mdhomeowner

Thank you all for your feedback.  But can you believe that I cannot find a John Deere in the state of Maryland?!  That was even BEFORE this last storm was forecast.  Spent a half hour on the phone with the predominant area Deere dealer before I could convince him to investigate.  He finally confirmed it, much to his surprise, but couldn't get one.  Nor could any other dealer I've contacted in the state.  So, I will be receiving my Troy-Bilt later this week.  Fortunately, this "Blizzard of '09" was a nice light snow which my current Yard Man handled, though I cleaned my driveway three times through the storm.  Once it arrives later this week, those of you in the mid-Atlantic can be assured that it won't snow again the rest of this winter. 

Wow, thanks for the information!  I am trying to clear a 3-car driveway, so throwing distance  is most important to me.  My Yard-Man can't throw to the edge of the driveway from the center even in the lightest snow.  Worse is slush, which as you described, pretty much just fills up the chute and falls out. 

My concern is throwing slushy, wet Maryland snow.  I have a Yard-Man (MTD) 7HP 24" snow thrower which can barely move my MD slush, so I'd like to replace it with the thread of a snowy winter.  I'm looking at a (leftover?) Troy-Bilt 10530 vs. the JD 1130.  The most significant mechanical difference that I note between the two is that the Troy-Bilt has a 16" impeller and the JD has a 12".  Both have similar HP/torque.  Can I expect the Troy-Bilt to have better throwing ability, or is there more to impeller design than just size?

Should I be concerned about purchasing a new snow thrower with a Tecumseh engine?  Will parts remain available?  I'm replacing a Yard-Man (MTD) thrower with a 7HP Tecumseh engine and it's run flawlessly for eight years now.