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

I have a long steep driveway, about 60 feet, one car, with a flat bay about 50 X 50 at the base. I have nvere owned a snow blower, but I am getting alittle older and the back isnt waht it used to be. I have looked at the Ariens  11526DLE Snow Blower, which I think is an 11.5 HP. I was wondering if anyone has any experience on this with a steep hill. If not does anyone have any recomendations on one that will run up a steep hill

I bought a used Craftsman track driven unit earlier this week. From what I can tell, quality, Honda has most makes beat. So far as track units go, what the Craftsman got over the Honda is you can steer it. It turns nicely and I like that feature. I'd prefer a Honda, but my funds didn't comply. Went used, as I would not recommend unless you can work on snowblowers, but new, most units will last a long life if properly maintained. I spoke to sears last night to order a small part and they told me they do not have a lot of calls for parts for the track units. My driveway has some steep areas so I went track. There are some very aggressive tires for snowblowers these days called "Snow Hog" tires. The nice thing about tire type blowers is the ease to move them when the engine isn't running. Moving a track blower without the engine running is like moving a small tank. The nice thing about a steer able tank though, it will go through anything, and will not ride up plowing into snowdrifts unlike tire units. If I decided to go tire snowblower, getting a steer able unit with aggressive snow hog tires. I don't mind starting my snowblower up to move it as it starts on the first pull, but I hate to have the thing cop out on me at the end of the driveway, as a tire unit would be easier to push.

I should read my post more carefully, i ment to say, Honda makes the best, not beat. The spell checker didn't catch that one heh.

Carlisle Snow Hogs are still available on  some machines but most everyone has switched to the X-Trac.

Gosh, I'm from Dutchess County and can't remember a winter that had 6 12" plus storms.  We had a little machine at the time and it did well except at the plow lines.   With a steep driveway, chains may be smart, but you could buy a wheeled unit with agressive tires (like the Ariens) and see how it does.  I'm not a fan of track drives generally, though my experience with them is limited.

Good luck. 

musak396

 i have a hondaHS928TAS=9 hp with a track drive. My driveway is 18 degrees(looked like 30 degrees, but i measured it with a gravity protractor)- so i spent the 2 grand and got it.  ( i have  a $33.00 lawn mower to make up for it= 22 degree lawn).  

 I love it, a wheeled blower would NOT have the same traction. YES, they are a grunt to move when not running, but one should have a parking space for it and run the blower 2 times in the summer anyway.

I tried my old neighbors "streerable" blower and did not like it. My dad had ( and still has, with carb problems) a 1990ish craftsman track drive= i liked that too.

The honda motor is a lower rpm torque monster. The big cost in the blower is the Hydrostatic Transission®, i change speeds and direction ( forward and reverse) WITHOUT disengaging the drive level=faster blowoing.

Hope this helps      18 degrees

There's been some discussion that indicates that the 926 and 11526 are the same machine.

Even the engines appear to be the same and there has been a LOT of postings about whether or not there is some unidentified internal difference that might give the 11526 an extra 2.5HP. I had thought theat the 926 was nimbler but upon checking out the Ariens sno product web site http://www.ariens.com/snow_products/ it appears that both units are identiacl in weight and size. The nly difference being the supposed HP rating of  what appears to be an identically specified engine.

Personally I would go with the 926, its not so much power you want as traction. If the tires don't work then chains will help.  If you get really stuck then blow while going down hill and come back up on the cleared area or take a smalle swath.

Sigh

I should have said "may be the same machine" sorry about that.

I just received information about the Tecumseh OHV 11.Hp motor and the OHV9.25 version.  Correct, both motors are of the same displacement, 318cc's. I asked Tecumseh folks if they could provide me(readable) performance comparison dats of the two motors. I say readable because i've seen some data on the we thats unintelligable.  They were very prompt and did provide two graphs, one for each engine.   Net is the 11HP motor has about 17% more torque and wider torgue range than the 9.25HP.  Specifically, the 11HP peaks at approx 16.25FtLbs the 9Hp peaks at about 13.9FtLbs.  The predominence of the operating range of the 11hp starts at around 14FtLbs and increases rapidly to max of 16.25FtLbs. Whereas the 9HP starts around 12FtLbs and peaks at 13.9FtLbs.  Best understanding I ave is this is accomplished trough carburation diffrerence between the two motors.

So these are the facts.....

RedCoupe,

           If what Tecumseh said is true, you can buy for about $70.00  the carb that is on the 11Hp engine.

If you have an 8, 9, or 10 HP engine you can make it an 11 Hp engine just by putting on the 11HP carb.

Cheap price for the HP gain!!

                                                              Fred   

Sounds like I've opened up the can of worms again.

Carburation was mentioned as a possible suspect but someone else looked up the part numbers and they said they were identical.right down to the jets. This lead to speculation on it being an adjustment difference.

I mentioned some of this to a local ( Ontario Canada, Eh ) dealer and he said he had heard there was a class action lawsuit in the US that was about the mislabelling of engine HP ratings, I don't remember which firms were mentioned but it was several. I haven't heard anything else about it but it could be interesting. Of course they could always claim that the sticker just guarantees the minmum HP from the engine and that if the engine happens to exceed the spec then so much the better.

The bottom line is I suspect shennanigans but there's still a lot of rumour going around.