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

My thoughts, more control with a stand alone  blower. What brought this to mind is my brother in law adding a blower attachment to his 10HP lawn tractor and thinks it will out perform a stand alone blower. The 10hp has to go into moving the tractor plus the blower gizmo thus loosing power. Maybe the unit he seen performing was a 20hp model. A ton of these things used in the bargain hunter. His thoughts are the price of a used tractor with blower gizmo less than a quality Toro or Ariens. Anyone here using a lawn tractor, and do they work well? Seems to me a 28" Blower would cut cleaner than a 44" attachment on a tractor. Easier to get past cars in driveway etc. What I do like about the tractor idea is it can be used to cut grass in the summer. Best to have seperate units for specifis jobs IMHO.

rubinew wrote:
You should see if Yamaha has a sulky for it. 

I have a new JD x540 tractor that I was sorely tempted to get a snow thrower attachment. I decided to get the Honda, even though the Honda was significantly more expensive than the attachment for two reasons:

1) Here in Maryland, we tend to get 8-15" snows, with more of the 8" variety. I thought the tractor attachment was overkill for most of our snows

2) In terms of maneuverability, the JD is very nimble as a grass cutter, but with that big attachment up front, I knew I'd be able to do parts of the driveway faster, but then I'd need a blower anyway to do the brick walk or around the narrower parts of the property.

Now that said, this global cooling ;) seems to be bringing a lot more snow over the past few years. If this trend continues, I may look for a used snow thrower attachment and keep it in the attic of my shed and set it up for the winter. Especially as I grow more decrepit with age, the idea of sitting on a tractor is appealing. And 3 1/2 hours of muscling the Honda around yesterday left my shoulders a little sore (in a good way).

For now though, I am completely thrilled with the Honda.

(P.S. if you haven't driven a tractor with power steering, it will change your view on cutting grass)

tkrotchko wrote:
I have yet to experience power steering on a tractor, but hydrostatic transmission on a tractor was worth every penny.  No more notchy gated shifter, no more stopping to change gears, no more wishing the speed could be just a big faster or slower when trimming close to trees.

I had 3 tractors without power steering before I got my 522xi that does have power steering. There's no way I could go back to no power steering at this point!