My new ariens Original Message Dec 15, 2008 11:10 am
I bought a carryover 9526 ariens dlet pro track machine, the carryover model came with a ohv briggs on it. Anyway, we had a blizzard over the weekend causing white outs and it left some real hard drifts. I went out this morning thinking I wonder how this machine will work on this stuff. I really was impressed! In the past with my wheel machine I've had to take a shovel and break the stuff up some otherwise I would just spin trying to get the blower through it but this thing just kept on walking on through it, it sure made the governor kick in but kept on going. The track machine is geared 40% slower than a comparable wheel one but in the heavy hard snow it really isn't a bad thing as you can't go very fast in that stuff anyway. Just thought I would share my thoughts.
I wish my wheeled 9526DLE was similarly geared. I've only used the two lowest forward speeds and the lowest is too fast for deep snow.
I've been wondering if I couldn't swap some parts like the sprockets to get the gearing down but it looks like the difference is achieved from having the track drive wheels smaller than wheels with tires.
I gained a bit of reduction by allowing the friction wheel to go very near the center of the drive plate but that can't be good for the wheel, and I lost a reverse in the process.
I got you, yeah I had a john deere 828d, which was made by ariens back then, before this one and that was the one thing I remember about that one too. It did a nice job blowing snow but if it was heavy or deep enough I use to have to keep letting go of the lever even in first to let it catch up. My son had the same blower but about three years newer and his had a 11hp. ohv briggs on it and with his you didn't have to stop as much because he had more power. They should gear all of them a little slower though and maybe speed up the reverse instead.
I found this to be true of my older Toro 824 Power Shift. It has an actual gearbox but in the heavy snow, first gear is still too fast. It's becomes a process of stop and chew then inch forward and stop and chew. Packo
Its funny I would prefer a faster "high" speed since most of my clearing is less than 20cm of snow. My basic technique is to set the speed as fast as possible. If I start to snow plough I lower the speed one notch at a time until I stop snow ploughing. After a while you can judge the speed. The idea is to go as fast as possible while still going slow enough that the blower can handle the volume of incoming snow. For me its mostly volume and not weight although thick and heavy does sometime happen.
You could slow the traction system down by changing the diameter of the pulley at the engine but then you have to figure out what the "new" belt should be.
