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

After reading a lot of posts and reviews thinking of several possibilities. May give up the track idea due to the expense as Honda is beyond reach. So... an Aries 7524E 24" blower or a Toro 6000. The Aries seems like a little powerhouse with the OHV 7.5 hp engine. Got a long driveway and doing the math, a (roughly 12' wide driveway, maybe less), a 24" blower could do it in 6 passes (24x6=144). The Toro being 26" would cut 26 x 6 = 156". The Toro would allow for some head room. A friend of mine who has a 27" blower is upgrading to a 32 as he wants a bigger cut. Another guy tells me a 5hp 24" blower is all I ever need. So... I haven’t used a blower in over 15 years and know my calculations are more theory, and do not want be out all day with a 24" blower if it doesn't cut it. Then again Honda sells a lot of 24" blowers and those who own them love em.  This is a bit of a rant so hang in there. Now the reason for the smaller possible blower is the ease of handling. Thus the second idea... a steer able Toro 28". The 24" Aries has an OHV engine thus powerful. The Toro has an L head engine not OHV type, but is that a big deal?  Sears is selling a Briggs OHV 9 hp 27" steer able unit for the same price as the 28" Toro. Toro seems like a better build from my research. Thought I'd jam as many questions in my posts and submit this to the experts as I hate to keep posting different threads and appear dumber than I really am. Thanks for any replies.

Once you hit 2 stage, you really need  8 HP ( 7.5 is close enogh) to propell the machine, through snow, and all the other power losses. I have used 5 HP 24" machine in 18" snow. Was SLOW. 

I have a 28" machine. The wider it is, the tougher to store, and tougher to squeeze by the cars.

BTW, you hardly ever use all 24", snow falls to side, so really your cutting 20", unless the first pass. And unless you have a Very long driveway, how long is a extra pass or two? 1-2 minutes at normall speed?

I strongly prefer a OHV engine. New, more efficient designs. ANd if it was a Briggs, they are quiter and very strong runners. The old L-heads are decent, just noisy and old design. Fathers l-head Ariens is 30 years plus and still running strong.

I bought an Arien 7524 the other day, and sometimes wonder if I should have gone bigger. But then I remember the reason why I bought what I did.

I returned a 5.5hp troy-bilt to Lowes because I'd been thinking it was underpowered and under built. Then I looked a Toros. They're huge. Then I saw the 6.5 hp Honda. Nice, but I don't have 1700 bucks to spend. But, the size of the Honda appealed to me, because that meant less problems with storage and maneuverability. So then someone on this forum suggested the Ariens, and I went to look at it. $759 plus tax. Given my limited budget, it fit. The other thing is that it fits nicely in my minivan without even having to fold the bars down. It takes two people to pick it up and put it in there, or as I've discovered, a set of car ramps will do, but since it's only 160lbs, I can (if I'm careful) take it out van and put it on the ground myself. This means a lot to me. The Toros I looked at were so massive, that if I needed to bring it anywhere, I don't think I could without a pickup truck.

It's easy to move around, easy to store, and for a compact machine, it's got a lot of motor. I've got 150' of sidewalk, and 28' x 28' of driveway. 24" or 26", the difference is small, it you ask me. Either way I'm probably making the same number of passes. Especially on the sidewalk, since I've got to walk it around the corner and back anyway, so it's going to always be two passes. And the driveway will probably take another couple of minutes with a compact than if I'd gotten a monster. Big deal. I'm happy I kept it under a grand and a manageable size.

I look forward to seeing how well it blows snow.
ND

You don't mention your location or how much snow you're likely to get. I'm about to begin my third year with that Toro you spoke of (a 726te...now called the 6000). It's a 7hp 2-stroke and I had no problems at all going through 14 inch drifts with it. I like it very much and I'm glad my salesman suggested it and saved me $100. The 8hp Tecumseh perhaps is okay, but after reading many posts about Tecumseh engines I'm glad I have the Rtek. For my needs one more hp would not make a difference. I use it to clear a 160 ft single lane gravel driveway and I wouldn't want a 28 or larger.  I love the quik-stik chute control and it can easily throw the snow 30 or more. This machine now costs $949 (50 more than 2 years ago) and is still a good bang for the buck, IMHO.

AZ

Where?

Location, Lakeside Nova Scotia, (right outside Halifax) Canada. Snowfall varies from year to year. Two years ago need a back hoe to do the driveway, snowfall was excessive, plow couldn't handle it. Was stuck and left to the whims of the plow man as to when I could get dug out. Have a long driveway at least 200 feet.  I do not know average snowfall but the weather these days is erratic and un-predictable. Seems like it goes from one extreme to another. Two days we had a record high warm day. Now we are being told a cold front is on the way. Also had a hurricane 2 years ago, something unheard of in these parts. Lost power for almost 2 weeks, some places a month. Was thinking how a snowblower is almost like a recreation unit, gets one outside and do a little exercise while clearing the driveway also.

Sure does sound like you need at least an 8/28, maybe more if you can afford it.

Howdy,

I think the best snowblower size for most people is 28".

smaller = too many passes, longer time blowing

larger = storage becomes an issue, manuverability, extra weight, strength needed

Good Luck, John

If your driveway is 3 car lengths or more I would recommend an 8 horse with at least a 24" cut. I had an old Toro for a long time that was 8horse 24" cut that did me pretty well. I upgraded to a 11horse 28" cut Simplicity and I do notice the extra power.