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

Dear others:  who also believe one can never have too many pieces of power equipment, I am depressed as my new honda HS1132ta is 3 days old and there has not been enough snow yet to use it  here in lower, NY. Any pointers to using this this fine piece of equipment? The ground speed appears quick. Will it really clear the snow at near top speed? I will post action shots after first good snow along with my opinions after use if anyone interested.

I have a Honda 1132 that I purchased last January. It worked well for the rest of the season. In the fall when I went to do some service the control on the handle DID NOT disable the blower from moving forward or in reverse. I took it to the dealer and he said the belt "shrunk" so he replaced the belt that drove the treads with a new for NO CHARGE.

In the first snow storm the everything worked well for 5 minutes and not the snow blower does not move forward or backward. The auger for throwing snow works.

Has anyone else had this problem? Does anyone have a clue as to what has to be done to get this snow blower to work as it should????

DAO5CCL wrote:
If you press the drive clutch when the stick is full ahead and max power is set you will tend to think ground speed is high because the machine jolts into motion much quicker than it does with wheeled models, but the actual speed is not as high as it seems. In fact Honda sets the max speed of its tracked models at a relatively moderate level in order to keep vibrations under control when the blower is in transit, that is when the machine is in motion with the auger up and blades idle. I own an HS928 TCD* and was a little frustrated it wouldn't roll a little faster when I need to take it down the block to clear a parking lot for a customer (the distance is too short to be worth loading the blower on the pickup truck) but then I took notice that the cleats shake the blower quite a bit when it's rolling on the pavement. Considering Honda's reputation for thorough designs I figure this limitation is probably for the best. To answer your question yes, in most cases your blower will clear snow efficiently at top speed.         



*The TCD is similar to the TAS except it comes equipped with a standalone battery powered DC starter, standard headlight and joystick controlled power chute instead of manual crank. It's longer and heavier than the TAS but has the same engine and track size. If I'm not mistaken the TCD is only available from Canadian Honda dealerships but US commercial operators may import it free of duty for commercial use.

After running snowblowers tracked & wheeled for decades i can tell you that the fastest way to get the job done begins before the snow falls.  First and all winter long, clear fallen branches, stones, and other shear pin breaking debris from the driveway.  Next once the snow arrives clear it when it first falls as soon as possible because if the snow changes to sleet, freezing rain, or rain the whole mass of snow becomes ten times heavier and sticky enough to Clog the discharge Chute.  Throw Distance is directly related to how wet the snow being thrown becomes.  Even the weakest machines can throw light powder snow a long way, what separates the wimpy snow blowers from the he-men is wet snow and slush.  Next, learn to listen to the machine, if its lugging, ease up on it, let the machine do the job, forcing it only makes things wear out faster or break.  My new HS 928TAS is a well designed, pretty much 'state-of-the-art' snowblower, as yours is.   No machine is perfect, but these are as good as they get.

Keep plenty of spare shear pins, spray the chute with a product like 'snow & ice teflon spray', clean the machine afterward, run the gas out, or drain it, and always follow the Honda instructions for storing the machine in the warm weather, once the winter is over.  It should be the last snowblower you ever need buy if you do.