of time working with a company and promoting their product, trying to help people out on a website that was created just to do that, on your own free time, for a year and a half, and every call you make to them the last 4 months you get misinformed and mislead, you start to think differently. I think I speak for another person, too, and the work they've put into it, with a lot of other folks here.  As "G.P", I thank all of you for your time and effort.  Good luck to all with your 'Mo's.       
End of subject.

Rebel

[surflizard]

Very Wise Decision MI, even if you had to spend $200 to get it running, it will be a worthwhile investment ! The 8600 models when run and maintained correctly will last forever !!
 That is definately a deal to grab, the TC-300 Tecumseh Motors are a very rugged design and easily rebuilt, The piston and ring damage that MI described sounds like someone tried to run straight gas in that motor !

[DasRottweiler]

This is my driller, a 1977 Eskimo, back when men were men and plastic was for Spinwelders and Revell Snap-Togethers.  
                                                   
8" bit that cuts a 9" hole , but hey, it`s a happy medium betwixt an 8" and a 10"! I cleaned her up and painted her (was that gross Orange) and douched the carb and tank, replaced a cracked ,leaky fuel line and spark plug and TADA! When she pukes I will bore her out and clean the ports abit and possibly look for a slighty larger carb, when puttin her back together. I am planning on hand drillin up to 8-10" of ice , so I don`t see her gettin alot of use this season. I would like a new auger, lighter, but I don`t want lighter to mean Cheaper made. I may make the move to a cordless on my handauger and use the gasauger even less, so she may last forever!

[IceinKzoo]

Well hopefully my auger will last me awhile.  Just bought a Z71 this year.  I thought about strikemaster but for $150 less was able to get the Eskimo.   I am not a tightwad just don't have that kind of extra cash as a single earner of a family of 4.  Spending $400 is a big deal for me. 

If she craps out on me then I will have to get er fixed or sell her and buy another brand.  Time will tell.  Keep up the good work Surf and Rebelss.  We still need it.  Especially the new members.

[surflizard]

No worries Brother, We aren't going anywhere ! I do have some disturbing news for Brother ROTT though, I just concluded the deal on a 1972 8" Eskimo, all Original paint and 1 Extra Original Blade Made in Cumberland Wisconsin USA !! Wahooooo !! Gonna be 2 Old EskiMO's hangin on the wall at the Lizard's Lair !!

[DasRottweiler]

No worries Brother, We aren't going anywhere ! I do have some disturbing news for Brother ROTT though, I just concluded the deal on a 1972 8" Eskimo, all Original paint and 1 Extra Original Blade Made in Cumberland Wisconsin USA !! Wahooooo !! Gonna be 2 Old EskiMO's hangin on the wall at the Lizard's Lair !!

I found the original tec engine manual in a pdf format Surf. The one ya can no longer get! I`ll send it to ya upon request. I`m gonna have to find me an Inuit driven Eskimo spoon auger to beat that-1972! Nice