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

Hi,
I am looking to purchase a new snowblower in about a week, and have narrowed it down to these 3, though its not going to be an easy decision.    Any help would be greatly appreciated. 
The Ariens has the automatic differential which seems very nice, though it seems to have a different engine than the other 2 (not a Snowmax engine, I don't know what the difference is)? 
The Toro has a nice chute joystick and seems well balanced. No heated hand grips.  Do the wheel releases on the Toro or Simplicity have any chance of icing up?
 I like the Simplicity's strong frame, and the electric chute is nice too.  One wheel release vs Toro's 2?

Anything I should consider when looking at these 3? The 24" Simplicity also looked really nice, just from a smaller more manageable size point of view. 

Thanks

Guinness wrote:
I have a John Deere 1130 SE with an electric chute and the 1130 is made by Simplicity.  Not sure, but I'd be surprised if they used a different supplier for the electric chute motor.  The label on my electric chute motor is part number 210-1011 made by AM Equipment.  It's just like the one for $25.99+shipping from the site below.  The gear is different and is easily replaced with the one from the snowblower. 

http://www.robotmarketplace.com/products/AME-210-1011.html

RuhiA wrote:
The following actions apply to both new and used machines:

First thing I'd do is pull the wheels off and use a good water resistant grease to lube the axles. Snowmobile grease is great for snow throwers. Although not necessary, I like to use an outdoor cable/chain/gear grease in a spray can (motorcycle chain lube will do) to lube the drive chains inside the chassis. Make sure you cover the friction plate and drive disk before applying the grease to the chains. You don't want to get any on them. Lube all friction points for the controls. While you're in there, put a thin layer of oil on the hex shaft. I like to use a light spray grease on pivots and light multi purpose oil to spray into the insides of any cables. Grease the auger shaft.

Check belts for condition and proper tension. Go over all fasteners with a wrench to tighten anything that might be loose. Make sure you're fuel tank is clean and passing fuel to the carb. If the machine is running well, chances are they're fine. If there's no obvious leaking at the auger drive gear case, I leave it as is. As long as there's lube inside and it doesn't have a catastrophic event, it should last the life of the machine without messing with it. Others might disagree but I've never had one leak nor changed fluid in one in twenty years.

borat, Those are all very good suggestions.  I made a mistake several years ago and didn't grease the wheel axles and couldn't believe how they rusted.  Didn't make it very easy to remove later.  Now I grease everything.  I also use silicone spray on all metal parts.  Keeps thinks looking new.

Borat,
Thanks for the outline to going over the machine and lubing it up.  I am sure that will help with the longevity. 

Catt,
Thanks for positng that link.  That seems like a cheap enough price to keep one in the toolbox as a backup. I wonder if the gear is available separately or on the motor through Simplicity. 

OPE,
I rolled them around the showroom today.  They all seem to be pretty well balanced ( I think the Toro was the best in that regards, it does seem a little shorter in length compared to the Simplicity and Ariens). 

The automatic diff of the Ariens was nice ( not worrying about triggers could be a plus)  I wonder what the longevity of the differential is.  The overall feel of the machine seemed pretty heavy duty.  The impeller seemed larger than the Simplicity and Toro ( The bucket seemed higher as well, I dont know if increased snow capacity makes a big difference though).  What parts did you say were not as good as the Simp or Toro?  I wonder if not having the cast iron sleeve will severely limit engine longevity. The chute control seemed decent.  Lifting it up and moving it was a just a little more work then using the Toro joystick or the Simplicity electric ones.   It seems like the Simplicity controls might be more protected from the snow than the Arien's or Toro. 

Considering the working environment that snow throwers are operated in (cool temps and clean air), I'm not too concerned that my engine has the aluminum bore. If it were a summer application, I'd have more confidence in a cast cylinder sleeve. Chances are that the engine will last as long as the machine it's mounted on if it's properly lubricated. These new synthetic oils are pretty slippery and I'd suspect provide more than adequate protection for engine internals. This is the only engine i have that I run synthetic oil in. Not so much due to the aluminum bore as much as it is for ease of starting and quicker oil circulation. I wouldn't sweat the aluminum/cast cylinder issue. After all, a new B&S engine can be had for around $300.00. A Chinese clone can be had for half that. Hardly makes repairing an engine worth the effort/cost.

Thanks,
I will use synthetic on whatever one I get, it can't hurt!

I must order this thing this week, I am probably thinking about it way to much. 

Has anybody had a wife use their snowblower?  I was thinking if I was not home in an emergency, then my wife may need it.  Would she be better off using the Ariens because of the ATC ( no triggers to worry about), or go for the triggers on one of the others?

I have had my wife use the machine that I replaced, a 15-20 year old Ariens ST824 and it was not very well balanced, she had trouble keeping the bucket on the ground. I recently picked up a Simplicity L1428 and it seems to have more weight forward, an advantage for someone that does not have the arm strength to squeeze the grips and still hold the bucket down. The grips on the Simplicity felt lower and also being newer easier to pull.

As for me , yes size was a consideration as I work 35 miles form home and my wife is a teacher, so when the weather gets bad, she is home and feels the need to try her best to keep up, even with a 4' or better EOD plow ridge. I try to make it as easy for her as I can. Pick your battles kind of thing.

At the risk of sounding sexist, you should understand the following:

Women and gizmos don't mix. Keep things as simple as possible. Buy a straight forward machine that is easy starting, has good power, simple controls, good balance and nice to handle. If you start making things complicated, it will turn a woman off quicker than shopping in an empty store.

Well, after spending too much time looking at all the choices, I made my decision.  I even threw Honda into the mix.  The Honda was nice, but  it was far more difficult to move around than the others (maybe someday they will put some sort of differential on it.  I ended up going with the Ariens Pro 28, the differential on that unit was just better than everything else (not having any triggers to worry about is very simple, and hopefully will prove to be the most reliable), and the overall of the design is fairly simple.  The construction of the Ariens seems really good, and even though it weights almost 300 lbs, is very easy to move around.  It is too bad the Simplicity did not have two triggers like the Toro, that could have made me sway that way.  I went with the 28" to get the larger 342cc engine.  Hopefully I made the right choice, can't wait to try it out on some snow! 

Thanks everyone for your help!