I found Abby's Guide in my search for a snowblower this year. I'm in NW Indiana, where we get some serious lake effect off the southern tip of Lake Michigan, and with any luck my shoveling days are over. We'll typically see a couple snowfalls of 12" or more each season, with routine snowfalls of around 6" at a time. I've got a 2-car wide drive, about 50' long and the EOD was a back breaker to shovel.
I wish I would have read more here before making my purchase, but I think I did alright. With a little bit of research online and checking out the units in the stores, I was attracted to the Ariens brand for the all steel construction and I admit, I just kind of like the orange color. 
I was gonna go with the 22" compact model, but after watching craigslist for a week or so, this Ariens 724 (7hp Tecumseh Snow King, 24") popped up and I jumped on it. I think it's about 6 years old (I'm still awaiting a reply from Ariens on the exact manufacture date), it was used minimally, only has a few small rust spots in the impeller housing which I've already treated and it seems to be in good shape. The oil in it was fairly black and had the milky condensation in it when I changed it and both the drive and attachment clutches needed substantial adjustment (I've a feeling the previous owner never bothered), but other than that I think I got a decent deal for $400. I've been watching craigslist since I bought it and haven't seen anything as nice for the price yet. I don't have a lot of extra width in the garage after 2 cars and the push mower are squeezed in there, so this was just about the biggest machine I could fit width wise.
I've done all the maintenance, lubrication and adjustments called for in the manual and fired it up again today to adjust the attachment clutch handle. I first adjusted most, but not all, of the slack out of the cable. Then I adjusted the attachment belt pulley to try to attain the 4-1/2" dimension from the clutch lever to the handle grip that the manual says I should have when the auger just starts to turn. I adjusted it as far as I could, away from the belt, and the lever-handle dimension was still way up at like 6-1/2" when the auger started to move. So, my only option was to readjust the cable slack to account for the difference. Has anyone else experienced this with theirs?
The only other issue I've encountered is that after the engine warmed up today and was at full throttle, it would start to drop off then surge back up every 10 seconds or so. I half wonder if this was because I only had a small amount of gas in it to do the tests/adjustments. It did run dry shortly thereafter and it was getting dark outside, so I'm hoping that was the issue and I don't have to clean the carb come snow season. The previous owner claimed he took care of it and would run it every now and again, but I don't know if he stored it with gas in the tank/carb or treated the gas...
Anyway, here's some pics. What do you think, did I get a good deal?
This message was modified Oct 12, 2009 by INGuy
