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

I have been studing this site for a number of hours, and don't see to much info on the 926LE.  I have choose the 926LE over the 7524E with the OHV as I live in Nova Scotia and we get alot of snow , with a driveway of over 200" thought the 7524 was too small, would take me for ever..  So here I am waiting for my 926LE to be delivered any day and I am second quessing myself.   Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated thanks 

The L-Head is what I have always called a side valve engine - it is typical of what has been found on just about every piece of power equipment for many decades. The valves are located on the side of the cylinder. The engines are cheap and reliable, but aren't real smooth or powerful for their size. Here's a pic - you can see the spark plug sticking straight up out of the head. That's an easy way to identify it.



The OHV engine has the valves located in the cylinder head, like your car. This is a more modern design, and it generally is smoother running and more powerful than the side valve engine. In this pic you can see the black "OHV" valve cover where the plug was in the other engine.



There isn't any real difference in the engines other than the head design.

John Davies

snowbunny wrote:
You ask about OHC in the title but  OHV in the body.

OHC = Overhead Cam. Only one I know of is by Robin Subaru. Both Tecumseh and B&S make OHV engines. Because of new emissions standards, the L heads are being replaced by OHV motors but they power 95% of all 2 stage units on the planet.

sorry i met to type ohv not ohc...not much of a typer...    Thanks for the help... So here is the question.. do you think I should get the 7524E or the 926E... I can't afford the 11 or the DLE line.... I am in Nova Scotia...we get quite a bit of snow and I have a long driveway all with a downward slope from the house 300 ft. 

A 300' driveway is awfully large.  I would suggest that you would benefit from a larger blower.  Any chance of getting into a 28" or larger blower?

I would steer clear of the compact models just to save some time...

Snowbunny,

Stick with your Ariens 926 LE!! It will do the job!!!!!!

 2 inchs wider is not going to save you a lot of time.

Also a much bigger machine is much harder to handle and takes up more storage space!!

                                                                                                Fred

Don't the OHV engines also have a cast iron cylinder sleeve ?