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

The friction wheel-disk drive system is simple and can give many years of trouble free service. I had a Toro 419 that worked without fail for 28 years. Apart from commercial use, however, snow throwers get a lot less use than say a lawn tractor. No manufacturer I know of uses a friction wheel-disk drive system in a lawn tractor because it just wouldn’t last long in such an application. On the other hand, hydrostatic is the drive system of choice in lawn and garden tractors because of it’s robustness, reliability, and variable speed. I consider hydrostatic to be overkill in a snow thrower and it's one reason why Honda’s are much higher priced for a given class. Generally, when there’s a problem with a friction wheel-disk drive system it’s within the ability of many users to obtain the parts and do the repair themselves. If you have a problem with a hydrostatic unit it’s likely going to require repair at a dealer. As for me, I prefer equipment that I can fix myself, but such equipment is becoming harder and harder to find.