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!

 

Mads,

Mine is under the top lip of my auger housing.

                                                      Fred

FF,

You have the cab, that is why the 20 pounds!!

You need the extra weight to counter balance the cab!

                                         Fred

Nobody else have an idea of how much weight i should add on this machine!?

I understand 20 Lbs is to conterballance the cab.

If so, the snowblower equiped with the cab and the extra 20Lbs weight should still have the tendencies to climb on the hard packed snow.

So I am still left with the question of how much weight should I add (without a cab) to correct this problem.

Any idea? 

Please

                                                                  Mads

Mads,

Cab  weighs about 15 to 18 lbs.

I would say add 8 to 10 pounds.

You might want to try a 2 in PVC pipe, Or 2 inch iron pipe.

With one end  glued with a cap and the other cap screwed into the pipe with 2 scrws.

Weigh some sand and try different weights.

Mount on top of auger housing.

                                   Fred

Fred,
You are right, yes.it is because of the cab......
As to the blower climbing over the hard packed snow......mine still does it sometimes.....I do not really know if there IS a fix.
I mean, my snowblower weighs well over 300 lbs , and it still hits a hard packed snow drift and starts spinning.  I have to lift up on it a bit so it can climb over the first inch or so, then it goes fine.
I'm not too happy with this....I do not recall my old 724 toro doing this, but that old blower had chains on it and both wheels drove.

When I put the Ariens in the pin lock position, it does help some, but does not solve it.  I'll have times when we may only get 2 inches of snow, but STRONG winds that will  make a 2' drift of hard packed fine snow. It throws the snow fine, but will sometimes spin in it's tracks when it hits this drift. I do not think there is much I can do but to live with it. I certainly can't go any bigger...........

This is where that trigger thing would be a blessing.

Chains might help, but I do not like what they do to my blacktop.  I was hoping that the snow hog tires would do a good enough job by themselves. Perhaps that is why Ariens changed tires this year. The new tires look better to me.

Frank D.

FF,

Mt Husky blower has the X Trac tires as does the Ariens this year.

You might try the black pipe to add some weight to the front of your blower.

Painted an Ariens color, of course.

                                                                Fred

                                                  

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.