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

I've just stumbled on to this web site and think it's great!   I'm totally new to the snowblower world, but would like to jump into it. 

I  have a 650cc four wheeler that I put a plow on that does an awesome job on my 32 ft x 45 ft driveway and 250 ft of sidewalk,

because I have room to push it all, but now have been offered a side job clearing 24 drives in a condo complex, which are all

sloped, and the plow isn't  going to work well there because lack of places to push the snow. The guy who has done it for the

past few years has a front mounted blower on a walker riding mower.  I've doing some research and thought I was set on a

Ariens 1336, but after reading some of the things people have had to say about them I'm back to square one.  I'm hopeing

that you guys can give me some insite as to what would be a good purchace to get the job done in a timely fashion. I

usually keep any thing I buy forever, so I kind of believe in " you get what you pay for ", but since I'm new to the snowblower

world I'm not sure if that still applies 

Thanks for Your time and Knowledge- Dan

If you're going to do 24 drives, you'll want either a plow truck or a blower like the previous contractor had.  That's too much for any walk-behind, unless you're into self-abuse.

How big are the driveways? All of the driveways at condos that I have seen are on the small size. You could do it with a big walker. I would look at Symplicity. I have an older Ariens, which I like but I am not impressed with the build quality on current day machines. I am not impressed with Honda either. I think the build quality is on the light side and they are expensive. Riding might be the way to go. You said the guy before you was riding, you might do better to look for a tractor mounted blower set up from Deere, or Symplicity. - Kris  

To calculate blower time:

1. Take the swath width of the blower;
2. Subtract 2"-3" for overlap
3. Divide each driveway width by the number from 2, rounding up to next even number;
4. Multiply this number by the length of the driveway;
5. Figure out your average speed while blowing;
6. Divide the total length by the speed;
7. Add 10%-20% for turning;
8. Either multiply by the number of driveways or repeat for each driveway.

I.E. Swath is 28", driveway is 108" wide and 50' long

108 /( 28-2) = 108 / 26 = 6 ( round up)
50 * 12  * 6 = 3600 feet
3600 / (2.5MPH x 5280) = 3600 / 13200 = .28 Hours = .27 *60 = .16.2 minutes
16.2 + 20% = 16.2 + 3.2 = 19.4 minute

So it takes about 19 minutes to do the driveway. Note I just used 2.5 MPH as an example. From this you can figure out how long to do the entire job and therefore whether you have a viable solution. don't forget to factor in fuel, maintenance and wear on the blower.

You could also consider a mixed solution. Use the plow to collect the snow and then use a blower to put it somewhere else.

Thanks for the info,  I'll have to look at some of the rider models, and do some calculations on the size of the drives, I have to admit I've never

of a calcuation to figure out snow blowing but I'll give it a try, I did see that there is some used riders that are pretty close in price, and

they come with other attachments. Do they throw the snow just as well, and how about the clean up, do they leave much behind?  If anyone else

has anything good to say about a 2004 or newer ariens 1336 I'd be interested to hear about it, or any comparable machines. Thanks again for the

info and advise.

And for krislu, the drive ways are two car wide, barely, and a plow truck would fill it up lenght wise. They are all kinda steep drives, all the condos are 

 built on a hill with a culdesac at the bottom.

I also would think about a mixed solution.

Sounds to me like there are 3 critical constraints for any equipment to contend with in this particular situation: grade, turning radius, and where to relocate the snow.
You'll want to be doing productive work on every pass, and have something that has traction and is still doing work as you do the "up" pass on each drive. Because the areas are narrow as well as steep, a tight turning radius will minimize unproductive time spent jockeying the equipment around.
And for snow relocation....well, it sounds like a blower has to be involved there somewhere. Given the building density, just pushing the snow around appears not possible; however, a plow is still typically  far faster than a blower.

The previous contractor's setup sounds very effective, but those things seem a bit spendy.  If startup $$$ are a little tight, you might want to consider keeping the ATV rig and use it in combo with a robust blower.

One strategy: Use the ATV plow to make a couple quick passes on each drive to windrow the  snow; not to 'pile' it, but to windrow the snow cover to  your blower's maximum depth - what you want at the end is a set of large clear plowed areas combined with a small set of snow rows that are just below your blower capacity. Then blow the suckers.
In a light /medium snow, you will bless your ATV, because you may end up with only 1 or 2 windows per drive to blow (as compared to going over the whole thing).

I'd for sure get a remote angling kit for the ATV plow if you don't already have one. And if you want really happy customers whose steep, slippery drives are squeegee-clean after each storm, check out a down force kit for the plow as well.

Good luck.

Well, How steep are they? You may want a machine with tracks instead of wheels. The guy before you where did he push the snow to?  A walker  machine is big$$$$$ and is really a mower. Have you thought about a used Gravely walkbehind with a plow or snowblower? - Kris  

look at a sub compact tractor with front mounted blower kubota bx series or deere  New holland makes a nice compact also might be able to pick them up used try this website  WWW.Tractorhouse.com  try searching for sub compact you might be surprised I have the book and there are alot of low hour machines for decent price......

I owned an Ariens 1336dle pro and have cleared snow professionally.  That being said I must put the emphasis on "OWNED" and say I don't consider Ariens as a good choice, simply for the extra 4'" clearance.  I also wouldn't recommend a track model, because I own a Honda hs1336ta and think that a track would be too hard 25x a day.  You're not there to fine-tune the complex.   I think a track would slow you down/wear you out/be too hard on you.

The Ariens I owned was a real piece of junk.  It had major rust after the 1st season, needed belts on season #2, clogged on wet snow and a dozen other stupid things.  Now, other people on this board have the same machine with the same parts and claim nothing but good things.  Others agree with me (including my service/dealership) that its just out of whack, and that Ariens quality is NOWHERE NEAR WHAT IT SHOULD BE.  You shouldn't have to "dial in"  or "tune in" or anthing of the sort.  If you need a walk behind I would look at Honda, if not then I think the Simplicity is a strong-looking machine.  I was less than impressed with the Snow-King enginge.  Its plenty strong but very loud and uses too much gas. 

25 driveways?  How much money?  I'd be looking at something with a cab/heater.  That's too much for a walk-behind unless you're going to be putting someone else to work along side yourself.

nhmatt wrote:
Let's clarify a bit. Your machine is at least 5 years old. It is the 924,XXX variety which ended production in 2004. This particular platform was in production for decades. When it's inferred "they don't make them like they used to",  the fact is that your machine for the most part -is- made like they used to. It shares no common parts with jdmcsnow's machine. The differences are significant. As you have no experience with a new Ariens 1336, perhaps your advice to others should say "don't buy a 5 year old Ariens 1336". Even then, this would be perplexing to some as relevant threads on forums such as this largely speak to the fact that the old models (of which your unit is a member) are "tanks".

While I think the older platform is a fine machine when properly set up, maintained, and operated to a practical duty cycle, there is definitely an arguable case to indicate the newer platform is superior to the former. Dual belt auger drive (few or no adjustments needed, ever), higher volumetric capacity, far stronger gearboxes w/faster ratios, increased throwing distances, fully automatic differential, stronger shear bolts, beefier frame, stronger axles, better final drive ratio (more wheel torque/slower speeds), easier to service, halogen lighting, freeze resistant impellers, and the list goes on... I don't see a thread anywhere about how "cheaply" the old units were made because they had one auger belt, manual differential locks, no subframe, incandescent lighting, etc... Not sure I can sign up to the philosophy that everything made now is junk.

The idea is to put the right amount of money in the right places to make them last longer, perform better, assemble faster and be more manufacturable (when it snows do you want your snowblower or service parts now or in 6-8 weeks?), service easier, etc... To use an analogy, most cars now last twice as long (or longer) than they did in the "good old days" and there are now laymen cars that corner, stop, and accelerate better than "hot" cars of old.  The 2010 base Camaro (V6) has 300+ hp and the 1967 base Camaro (I6) had 140hp. The cheap base Camaro is in the league of "hot" cars of the past, not the base cars. You do the math, and I don't think I need to say which is better in all facets (except nostalgia). Top end muscle cars (even Subarus) are putting down high 4 second 0-60 passes now. Mid 6's in yester-year at best. Metaphorically, Muncie Rockcrushers and dual quads are gone, but I'm not sure I would call current cars crap.

PK
 

Snowmann wrote:
Nicely put.  I'm glad "they don't make them like they used to."   I used to subscribe to the "knuckle test" as a measure of quality.  If I rap on the body panel and it feels tinny, it is a cheap car.  Well, I bought one of those cheap car, a 1998 Honda Accord that felt tinny when I rap it.  Well, that tinny sound has no direct correlation on how well the car held up.   After 10 years in salt and snow country, the car did not have any rust spots on the paint.  The car was still tight and rattle free.  I had to get rid of it at 250,000 miles.  Nothing was wrong with it.  I just got bored of it and I wanted something new with more get go and more electronics like Bluetooth, heated bun warmers, rain sensing wipers, navigation, ect... 

Cars are definately better than they were 30 years ago.  My dad could buy a new car for $5000, and it would be junk in 5 years.  Nowadays cars are $25,000, last at least 10 years, and have a ton of bells and whistles.  Not a fair comparison, because snowblowers don't last longer, they don't have more features, and they cost a hell of a lot more than they did.  The slip-o-matic transmission of the ariens is a good example. 

The idea is to make something that works, so people will buy it, and you can make money.   All the motivations you mention are incidental when presented with a machine that doesn't hold up or do its job.  The right amount of money?  How about $3,000 for something that shakes itself apart so you have to massage it back into place every 5-6 hours of operation. Easy to work on?  They'd better be.  These machines are overpriced for what they are.  Buy a $1200 from Home depot before you bother with the beefed-up version of this dinasaur.  Or buy from Sears, but I wouldn't spend a premium price for it.  

 I can see having two lines to hit two different price points, but I look at it like furniture, or everything else in America for that matter.  When we used to make it here, it was good but pricey but we could afford to buy it because we knew it would last.  Then came Japan, and Mexico, and China.  Now there are two choices for American manufacutring: 1) Make it as good as you can and charge a ton for it, because its "expensive" to make things in America.  2) Ship your plant to China, and then ship it back here.  You've seen it in every thing else we do.  Why would snowblowers be any different?  How much for a Harley compared to a rice rocket?  You remember when Harley tried to compete by selling bike-for-bike?  Sure, they were easy to work on.Ariens may indeed be coming out of a very black hole it has entered.  Harley Davidson did.  I remember walking around the showroom with my father while he was looking for a new bike, and seeing puddles of oil on the ground under brand new bikes. 

  5 years is not that long ago, and I doubt they've improved much if any on the guts, or the rust-prone metal.   Availability of parts nowadays is much less a problem.   One thing I did notice about the new Ariens when I was looking at the deaer:  1) They've moved the battery 2) No more motorized chute.  That's probably where they got the extra money to upgrade the engine.  These are both things I would've done, but the new chute feels like it would break in a week.  Plastic is great for a bushing or keeping down weight, or a place where bearings are just going to get too dirty, but I don't know about that joystick.  I bet once it gets cold you're going to shove it, break the trigger lock, and then it won't stay in place while you're blowing.  

Well said!!