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

Hi, All!

I'm a first timer here. Great forum!

I got a question for the pros:

Got an Arien 1332 Pro. (The 2000 Pro model with the electric chute).

I'm tired to see the snowthro trying to climb on the heavy snow that the plows leaves in front of the garage entrance many times each snowstrorm.

So i decide to add some extra weight on the front of the snowthro.

I know that Ariens have a stock extra weight kit. This metal plate according to Ariens is 10 Lbs. But because it's the same kit for all snowthrowers models, it may not be the exact perfect weight to add on a larger model like mine. Anyways none of the Ariens dealers near my home have it in stock. And because just the delivery fee of this kit will cost me as much as the kit itself  -  because of the weight - I decide to made one myself.

But how much weight will be enought - more than 10Lbs I guess - and hom much weight will be too much?

Anybody have done this on his snowthrower ?

How did you made the insallation, did you put a rubber plate under it to avoid scratching the paint, do you put the plate under or over the deck, what's the dimmensions and thickness of the plate etc...

Any clues, any infos to help me have it done properly ?

Thank you.

P.S: Don't have a cab and will not have one.

Again, thank you!

 

Regarding climbing snow pile. On my old Ariens manual it suggests flipping shoes, placing narrow edge down.

I have an 1128DLE with a 12v battery and weight kit. My orange plate is about 10 lbs and there is enough room for one more. I hope to buy a cab this year or next.

The weight helps only a little regarding hardened plowed snow which is why I snowblow ASAP after a storm. If I wait too long, then no machine except MAYBE an older Toro PowerShift will cut through the  ice without climbing.  The PowerShift was discontinued for  some reason this year. It was NOT cheap. By a clever  articulated arm system, it was able to shift the entire snow bucket another 12 inches forward. The mechanism was very expensive but put most of the weight of the machine right where you needed it.

I remember decades ago when landscapers needed more weight, they threw a 40 lb bag of salt on the chute. 

Mads,
You really didnt indicate here if your trying to hold the front end of the blower down, or if its a tractive issue your dealing with. If your looking for a little more weight for traction purposes possibly these suggestions might help. Thinking in terms of my farm equipment, the most effective place to add weight when needed is at the wheels themselves. It might be possible to fabricate some small wheel weights or add fluid to the tires? with the farm equipment we add a calcium solution in the tires, which wouldnt be practical in the small tire of a snowblower, but an alternitive may be the same thing ive done with my riding mower. ive got some hilly places in my yard where the smooth grass tires will spin when mowing, so i applied the same principle as putting fluid in the tires on farm equipment, only i used the commonly availible "RV anti freeze" in my case i added a total of 3 gallons to the two drive tires for a total added weight of just over 20 lbs. and it made a noticible difference. the rv stuff also is non toxic so it can be disposed of in any manner should you need to remove it.
not knowing the size tires on your blower i'd just have to guess at the amount of weight you could add but assuming a 4 inch diamter tube & a length (if it was straightened out) of 12 inches would be in the neighborhood of 175 cubic inches of area, a gallon is 231 c.i. and the rv antifreeze weighs in at around 7 lbs per gallon so you should easily be able to add 12 or 13 lbs to both wheels where the weight would be most effective. the added benifit of the heavier tire/wheel would be more torque applied for traction and not losing it to wheel spin. perhaps this, or a combination of this and added weight on the front (as we do on the farm equipment at times also) will provide effective for you

Thanks for the replys,

I am not dealing with a traction problem. Of course the more traction you have the better it is. But the real problem here is that because the serated haugher - (I am sorry if I made several ortografic errors, english is a second language to me. Thank you to be partient with me) - turns in the foward sens. So when the snow is hard the rotation of the haugher makes the snowblower to climb on the snow pile instead of cutting through. The only solution is to add weight ON THE FRONT of the snowblower. The total weight of the snowblower don't really mather. It's the weight ON THE FRONT that will prevent the snowblower to tilt back by adding more pression of the haugher on the hardened snow to cut through instead of climbing on it. The Honda track drive model and the Toro model with the option to shift back the weels in order to change the center of gravity and distribute more weight on the front of the snowblower don't have this problem.  So the only concern I have is to put the good amount of weight, not to damage the snowblower and enought to be efficient. I like the idea of using a PVC tube to try different weight. Thank-you. But I realy don't think adding weight to the weels will prevent the snowblower to tilt back. The weight added to the weels will not add any pressure on the front. It could help the traction thought. But a weight place on the snowblower in line with the axe of the weels would do the same. In fact I ame just devided between adding a weight around 10 Lbs or a weight around 20 Lbs. This is the real issue to me.

Be sure that I apreciate a lot all your comments and efforts to help me whit this.

Frank

I think I read somewere from you that you are a bit desapointed by the fact that you don't have a place to fit the small plastic shovel on your snowblower because of the location of the front weight.

Forget it!  You don't need that shovel. It's just a cheap gadget they add for marketting reasons. I got my Ariens 1332DLE for five years now. I got the occasion to use it in ANY condition of snow as we receive a lot of snow up here and believe me or not, the snowblower never ever clug a single time. Never have to use something to unclog. Not even one time in five years.

So keep the thing to play in the sand at the beach. Will be more usefull there!

Can you tell me what is the dimmensions of the metal plate you have. Thickness, leight and widht. ..... Please.

Thank you.

Mads

Quote:  Newjerseybt sayd : " My orange plate is about 10 lbs and there is enough room for one more"

What do you mean " there is enough room for one more" ?  10 Lbs not enought? How much more do you think would do the job for you?

I think I plan to make two plates. One of 10 to 12 Lbs and a second one of about the half of it that I could put over the first one. The down side is yhat a single plate would be easier to fix and more aestetic. but the up side is that I will have some versatility. We'll see...

Mads,
The dimentions for the plate I have are as follows......
22 3/8 inches  long
4 1/2 inches wide
5/8 inches thick.

Remember to paint it so it does not rust.

Bolt holes are 20 3/8 on center, to match up with holes already in the auger housing.

Also came with thick rubber washers to keep weight off of the orange.

Yes, you are right.....I've never needed the shovel.......

Frank D.

Mads:

The bolts that came with the weight kit it are long enough to fit another plate. My plate is 10 lbs and about 3/8" in thickness. I believe the snow cab comes with a plate, so I'll have two. An easy "test" is to throw a salt bag on the chute for weight and see what happens. 

Years ago, 60's, 70s,  snowblower auger blades stuck out in front of the chute.

 If that design is low enough to the ground, they may grind hardened snow and ice and may work better than the newer models. Garandman can tell us if he chooses to "break in" the paint job of his 1970 Ariens. lol

Thanks YKW1,
On mine, there is no "narrow part" of the skid shoes.....they are the Heavy Duty ones....you can switch sides to switch the front edge, but that's about it.
If you look close you can see them in the picture I posted.

My blower doesn't really "ride up", but the unit does stay still and spin the tries when I hit that fine packed drifted, wind blown snow.  It is not ice, actually it is just very fine wind-packed powdery snow.

Frank D.

Hi folks,  

          Been awhile since I was here.  I had some computer troubles,and then I couldn't find my notebook with the url and my info.Glad to be back ! 

         I just got my Toro snow cab weight kit  yesterday afternoon and will put it on later today when it warms up to the 20s   fahrenheit.    Should be easy enough, just two holes. It weighs in at a hefty 30 lbs. so I feel it has to help somewhat.  Oh, and I got it from NEW HAVEN POWER EQUIPMENT in New Haven,VT. on sale at $59.99  It was only $20.00 for shipping to souther MA ,so I even saved a few dollars ( and time, since it showed up in two days ) because it cost less than it would have if I had ordered from any of the local dealers. No one carries them in stock, it seems; so I would've had to wait for them to order it,plus pay a sales tax.

It's great to see that this's still the place to learn about OPEs. You guys are the best.