Outdoor Power Equipment (Lawn Mowers, Snow Blowers, Chain Saws and more) Discussions

Hello, first post, been reading the archives.

This summer, I tripled the size of my driveway, from about 800 sq ft to about 2500 sq ft. The new driveway includes a short slope that gains about 4 ft of height in about 40 ft of length. Here are a couple of pics of the work in progress:

http://www.rallystuff.com/images/driveway1.jpg

http://www.rallystuff.com/images/driveway2.jpg

I live in SE PA, and we get half a dozen snowfalls per year, with one or two that are a foot or more. I have a seven year old Toro 16” 2-stroke, single stage blower that was barely adequate for the old driveway. Now I’m looking for something that can handle the larger area of the new driveway.

Since it has to fit through the garage-cellar door, the overall width can’t be more than 28”. This limits me to about a 24” blower.

A couple of questions:

1) I really like the way the rubber paddles of the Toro clean the pavement. I’ve never used a 2-stage blower, but I’ve read that they don’t clean right down to the surface. I also see they’re much lighter than a comparable 2-stage. Is there any chance a large single stage blower would be adequate here? Toro has a 24” and Ariens has a 22”.

2) If not, I guess I’m looking at a 24” 2-stage. From reading the various mfr sites, it looks like the entry level 24” blowers get really shortchanged on features. What is a good, reliable, powerful blower in this class? Again, I’ve never used a self propelled 2-stage, so I don’t want to buy one and then find out it’s awkward to use or missing a needed feature in the first big storm.

Thanks for any recommendations!

From your pictures, it looks to me like there is another reason to recommend a two-stage snowblower, which is the shape of your driveway and the height of the wall around it.  The two-stage makes it easy to toss the snow across the driveway and/or up and over the wall.  I would not worry about the slope - that kind of slope is not a problem for the tires that basically all of the snowblowers you would be looking at use.  There are many good machines in the 8-9 HP two-stage market.  I'll let everyone else who has their favorite make their pitch.

Steve

I test-pushed a couple of 2-stage blowers at Sears yesterday. They all had what felt like a locked differential, even when the drive was disengaged. Are there any models that have a diff that allows it to turn without effectively dragging one side or the other?

Ordered an Ariens 7524 today. Local shop had it for $100 less than Speedway, and will assemble, adjust and run it in for me. Nice to be able to patronize a local retailer AND save money.

I didn't see many that were more powerful in a 24" width--hopefully 7.5HP will be adequate.