Here's a bit of mostly good news. I got up to our cottage this weekend and was greeted by
about two feet of nice dry fluffy white snow. It took me about two and a half hours of continuous
blowing to clear everything, during which time I didn't lose traction but I did feel the drive
shudder a couple of times which I think is the disk slipping but then regaining its grip.
There's this path that runs around the house and it's only slightly wider than the snowblower.
The snow on the ground is now higher than my drift cutters. The snow in the path was deeper
than the intake of the snowblower so as I was advancing snow was coming up over the top,
piling up on top of the pulley cover and against the engine, then sliding off and down on the
sides. It took maybe 15-20 minutes to clear the path this way with no problems.
One thing I've noticed is that after using the machine for a long time it's the lowest gear, and
1st reverse, that seems to start loosing power. It's then easier to climb my driveway (15-20%
grade) in fourth gear than it is in first. This is not what I'd expect (and this is not blowing snow,
you can forget about blowing snow uphill, one reason the machine lives outdoors under a tarp).
The machine still goes too fast in first gear but I'm getting used to it. I even got my wife to try
to operate it (in ideal conditions for maybe 10 minutes) and it went ok but now she's got sore
arms). I can't see her dealing with a machine that won't start or hitting a rock and having to
replace a shear bolt, and the drive is way too fast for her, it lurches right out of her hands.
Now the blowing part. This machine can really project. It was actually pretty funny, I couldn't
believe how far I was throwing the snow. This was probably ideal conditions snow-wise,
the snow being light and dry and two feet deep, but man it was impressive. It would be a
problem if there were houses nearby.
Paul
This message was modified Jan 25, 2009 by pvrp
